"classical" music I like but don't know it

First; I recognize I’m using “Classical” music incorrectly. I mean any orchestral music at any artistic period (maybe say 1500 to 1950).

I’m looking for names of more popular symphany pieces that I may have heard and probably thing is cool…but I just don’t know the name of. Can you suggest some names for me to look up and listen too?

It should be fairly well known, otherwise I’ve probably not heard it and don’t know it.

Things I recognize and like to listen too include:
Bolero
Mouret’s Rondeau
Fanfare for the Common Man
Wagner’s Valkerie

I’m so ignorant, I don’t even know I’ve named them correctly.

Can you suggest a few other names I’ve missed. I know theres one I think from Bach that is from a pipe organ (that seems to be associated with count dracula for some reason in my mind)…but I’m clueless on what its called.
Oh; links of the tunes so I can listen to them would be good.

Toccata & Fugue in d minor

Yep! thats the one!

Thanks

The Barber of Seville - Figaro’s Aria
Johann Strauss - Polka trisch-trasch
Johann Strauss - The Blue Danube Waltz
Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain

I’m sure you’d recognize certain opera selections…Habanera and Les Toreadores from Carmen, or the Overture from The Barber of Seville, or or in the more general musical field, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 or Hungarian Dance No. 5 or Sabre Dance.

Forgot some Peer Gynt amongst the [del]operas[/del] narrative music…In The Hall Of The Mountain King.

Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars
Gustav Holst - The Planets - Jupiter
Prokofiev’s ‘Troika’
Felix Mendelssohn : The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)
Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Spring

You might also know Dance of the Knights (also known as Montagues and Capulets) from Prokofiev’s setting of Romeo and Juliet. Or Tchaikovsky’s Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet. Or Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz (which Disney actually used as the basis for “Once Upon A Dream” from the film).

A medley of some you may recognise

O Fortuna from Carmina Burana

Thank you for that…I haven’t heard those in years. I had the cassette with all of them on it and it was my driving music years back when I was commuting an hour either way to work. Just listening to it now I still remembered the order of the selections…

And some more medlys

Just curious: How did you pick those two dates? I’m thinking that most classical music that would be familiar to most people would be from around 1700 to maybe 1920.

Familiar classical works:

Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, Beethoven
Canon in D, Pachelbel (you hear it at weddings)
The Four Seasons: Spring
1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky (live cannon fire)
Messiah, Handel (includes Hallelujah Chorus)
Moonlight Sonata and Für Elise, Beethoven
New World Symphony, Antonin Dvorák
Water Music, Handel

Not to mention “He shall lead his flock”.

I just listened to the finale of Götterdämmerung on the radio and I have to say that it is as beautiful as it can get.

If you want something with a twist I can also recommend Amira Selim’s rendition of The Queen of the Night’s revenge aria from a project called Mozart in Egypt (here she is called Queen of the 1001 nights).

You could also look at the Classic FM Hall of Fame Top 300.

Since most non-fans of classical learn them from movies or TV here’s a few connections:

Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries - Apocalypse Now
Bach’s Toccata & Fugue - Rollerball (the 70s original)
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony - the first **Diehard **film
Ravel’s **Bolero **- 10 (the Dudley Moore / Bo Derek movie)
Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra - 2001: A Space Odyssey
Carmina Burana’s O Fortuna - a lot of things, the first Jackass: The Movie semi-recently (also Caligula)
Aram Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance - 50s game show plate-spinner music
Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man - The Olympics

And, for anybody who grew up in the 70s, this old guy’s commercial (available on 8-track!)…

Somewhat randomly. I think I knew there was cool stuff in the 1700’s (I actually own the Greatest hits of 1720) and also there was more recent stuff into about 1920; but I wanted to be more inclusive so that I didn’t miss something that I should be aware of.

Going up to 1950 is appropriate. Aaron Copland’s Rodeo (part of which, of course, was used in the BEEF commercials) is from '42.

Others you may be familiar with without knowing it (that I haven’t seen mentioned yet so far):

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
Rinsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Handel: Royal Fireworks Music
Satie: Trois Gymnopedies
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
J. S. Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

And one of the pieces the OP actually mentioned, “Fanfare for the Common Man,” is from about the same time.