# General culture (music) question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538 "2016-12-01T16:19:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/61 "2016-12-02T16:36:16Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I don’t, that I’m aware of. Don’t care for shoot 'em up movies. It took me a second, too, to catch it (and I have seen the movie about a half dozen times), but it’s “Ode to Joy.” ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/62 "2016-12-02T18:36:00Z")
late to the party, but: 1. no 2. certainly, as soon as I knew what it was I think that knowing the names of classical works is difficult due to them often being referred to by their number or the key of the composition, which doesn’t tell the average listener much about the work. The number is meaningless unless you know the history of the composer, and the key is only really useful if you know how to play it. For example, I know what Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony sounds like, and know it was originally dedicated to Napoleon, but I had to look up that it’s his 3rd. So, I wouldn’t think you were trying to make me feel stupid. I would be reminded that classical composers could have provided some names for their works, the bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/63 "2016-12-02T19:01:41Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I think that knowing the names of classical works is difficult due to them often being referred to by their number or the key of the composition, which doesn’t tell the average listener much about the work. The number is meaningless unless you know the history of the composer, and the key is only really useful if you know how to play it. > > For example, I know what Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony sounds like, and know it was originally dedicated to Napoleon, but I had to look up that it’s his 3rd. So, I wouldn’t think you were trying to make me feel stupid. I would be reminded that classical composers could have provided some names for their works, the bastards. Actually, I’ve only ever seen it referred to as “Eroica,” not “Heroic.” And in many cases where symphonies have names, the name was given later by someone else, not the composer. Personally, I’m perfectly happy with works being referred to by number, like “Beethoven’s 5th Symphony” or “Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1.” I"m familiar with the concept of Fifth, or One, so using such concepts to identify which symphony or concerto you’re taking about is meaningful and easy to remember. And if I know that Beethoven wrote nine symphonies in all, it helps me see and remember how each one fits into that big picture. But I don’t like it when music types refer to works by key, like “the C minor symphony” or “Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B flat major.” I want to say, “Dammit, _which one is that_? I can’t remember which key each work is in. And what if he wrote more than one in that key?” ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/64 "2016-12-02T19:04:21Z")
No and "oh, yeah, but I had that as an earworm for Ngaio Marsh’s ‘Overture to Death’, so I thought it was Rachmaninoff. The point about music is you never can tell. I was another kid who got a lot of classical music off of Looney Tunes. Brahm’s Hungarian dances were a big favorite. I also have an ex-Marine, west Texas father whose musical taste ran toward classical, Robert Shaw Chorale, and Ray Charles country and western albums. He hates pop music, be it country, rock, or otherwise. My mom is tone deaf and considers it all pretty much racket she can live without. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/65 "2016-12-02T19:16:54Z")
1. No 2. No I’m not familiar with much classical music. I know how to pronounce the composer’s name thanks to Chuck Berry and The Beatles. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/66 "2016-12-03T01:49:53Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > 1. No > 2. No > > I’m not familiar with much classical music. I know how to pronounce the composer’s name thanks to Chuck Berry and The Beatles. 🆒 Which shows that Chuck went to school in different times . . . I don’t much care for this piece, it’s kind of schmaltzy. But, teach should know who the guy is. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/67 "2016-12-03T07:33:03Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Was that the one John Williams (the British actor, not the composer) plugged by saying “I’m sure you recognize this lovely tune as “Stranger in Paradise.” But did you \*also \*know it’s the Polovetsian [_sic_] Dance No. 2 by Borodin?” :dubious: 😕 It was called “120 Music Masterpieces.” BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! It came with a bonus disc called “30 Piano Masterpieces,” so really you got 150! It was five LPs, so you were getting 15 “works” per side. I linked to the commercial earlier in the thread; [here it is again](https://youtu.be/TP9u_7eSlTQ). My mom had the records and loved them; my cynical teenage self thought they were awful. There are quite a few copies available on eBay; incredibly, it was apparently never released on CD. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/68 "2016-12-03T16:03:51Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > It was called “120 Music Masterpieces.” BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! It came with a bonus disc called “30 Piano Masterpieces,” so really you got 150! It was five LPs, so you were getting 15 “works” per side. > > I linked to the commercial earlier in the thread; [here it is again](https://youtu.be/TP9u_7eSlTQ). > > My mom had the records and loved them; my cynical teenage self thought they were awful. There are quite a few copies available on eBay; incredibly, it was apparently never released on CD. I’m pretty knowledgeable about classical music, but there was a composer listed in that ad that I’d never heard of before (that I remember): Addinsell, for his “[Warsaw Concerto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Concerto).” Looking up the Wikipedia article exposed me to an interesting bit of pop culture that had somehow previously escaped my awareness (as Tchaikovsky had escaped the awareness of the OP’s teacher). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/69 "2016-12-03T16:43:49Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > There are quite a few copies available on eBay; incredibly, it was apparently never released on CD. But you \*can \*get them on 8-track cassettes! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/70 "2016-12-03T16:49:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m pretty knowledgeable about classical music, but there was a composer listed in that ad that I’d never heard of before (that I remember): Addinsell, for his “[Warsaw Concerto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Concerto).” Looking up the Wikipedia article exposed me to an interesting bit of pop culture that had somehow previously escaped my awareness (as Tchaikovsky had escaped the awareness of the OP’s teacher). Back in the '70s, there was a talent show every Saturday night in the UK called _ **New Faces** _ (maybe there still is; I don’t know). In one episode, a young pianist performed the concerto against a backdrop of his own devising, a city going up in flames. He didn’t win that week, but one of the judges thought it was a brilliant advert for the Birmingham Fire Department. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/71 "2016-12-03T18:20:39Z")
1. No. The only classical (term used loosely) piece I know by composer and number is Beethoven’s fifth. 2. No. After watching the Python sketch, I recognize the piece (not the first four bars, but from when the piano and strings come in), probably from the aforementioned TV commercial. But my answer to 2. is still “No” — or rather, I could hum it, but you wouldn’t recognize it. I couldn’t carry a tune in a sack. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/72 "2016-12-03T18:32:43Z")
1. No 2. No I do now recognize the Monty Python connection. My parents never listened to much classical music, but they did play albums from Broadway musicals. Sadly, I can still sing all the lyrics to “The Music Man,” “Gigi,” “South Pacific,” and “The Sound of Music.” It amuses my wife to no end. (“Now sing ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls’!”) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/73 "2016-12-03T18:40:47Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > For example, I know what Beethoven’s Heroic Symphony sounds like At least you don’t do as some do and call it the Erotica Symphony. Not to mention the printer who set up an advert for a Beethoven concert featuring Miss A. Solemnis. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/74 "2016-12-03T18:42:39Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I’m surprised that anyone who was teaching a Creative Writing workshop wouldn’t know how to pronounce Tchaikovsky. (or even have a vague clue as to who he was even if they didn’t know the piece) About a month ago, I was listening to Robert Greenberg’s audio lectures on Tchaikovsky. He would annoyingly go back and forth on the pronunciation. Most of the time he’d get it right but there were several times when he pronounced it tie-kof-ski. (Greenberg also completely buys into the conspiracy theory about Tchaikovsky’s death and reports it as a fact.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/75 "2016-12-03T19:11:10Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > At least you don’t do as some do and call it the Erotica Symphony. Not to mention the printer who set up an advert for a Beethoven concert featuring Miss A. Solemnis. My brother was stationed on Okinawa around 1970. He once told me about a classical music program on Armed Forces Radio that was hosted by a non-com who introduced Tchaikovsky’s _ **Marche slave** _ (“Slavonic March”) as “March of the Slaves.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/76 "2016-12-03T19:16:07Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I can still sing all the lyrics to “The Music Man,” “Gigi,” “South Pacific,” and “The Sound of Music.” It amuses my wife to no end. (“Now sing ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls’!”) What, no _ **Mary Poppins** _?!? :eek: :dubious: _A British bank is run with precision, a British home requires nothing less! Tradition, discipline, and rules must be the tools! Without them, disorder! Chaos! Pandemonium! In short, you have a bloody mess!_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/77 "2016-12-03T19:19:42Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > “Now sing ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls’!” Do you really sound like Maurice Chevalier? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/78 "2016-12-03T19:29:44Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Actually, I’ve only ever seen it referred to as “Eroica,” not “Heroic.” Well, it’s a literal translation. I’ve heard it both ways. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > And in many cases where symphonies have names, the name was given later by someone else, not the composer. I’m aware of that, but my example isn’t one of those. In any case, even the names others give works make them easier to remember than the sequence they were written in. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > At least you don’t do as some do and call it the Erotica Symphony. Not to mention the printer who set up an advert for a Beethoven concert featuring Miss A. Solemnis. Bwahahahaahhahahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/79 "2016-12-03T21:40:30Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Two-part question with an extra bonus opportunity question. No googling ahead of time! > > [ol] > [li]If I say Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B-flat Minor, do you know immediately what piece of music I’m referring to? [/li] > [li]Can you hum the first few notes of the recognizable theme (on the syllables “da-da-da-da” or “la-la-la-la” or something)?[/li][/ol] > Bonus: what is your opinion of this thread/question? > I’ll explain if/when there are a few replies. Thank you for participating. If you said “Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1”, I’d absolutely answer yes to both questions, and can hum a lot more of it than the “recognizable theme”. I’m _guessing_ that that’s the one you’re referring to, but not certain. No opinion of the thread or question, unsure of what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538/80 "2016-12-04T04:40:14Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > At least you don’t do as some do and call it the Erotica Symphony. Not to mention the printer who set up an advert for a Beethoven concert featuring Miss A. Solemnis. That reminds me of one of the concerts my chorus put on: “Miss B. Haven.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-culture-music-question/773538.md?page=5)