Yes and yes.
No opinion about the question.
Terry Jones, for certain.
No.
No.
Sort of. And thanks for using the word “iconic” so I don’t have to. 
I took a creative writing workshop a few weeks ago. I was sitting afterwards with the teacher and another student. The teacher, in her day job, is a college English teacher. She’s late 30s and had published a couple of books of short stories that get good reviews on amazon. The other student was a woman in her mid-50s who has also published a book, a self-help, how-to kind of book.
I had brought a snippet of a story I was working on and in it I referred to the Tchaikovsky piece in question. It was a kind of joke, but I did write out the entire name of the piece.
I asked the teacher to read my scene aloud–that can be very revealing to the writer, hearing your words out loud read by someone else. When she got to the word Tchaikovsky, she stopped. She clearly couldn’t pronounce it and also seemed not to have ever seen the word before. So I said, “You know it’s that piece that goes–” and I mimed the virtuoso pounding out the piano chords from left to right while I sang “da-da-da-DAH-da-daduh,” etc.-- and neither one of them showed the slightest recognition. I was pretty surprised that two grown, literate, fairly well-educated women didn’t recognize this piece.
I figured that many people would not know the name of the piece, but if they heard it they would recognize that they had heard the melody before. And I figured that people who knew the name would be able to go “da-da-da-DAH-da-daduh.”
Some people were exposed to classical music by their parents, or (back in the day) in school, or had music lessons of some kind. I believe that general exposure to the standard classical pieces is rarer these days.
When I was a kid the cartoons made in the 40s and 50s had a lot of classical music in them, I guess because of public domain. I still remember Bugs Bunny as the Barber of Seville. (Take a look at this–it’s hilarious.) And of course, there’s the William Tell Overture that was the theme song for The Lone Ranger.
Here’s something on Classical Music in Looney Tunes.
I asked what people thought of the question, because I figured someone would think it was just another elite liberal snob trying to make them feel stupid.
Word.
Just from my personal POV / experience:
I’m 51. My parents rarely listened to classical music, save for The Nutcracker at Christmas. Music lessons when I was a kid consisted of 2 years of guitar, which was nearly all popular music. Music classes in school rarely went terribly deeply into classical music.
So, my exposure to classical music came from:
- Usage in Looney Tunes and other cartoons (and, more broadly, TV shows and movies)
- The pretty cheesy “Hooked on Classics” album in high school
- My college girlfriend, who had grown up listening to and playing classical music (she played oboe and piano), and who was the first person who really took the time to teach me anything about it.
I listened to and learned classical piano growing up, but, somehow I’ve never really come across this piece. (ETA: Listening to it, I recognize it once the strings come in with the melody, but I couldn’t have produced that melody on demand, and certainly wouldn’t know the piece by name.) Quiz me on Chopin or Bach or Beethoven or Liszt and I’m fine, but beyond Swan Lake and Nutcracker, my Tschaikovsky knowledge is pretty threadbare.
- Yes
- Yes
Opinion on this thread: Thanks for the earworm. This is one of my least favorite classical pieces, at least within the scope of the repertoire I’m familiar with.
I’m not sure if I genuinely dislike the work, or if it’s simply because I associate it with those sold-on-TV romantic music compilation ads. Probably both.
ETA: To be honest, I don’t know if I have ever listened past the first thirty seconds to a minute.
- Yes
- Yes
I’m in my 30s and a musician; while I’m not specifically a classical musician, I own and have listened to enough through my life to know a lot of the major works by major composers.
[list=#]
[li]No.[/li][li]No.[/li][li]You’re one of those “Classical Music can never be relaxing” people, aren’t you? ;)[/li][/list]
Yes to both questions (but I’m a classical music guy).
I would guess that most people nowadays wouldn’t know who Tchaikovsky is, wouldn’t know what a “piano concerto” is, and definitely wouldn’t be able to hum the first notes.
I think that piece was more widely recognized when I was younger—maybe. Back in the early 70s, there was a popular mail-order album (plugged in a ubiquitous TV commercial) that included tiny snippets of dozens of classical works, and the opening of the Tchaikovsky concerto was included. It’s hard to imagine something like that being popular now.
Ooh, look what the very first bit on that album is!
I fucking HATE Tchaikovsky, but I know the piece and could hum you the theme.
I’m just massively learned in the Western Art Music tradition. (That’s why I hate Tchaikovsky.)
Pretty much the only classical music I know by its title is called Oh, That One.
1 - No.
2 - after youtubing it, I thought “oh, that” and I could hum it, so I know it from somewhere - but I don’t know it’s name.
Bonus: Interesting question, but I do want to know why you asked.
ETA: 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)
I agree. I hate this piece of music. In fact, I’m not all that fond of Tchaikovsky. He wears out fast.
Classical music is all over the place, just like “pop” music. It’s hard even to generalize about it. I’ve been exposed to a lot of it over the years. Some of it I love; some not so much.
Oddly, looking through every song on that first disc, there’s only two I couldn’t hum for you: the Tschaikovsky one that is the subject of this thread and the Sibelius one.
- Absolutely.
- I can, in face, hum the entire concerto, though my humming doesn’t sound as good as the original instruments. Tchaikovsky is one of my three favorite composers, and I have several different recordings of this concerto.
I’m surprised that so many people don’t even recognize this piece. And that anyone actually hates Tchaikovsky.
Ah, don’t be so modest.
I like him in small doses.
And it’s funny that so many people don’t recognize this piece, as one of the reasons I don’t like it is because I’ve heard it so much.
Have you seen the Michael Bourne productions of Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty? If not, look up some videos. One of them was on PBS Great Performances. The bare-chested male swan chorus in Swan Lake is something to see.
- Yes. In fact, it was one of my very first CDs. In fact, I’m going to play the CD right now!
- I could also hum the entire concerto, particularly the incredible 3rd movement.
I’m a Tchaikovsky lover as well, although I’ll be burned out on the Nutcracker by the end of the month.