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.”
late to the party, but:
- no
- 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.
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?”
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.
- No
- 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.
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.
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.” 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).
But you *can *get them on 8-track cassettes! 
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.
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No. The only classical (term used loosely) piece I know by composer and number is Beethoven’s fifth.
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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.
-
No
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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’!”)
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.
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.)
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:
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!
Do you really sound like Maurice Chevalier? :dubious:
Well, it’s a literal translation. I’ve heard it both ways.
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.
Bwahahahaahhahahahaha!
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.
That reminds me of one of the concerts my chorus put on: “Miss B. Haven.”