# Ride of the Valkyries **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 14, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866 "2004-08-14T20:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/21 "2004-08-15T08:17:04Z")
🆒 [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_hall.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_hall.mid) :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/22 "2004-08-15T08:24:47Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” is the accepted English title – my French is rusty, but “L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune” is I believe the original. I always call it “Afternoon on the Farm”. I’m sure everyone on the planet has heard Mozart’s _Eine Kleine Nachtmusic_, as well as Pachylbel’s _Canon_. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/23 "2004-08-15T08:26:01Z")
🆒 [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_danse.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_danse.mid) :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dugrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dugrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dugrik)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/24 "2004-08-15T10:28:10Z")
Oldsmobile was running ads featuring “Variations on a Shaker Hymn” from _Appalacian Spring_ by Aaron Copeland. Copeland also wrote _Fanfare for the Common Man_ which you’ll hear on sports programs. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer covered this piece on one of their albums. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/25 "2004-08-15T12:11:20Z")
_Fur Elise_ is a famous piano piece by Beethoven. You’ll hear Verdi’s _Four Seasons_ on The Weather Channel. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/26 "2004-08-15T12:54:58Z")
> [@Israfel](#): > > The other famous “falling in love” piece (which I _think_ can be heard whenever two characters in “The Sims” get to smoochin’ 😛 ) is from Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. I believe you are thinking of Tchaikovsky’s _Romeo and Juliet_. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/27 "2004-08-15T13:11:15Z")
> [@St. Urho](#): > > [Finlandia](http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/finlandia.html) Pretty strange both the country and the composition are called Finlandia in spanish. I simply translated it to english. Why is it called Finlandia? Now I am intrigued.- ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/28 "2004-08-15T13:47:32Z")
**Desert Dog** , (in post #13) you are right. My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/29 "2004-08-15T16:30:32Z")
🆒 [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-1.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-1.mid) 😉 [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-2.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-2.mid) 😃 [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-3.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-3.mid) :rolleyes: [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-4.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-4.mid) :dubious: [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-5.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-5.mid) 😛 [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-6.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-6.mid) :smack: [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-7.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-7.mid) :eek: [http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp\_nut-8.mid](http://www.polleng.freeserve.co.uk/gp_nut-8.mid) ---
**Author:** ![Dugrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dugrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dugrik)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/30 "2004-08-15T18:15:15Z")
Every medieval sword & sorcery flick uses Orff’s _Carmina Burana_ in its trailer. From opera: “No More Rice Krispies” is sung to the tune of “Vesti la giubba” from act one of Leoncavallo’s _Pagliacci_. The “Toreador Song” is from act two of _Carmen_ by Bizet. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/31 "2004-08-15T20:18:31Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > _Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_ I hate it so _much_ when you guys call them _songs._ So fight some ignorance, already! What are they called if not songs? (For now I’ll use the word _thingy_). And what is the difference between a “song” and a “thingy”? And are there other categories, or is everything I hear either a “song” or a “thingy”? Fight some ignorance! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/32 "2004-08-15T21:34:44Z")
In cartoons, during chases, the music is frequently _Tritsch-Tratsch Polka_ by Strauss. And if you see a cartoon character riding a horse the music is probably _The Light Cavalry_ by Franz Von Suppe. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/33 "2004-08-15T22:11:43Z")
Billy Joel’s song “This Night Can Last Forever” is actually a theme from Beethoven’s _Pathetique_ sonata for piano. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/34 "2004-08-16T01:16:39Z")
> [@Dugrik](#): > > Every medieval sword & sorcery flick uses Orff’s _Carmina Burana_ in its trailer. > > From opera: > > “No More Rice Krispies” is sung to the tune of “Vesti la giubba” from act one of Leoncavallo’s _Pagliacci_. > > The “Toreador Song” is from act two of _Carmen_ by Bizet. There was another Rice Krispies commercial with music from Madame Butterfly. _Wait! I have a spoon dear!"_ ---
**Author:** ![Triviatrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@Triviatrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triviatrix)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/35 "2004-08-16T01:45:16Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The Dih-dih-dih-DAH of his 5th Symphony, made famous by the BBC using it (it’s also the Morse “V” pulse) during WWII. The setting of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” from the 9th Symphony. > > “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” is the accepted English title – my French is rusty, but “L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune” is I believe the original. > > I might also note that anyone who’s a fan of Disney’s older full-length animated features has a strong familiarity with a **lot** of classical music, particularly Tchaikowsky – the song “Once Upon a Dream” from Disney’s _Sleeping Beauty_ is lifted straight from T’s “Sleeping Beauty” ballet, where it’s an instrumental piece. There are several other examples. _Peter and the Wolf_ is a cartoon setting for Tchaikowsky’s tone poem; _Fantasia_ and _Fantasia 2000_ are strict visual depictions for the named classical pieces featured in them. > > And, of course, Saint-Saens’s “Dance of the Hours” (the flamingo dance in _Fantasia 2000_) is familiar to everybody through the depredations of Allan Sherman (many of whose songs are take-offs on classical pieces, such as Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody” which became Sherman’s “Hungarian Goulash.” Dance of the Hours is not Saint-Saens. It is from Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/36 "2004-08-16T01:50:58Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#): > > So fight some ignorance, already! What are they called if not songs? Whoops, sorry, was AFK for a while to make chili con carne, pot some houseplants, and go to a Cyclones game down in Coney Island. A “song” is a piece of music that has words. To be sung by one person. Generally with piano accompaniment, if it’s an “art song,” like Schubert’s “Der Erlkonig,” already cited by **rowrbazzle**. Or not, like Bob Dylan’s “Positively Fourth Street” or the Ramones’ “We’re a Happy Family.” On the other hand, Schubert’s _Symphony No. 8 in B Minor_ would be…oh…a “symphony.” Or “an orchestral piece written in sonata form.” Mozart’s _Don Giovanni_ would be an “opera.” A “song” from an opera would be an “aria.” This could go on and on, so let’s just say that one safe way to refer to various forms of art music would be “pieces.” ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/37 "2004-08-16T03:01:44Z")
_A Whiter Shade of Pale_, I’m told, comes from a Bach piece, though nobody I’ve ever asked – okay, not too many people – have been able to identify it, and my tastes in classical music does not include the Baroque. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/38 "2004-08-16T03:14:29Z")
> [@](#): > > A “song” is a piece of music that has words. What about Beethoven’s 9th symphony? Or “Song without Words” by Mendelssohn? The Humming Chorus by Puccini? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/39 "2004-08-16T07:36:05Z")
> [@Julius Henry](#): > > _A Whiter Shade of Pale_, I’m told, comes from a Bach piece, though nobody I’ve ever asked – okay, not too many people – have been able to identify it, and my tastes in classical music does not include the Baroque. It’s J.S. Bach’s ‘Air’ from Suite No. 3 in D Major (a.k.a. **“Air on a G String”** ). ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866/40 "2004-08-16T15:49:51Z")
There’s quite a few pieces of classical music that are extremely familiar to non-classically inclined listeners because of their frequent use in cartoons – especially the classic Bugs Bunny reels, or from other forms of popular entertainment. Examples: - (As mentioned in the OP) Wagner’s _Ride of the Valkries_ from _Die Walküre_. Better known to generations of kids as _Kill da Wabbit_. - _The Barber of Seville_. Bugs gives Elmer a shave. - Chopin’s “Funeral March”, which is actually the third movement of his _Piano Concerto in Bb Minor_. I’d heard that little theme all my life and didn’t know it was from an actual piece of music until I was in college. - I think the other “morning” piece of music that **Polycarp** was referring to was probably the third movement of the _William Tell Overture_ – the calm after the storm. Which also brings up the storm itself, the very familiar second movement. Think of Mickey Mouse conducting the band concert that gets sucked up by a tornado. - A theme from Dvorak’s _Symphony No 9: From the New World_ (I believe it’s from the third movement) was used in dozens of old westerns. It’s typical “HERE COME THE INJUNS” music. - As mentioned, the _Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet_ by Tchaikovsky has been used over and over again in movies, TV shows and commercials whenever the director wanted syrupy, over-the-top romantic music. - Gounod’s _Funeral March of A Marionette_ is more familiar to many as the theme from _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_. - The _Cancan_ from Offenbach’s _La Vie Parisienne_ is instantly recognizable to most people. - And don’t forget Lizst’s _Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2_, which figures prominently in _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ride-of-the-valkyries/259866.md?page=3)