The Defining work by a classical composer to you

Cafe Society
1

When you hear the name “Ludwig van Beethoven”, what song appears in your head? I’m not asking what your favorite work by that composer is, or what their best work/greatest hit is, but what work do you instantly connect to the name?

I’ll get the ball rolling. Feel free to copy and/or add to my list:

Bach - Brandenburg Concerto #3, Movement 1 - also my go-to answer when someone asks what Baroque music sounds like

Beethoven - Symphony 5, Movement 1 (dah dah dah DUM. Far from my favorite Symphony, but it’s impossible not to associate Beethoven with it)

Brahms - Hungarian Dance #5

Dvorak - that motif that’s all over the Requiem

Grieg - Anitra’s Dance from Peer Gynt

Handel - Alla Hornpipe from Water Music (I know it would be Hallelujah from The Messiah for most of you, but as a hornist, I always remember Handel as being the first composer to give public exposure to the instrument, and this was the piece that first premiered the instrument)

Haydn - Horn Concerto 2, Movement 1 (this was the audition piece I used when I was in high school, so I played this over and over and over)

Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody #2 (thank you Friz Freleng!)

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in d, Movement 1

Mozart - A Little Night Music, Movement 1 (I swear to god this is the 1st track on not just every Mozart greatest hits album, but EVERY classical music compilation)

Rimsky-Korsakov - Procession of the Nobles, from Mlada

Prokofiev - Peter’s theme from Peter & The Wolf

Rossini - William Tell Overture

Saint-Saens - Danse Bacchanal from Samson & Delilah

Schubert - Symphony 8, movement 1 (c’mon, they used it on the Simpsons, by a elementary school band!!! “oh good, Unfinished, this shouldn’t take long!”)

Stravinsky - Finale from The Firebird Suite

Suppe - Light Cavalry Overture (thank you, Walt Disney!)

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (not proud of this one, but I can’t lie)

Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries, from Die Walkure

2

It’s hard to list the “defining” work, and not necessarily my “favorite.”

Albéniz: Suite española: Asturias
Bach: Air on a G String
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Beethoven: Symphony #7
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Bernstein: Overture to “Candide”
Bizet: l’Arlésienne
Borodin: Dances from Prince Igor
Brahms: Symphony #3
Chopin: “Minute” Waltz
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Delibes: Coppelia
Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor: Mad scene
Dvorak: New World Symphony: 2nd Movement
Elgar: Pomp & Circumstance #1
Falla: Ritual Fire Dance
Franck: Symphony in d
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite #1: Beginning
Handel: Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus
Haydn: “Surprise” Symphony: 2nd Movement
Holst: The Planets: Mars
Khachaturian: Gayne
Lehar: The Merry Widow
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody #2
Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
Offenbach: Gaité Parisienne
Orff: Carmina Burana: O Fortuna
Paganini: Caprice #24
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Puccini: La Bohème
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto #2
Ravel: Bolero
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio
Rossini: William Tell: Overture
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Satie: Gymnopédie #1
Schubert: Symphony #9
Schumann: Carnaval
Scriabin: Etude, op 8 #12
Sibelius: Finlandia
Strauss, Johann Jr: Blue Danube Waltz
Smetana: Má Vlast: The Moldau
Strauss, Richard: Also Sprach Zarathustra: Intro
Stravinsky: The Firebird: Finale
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet: “Love Theme”
Verdi: La Traviata
Vivaldi: Four Seasons: Autumn
Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries

3

Yep, that’s the one!

Dvorak - Maybe something from the “New World” symphony (the “Going Home” theme from the slow movement?), maybe the opening of the “American” string quartet, maybe one of the Slavonic Dances.

Grieg - Maybe “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” maybe the dramatic opening chords of the Piano Concerto.

Haydn - Probably the “Lark” string quartet (Op 64 #5)

Liszt - Maybe that one (for the same reason), or maybe the instrumental version of the Mephisto Waltz.

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto - Movement 3. Or maybe the Midsummer Night’s Dream overture.

Absolutely.

Scheherazade.

Possibly, although the Piano Concerto #3 is a candidate.

I could probably come up with a longer list if I took more time (which I don’t have right now). Sometimes it’s a matter of which piece I happened to hear and become familiar with first; sometimes it’s what’s most ubiquitous in pop culture.

4

One thing that’s always amazed me about classical music is how many one-hit-wonders out there who actually composed a ton of decent music…just like it is in the present! Vivaldi is pretty much only known for the Four Seasons concertos in pop culture, but he did a ton of other great music, including being one of the more prolific composers for the bassoon.

Tchaikovsky was probably one of the more “popular” composers, between his 3 ballets and 1812, but his Symphonies don’t get the attention they deserve - #6 is one of the most amazing/disturbing pieces of instrumental music you’ll ever listen to (with a really out of place Scherzo movement thrown into the middle). Still, the finale from 1812 is still the first thing that pops into my head when I think his name.

5

I think the OP mixed up Brahms and Dvorak.

6

No I didn’t.

Brahm’s Hungarian Dance #5 is one of the catchiest pieces of music in the history of classical music. Remember that Dvorak orchestrated the set of 21 dances, but Brahms originally composed them (for Piano, although I prefer the orchestral version of #5, I associate them with Brahms).

Dvorak’s Requiem >>>>>> Brahm’s Requiem (seriously, who does a requiem in GERMAN? Latin all the way!)

7

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto #2, third movement. Also, Great Fugue in G-Minor

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Minor(?) (K364)

Beethoven: the 9th

8

You called?
E-Flat Major actually. Good choice.

9

I’m afraid if you don’t consider Beethoven’s two defining works to be Wellington’s Victory and the 8th symphony, then you don’t understand Beethoven.

I’m serious.

10

Ya, but the OP is clearly looking for their most memorable or popular tune. It’s obviously the start of the 5th, or Ode to Joy from the 9th. Heck, even the Egmont overture ranks near the top for me.

I like Panache’s list, but I offer a few alternatives:

For Lehar, which Merry Widow bit are we talking about? There were a few really popular arias in there. I wrote a large paper all about his work, and so I’m guessing you mean the Vilja aria. HM goes to his earlier waltz, Gold and Silver.

Borodin: No one outside of Russia (and me) has seriously watched Prince Igor. What you mean is the Polovetsian Dances, which have been done to death in so many renditions. HM goes to the nocturne of string quartet #2, which was done throughout Ren and Stimpy and Rocko’s modern life, to name two pop culture sources.

Puccini: I go with Nessun Dorma from Turandot. “Che Geleda Manina” is very pops, but N.D. has been done to DEATH.

Verdi is La Donna E Mobile. How did two people put Schubert and not mention a “Ave Maria” or “Die Winterreise?” Did you people never try hitting on Sopranos or what? :smiley:

Vivaldi’s Spring is more kitsch than his Fall. Debussy’s “Claire de Lune” edges out the afternoon of the Fawn.

I’m crushing on this thread, lol. I need to get back to Latin homework. Here’s some original contributions:

Shostakovich: the second waltz from the suite for promenade orchestra.

MacDowell: To a wild rose.

11

Also, Mozart to me is the Rondo Alla Turka, and Handel is ever immortalized in the “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” from Solomon. I have my organ teacher to thank for the latter. :slight_smile:

12

Beethoven: Ode to Joy

13

For me, Mozart would be either Rondo Alla Turka or Sonata in C, K545, 1st movement. I learned to play both of these on the piano. The latter piece is also associated with Granny on Sylvester and Tweety Bird cartoons.