Stephen <mcavoysATaolDOTcom@> wrote:
> There was also a fashion for composers to write variations of folk music in the
> classical period. Irish and Scottish songs got a makeover from the likes of
> Beethoven and Weber etc.

yeah, composers taking simple melodies and working on them is not something new.

Brahms and folks always worked on folk music.

of course, such widespread musical practice of making whole works on simple
known melodies has no place in today's trademarked, copyrighted and DRMed
record-label-driven world, unless you get a license.

BTW, Firefox and Thunderbird are truly funny:  they correctly spell check
classical composers names, but can't seem to bother with their own spelling...
:P

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:43:37 -0800, Kevin Wampler wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> That's what I recall from a music history class I took years ago.  I
>> might be thinking of something else (perhaps "Simple Gifts" from
>> Appalachian Spring).
> 
> That would make sense since it was definitely based on a shaker tune.
> One of my favorite "folk" tunes to be honest (folk in quotes since it's
> not all *that* old).  Copland's use of it is very nice too.

Yes, I do rather like Copland's work (in general) and that particular 
song in particular.

> It is interesting though that there'll occasionally be a classical tune
> that I later learn actually originated in a folk song.

Yeah, that's a nice thing to hear.  I'm often surprised by the number of 
works that include some variation of the Dies Irae, for example.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson wrote:
> Yeah, that's a nice thing to hear.  I'm often surprised by the number of 
> works that include some variation of the Dies Irae, for example.

Heh, yeah it does somehow manage to find its way into a lot of works. 
It seems to be one of the few themes which is regularly used by many 
different composers as a part of a work (as opposed to a folk tune which 
will generally not be so widely used).  Come to think of it I can't 
think of any other musical themes like this.  The closest I can recall 
offhand is the BACH theme, but as far as I know that's not nearly so 
widely used as the Dies Irae.

Post a reply to this message

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:21:21 -0800, Kevin Wampler wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Yeah, that's a nice thing to hear.  I'm often surprised by the number
>> of works that include some variation of the Dies Irae, for example.
> 
> Heh, yeah it does somehow manage to find its way into a lot of works. It
> seems to be one of the few themes which is regularly used by many
> different composers as a part of a work (as opposed to a folk tune which
> will generally not be so widely used).  Come to think of it I can't
> think of any other musical themes like this.  The closest I can recall
> offhand is the BACH theme, but as far as I know that's not nearly so
> widely used as the Dies Irae.

There is the bass theme that Tchaikovsky uses in a lot of his works 
(March Slav, 1812 Overture, I think Cappricio Italien uses it as well) - 
he's not the only one who uses it, but also not as widely used.

Of course, for a real wild ride, you need to listen to the 1712 Overture 
by PDQ Bach.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> Of course, for a real wild ride, you need to listen to the 1712 Overture
> by PDQ Bach.

ah, PDQ... poor untalented offspring of the great composer... :)

Post a reply to this message

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:13:07 -0500, nemesis wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> Of course, for a real wild ride, you need to listen to the 1712
>> Overture by PDQ Bach.
> 
> ah, PDQ... poor untalented offspring of the great composer... :)

Ah yes.  But then again, Schickele is something of a genius for what he 
did with PDQ's works.  Just shows what happens if you graduate from 
Juliard. ;-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message