response 101 of 194:

Nov 9 02:26 UTC 1999

There's really something of a continuum between program music and 
abstract music.  Using a folk tune (like Tchaikovsky), or something that 
sounds like a folk tune but isn't (like Dvorak's New World), doesn't 
make a piece program music, though it may make it national music.  Some 
supposedly abstract works have "secret" programs that the composer had 
in mind but that he didn't intend listeners to know about: that's the 
case for all of Tchaikovsky's major symphonies (nos. 4-6).  Then there 
are people who, preferring program music and having a hard time treating 
abstract music as abstract, have written their own programs, sometimes 
attributing them to the composer.  The story that the theme of 
Beethoven's Fifth is "Fate knocking at the door" is an example of that. 
There was a lot of this fake program-writing going on in the 19th 
century, and that, more than anything else, is what gave program music a 
bad name among abstract-music lovers.

response 103 of 194:

Nov 9 12:41 UTC 1999

Not only is it possible to superimpose a 
program on an abstract work, it's also 
possible to make up a new program for music 
that already has one.  Disney did that in 
Fantasia, where, for example, music for a 
ballet about a ritual sacrifice in pagan 
Russia becomes the accompaniment to a 
kindergarten history of life on earth up to 
the extinction of the dinosaurs.  I think 
program music was generally regarded as a 
category of music neither good nor bad in 
itself until those cherubs' asses morphed 
into pink love-hearts during Beethoven's 6th 
in Fantasia.  It takes artistic integrity 
and a real effort of will to look at that 
and say, "Nevertheless . . ."

response 105 of 194:

Nov 20 16:20 UTC 1999

(Actually, the Fantasia use of the music from the Rite of Spring wasn't as
ridiculous as it sounds, since IIRC -- it's been a while since I've seen
it -- the music they use is mostly "nature waking itself up" rather than
dancing or sacrifice)

(And I think the French are represented by the French song whose tune was
borrowed for "The Bear Went Over the Mountain," if that makes any sort of
difference)

response 107 of 194:

Nov 22 23:37 UTC 1999

Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words" are miniature piano pieces which 
were highly popular in the 19th century, but are way too sugary for 
most people's tastes today.  The most famous, "Spring Song", has shown 
up on old animated cartoons to comically accompany characters weaving 
around drunk on springtime love.  I've seen those cartoons a lot more 
often than I've heard the piece in concert.

Josef Lanner was the first of the red-hot Viennese waltz masters.  He 
was pretty much driven off the market, though, by the superior product 
of one Johann Strauss, who in turn was succeeded by his even more 
talented son, Johann Strauss the Younger, who is surely the Johann 
Strauss of the other CD, as _he_ was the guy who wrote "The Beautiful 
Blue Danube", "Tales from the Vienna Woods", and the other works that 
actually survive from the Biedermeier civilization.  I've rarely heard 
any Lanner, and didn't find it too memorable, but it could be an 
interesting historical curiosity if you like that sort of stuff.

response 109 of 194:

Nov 23 04:22 UTC 1999

According to http://www.wfu.edu/wfunews/releases/092399v.htm, there is
someone named Phillipe Entremont who is a conductor and piano soloist with the
Vienna Chamber Orchestra as of this year.  No idea about the piece, though;
never heard of it.

response 111 of 194:

Nov 23 21:16 UTC 1999

I never even heard of Falla until running across him at Kiwanis.  What can
you tell us about him (her?).

response 113 of 194:

Nov 24 23:32 UTC 1999

CD, LP, whatever.

De Falla's "Ritual Fire Dance" is a snappy little show-stopper.  Part of 
a ballet, it was written for orchestra but is often arranged.  I've 
heard it on harp.

response 115 of 194:

Dec 2 22:34 UTC 1999

A few composers (Johann Strauss, for one) wrote only light 
classics, but most of the best light classics were written by 
composers who also wrote "heavy classics".  Even the Three 
B's, some of the "heaviest" composers of all, wrote their 
share of light classics: Bach's "Air on the G String" and 
"Sheep May Safely Graze", Beethoven's "Fuer Elise" and 
"Turkish March", Brahms's "Academic Festival Overture" and 
"Hungarian Dances".  But some composers whose most often-
played works are mostly light include Edvard Grieg, Franz 
Liszt, and that one-work wonder Bedrich Smetana of "Moldau" 
fame.  (Yes, I know he wrote lots more, but radio stations 
apparently don't know it.)

response 117 of 194:

Dec 4 08:40 UTC 1999

  And of course, the classic "Syncopated Clock" which has always been one of
my favorites.

response 119 of 194:

Jan 19 21:37 UTC 2000

Can anyone suggest outstanding compositions by lesser-known composers who only
wrote one or at most a few good things?  Something on the order of Pachelbel's
Canon, Faure's Requiem or Bizet's Carmen.  A few things I ran across that I
like are Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Borodin's Polovetsian Dances, Bruch Violin
Concerto, Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody, Franck's Symphonic Variations and
Symphony.  In other words favorite pieces by not-so-favorite composers or
composers who wrote very little.

response 121 of 194:

Jan 19 22:59 UTC 2000

Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance march number (I think) four" a.k.a what they
play at all the graduations.  Elgar apparently was a well-respected composer
at the time, but I only know his name on account of that one piece.  

response 123 of 194:

Jan 20 19:23 UTC 2000

Elgar's "Enigma" variations remains a popular piece,
and much of his other music sells well enough for 
the Elgar section at Harmony House to be quite ample.
Holst is less well represented, but there are still
many well-known pieces.  If you've ever played in a
high school band, you probably know Holst's two
concert suites for band.  

I would consider Samuel Barber a true one-hit composer,
along the lines of Pachelbel.  He wrote barely 50 opus 
numbers, none of which even comes close to the Adagio 
for Strings in popularity.  I would've said his Violin 
Concerto is a close second, but really nothing comes 
close to the Adagio, which, in the estimate of one man
(Ned Rorem, an envious no-hit composer) is *always* being 
played, somewhere in the world, at any given moment.