It’s so embarrassing. I really like classical music, but sometimes I don’t remember what a recording is when I hear it on the radio, though it might be very familiar.
The new car has a feature whereby it identifies the songs on some of the radio stations. Huh, Nick Jonas has a single sans his brothers. Unfortunately, the feature doesn’t seem to work on the classical radio stations.
We’re listening to WMHT-FM, and the Wife and I are trying to identify the composer. It that Beethoven? No, it sounds too Russian, maybe Tchaikovsky. This is driving me crazy.
Since The Wife was baking that night, we needed eggs and a few other items from the Honest Weight Food Co-op. I’m standing in the bakery section when I hear this guy humming the very same thing we’d been trying to figure out.
I say to him excitedly, “What IS that you’re humming?”
“I was humming? Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No, no. WHAT are you humming?”
“Dvorak’s New World Symphony.”
D’oh. I love that thing, own it on CD, but I simply couldn’t place it.
“Were you listening to WMHT too?” I asked, knowing full well the answer was yes.
LISTEN to The Symphony No. 9 in E Minor “From the New World”, Op. 95, B. 178, popularly known as the New World Symphony, composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895.
Here is another version.
A symphony guide from The Guardian.
Dec 16, 1893: Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” receives its world premiere in New York City.
Jaquandor insists No, John Williams did NOT rip off Dvorak.
I traveled to Jaquandor’s site and posited my opinion. C’mon, he did SO listen to Dvorak and adapt it, nah nah nah!!! Ha ha. Love the fact that you already know what the other is listening to, since I often listen to music while I know full well Lex is tuned to the sports update channel… ah, marriage. Amy
From some very old archives:
The so-called Theme Finder (issued as [Columbia] M2X 36929) drew together 222 fragments from the Basic Repertoire on two LPs, complete with origin and (of course) catalog number of the album on which the entire work could be purchased. With a wide range of selections, from the Grand March from Aida to the Zampa Overture, this was a wonderful tool for browsing or for playing some mediumfalutin’ version of “Name That Tune”.
If you had a smartphone, you could use Shazam (http://www.shazam.com/apps) to identify music. Actually, I’ve never tried it on classical music, but it works pretty well on pop music, so there’s that. 😉
Sure Roger, you’ve hit on one of those common little problems that hardly anyone talks about. I’ve got a big collection of classical music snatches floating around in my head. I hear the tunes all the time but in my mind they simply float, unconnected with the time and place they were written and performed, and usually nameless and composerless. Not like all that classic rock in my head, each tune catalogued, attached to details and readily identified. I keep telling myself that one day I’m gonna ID all those classical tunes, yessir, gonna get around to that fer sher.