# A musical representation of the seven deadly sins



## Gondola (Sep 10, 2012)

I've been having a lovely time browsing on this forum and decided to come in from the cold and relinquish my lurker status  
And I'm hoping that some of you might have some ideas for a gathering I'm planning.
Every year I host a hallowe'en dinner party, and this year the theme is a dinner with the devil. Most years I've served dubious (though always delicious) food but this year I'm planning a very sophisticated menu with each course representing one of the seven deadly sins. That's the simple version I have a tendancy to go over the top.
So I'm trying to work out a musical repertoire to accompany each course. At first, it seems a straightforward task to match a piece of music to each sin but it is actually proving very complicated. Timing is an obvious headache, but not an insurmountable one as I can skip ahead on the playlist or repeat where necessary. And while certain pieces suggest certain sins the effect is lost when you play two or three pieces together. I'm getting a deep appreciation for the work that goes into organising any compilation of music!

The running order of the courses is Envy, wrath, greed, pride, lust, sloth, gluttony

Some lend themselves to a musical interpretation more than others; I'm at a loss for sloth, but perhaps playing something at a very slow speed might create the right ambiance. I'm not sure.


I would love to hear any suggestions for music to match the sins, and also advise on combining pieces, or experiences of matching music to food (successful or unsuccessful: I've never attempted it on this scale) or even wise comments on the folly of the attempt


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Bear in mind that attaching such definite ideas to music (which is very abstract) is always going to be personal. The thing to do is bring out the contrast between each sin - and therefore the music - this should help articulate the effect you are going for. It doesn't have to be perfect.

The other thing to watch out for is monotony - they are all sins and particularly the minor mode might dominate. Also remember that contrast within pieces is not bad - frequently it is the contrast with an emotion that defines it as much as the initial scene-setting. On the other hand too much contrast will spoil the mood! Welcome to one of the fundamental problems of composition (and apparently programme-making). I would advise picking all the works for each sin from one composer (or at least very similar ones) to help keep the frame of mind the same - even if it isn't exactly what you want.

I am assuming that you are looking for Classical repertoire. Here is a considered programme, the bold ones are suggestions I am particularly pleased with, although I think most of them would serve the purpose.

Envy - Mahler symphony 9 movement 3, Mahler symphony 4 movement 2 could also be handy as it is supposed to represent a dance with the devil. You could start with latter since it is certainly devilish, thereby making cunning use of the fact that for the first sin you are both trying to define the sin, but also the devilish atmosphere, and by emphasizing the latter you can get away with more leniency on the first.

Wrath - *Beethoven Coriolan Overture* - running into the 'pathetique' sonata if you need more time (first movement primarily -definitely not the second) or the last movement of the moonlight. Plenty of Beethoven could count.

Greed - Saint-Saens Danse Macabre - this is generally useful as it is another devil - themed piece. It would form a useful continuity with the Mahler 4th if you put that in envy, keeping a long-term continuity going. This would probably be best on repeat, rather than more than one piece here. This could also go in Gluttony I think.

Pride - Bach's Musical offering, or Beethoven's Grosse Fuge (enough time has passed since the previous Beethoven for this. This is also quite unique in his output and shouldn't be too similar. This one I would also put on repeat since nothing is quite like it)

Lust - *Tchaikovsky's symphony 6 movement 2* (Avoid movement 4 as it would be too similar to sloth upcoming - the contrast is necessary) - (again this one on repeat, or look in Swan Lake or something for more), or look for stuff in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. This one isn't too hard - just beware of choosing something slow, or sloth won't stand out in comparison - sloth must seem slower than what comes before it as there are few other defining features for it, and if this is slow then you would have to look for something else and there isn't very much.

Sloth - Mahler symphony 4 movement 3. I apologize for resorting to Mahler again, however it is a long time since the opening when Mahler was first played, so it shouldn't matter if you use him agian. I feel that a slow movement is necessary here, and also one preferably in the major, and unless I resorted to Haydn and Mozart, I think this one is best. Most slow things like this aim for the sublime - few composers actually aim to bore their audiences (which is effectively what a portrait of sloth is). You could look at Haydn's Baryton trios among which there are many adagios which are not too energetic (=a bit boring - but perfectly pleasant background music)

Gluttony - My advice here would be to be sly and use what is effectively a love-piece (of which there are many, and this time it doesn't matter if they're slow) - since both Gluttony and Lust are about desire. Just try to make sure it isn't _too_ obviously lustful - then you can exploit the ambiguity of desire and the program you have set will make people think about desire of food, since they know that is what it is supposed to be, rather than other kinds of desire. So I would either recommend the Tchaikovsky again if you didn't use it before, or Mozart la ci darem la mano. My main idea though would be to end with the fourth movement of Mahler's 4th, since my list has been quite Mahler-themed and it would thus be nice to end with him, as well as the fact that the movement is actually about food, in some sense. Beginning with it isn't so good since it doesn't sound very gluttonous at the beginning, and it would be best to use something else to set the tone. By this point your job is easier since everyone is hopefully full, happy, indulgent and continuity and contrast become less of a priority.

This is an example list that I would come up with. This was quite fun - neat idea by the way


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## Mephistopheles (Sep 3, 2012)

Hmm, let's see. Immediately, I would recommend Tchaikovsky's _Francesca da Rimini_ for lust - it's long, but it is a fantastical, tempestuous depiction of hell based on a story about two Italians damned for an extra-marital affair.

It's quite hard to do the others because there aren't necessarily tone poems that match, and it's difficult to find abstract music that sounds "greedy". It's also hard because not all music has the same character throughout, and some will sound terrifying in places while subdued elsewhere. Anyway, here is a brief list of things I think sound in some way imposing that you might want to consider:

Bruckner: 2nd movement of 9th Symphony
Grieg: Night Ride from Stimmungen; also Hall of the Mountain King if you want to be a bit cliché!
Liszt: 1st movement of Dante Symphony
Messiaen: Start of the Turangalila Symphonie
Mussorgsky: Night on a Bare Mountain
Rachmaninov: Prelude in C# Minor from Op. 3
Rimsky-Korsakov: 1st and 4th movements of Scheherazade
Shostakovich: 2nd movement of 1st Violin Concerto; 4th movement of 5th Symphony
Stravinsky: Extracts from the Rite of Spring
Tchaikovsky: 1st movement of 4th Symphony; 4th movement of Manfred Symphony
Verdi: Dies Irae from the Requiem

Of course, there's much more out there, and there are no doubt horror/hallowe'en-based classical CDs you could look at for inspiration, but those are what I got off the top of my head.


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## Gondola (Sep 10, 2012)

Ramako - thanks so much for going to such trouble in your reply. I was worrying about the effect being monotonous and your suggestion of keeping each sin to a single composer is ingenious. And I can see right away what you meant about the personal nature of interpretation. For a couple of suggestions my reaction was "really?" because I wouldn't have immediately made that connection. It's actually very exciting to listen to a familar work with a different mindset.
Mephistopheles - (apt name ) thanks for those great suggestions. Furiously filling my ipod now! 
oh I am going to have such a lovely time listening through all these suggestions. It's a lovely benefit of having such daft impulses :lol:


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

You probably know Weill´s work "Die 7 Todsünden", which is quite good, for instance in the Julia Migenes recording, somewhat more modern in style than Lotte Lenya´s ...


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

For sloth you might try the Tortoise movement of Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals -- which is basically a quarter-time slowdown of the popular Can-Can dance.


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## Gondola (Sep 10, 2012)

GGluek said:


> For sloth you might try the Tortoise movement of Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals -- which is basically a quarter-time slowdown of the popular Can-Can dance.


 Oh that is quite maddening! And I think I'll be having fun with the Carnival with my toddlers. Thanks for that!

joen_cph: you misjudge the depths of my ignorance:lol: Adding that to my bulging ipod too. Wonderful.


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