# Anachronistic styling in classical music



## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Since it originated (early in the 19th cent.) the Romantic style seems to have survived the test of time. For example, many modern film scores are all "all" Romantic.

But I can't seem to recall Baroque or Classical styles being "kept alive" after each of their successive eras had passed.

There are, of course, minor exceptions ... such as myriad Bach transcriptions (Stokowski, etc ) or even Samuel Barber Baching it out...





..and speaking of film music, how about Hans Zimmer's Classical-styled "Vienna" from Woman in Gold (2015)






Any other examples?


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Neoclassical music.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Resphigi's Ancient Airs and Dances suites come to mind. I believe all of the suites were intended to reflect the musical styling of the Renaissance, in particular lute music.





There is also Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, which is basically a tribute to the Baroque era. The title, "The Tomb of Couperin," reflects the French tradition of writing "tombeaux" in memory of certain people, or even times, in this case the Baroque.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Grieg's Holberg suite and Prokofiev's first symphony come to mind.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

It's easy to think of numerous works paying homage to older styles, but true "throwbacks"? That's a much harder thing. Maybe composers are generally nervous about competing with their forbearers -- as well they might be!


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

Here are some more pieces where these composers are "harkening back":

Paul Hindemith, Suite of French Dances:





Henryk Górecki, Three Pieces in Old Style:





Andrzej Panufnik, Old Polish Suite for string orchestra:





Richard Strauss, Le bourgeois gentilhomme:





Ottorino Respighi, Gli Uccelli:





Gioacchino Rossini / Ottorino Respighi, La Boutique fantasque:





Peter Warlock, Capriol Suite:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Maybe I am misunderstanding the OP but I do think that the neoclassical music of the early/mid 20th Century (especially Stravinsky but also Hindemith - who also harked back to the Baroque quite a bit - Martin etc.) was as "Classical" as modern romantic" music is "Romantic". Personally, I get a little tired of the non-stop romanticism of so much modern music - too much of it leans back on the same old effects instead of being truly new.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

13hm13 said:


> Since it originated (early in the 19th cent.) the Romantic style seems to have survived the test of time. For example, many modern film scores are all "all" Romantic.
> 
> But I can't seem to recall Baroque or Classical styles being "kept alive" after each of their successive eras had passed.


The difference is that no period before the 20th century brought the classical tradition to such a crisis of meaning and direction that people still felt the need to cling to an older style for many decades. In the 20th century we had the situation of "progressive" music detaching itself in radical ways from idioms the general audience found palatable or comprehensible. In the meantime, Romanticism (loosely defined) never died; the majority of composers early in the century still composed in recognizably Romantic, tonal styles, though perhaps "spicing" them with a bit more dissonance, and with harmonic and rhythmic influences from jazz and ethnic sources. Romanticism survived because people still wanted melodies they could remember and sing, tonal progressions that made sense to their brains, consonant harmonies as a context for dissonance, and the expression of recognizable, positive emotions. Music of that sort, disdained by 20th-century academia as regressive, found a natural home in film and on the stage, where outstanding composers such as Korngold, North, Herrmann, the Bernsteins, Rodgers, et al. established a tradition that continues to this day. Given that Romanticism arose two centuries ago, it isn't surprising that its contemporary manifestations often sound derivative and watered-down, but the mere fact that it's lived through all the new developments and movements in contemporary "classical" music tells me that it still meets some human need.


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## Frances Metcalfe (Feb 12, 2017)

Arthur Sullivan used all manner of styles in the Savoy operas, eg a madrigal in Ruddigore. In more modern times, contemporary composer Carl Davis has drawn on the classical era - as far as I can recall his music for the TV series 'Pride and Prejudice' is a celebration of Beethoven.


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> Grieg's Holberg suite and Prokofiev's first symphony come to mind.


Bingo!

Both good examples of a Classical homage.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Ernst Krenek's Concertino, op. 27 for flute, violin, harpsichord and strings from 1924 bears traces of the Baroque. It is a kind of Concerto grosso that puts one in mind, perhaps, of the 5th Brandenburg Concerto. Krenek himself admitted that he had sought to treat elements of early 18th century music in a novel manner and in doing so he had "revelled in memories of the music of that era".






Another neo-Baroque piece of music is Darius Milhaud's Dixtuor à cordes, op. 74 from 1921. The original version of this work for ten instruments is part of Milhaud's Six Symphonies for small orchestra - the Dixtuor is Symphony No 4. The overture is reminiscent in its taut rhythm of, once again, Bach's Brandenburg Concerti. In Chorale, a solo double-bass conducts a dialogue with a tutti based on two themes, whereas in the closing Etudes there is a 'fugato' in two sections consisting of two subjects which start out a fifth apart in contrary motion, demonstrating Milhaud's contrapuntal skill.


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