# Music on the theme of pride



## Brp (Dec 31, 2018)

Hello
I am a teacher trying to introduce children to great classical music. I do this by having music based on a specific then each term. This term I am looking for music based on pride


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Liszt's so called "pride" motif can be found, among other places, in the Mephistopheles movement of his Faust Symphony where its presence confirms the devil's prideful nature. The "pride" motif can also be found in Liszt's symphonic poem 'Prometheus', named for the arrogant Titan punished by the gods for disobeying them, and in Orage (Thunderstorm) from Book 1 of Liszt's 'Années de pèlerinage'.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

_The Great Gate of Kiev_ concluding Mussorgsky's _Pictures at an Exhibition_ might well demonstrate a musical evocation of Pride.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I take it you don't want to necessarily play Charlie Pride or CCR's "Proud Mary". That said, perhaps you will consider pieces such as "Finlandia" by Jean Sibelius, a great starter work for classical music enthusiasts and one that can be discussed in terms of the composer's pride for his homeland and his homeland's subsequent pride of the music.






https://finland.fi/arts-culture/finlandia-by-jean-sibelius/


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I recommend György Ligeti's Requiem, an evocation of the pride of human race in its courageous fight against climate change.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Aaron Copland's famous (and familiar) "Fanfare for the Common Man" can be used to discuss pride.






So, too, can Joan Tower's less familiar but equally interesting "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman". (Parts I, II, III and V were written for brass. Parts IV and VI of the piece are for full orchestra.)

Here's Part I:


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Of course, any discussion about pride should include some words about hubris, that Greeky sense of too much pride that brings a downfall.

American composer Christopher Rouse has written a piece called "Phaethon". Phaethon, you'll recall, is a son of the sun god, Helios, and gains fame as the Greek youth who pridefully stole and drove his father's chariot but came to his destruction when he found he could not handle the vehicle properly.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Rouse's symphonic poem:

"Phaethon is a symphonic poem by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned in celebration of the United States Bicentennial by the Philadelphia Orchestra with contributions from Johnson & Higgins. It was completed on February 22, 1986 and was given its world premiere at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Muti on January 8, 1987. It is dedicated in memory of the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which broke apart on the morning of January 28, 1986 while Rouse was composing the piece. Since its premiere, Phaethon has become one of Rouse's most popular orchestral compositions."






Certainly much there to deal with in terms of pride. Both bad and good pride.

Check up on other symbols of pride, and I'm sure you'll find much music corresponding.

From one proud teacher to another.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

As I hinted at in my post on Sibelius and his _Finlandia_, pride of nation is one of the motivations for composers. Some research into this area should reveal many works which will qualify for hearing and discussion of "pride".

Czech composer Bedřich Smetana wrote with pride for his country. _The Moldau_ (in Czech: _Vltava_)is a symphonic poem by this Bohemian composer; the music, a staple of classical music and one of the best known works of the genre, evokes the flow of the Vltava River-or, in German, the Moldau-from its source in the mountains of the Bohemian Forest, through the Czech countryside, to the city of Prague. A devoutly patriotic work, _The Moldau_ captures in music Smetana's love of his homeland.






Louis Moreau Gottschalk, an American composer who had a great love for his country, expressed his pride of nation with his work _The Union: Concert Paraphrase on National Airs_. Gottschalk, a fierce supporter of the north, wrote this virtuosic work during the American Civil War. _Union_ combines three pre-existing national tunes: 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' 'Yankee Doodle,' and 'Hail, Columbia.'


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Brp said:


> Hello
> I am a teacher trying to introduce children to great classical music. I do this by having music based on a specific then each term. This term I am looking for music based on pride


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

If you mean pride as in "goeth before the fall" then this is the ultimate example:


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Schoenberg's Piano Suite (op. 25), the first of his works in which every movement employs the you-know-what technique, which prompted Schoenberg's infamous comment about "guarantee[ing] the supremacy of German music for the next hundred years." The music tries to live up to this bold claim symbolically, not only by encoding the name of the great German granddaddy into the tone row (the last four pitches of the tone row are the BACH motif in retrograde) but also by casting the work in the form of a Baroque dance suite.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

christomacin said:


> If you mean pride as in "goeth before the fall" then this is the ultimate example...


I will also nominate Vivaldi's Summer from the Four Seasons, which after all goeth…


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