# One composition per country:



## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

A space capsule is being launched, and every country is allowed to send just one classical score to represent it, at its best, to the universe. Nominate your own. Explanations highly welcome. (Please don't feel at all limited to the countries I've included.)

America: Young, _The Tortoise: His Dreams and Journey_*
France: Debussy, _Pelléas and Mélisande_
Germany: Mozart, _The Marriage of Figaro_
Italy: Verdi, _Don Carlos_
Russia: Stravinsky, _The Rite of Spring_

* Of course, somebody would have to transcribe it first. Or maybe we could just send a recording.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Italy: Verdi, _Nabucco_
Russia: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6
Germany: Mozart, Requiem
United States: Copland, Appalachian Spring
France: gosh. I would say Ravel's Pavane, but too short. So I'll take Debussy's Pelleas. 
England: Vaughan Williams, Symphony no. 1 Sea Symphony (our space trademark is water, right?)
Scandinavian countries: Sibelius, Symphony no. 5
Central/Eastern European countries: Dvorak, Slavonic Dances opus 46 (I decided against New World Symphony; I didn't like the idea of sending a piece that was meant to capture the spirit of another country. The Slavs were closer to home for Dvorak)


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

Germany: Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
France: Gombert, Media vita in morte sumus
England: Tippett, fourth symphony
Spain: Victoria, Libera me (from Requiem 1605)
Poland: Chopin, 24 Preludes
USA: William Schuman, 10th symphony
Greece: Xenakis, Horos
Finland: Rautavaara, Incantations

I'm trying to include things that I, as an alien, would like to chance upon during my space probes.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Austria: Haydn's Creation
Germany: Beethoven's symphony #6
England: Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Italy: Puccini's Turandot

This is all just for fun, it is in no way indicative of what my favorites truly are.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Japan: Takemitsu-Towards the Sea
Spain: Albeniz-Iberia
France: Messiaen-Turangalila symphony
Brazil: Villa-Lobos-Guitar concerto
Hungary: Bartok-Violin concerto no. 2
Russia: Shostakovich-Symphony no. 5
Austria: Mozart-Symphony no. 40
Germany: Bach-Goldberg var.
England: Britten-Nocturnal
gotta stop now...


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

ArtMusic said:


> England: Handel


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## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

Chronochromie said:


>


Speaking for myself, I think we can regard Handel as honorary 45.56% English (rounds to 50%) as of 1713, when he was not only living in England, but copying Purcell. This is contrast to, for example, Stravinsky, who lived for a long time in France and America without ever becoming French or American.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

This will require a lot of research and a painful process of elimination!


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Weston said:


> This will require a lot of research and a painful process of elimination!


Yep. There is no way I will be able to select just one composition from Germany. And I can't even think of any composition by most countries.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

America - Appalachian Spring - Copland
Spain - Nights in the Garden of Spain - Falla
Czech - Ma Vlast - Smetena
Austria - Blue Danube Waltz - J Strauss
Germany - Symphony #9 - Beethoven
Norway - Piano Concerto - Grieg
Finland - Symphony #2 - Sibelius
Russia - Symphony #4 - Tchaikovsky
USSR - Symphony #5 - Shostakovich
England - Enigma Variations - Elgar
France - non, je ne regrette rien - Edith Piaff
Italy - La Traviatta - Verdi
Switzerland - _I'm remaining neutral on this one_
Sweden - Dancing Queen - Abba

_Too obvious?_


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## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

senza sordino said:


> Switzerland - _I'm remaining neutral on this one_


o i c wut u did thar


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Italy: Bellini's Norma (the actual greatest Italian opera).


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Germany: Beethoven - Symphony #9. The text could be changed slightly to embrace millions of aliens and kiss the whole universe.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Spain: de Falla, _Noches en los Jardines de España_
France: Ravel, _Concerto for the Left Hand_
Italy: Vivaldi, _The Four Seasons_
England: Walton, _Violin Concerto_
Norway: Grieg, _Piano Concerto_
Finland: Sibelius, _Violin Concerto_
Russia: Prokofiev, _Piano Concerto #3_
Bohemia: Dvorak, _Violin Concerto_
Hungary: Bartok, _Piano Concerto #1_
Austria: Mozart, _Piano Concerto #24_
Germany: Brahms, _Piano Concerto #2_
USA: Hovhaness, _Violin Concerto #2_

You asked for concertos, right?


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

The whole Germany/Austria thing confuses me, because we have Germans composing in Austria and vice versa. But nonetheless I'll give it a go.

America: Ives-Concord Sonata
England: Purcell-Dido and Aeneas 
Finland: Sibelius-Symphony 7
Denmark: Nielsen-Symphony 6
Russia: Prokofiev-Sonata 8
Germany: Beethoven-Symphony 3
Austria: Mozart-Dissonance String Quartet
Hungary: Bartok-Concerto for Orchestra
Czech: Dvorak-String Quintet in G major op 77
France: Bizet-Carmen
Spain: de Falla-Noches en los Jardines de España
Italy: D. Scarlatti-30 Essercizi per Gravicembalo
Poland: Chopin-Ballade no. 4


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Weston said:


> This will require a lot of research and a painful process of elimination!


Most useless poll ever


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Hungary: Bartók - String Quartet nr 4


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Harold in Columbia said:


> ....
> Germany: Mozart, _The Marriage of Figaro_
> 
> .....


Austrians will be very happy for that


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## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

GioCar said:


> Austrians will be very happy for that


Austria was Germany until 1866. (Besides which, Mozart was from Salzburg, which wasn't Austrian in any sense until 1805.) If you want, you can insist on classifying Schönberg, Webern, and Berg specifically as Austrians.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

France - Ravel, La Valse
Finland - Sibelius, Symphony No.2
Denmark - Nielsen, Symphony No.4
Norway - Grieg, Peer Gynt
Iceland - Leifs, Hekla
Czech Republic - Janacek, Sinfonietta
Estonia - Part, Credo
Hungary - Kodaly, Peacock Variations
Poland - Lutoslawski, Concerto for Orchestra
Georgia/Armenia - Khachaturian, Piano Concerto
Russia - Shostakovich, Symphony No.7
Austria - Mahler, Symphony No.3
Switzerland - Honegger, Pacific 231
Germany - R.Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra
Italy - Respighi, Fountains of Rome
Spain - Gerhard, Concerto for Orchestra
Japan - Yoshimatso, Symphony No.2
UK - Vaughan Williams, Tallis Fantasia
USA - Copland, Appalachian Spring / Ives, Holidays Symphony
That'll do for now...


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Harold in Columbia said:


> Austria was Germany until 1866. (Besides which, Mozart was from Salzburg, which wasn't Austrian in any sense until 1805.) If you want, you can insist on classifying Schönberg, Webern, and Berg specifically as Austrians.


Politically Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1815 or so, and Salzburg was ruled by his Archbishop, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

Culturally... well, really it's not worth debating that.

BTW did you know that Verdi is not Italian but French?


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

*United States:* Charles Ives' Symphony no. II.
 *Spain:* Federico Mompou's Cancion y Danza.
*Portugal:* Joly Braga Santos' Symphony no. IV.
*Czechoslovakia:* Zdenek Fibich's Moods, Impressions, and Reminiscences.
*Austria:* Anton Bruckner's Symphony no. VIII.

*Denmark:* Niels Wilhelm Gade's First Symphony.
*Germany:* Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger."
*Sweden:* Kurt Atterberg's Varmland Rhapsody. 
*Finland:* Aarre Merikanto's opera "Juha."
*Russia:* Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" (or Khovanshchina").
*Soviet Russia* (_Socialist Realism_): Ivan Dzerzhinsky's opera "Quiet Flow the River Don."

*Soviet Russia* (_accused of formalism_): Popov's First Symphony (or Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth").

*Soviet Russia* (_dignified stance against Socialist Realism_): Myaskovsky's Symphony no. XVI or XXVII.
*Ukraine:* Boris Lyatoshynsky's "Third Symphony (or Lysenko's opera "Tarus Bulba").
*Estonia:* Artur Kapp's First Symphony (or Tubin's Sinfonietta on Estonian Motifs).

*Latvia:* Janis Ivanovs' Sixth Symphony.

*Great Britain* (_Mid-Late 19th Century Renaissance period_): Hubert Parry's Symphony no. III "English."
*Great Britain* (_20th Century_): William Walton's Symphony no. I.

*Ireland:* Sir Charles Villiers Stanford's "Irish" Symphony.

*Australia:* Edgar Bainton's Concerto Fantasia (or Eugene Goossens' Second Symphony).

*France:* Chausson's Poeme for Violin et Orchestra.
*Italy:* Verdi's "Nabucco."
*China:* Tan Dun's Symphony 1997.

*Brazil:* Heitor Villa-Lobos "A Floresta do Amazonas."

*Mexico:* Daniel Catan's opera "Florencia en al Amazonas."

*Argentina:* Alberto Ginastera's ballet "Panambi." (or Luis Gianneo's Improvisation).
*Romania:* George Enescu's Romanian Rhapsodies I & II

*Hungary:* Zoltan Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus (or Peacock Variations).


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## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

GioCar said:


> Politically Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1815 or so, and Salzburg was ruled by his Archbishop, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
> 
> Culturally... well, really it's not worth debating that.


Culturally, Mozart writes "wir Deutschen," never "wir Österreicher" (because nobody did then).



GioCar said:


> BTW did you know that Verdi is not Italian but French?


That's backwards. What you're saying is, if Lega Nord succeeds one day, then Verdi will stop being Italian and become Padanian.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

The Netherlands: Simeon ten Holt - Canto Osti..zzzzZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZzzz


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## Autocrat (Nov 14, 2014)

Orfeo said:


> *Australia:* Edgar Bainton's Concerto Fantasia (or Eugene Goossens' Second Symphony).


*Pedantry=On*

Not Australian works, by Not Australian composers.

Bainton was born in the UK, and lived in Australia from 1930 to his death in 1956. The Concerto Fantasia was written around the time of WW1, not sure exactly when, but in any case it was a long time before he moved out here.

Similarly, Goossens lived in Australia for less than ten years before he was arrested for importing porn and subsequently ran back to Mother England. Both his symphonies predate this.

*Pedantry=Off*

To my mind, the greatest Australian composer is Peter Sculthorpe, so I'm keen to choose something of his. Perhaps _Port Arthur: In Memoriam_ rises to the top for me.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Autocrat said:


> *Pedantry=On*
> 
> Not Australian works, by Not Australian composers.
> 
> ...


You're quite right, thank you. If anything, both Bainton and Goossens were Anglo-Australian composers, which I think is more accurate.


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## Biwa (Aug 3, 2015)

Australia : Peter Sculthorpe - String Quartet no. 14 with didgeridoo.


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## Guest (May 5, 2016)

America: Gershwin/Grofe - Rhapsody in Blue
Spain: de Falla - Noches en Jardines Espana
Russia: Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia
England: Vaughn Williams - Fantasia on Greensleeves
Germany: Mozart - K364
Italy: Rhespigi - Fountains of Rome
France: Offenbach - Gâité Parisienne (this one's for Mom)
Norway: Grieg - Peer Gynt
Finland: Sibelius - Finlandia
Romania: Enescu - Romanian Rhapsodies
Czech...: Smetana - Ma Vlast


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## Autocrat (Nov 14, 2014)

I would like to suggest

*Poland*: Gorecki = Symphony No. 3

I understand that Chopin is widely identified as _the_ Polish composer, but Gorecki transmits the soul of the country into your head.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

I reserve the right to change my opinion on any of these - this was difficult, choosing just 1 piece per country.

*Argentina*: _Oblivion_, Astor Piazzolla
*Armenia*: _Violin Concerto_, Aram Khachaturian
*Australia*: _Viola Concerto_, Alfred Hill
*Austria*: _Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola_, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
*Belgium*: _Prélude, Chorale, et Fugue_, César Franck
*Brazil*: _Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1_, Heitor Villa-Lobos
*Cambodia*: _Khse Buon_, Chinary Ung
*China*: _Piano Concerto_, Mingxin Du
*Cuba*: _Indígena_, Tania Léon
*Czech Republic*: _Symphony No. 9_, Antonin Dvorak
*Denmark*: _Symphony No. 2_, Carl Nielsen
*Estonia*: _Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten_, Arvo Pärt
*Finland*: _Symphony No. 2_, Jean Sibelius
*France*: _Piano Concerto No. 2_, Camille Saint-Saëns
*Germany*: _Violin Concerto_, Felix Mendelssohn
*Greece*: _5 Greek Dances_, Nikos Skalkottas
*Hungary*: _Violin Concerto_, Karl Goldmark
*Italy*: _Pines of Rome_, Ottorino Respighi
*Japan*: _Requiem_, Toru Takemitsu
*Moldova*: _Gramofon_, Eugen Doga
*Norway*: _Peer Gynt_, Edvard Grieg
*Poland*: _Nocturne, Op. 55, No. 1_, Frédéric Chopin
*Romania*: _Romanian Rhapsody_, George Enescu
*Russia*: _Scheherazade_, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
*Spain*: _Ritual Fire Dance_, Manuel de Falla
*Sweden*: _Symphony No. 3_, Franz Berwald
*Switzerland*: _Violin Concerto_, Frank Martin
*Turkey*: _Viola Concerto_, Yalçin Tura
*Ukraine*: _Nocturne_, Nikolai Roslavets (if Prokofiev doesn't count for Ukraine)
*United Kingdom*: _Viola Concerto_, William Walton
*United States*: _Symphony No. 2_, Charles Ives

Did I go a little overboard? :lol:


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## Notorious JWB (May 6, 2016)

This is strictly off the top of my head - probably come up with a bunch of alternate choices tomorrow.

Czech Republic - Dvorak - Cello Concerto
Germany - Beethoven - Symphony 9
USA - Barber - Symphony 1
Austria - Schubert - Trout Quintet (because even aliens probably have at least a passing familiarity with Mozart) 
England - Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Russia - Shostakovich - Symphony 10 
France - Saint-Saens - Symphony 3
Finland - Sibelius - gotta go with Symphony 5, but I've recently become fascinated with the 7th
Denmark - Nielsen - Violin Concerto 
Poland - Chopin - Etudes Op 25


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Taking you at your literal word that we are going to be sending scores rather than the (recorded) sounds they are intended to represent, I would gear my choices to those that might most readily facilitate the deciphering of the underlying notation system by alien cultures. The assumptions I would make are that the cultures with which we are concerned would be only those with the requisite intelligence and sensory apparatus and some kind of sophisticated musical tradition. With this in mind, WTC I would probably be an excellent choice. 

What would an alien culture coming upon a document such as WTC I make of it? I don't think we can necessarily assume all cultures capable of appreciating or learning to appreciate Bach as pure sound structures would necessarily have a tradition of notated music. For some, music might only be meaningful as, for example, personal expression created extemporaneously, or as a prelude to mating. Be that as it may, any of our target cultures would recognize that the document is information laden and comprises more than one symbol system. Given the dimensions of the symbol set used in the titles and in the text of the frontispiece and any editorial apparatus, I think one can be pretty sure the aliens would recognize an alphabet and assume a written language. Whether they would figure out which end was up or the directions in which the text should be read is another matter entirely. The musical notation would likely be quite a puzzle. However, it is certain they would recognize purely mathematical patterns in the number and grouping of noteheads within measures. The proportional relationships of 16th notes, eighth notes, quarters and so on would become clear almost immediately and they would ask what these proportional relationships were meant to represent. Divisions of what exactly and for what purpose? Anyway …

Eventually the aliens will begin testing numerous hypotheses, among which the representation of discrete musical pitches would likely occur. They must inevitably have understood the relationship of simple frequency ratios in the way the Ancient Greeks did. Is the path Western culture followed to equal temperament from these physical facts a likely one to be reproduced by alien cultures? Perhaps not. On the other hand, this system, like the visual apparatus that evolved over forty separate times in Earth species might be a common product of convergent evolution across many different galaxies. In any case it seems likely that in exploring the musical notation hypothesis, the aliens would used machine intelligence to test various tone systems, evaluating the results using audio playback. If 12-tone equal temperament was one of the options they tested would they recognize the coherence of the result upon hearing it?

In addition to the WTC, I would send at least one strophic song with text in order to suggest the effect stanza structure based in written language had on the development of musical phrase structure. But I would begin with simple monophonic songs with syllabic text underlay. Any alien culture would likely interpret the alphabetic symbols as language and perhaps even speculate that the graphic symbols with which it was paired indicated something about inflection, rhythm or pitch. Come to think of it, a primer using such simple songs would probably be the best way to start.


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## Hildadam Bingor (May 7, 2016)

Hungary - Liszt - Années de pèlenirage (can I could all three vols? If I can't count all three vols, then vol 2).


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