# "Catchy" classical pieces



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Have you ever fell in love with some piece so bad, that you could not get enough of it? Did it follow you wherever did you go? Before I started listening to classical music I though that it's imposible to find such piece in this genre. And this was mistake. 

This is thread for you to write about pieces that completely enslaved you. 

I'm, for example, still listening to Saint-Saens "Danse Macabre". These dancing skeletons won't let me go. Before this one I was followed by Liszt and his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, and few of Mozart's concertos: K622, 467, and 495.


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

There a lot of great catchy classical pieces. I still hum "Le Tombeau de Couperin: I. Prelude" by Ravel a good bit. There's a part in Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 2 "London Symphony" that I can't get out of my head. The other day I was humming a passage from Borodin's Symphony No. 2.

There are so many of them.


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## PartisanRanger (Oct 19, 2008)

One of my recent catchy finds Bruch's Violin Concerto (3rd mov). It's hard to get that one out of your head.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Haven't been able to shake Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet for days. So catchy and fun!


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

Cage's 4'33'' got one hell of a catchy tune


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Aramis said:


> Have you ever fell in love with some piece so bad, that you could not get enough of it? Did it follow you wherever did you go?


It happened to me many, many times so I won't list all the works. A few weeks ago the time for Brahms' piano concerto in d minor. It looks like Strauss' Don Juan won't leave my head nowadays.



> Haven't been able to shake Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet for days. So catchy and fun!


Did you somehow managed to hum or whistle the piece on your way to work?



> One of my recent catchy finds Bruch's Violin Concerto (3rd mov). It's hard to get that one out of your head.


You should get to know his others violin concertos, they are full of catchy tunes.


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

For me there are several "catchy" pieces. To name only some:

Kabalevsky's Violin Concerto in C (1st movement)

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D (Finale)

_In the Hall of the Mountain King_, from Grieg's _Peer Gynt_--very addicting melody whenever I am near a keyboard or xylophone!

The March from Prokofiev's _The Tale of Three Oranges_

A lot of selections from Shostakovich's ballet music (such as _The Bolt_ or _The Limpid Stream_)
(_Oh, geez. Now these will be swimming in my head all night!_)

One thing is true: the Russians sure know how to compose some pretty catchy tunes!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Some of my favorite tunes that get stuck in my head and my coworkers suffer through my humming them:

*J. S. Bach* - oh there's hundreds, but often I hum part of the Coffee Cantata (the catchy part, I can't rememeber exactly where it falls).

*Beethoven* - again there's hundreds, but I often hum the Piano Sonata No. 8 in Cm "Pathetique" movement 2, or the Symphony No. 7 movement 2 theme, or the Violin Concerto in D -- all of it.

*Brahms* - Symphony No. 4, 1st movement theme -- until it gets too complicated.

*John Dowland* - "Can she excuse my wrongs?" I hum this a lot.

*Gabriel Faure* - The Sicilienne, op. 78 and the Pavane, op. 50 are very catchy if a little sad, but I'm seeing a trend in myself for this type of melody.

*Handel* - hundreds, but mostly the Organ Concerto No. 14 in A, the 5th (last) movement. I don't think I ever heard anything so lively, not even Scarlatti.

*Mendelssohn* - The Hebrides Overture, or parts of it

*Monteverdi* - parts of the 1610 Vespers. I know that sounds crazy, but I find it catchy.

*W. A. Mozart *- Symphony No. 39, movement 3. This is not a very famous Mozart Symphony, but it's the only Mozart piece I go around humming. I like it at a faster tempo than you sometimes hear it.

*Mussorgsky* - The Promenade and The Great Gate of Kiev from Picture at an Exhibition.

*Puccini* - Madame Butterfly, Humming Chorus

*Rachmaninoff* - Piano concerto No. 2, 3rd movment - you know the mysterious pop song theme that comes in about two minutes into it.

*Respighi* - some of the Ancient Airs and Dances themes

*Rodrigo *- Concierto de Aranjuez, adagio. Well, how could you not get that stuck in your head?

*Miklos Rozsa* - some of the music from Ben Hur

*Saint-Saens* - Piano Concerto no. 2. Okay this had something to do with a surreal movie about a pig.

*D. Scarlatti* - the Sonata in D. K. 491 (or L.14). It could have been any of 550+ of his sonatas, but it happens to be this one that I hum.

*Vaughan-Williams* - the Tallis Fantasia, of course.

These are the ones I remember going through my head frequently. Looking over the list, it's mostly chestnuts isn't it? No obscure esoteric pieces. Oh well. . . But then, their catchiness is probably why they're chestnuts.


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Weston said:


> *D. Scarlatti* - the Sonata in D. K. 491 (or L.14). It could have been any of 550+ of his sonatas, but it happens to be this one that I hum.


I majored in whistling with a very clean performance of the famous d minor toccata (K141, I believe) at an _Argerichish _tempo. (I lost the respect of many friends in the act, of course).


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Rondo said:


> The March from Prokofiev's _The Tale of Three Oranges_


Marches generally have catchy tunes. Others I can think of are:

Beethoven - Turkish March (from The Ruins of Athens)
Berlioz - Rakoczy March
Ippolitov Ivanov - Procession of the Sardar
Lehar - The Merry Widow March
Mendelssohn - Wedding March
Sibelius - Alla Marcia (from Karelia Suite)
Suppe - Light Cavalry Overture
Verdi - March from Aida


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## Rachovsky (Jan 5, 2008)

I'll just throw in a single one that I've been humming recently. The andante con moto of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet. It has to be one of my favorite movements from any quartet.


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

I wish I had a couple more voices so that I could properly hum fugues


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

Various little bits from *Mozart's Die Zauberflote*.
All of* Act II from Falstaff *by *Giuseppe Verdi*
Opening to *Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1*
*4th Mvt.* of *Shostakovich's 10th Symphony*
Various Passages from *The Rite of Spring *by *Igor Stravinsky* and the *Gnome Dance *from *Petroushka*....pfhh I could go on, and on...but for now Ill keep it like that.


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## Scented Letters (Mar 14, 2009)

Excellent list, Weston! Many good, "catchy" choices there.

There are too many too many, really. Hundreds and hundreds of pieces that can be considered catchy. I'd like to add to the list, Tchaikovsky's "June" (Barcarolle). I remember there being months at a time of it being stuck in my head. 

Another choice may be Gluck's "Che faro senza Euridice" (if arias are permitted), and least I forget perhaps the (at least in my mind) winner of the theme, is Beethoven's ninth - "Ode to Joy".


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## Margaret (Mar 16, 2009)

Whenever I'm happy I break out into Beethoven's Ninth "Ode to Joy" the choral section (either that or "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" from that Disney movie, "Song of the South").

But the one piece that enslaved me is one I can't identify. It was used as background music on the TV show that first caused me to fall in love with classical music. It's an intense piece and heavy on the cello, Baroque but not, something's a little post-Baroque about it. The internet being what it is I even emailed the man who worked with the show's composer to put together the CD soundtrack of the show's music and asked him about it. He tells me conclusively that the piece wasn't composed for the show, but that he doesn't know what it is either. They used genuine classical music as background music for the show, Beethoven's string quartets make an appearance. So it's some unknown classical piece, but I don't know what though I'd love to find out because right now it's going through my head again, and probably will be all day.


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## chung (Apr 17, 2009)

For the longest time I felt enslaved by Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 (orchestral version of No. 9 for piano). More recently I've had similar feelings about the first movement from Schumann's 4th symphony. The middle section of that movement is especially catchy for me.


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## blays (Apr 19, 2009)

Margaret, what was the show's name?
You know that's an interesting story. My dad told me when he was 18 ish he heard a piece of classical music that was put as background in a cooking oil commercial, and that specific piece got him hooked on classical music. (It was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto 1st or 3rd movement, I can't remember).


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## Margaret (Mar 16, 2009)

blays said:


> Margaret, what was the show's name?


Airwolf. It used a fair amount of classical music in the first season. You can hear this particular piece here:






(I didn't even open the link and it's going through my head again. I'm going to be stuck with that earworm all day. Not that I mind it. It's catchy.)

Any rate, I've been trying to identify it and so loaded it onto youtube as part of that attempt.



blays said:


> You know that's an interesting story. My dad told me when he was 18 ish he heard a piece of classical music that was put as background in a cooking oil commercial, and that specific piece got him hooked on classical music. (It was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto 1st or 3rd movement, I can't remember).


For those of us who didn't grow up listening to classical music I always say that you never know what will inspire that love. For me it was Airwolf. For your dad a TV commercial. Even in just "bites" you hear the right piece of music that connects with something in you and you're captivated.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Rachmaninov's "Symphonic Dances" is catchy. RVW's 3rd movement of "A London Symphony" is quite catchy. Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Coupterin" is really catchy. There are so many!


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## Edmond-Dantes (Mar 20, 2009)

Aramis said:


> Have you ever fell in love with some piece so bad, that you could not get enough of it?


Truly, if you knew me, this isn't a question you would ask. 

I have a song in my head ALWAYS. I'm not exaggerating. It often makes it difficult for me to concentrate, and has even made me loose a job. My boss said that I "couldn't pay attention to my duties because I was always daydreaming." It's not that he was wrong, but it still was a horrible thing to be fired for.. ^^;;;

When I go to bed I have a song in my head, and when I wake up it will still be there. When I was younger, I had to get sleeping pills because I wasn't able to sleep very well. The song would just go on again and again. I later figured out that if I listened to music pretty well continuously(which I don't mind in the least..), it wouldn't just be one or two songs over and over throughout the night.

I've gotten used to having a song in my head all the time though, and it doesn't effect me as much when I work as it did when I was 15...


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## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

catchy??
Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance
Percy Grainger's "The Gumsuckers" March


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

For catchy pieces check out some of thes overtures:

Herold - Zampa
Rossini - William Tell, Thieving Magpie, Italian Girl in Algiers
Suppe - Light Cavalry, Poet & Peasant
Bernstein - Candide


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## chrish (Aug 21, 2016)

List of tunes I find catchy ATM..

Beethovan:


























Chopin:
















Debussy:





















Schubert:
















Bach:





















Miscellaneous:


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

The Dance of the Birds is a little charmer and makes me think Rimsky is underrated as a melodist.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I find the opening minute of this maybe the most striking and catchiest I ever heard


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

For me this one: > Mahler - Symphony No. 2, 1st Movement - Georg Solti 1966


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

David Phillips said:


> The Dance of the Birds is a little charmer and makes me think Rimsky is underrated as a melodist.


If you think that's catchy, try Rimsky-Korsakov's overture to The Tsar's Bride!


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