# Does the weather (the season) affect your musical appetite?



## TxllxT

In Holland the summer is expected to re-enter in full bloom during the coming weekend. Sunny weather spurs my appetite for glorious arias, like baroque, Russian, _Viva Verdi!_ or whatever more that lifts the spirit higher & higher. Dark & wintery weather on the other hand makes me long & reach out for lengthy & brooding symphonies à la Jean Sibelius or Anton Bruckner. With this forum being globally present in all seasons/weathers at the same time I wonder, whether for example our European antipodes in the southern hemisphere (who are heading into the winter season) do have the same kind of weather-affections on their musical palate, but in reverse .... Or when you live in a desert climate, does it have an impact? Or, say, in everlasting rainy places....


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## Polednice

I can't say that the weather has ever really affected my listening habits. Although, I am (to my frustration) unlike most people in that the sun really depresses me, and I much prefer it when there is a good spread of clouds and/or some rain, so the usual characteristics you associate with certain weathers don't match up for me.


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## Krummhorn

Polednice said:


> I can't say that the weather has ever really affected my listening habits. Although, I am (to my frustration) unlike most people in that the sun really depresses me, and I much prefer it when there is a good spread of clouds and/or some rain, so the usual characteristics you associate with certain weathers don't match up for me.


Glad to see that I'm not the only one who shares the same weather dislikes for sunny days. I perk up when it's cloudy or rainy - I hate the sunshine - too much of that where I live presently.



TxllxT said:


> In Holland the summer is expected to re-enter in full bloom during the coming weekend. Sunny weather spurs my appetite for glorious arias, like baroque, Russian, _Viva Verdi!_ or whatever more that lifts the spirit higher & higher. Dark & wintery weather on the other hand makes me long & reach out for lengthy & brooding symphonies à la Jean Sibelius or Anton Bruckner. With this forum being globally present in all seasons/weathers at the same time I wonder, whether for example our European antipodes in the southern hemisphere (who are heading into the winter season) do have the same kind of weather-affections on their musical palate, but in reverse .... Or when you live in a desert climate, does it have an impact? Or, say, in everlasting rainy places....


In reference to living in a desert climate, I can relate to that ... We live in the 'high desert' at an elevation of about 2700 feet above sea level (~823 meters) where the summer temperatures can achieve 117°f/~48°c at the extreme. Today, it's 105°f/41°c. 
That said, the weather really has no impact on what I listen to ... we basically have two seasons here: Summer, and ... <sigh> Summer. But for some reason, the members of my congregation absolutely love it when I play Bach in the warmer months (9 out of 12) and appreciate contemporaries (Langlais or Van Hulse for example) more during the cooler times. I guess with the extreme desert heat of the "2nd Summer" season, listening to Bach (organ works) is less straining to the ears.


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## sospiro

Because most of my listening is done while walking I tend to go for good marching tunes when it's cold & dreamier softer music when it's warm.

You can't beat Attila with Raimondi & Milnes on a cold, dark, foggy morning.


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## Il_Penseroso

Yes, yes, yes ! and not only the seasons but different places as well. I've always thought I'm the only one having this serious problem (If we ever could call it so ...)


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## Il_Penseroso

sospiro said:


> You can't beat Attila with Raimondi & Milnes on a cold, dark, foggy morning.


I wish to see how the weather is going to change, if Alama can't see Anna awhile ...


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## regressivetransphobe

Occasionally. Fall is all about doom metal.


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## Huilunsoittaja

Rain or shine, Summer or Winter, Prokofiev Prokofiev Prokofiev.  Although cloudy or rainy days work for his solo piano music best.

For my mom, she's more specific. You can't listen to Bach Violin Concertos unless it's fall.

And how dare anyone listen to Tchaikovsky's _The Nutcracker _when it's not December!!! :scold:

:tiphat:


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## mmsbls

The weather here (California) does not change much except that it gets a little bit colder and rains in the winter. Nevertheless, weather has never affected my listening moods or desires. 

I would also say that my personal mood also does not seem to affect my listening habits (when or what I listen to).


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## kv466

If and when I'm in tune with such important things, it most very much does indeed.


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## World Violist

During winter I tend to listen to more Bach and Sibelius (cliche, yes, but it works for me).

This summer is turning out to be a heavy Bruckner summer, but it started a little bit during the winter, so I think Bruckner is something of a perennial for me.

In fact, I don't know if I have a "summer composer."


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## elgar's ghost

I'm just as likely to play Bach's Easter Oratorio in December and his Christmas Oratorio in April. Neither the time of year nor the weather on any particular day would influence my listening choices at all.


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## Aramis

When it's hot I don't listen too much. I lost most of my appetite when it's close to or over 30 degrees.


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## Vaneyes

No, but time of day often can: Morning - Baroque and Classical; Afternoon - Romantic and Modern Chamber; Evening - Romantic and Modern Orchestral.


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## Polednice

Vaneyes said:


> No, but time of day often can: Morning - Baroque and Classical; Afternoon - Romantic and Modern Chamber; Evening - Romantic and Modern Orchestral.


For me, time of day affects the ensemble I like to listen to. Morning: small orchestra; afternoon: large orchestra; evening: chamber music; late night: solo piano.


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## science

I often try to match my music to my other activities. 

Now I'm reading Don Quixote so I'm going back through my Spanish Renaissance and Baroque music. I know it's ridiculously corny, but I get a kick from matching up my food to my activities as well. 

The season factors into that. I usually don't think about matching moods of weather to music, but I do pay a little bit of attention to where we are in the church calendars and listen occasionally to the appropriate music. It's another way of enjoying that sense of connection.


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## Almaviva

It's been so hot in the Southeastern United States! Up to 100 degrees. I hate it.
But yes, it's a time for white wine and light opera.
I'm planning an event at home for friends, with white wine, cheese, and light opera recitals, instead of a full blown opera. We'll do it on 
Sunday July 3rd.


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## Ukko

For me neither the weather nor the season - per se - affect my listening. In common with many elderly folks, the 'holiday season', mid-November through early January, is depression time; I seem to miss more the friends and kin who have deprived me of their company by dieing. I listen to music not to be cheered - there is no such music - but to music that draws out and 'unkinks' the angst, and takes it to resolution. Mahler is good for that, and so is Rachmaninoff. I am not a conventionally religious person, but some of the late medieval to early renaissance church music works too.

 Hah! This post should get marks for irrelevance _and_ its wet blanket effect. Well, anything for a laugh.


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## Chi_townPhilly

Funny this thread should come up THIS week- because there are two works that I'll _always_ find time for precisely during this stretch of the calendar:

Hugo Alfvén: _Swedish Rhapsody #1_ (Midsommarvaka)

Richard Wagner: _Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_
Der Flieder war's: Johannisnacht!
Nun aber kam... Johannistag!


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## haydnfan

During the summer I'm not teaching so I have more time to listen to classical music!  Oh I guess also prefer late romantic and modern music in the cooler parts of the year.


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