# The Place and Time of Your Music



## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Let me explain:

There are segments of Don Giovanni that I can't hum and mangle without first thinking of Taormina in Sicily, where we went on holidays a few years back. That was the soundtrack of my idling on the beach. I associate Mozart piano sonatas strongly with Rome, where I listened _only _to them, the most sparse of his music, because the city is overwhelmingly gorgeous and too much is still too much, right? I can listen to PS #14 and still see a street in Rome

Vienna? The Egmont overture - excessively and persistently, while I walked about - and Schubert's songs. Not much Fulfie because I went to see his stuff live.

These are music which I irredeemably associate with places. There's more, I'm sure, although I'm not a hugely travelled bloke.

I can't listen to the Jupiter Symphony, or PC #21, without thinking of my ex. We discovered all this Mozart together, back in the day. Mahler's symphs always make me think of our own Mahlerian, who inspired me to discover them, and who explained them in his blog.

Do you have any music which you associate with a place - or tag it to an event, or person, in your life?

:tiphat:


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Nice thread. I also have several examples of pieces which are intimately bound up in my mind with a certain place and time.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion always puts me in mind not of pain or suffering or death, but rather of my girlfriend because we first met in the audience during a performance of it on Good Friday.

Schubert's _Winterreise_ always reminds me of the time I tried to re-create the whole "winter journey" thing by wandering through a forest in Cumbria one snowy evening, whilst listening to the piece on my iPod. I suppose the apprehension of the unknown brought an extra chilling dimension to this perpetual favourite.

The soundtrack to our holiday to Iceland was Sibelius' 5th Symphony. I remember standing on the edge of a rocky beach during a rainstorm listening to the finale. I must have had Caspar Friedrich's _Wanderer_ in mind, lol...


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony will forever be set in my mind as that was the program that the Albany Symphony played the night of my first date with the girlfriend


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

The Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis on Weber Themes always reminds me of the time when I was a member
of the Long Island Youth orchestra years ago and we went on a five week tour of Australia ,New Zealand,
Samoa and Fiji and this was one of the pieces we performed .
It was a great experience . Among other things, we played a concert in the then new Sydney opera
house , now world famous , as well as taking a boat out into Australia's Great Barrier reef .


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

The lute music of John Dowland, along with various madrigals, are linked in my mind with our first married home, a bedsitting room in Ealing, which was shabby, cluttered and untidy. I taught primary school and Taggart worked in a timber yard the first year, then did his postgrad teacher training the second year. We lived on sandwiches & tinned food, read library books, and played endless games of scrabble and cards, as there was no TV. At last we decided that we'd like to get a record-player, a 'hi-fi'. We couldn't really afford it, so we started a Hi-Fi fund, but one day, when we were out shopping, we saw a record player & could resist no longer. We bought it, then hired a taxi to take it home. We bought LPs and cassettes to play, and one of the latter featured the Elizabethan music that now always reminds me of our young & very happy selves. :kiss:


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

The first movement of Beethoven's 3rd symphony makes me think of my college hostel room from 3rd year. The adagio from the Pathetique sonata reminds me of the 4th year.

The Velvet Underground & Nico reminds me of late night walks with friends.

The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet and Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde remind me of cigarettes (which I have quit for good).


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Sure. Appalachian Spring with Leonard Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic.

When I first fell in love with this music and recording, JFK was the president, Camelot was in full bloom, I was running up and down the streets of Brooklyn, NY and I was in love with several girls.

So whenever I play this wonderful recording, sentimental feelings of nostalgia always well up and I'm back in 1962 all over again.


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## Borodin (Apr 8, 2013)

Polovtsian Dances without the voices, namely the theme at the beginning and end, entirely reminds me of a lush and winding magical glade textured with hidden fantasy elements such as a compassionate Elven king about 5 foot playing a flute on rocks, the wind bristling and swaying through the lightness of the trees, animals gathering amidst the logs, a faint lightbeam glistening in, and perhaps a gallant knight traveling through the winding paths and coming upon it. It doesn't really describe a lot of typical fantasy you would see these days, maybe something closer to Zelda video games like A Link to the Past and the Oracle series.

The time: long, long ago in a time unremembered, when great magic and whimsicality kept the law of the land


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

Borodin said:


> Polovtsian Dances without the voices, namely the theme at the beginning and end, entirely reminds me of a lush and winding magical glade textured with hidden fantasy elements like an Elven king about 5 foot playing a flute on rocks, the wind blowing through the lightness of the trees, animals gathering amidst the logs, maybe a gallant knight traveling through the winding paths and coming upon it, and a faint lightbeam down on it all. It doesn't really describe a lot of typical fantasy you would see in the forest, maybe something closer to Zelda video games like A Link to the Past and the Oracle series.


I rarely appreciate "voices" in a classical music piece, but then again The Polovetsian Dances is probably one of those instances. Great with or without them.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I was in Paris for the first time. I went to Pere Lachaise to put flowers on Chopin's grave. I'd bought a map of the huge cemetery but was having trouble finding my way around. 
Finally I put the map away and just wandered around, hoping that either I'd stumble across the grave, or find someone who spoke English that I could ask.
Time passed, it was growing late. I didn't know what to do. Then, softly, I heard some of his music being played, to my amazement. I followed the sound of the music and it led me right to his grave! 
The music had apparently been in my head. I was so overcome with emotion that I forgot which piece I'd been 'hearing.' To this day, I can't say what it was. But I'm so grateful it called me and guided me.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

_Se vuol ballare_ from Nozze di Figaro can make me shiver with horror at the unwelcome flashback it gives me.

Come to think of it, it's actually funny, considering what silly little tune it is.


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## Borodin (Apr 8, 2013)

Serge said:


> I rarely appreciate "voices" in a classical music piece, but then again The Polovetsian Dances is probably one of those instances. Great with or without them.


I like that there's someone who decided not to arrange it with voices. Feels more "forest" spritual. With voices it sounds more "church" spiritual, or just not elemental enough. Ruins it for me.

I too prefer no voices in orchestral music, but I can make an exception for Grieg's Arabian Dance.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

I've got plenty of these.

Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit always paints the image of my favourite jogging routes in my mind. I used to listen to the suite _all the time_ when I had this now long-forgotten habit of doing some running even during the cold winters. There were other pieces as well, of course, but for some reason the mysterious sounds of the Gaspard went so well with the dark, cold winter atmosphere that the image is unforgettable.

I associate the Mozart piano sonatas and concertos very strongly with my current city, Helsinki. There's nothing like taking a long bus ride as the music of Mozart (and also that of Bach, now that I think of it) keeps me attentive.

The horribly difficult thirds étude by Chopin (op. 25 #6) has meant danger and threat for me ever since I saw an ambulance hurrying to an accident scene a few years ago while I was walking to school one morning and listening to that piece. The impression is at its strongest if I happen to be walking around the same area and listening to the étude.

The third Shostakovich string quartet always reminds me of a person with whom I spent a lot of time when I got to know the piece.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I'm sure I have _something _to contribute to this thread, but my ol' memory aint givin' me any support.

I think I _did_ listen to some Beethoven yesterday, though.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

This is an interesting thread.

Mahler's 5th makes me think of my lake house in Wisconsin
Franck's Prelude Chorale and Fugue makes me think of the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee
Scriabin's 5th piano sonata makes me think of Seattle
Chopin's Fantasy op. 49 makes me think of Puerto Rico 
Prokofiev's Piano Concerto 2 makes me think of both Wisconsin in the fall, and Lake Michigan on a rainy day, with the waves rolling like crazy
and of course, Albeniz's Iberia makes me think of Spain.

I've listened to all these pieces in the respected places, and somehow they fit so perfectly for each moment.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Copland's El Salon Mexico always reminds me of the Martian moon Phobos, because of a juvenile science fiction book I was reading as I was getting to know it.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Berlioz Nuits D'ete Reminds me of my old bedsit in south London. On a cold dark winter morning I would set the alarm early so I would have time to put the record on, it was usually already on the turntable, turn the electric fire on and jump back into bed untill the LP was finished. It really helped me get through the day. Still does on occasion!


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

shangoyal said:


> The first movement of Beethoven's 3rd symphony makes me think of my college hostel room from 3rd year. The adagio from the Pathetique sonata reminds me of the 4th year.
> 
> The Velvet Underground & Nico reminds me of late night walks with friends.
> 
> The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet and Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde remind me of cigarettes (which I have quit for good).


I have a lot of rock music stuff like that: "ooh listen, they're playing our song. Ahhhh...." :kiss:

I associate the Laudate Dominum (Sp?) from Mozart's Vespers with the short walk from the church behind Aungier Street to the church on Clarendon Street, simply because I heard it on the radio once in the car, as I was about to dismount, and then listened on the phone while I walked. And I often park there and wonder, what'll I listen to, and it's almost _always _that, and for that same reason...


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

It is very strange but I have never experienced these kinds of links. I never associate music with places or times or people. Maybe music exists in its own dimension for me.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I don't have a lot of these connections with classical music and a specific time and place. 

I do remember watching West Side Story and getting romantic love for the first time. It might be the time I had my first crush. 

The first classical music concert I went to I heard Pictures at an Exhibition. So I always think of that when I hear the music. I was about 20. 

I was eight and obsessed with ragtime music. The Sting had just been released in theatres. While I didn't see the movie then, plenty of ragtime was played on the radio.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Wagner's music is naturally associated in my mind with Germany - all of it, from the Rhine valley to the small old towns like Nürnberg.

Bruckner's 3rd and 7th symphonies make me think of the day I listened to them while walking across a frozen lake with nothing around but the great white expanse of the ice, the cold winter sun overhead and the music.

Sibelius' Karelian Suite I always associate with a forest of birch trees - thick and wild, and yet full of light, probably because it is such forests that grow in Karelia.

Bach's cantata "Wachet auf" remins me of my man, since we have heard it in a church service we once wandered into together.


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