# Composers having fun



## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

I think this topic includes, but also goes beyond the kind of 'musical joke's of Mozart and others. 

By all accounts we can assume J S Bach's happiest days were when he was working at the court in Kothen, under the patronage of Prince Leopold, playing in an ensemble of very talented court musicians; among some of the best in Germany. It was in this environment that he composed several of his 'Brandenburg' Concertos, and the sense of the composer having fun, as well as a kind of improvisatory feel to some of the work, really comes through. Unlike some of his more sober, religious music, and the work composed in areas of work where he was under a lot of stress.

Ligeti is one composer whose output is stylistically quite varied; and certainly with his later work, it sounds as though he was having a lot of fun with music. His violin and piano concertos, for example, are full of references and nods to old traditions, which can be very humorous at times. Not to mention his anti-anti-opera le grand macabre; a huge ironic comedy.

Stravinsky is another whose music can be very fun; not content to fall into mannerisms, he was always pushing stylistic boundaries, and never seems to take himself as seriously as other composers. I think Schnittke is a good example of this kind of attitude, also. Writing music 'about music' as Bernstein (I think) said.

I should note, that music which is fun does not equal 'light music', whatever that term means. The pieces mentioned here are just as sophisticated as the rest of their composers' output, if not more so.

Please give examples (hopefully with direct links) of composers just pursuing their fancy, and having a really good time writing music.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

First thing that came to mind:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Handel and his Water Music. Handel at his most extroverted. He seemed to have a good time writing it.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I can think of all sorts of examples in Ives' music where he's having BIG FUN. His music is so full of joy and vitality that fun just jumps out spontaneously all over the place.

One thing that springs to mind: the middle movement of his Piano Trio, titled "TSIAJ" -- i.e., _This Scherzo is a Joke_.

Or maybe the songs "The Circus Band" or "Ann Street."

Or the middle movement to _Three Places in New England_, "Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut" -- the infamous collision of two marching bands playing two different tunes simultaneously. On some level, I think this was deadly serious for Ives. But I also think he was having a complete ball with it!


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

How about composers whose entire output is "fun" -- tiresomely so. Like Satie.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

GGluek said:


> How about composers whose entire output is "fun" -- tiresomely so. Like Satie.


Conditional "like." I think his output is fun, but I don't find it tiresome. Just my two cents.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Haydn was always having fun. Like at 7:30 in this clip from the Creation, he describes the animals through music.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

How about Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saens)? Saint-Saens must have had so much fun with that, especially since he wasn't aiming for publication


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Nobody was having more fun than W.A. Mozart performing his witty, delightful, fiendishly difficult keyboard concerto #15 in B Flat Major, reveling in his own incredible virtuosity. 
The joy of this work in lesser hands is still contagious!


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

Indeed HP - one of the funnest

Wolfgang Rihm has infectious fun in Jagden und Formen






I'll also mention Strauss in Don Quixote as someone who was clearly having a good time (but wasn't he usually having a blast - "writing music as a cow gives milk" or whatever he said?), the Schoeberg Serenade op 24, Fausto Romitelli in Professor Bad Trip, Hindemith in the Symphonic Metamorphosen and Conlon Nancarrow's player piano pieces


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

Poulenc always sounds like he is having fun and Prokofiev can be really sarcastic.


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## stevens (Jun 23, 2014)

Mozart seems to had fun. His wife didnt


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

stevens said:


> Mozart seems to had fun. His wife didnt


Perhaps she did with this one 

​


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## stevens (Jun 23, 2014)

"Perhaps she did with this one"

-She had no money for a turntable


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Agree with Jace - Ives was the first composer that came to mind for me. I also think Schnittke was having a bit of fun with this piece:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Seemed like Prokofiev had a lot of fun composing the extroverted "Classical" Symphony with its "modern" look back at the classical symphonic form. Prokofiev at his joyful best.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Jacques Offenbach!!!
His parody and satire (and without apologies) were things the creators of South Park probable picked up. In many ways he was quite ahead of his times.
:devil:

Who else......

The Strauss family (Johann, Johannn the younger, Josef, and Eduard), 
Franz Lehar (in his younger years pre "Paganini"), 
George Antheil,
Gershwin,
Ferdinand Hérold (of the Zampa fame),
Lyadov.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Leonard Bernstein: Divertimento for Orchestra


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Leonard Bernstein: Divertimento for Orchestra


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I think Beethoven was having a bit of fun with Wellington's Victory. A composer of his depth knew it was a bit of a "potboiler".


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

The writers of Caprices seem to have been having fun...

Thus Locatelli: 




and Paganini:


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

Luciano Berio's Violin Duos are written in the style of/in hommage to his composer friends. That must have been fun. In the same vein, and despite some serious moments, the Enigma variations which are sketches of friends must have been fun for Elgar to put together. 

And that leads me to variations, which can in the right hands seem like a form of play - Brahm's Haydn Variations, Rachmaninov Paganini Variations, Britten's Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell (or Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, if you must), Variations movement in the Trout Quintet...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I would like to think that when William Schuman orchestrated Ives's Variations on 'America' he was chuckling through nearly every bar.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

My take on composers having fun:

1. Shchedrin - Concerto for Orchestra No.1






2. Korndorf - Hava Nagila






3. Nielsen - Symphony No.6 (last movement excerpt)


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

I think we can safely say Beethoven was having fun while writing one of the greatest sets of variations ever, the Diabelli Variations, Op.120.

From an essay by Alfred Brendel, "Must Classical Music be Entirely Serious?":

"_Beethoven's first biographer, Anton Schindler, says-and for once I am inclined to believe him-that the composition of this work 'amused Beethoven to a rare degree', that it was written 'in a rosy mood', and that it was 'bubbling with unusual humour', disproving the belief that Beethoven spent his late years in complete gloom. According to Wilhelm von Lenz, one of the most perceptive early commentators on Beethoven's music, Beethoven here shines as the 'most thoroughly initiated high priest of humour'; he calls the variations 'a satire on their theme'._"

Also by Brendel:

_"The theme has ceased to reign over its unruly offspring. Rather, the variations decide what the theme may have to offer them. Instead of being confirmed, adorned and glorified, it is improved, parodied, ridiculed, disclaimed, transfigured, mourned, stamped out and finally uplifted._"

Link


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## IBMchicago (May 16, 2012)

Mozart's k448 (D major sonata for 2 pianos), to me, sounds like loads of fun in the creation stages.
I would also add Liszt's rearrangements of Beethoven's symphonies for piano. I hear the emotion of "fun" more than any of Beethoven's (perceived) original thoughts and ideas.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Beethoven's First Piano Concerto is a fun piece and I'm sure Beethoven was in a fine, fun mood when he composed it.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I don't know if any baroque composer knew how to have fun better than Scarlatti.


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## Ludric (Oct 29, 2014)

J.S. Bach's Quodlibet BWV 524 (existing now only as a fragment) is one of the best examples of the composer having fun (another example being his "coffee cantata"). Bach most likely composed this quodlibet to be performed at his wedding to Maria Barbara Bach. This piece is full of musical humour such as intentional parallel octaves, an otherwise serious aria being rudely interrupted by irregular entrances of other voices, and an overall jollity of character. The text is utterly off the wall, full of humorous situations, complete nonsense, a returning motif of using a backtrog (a trough for mixing dough) as a boat, as well as references to people and places Bach was familiar with. Here's a translation of the text: http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV524.html


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## SteveVillaMassone (Sep 23, 2012)

I love all your links guys, thank you


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