# Music that has fun



## Guest (Jun 20, 2020)

So much about classical music seems to be serious, sombre, 'emotional' (as in 'moved to tears with the melancholy of it all'). I get that. I enjoy that as much as the next CM listener.

But I can't find a thread about 'fun'. That is, where the composer is obviously writing something to seriously tickle our funny bone. And I don't mean 'witty' (like the moments of wit in, say, Haydn).

Prokofiev (Sym 1, Sym 5, 2nd and 4th mmt; Sym 6, finale) and Rossini (take your pick) are the two that spring to mind first. Beethoven has two comedy passages (sym 1 and sym 2) and a whole mmt in sym 3.

Can anyone suggest other orchestral pieces where we can all have a good laugh?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Malcolm Arnold's Grand Grand Overture.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

"Parade" Satie a lot of fun


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

Michael Daugherty springs to mind. Much of Daugherty's music is inspired by American culture both new and old and although he can play it straight in the way of heartfelt tribute a lot of his music nevertheless has a twinkle in its eye.

Subject matter includes Detroit industry, Liberace, plastic lawn flamingos, Mount Rushmore, Superman, Barbie dolls and Jackie Kennedy.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> Michael Daugherty springs to mind. Much of Daugherty's music is inspired by American culture both new and old and although he can play it straight in the way of heartfelt tribute a lot of his music nevertheless has a twinkle in its eye.
> 
> Subject matter includes Detroit industry, Liberace, plastic lawn flamingos, Mount Rushmore, Superman, Barbie dolls and Jackie Kennedy.


....indeed EG. Titles like 'OH Lois', 'Krypton' and 'MXYZPTLK' from the 'Metropolis Symphony' which is great fun in a serious sort of way. I'd also put in a shout for Malcom Arnold like Art Rock too, who can blow from the most serious to the most banal in a bar or two...Arnold that is, I can't speak for ArtR..


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Facade (Walton)? Or






OK, that's rage but he wasn't serious!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Schedrin - Naughty Limericks


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

If you've not heard (and especially seen) this, please give it a go...an absolute hoot with Hannigan displaying extreme virtuosity...among other things.


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

Here's one I never knew existed until I saw it on two set. Fun is exactly how I describe it:


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

mikeh375 said:


> If you've not heard (and especially seen) this, please give it a go...an absolute hoot with Hannigan displaying extreme virtuosity...among other things.


WTF was that. Ms. Hannigan has definitely just gained a fan in me. :lol: I'd heard that she was known to sing and conduct simultaneously, but it has to be seen to be believed.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Try some overtures. Start with Rossini. Then "Figaro" and "Candide." Maybe even Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture."


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I always thought that the finale of Mozart’s Jupiter sounded like the composer is having the time of his life, just turning on the faucet of his imagination and letting it run free - yes, it’s contrapuntally ingenious, but it just has such an irresistable and uninhibited energy. I feel the same about Schubert’s 9th, where he didn’t care about the constraints of length and just let it all flow out.

Then there’s Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, which make me wish I was Czech. And Malcolm Arnold’s sets of British dances.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

Holst's _The Planets_, the Jupiter Bringer of Jollity movement, of course, but I also get a laugh from Mercury Winged Messenger. I think R. Strauss's _Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche_ is fun (in a German way, I suppose), and not just because of the title. One of the most fun pieces for me is Kodály's _Hary János Suite_.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I always thought that the finale of Mozart's Jupiter sounded like the composer is having the time of his life, just turning on the faucet of his imagination and letting it run free - yes, it's contrapuntally ingenious, but it just has such an irresistable and uninhibited energy. I feel the same about Schubert's 9th, where he didn't care about the constraints of length and just let it all flow out.


I've always thought that a great deal of the *Mozart* catalog has a lot of humor in it.

I've learned several of the sonatas and a couple of concertos, and that humor seems to be systemic . . . I find it in the deceptive cadences, passing tones, just everywhere.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Malcom Arnold's "Scottish Dances"...the one that has the outrageously inebriated bassoons intoning the main theme!! LOL!!


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. Great fun in the first movement! There is also his short piano piece Rialto Ripples, although purists might argue whether it belongs to the classical genre.






Yes, we need more fun music!


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Saint-Saens' _Carnival of the Animals_


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Offenbach:
- _Grand Concerto Militaire_ for Cello
- obviously _Orpheus in the Underworld_ "Can-Can" etc.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

I can haz fun?


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

This:






In my view, a musical joke. Short but exhilarating. :clap:

I've always felt this Arnold work really crazy with lots of fun:


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

The last art cover looks like something out of the legend of Headless Horseman...


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

The funnest piece of classical music I know is Enesco's _Romanian Rhapsody #1_.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

For chamber music - Malcolm Arnold's 3 Shanties for Woodwind 5tet....a real hoot, filled with musical jokes, deliberate "wrong" notes, ""incorrect" entrances, blats, belches, whoops, f*rts and all manner of uncouth noises....always a crowd favorite!!


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

HJ Lim gets her audience to laugh out loud during this performance.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

The finale of the Mahler Fifth is sheer exuberance. 
Beethoven puts in moments of comic relief everywhere. 
The overture to The Bartered Bride is happily spirited.
I'd say Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony is predominantly happy.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2020)

MarkW said:


> The finale of the Mahler Fifth is sheer exuberance.
> Beethoven puts in moments of comic relief everywhere.
> The overture to The Bartered Bride is happily spirited.
> I'd say Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony is predominantly happy.


Mahler's 5th doesn't immediately spring to mind...I'll listen again with new ears.
The Smetana - yes. I'd heard of it, but not listened to it until now (Jansons/BPO live at the Waldbuhne)
And yes, the extract of the Mendelssohn fits the bill - I've not heard the whole thing properly.
Thanks.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2020)

Flamme said:


> I can haz fun?


Yes...you can haz cheezburger too, apparently.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Of course Cathy Berberian, it is CM, as it has been printed by Ed. Peters


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Purcell, King Arthur, act 5 : 'Your hay it is mow'd..'. This music always makes me very happy. especially in this great recording by Trevor Pinnock, pure fun and great music as well


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

And Verdi's Falstaff, if you have time, watch this great video by the Dutch Opera and the RCO conducted by Gatti, exactly the right tone for this music, which gives you a smile on your face from start to finish!


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## Donna Elvira (Nov 12, 2017)

I agree, for me, the most fun is Rossini, especially his overtures, guaranteed to put me in a good mood when I'm down.
But I can agree that Prokofiev does approach humor too from a different aspect.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Frank Zappa, the entire Yellow Shark recording, but just take this one for starters. The most versatile musician I know, a genius in each segment and ready to mix things up all the time.


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## DaddyGeorge (Mar 16, 2020)




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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

To tickle the funny bone is hard to do...

Albert Ketelbey: 'Appy Hampstead (Bank Holiday) from Cockney Suite
Atterberg: finale of Symphony 6
Kodaly: Hary Janos - those saxophone parts are, or should be, hilarious


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Think of the back and forth parts to the Cosi Overture as gossip and it's funny.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Or even this little comic gem from Copland.....


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)




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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Can anyone _not_ smile while listening to Don Gillis's Symphony No. 5 1/2, subtitled _A Symphony for Fun_?






Heck. Just seeing (or hearing) the title of the work gets me to grinning.


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2020)

And


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Now this is fun, concertos for vacuum cleaner and much more.


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2020)

"Cat Aria" by Rossini:






And "Typewriter Symphony" by Leroy Anderson:


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2020)

Bugs Bunny plays Liszt:


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Christabel said:


> And "Typewriter Symphony" by Leroy Anderson


Whenever we played the "Type writer" at a Pops concert - we had to take the "A" from the typewriter!! LOL!!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Heck148 said:


> Whenever we played the "Type writer" at a Pops concert - we had to take the "A" from the typewriter!! LOL!!


That's a nice touch! I wish I had thought of that when I programmed it a couple of years back. We did modernize and explain to the audience that we couldn't find a typewriter, so we went with a word processor and wheeled out an old Mac. At various points weird sci-fi sounds, beeps and such, were played (on synth in the percussion section) and then at the end a smoke machine we had put in the computer activated and the whole thing ended in a haze of white smoke. Audience loved it.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Rogerx said:


> Now this is fun, concertos for vacuum cleaner and much more.


If we're getting into Hoffnung Festival, then we're opening up the field to PDQ Bach/Peter Schickele territory....now that is some funny stuff!!


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2020)

Heck148 said:


> If we're getting into Hoffnung Festival


Well, yes...

Rereading my OP, I see that it did invite any suggestion at all, though I didn't have in mind some of the more obvious 'comic cuts' that have been suggested. I was really thinking of standard compositions which had humorous passages, rather than concerto for vacuum cleaner etc.

Inevitably, people's sense of humour varies and I've not found all of the leads I've been able to pursue have had the same effect on me as they've had on the recommender.

But who am I to ruin people's fun. It seems that many forum members enjoy having their funny bone tickled by whomever they find tickles their funny bone.

Many thanks.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

This is fun:


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Also fun:


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## HolstThePhone (Oct 11, 2015)

Immediately "Ein musikalischer Spaß" by Mozart came to mind






Or when Shostakovitch decided to just troll Stalin with his 9th symphony.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

HolstThePhone said:


> Immediately "Ein musikalischer Spaß" by Mozart came to mind
> 
> 
> 
> ...


AND later, trolled Khrushchev, with his 8th string quartet.


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## Gray Bean (May 13, 2020)

Sometimes Charles Ives can be funny.


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## BenG (Aug 28, 2018)

The most fun - in the sense of being incredibly exiting and never losing your attention - Dukas: Sorcerers Apprentice.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Gray Bean said:


> Sometimes Charles Ives can be funny.


Really!! End of Symphony #2 , is a real hoot!! The all-time greatest musical raspberry!!


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Shostakovich’s 9th symphony comes to mind immediately.


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## Gray Bean (May 13, 2020)

Heck148 said:


> Really!! End of Symphony #2 , is a real hoot!! The all-time greatest musical raspberry!!


And nobody had more fun with it than Leonard Bernstein!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Gray Bean said:


> And nobody had more fun with it than Leonard Bernstein!


Yup, wonderful...he has the orchestra play the last note(raspberry) full value, held out tenuto... I heard Levine do it with Boston - short last note...Lenny's works much better..long and loud. lol!!


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