# Five Musical Sunrises



## timothyjuddviolin (Nov 1, 2011)

Can you think of any other pieces which are inspired by the sunrise?

Five Musical Sunrises


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Maxwell Davies - An Orkney wedding with sunrise.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

No sunrise from Daphnis et Chloe? 


Best regards, Dr


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

There's the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra and Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

An easy one! Haydn's Symphony No. 6 'Le Matin' depicts a morning, and the opening of the first movement is like a 'musical sunrise'.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

The opening section of the William Tell overture is described as "Dawn."


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

shangoyal said:


> An easy one! Haydn's Symphony No. 6 'Le Matin' depicts a morning, and the opening of the first movement is like a 'musical sunrise'.


On the topic of Haydn and sunrise, there is the first rising of the sun the "The Creation" - an awe inspiring moment in a wonderful work.

I also think of "Dawn" from Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes" as included in the "Sea Interludes." It's a chilly dawn, as suits a seaside sunrise and prelude to the subsequent tragedy.


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg is one of my most favourite pieces

it brings sunrise to human soul

Also Debussy's Petite Suite was inspired by the early morning mist

To finish, Nightride and Sunrise by Jean Sibelius was inspired by the northern latitude sunrise
and is a pure revelation of the mysteries of his mind


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

My two are "Daybreak" from the Florida Suite by Delius.






The opening movement of the Gettysburg (#6 Awakening) symphony by Harris.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

Gerhard's symphony #3, Collages, was originally inspired by seeing a sunrise at 30,000 feet on a transatlantic flight. Actual moment of sun breaking through the clouds has been transmuted into tremendous trumpet calls in the symphony.






Does the life of the sun count? The birth of the sun is a kind of "sun rise," isn't it?


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

_Adolf Wiklund_ (1879-1950) - *Summer Night and Sunrise*, symphonic poem (1918)






_Aulis Sallinen_ - *Sunrise Serenade* op 63 for 2 trumpets and orchestra






/ptr


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

clara s said:


> Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg is one of my most favourite pieces
> 
> it brings sunrise to human soul
> 
> ...


I grew up with Peer Gynt Suites as a kid. Fond memories.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

Time to listen to the whole piece, then. It's a stunner. And the whole piece sounds much more congruent with the story than the excerpted pieces do.

Another stunner in its whole form is _L'arlesienne._ Not much different than the two suites in length, but everything seems to fit together better in the original. Cohesive rather than a collection of similar items.

Couple of other things that are not much different in length from original to suite are _Rodeo_ and _Miraculous Mandarin._ The shorter version of the Copland is missing a to die for honky-tonk piano bit, and the shorter version of the Bartok is missing a crucial juxtaposition of two themes (which have been pushing each other away the whole piece). These are both matters of minutes, not a significant savings (!) of time or anything.

And _Incredible Flutist._ The 16 minute suite is cute and all. The 30 some minute ballet is splendid. Has a real dignity and power to it that the suite just doesn't have.

Not to mention.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

The sunrise at the beginning of Strauss' Alpine Symphony is amazing!


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

The first part is called "Amanecer" which I believe means at dawn.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I've never heard the entire Peer Gynt. My loss.

One thing I'm sure of. Any kid named Peer Gynt isn't getting out of his high school alive!!!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Alfacharger said:


> My two are "Daybreak" from the Florida Suite ]


I love this piece


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

Carl Ruggles - Suntreader. I love this piece and love an opportunity to post it!


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

hpowders said:


> I've never heard the entire Peer Gynt. My loss.
> 
> One thing I'm sure of. Any kid named Peer Gynt isn't getting out of his high school alive!!!


and why is this?

do you know that the music by Grieg was written for Ibsen's play Peer Gynt

and first presented in Oslo in 1876?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

clara s said:


> and why is this?
> 
> do you know that the music by Grieg was written for Ibsen's play Peer Gynt
> 
> and first presented in Oslo in 1876?


Because most kids would find it a weird name. A lot of "Peer" pressure!


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

maestro267 said:


> The sunrise at the beginning of Strauss' Alpine Symphony is amazing!


That's the one I was trying to think of. I knew there was one that I liked a lot that I just wasn't remembering.

Thanks, maestro!

Next question is Previn or Haitink?

(The answer, which will be revealed immediately, is "Both.")


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Nobody's mentioned what was probably the most popular sunrise of all half a century ago, at least in the US -- "Sunrise," the first movement of Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite. Here it is with time-lapse video.


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## Pip (Aug 16, 2013)

Dawn and "Zu neuen taten..." from Götterdammerung fits the bill


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2014)

When I was studying in Germany my sophomore year of college, we Americans always used to say "Götterdammerung" for "God damn it."

Well, we were sophomores. We did sophomoric things, by definition.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2014)

ptr said:


> _Aulis Sallinen_ - *Sunrise Serenade* op 63 for 2 trumpets and orchestra
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't really consider this to be quite obscure enough for a ptr post. I've even heard it.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

arcaneholocaust said:


> I don't really consider this to be quite obscure enough for a ptr post. I've even heard it.


Sorry to be a disappointment! I was just lazy suggesting things that were available with recordings... 

/ptr


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Heino Eller - Dawn (Koit)


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

some guy said:


> When I was studying in Germany my sophomore year of college, we Americans always used to say "Götterdammerung" for "God damn it."
> 
> Well, we were sophomores. We did sophomoric things, by definition.


But at least you did get to know what ""Götterdammerung"" is!

Part of Scene I of Das Rheingold contains a musical description of the sunrise too.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

The opening of Vaughan Williams' _London Symphony_ reminds me of the sun rising as the city awakens. The quiet end to the fourth moment similarly signals the end of the busy day with the sun setting.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

KenOC said:


> Nobody's mentioned what was probably the most popular sunrise of all half a century ago, at least in the US -- "Sunrise," the first movement of Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite.


Actually, it was in the link in the first post, which for some mysterious reason has been edited out (I clicked it, and it was legitimate).


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Weston said:


> The opening section of the William Tell overture is described as "Dawn."


The finale "Tutto cangia, il ciel s'abbella" is actually not inspired by, but reminds me the sunrise.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Thea Musgrave's _Turbulent Landscapes_ starts with Sunrise and Sea Monsters! beat that. Modest Mussorgsky's _Khovanshchina_ begins at dawn and Ned Rorem's Violin Concerto starts at twilight and ends in dawn


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

not classical but here's a very tranquil and peaceful dawn instead of a majestic and epic one like most of the orchestral pieces seem to depict
Brian Eno & Harold Budd - First Light


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

some guy said:


> Time to listen to the whole piece, then. It's a stunner. And the whole piece sounds much more congruent with the story than the excerpted pieces do.
> 
> Another stunner in its whole form is _L'arlesienne._ Not much different than the two suites in length, but everything seems to fit together better in the original. Cohesive rather than a collection of similar items.
> 
> ...


_Miraculous Mandarin_ uses a chorus, briefly, in the full score -- it is always missing from the suite. There is no 'filler' in the full-length ballet.

Ravel's suites from _Daphnis et Chloe_ are masterly orchestrations, but the full-length score, with the full chorus, is so 'the way to go.'

None of the Stravinsky ballet scores strike me as having any 'less interesting' filler, either, and I've always advocated listening to any Stravinsky score in full, _The Firebird_ and _L'histoire du soldat_ and _Le baiser de la fée_ included.

Copland's (original chamber version, 13 players) _Appalachian Spring_ I think does have 'a bit' of filler, but I still prefer the full score to the suite.

It is good to keep in mind that most concert suites from lengthier stage works are a matter of practicality to, foremost, benefit the composer. Suites make for very ready concert presentations where at least part of the work is heard, and the suite fits neatly into the three or so works per concert programming format. They also make those works available to the public who may not otherwise hear them. They are (in the 20th century, at least) as a musical experience, often far less satisfying than the full length works from which they are extracted.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Nielsen's _Helios Overture._

Any _Aubade_ is a sunrise / early morning piece. (There are many, Poulenc's _Aubade: Concerto Chorégraphique Pour Piano Dix-Huit Instruments_ perhaps the best known.)


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Nielsen's _Helios Overture._
> 
> Any _Aubade_ is a sunrise / early morning piece. (There are many, Poulenc's _Aubade: Concerto Chorégraphique Pour Piano Dix-Huit Instruments_ perhaps the best known.)


With all due respect, I believe that the most famous aubade is Ravel's Alborada del grazioso. 

Best regards, Dr


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Nielsen's _Helios Overture._


Definitely Nielsen. I'll also mention Bax's "From Dusk to Dawn," "Spring Fire," and perhaps Glazunov's "The Forest."


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

DrKilroy said:


> With all due respect, I believe that the most famous aubade is Ravel's Alborada del grazioso.
> 
> Best regards, Dr


Under the Spanish moniker, ayep. The Ravel 'sunrise' segment from _Daphnis et Chloe_ is, literally, _lever de jour_; but _aubade_ is a morning piece genre like _serenade_ is an evening piece genre.


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