# Happy and motivating music.



## Lawrence (Apr 22, 2014)

Hello,

I normally listen to waltzes and Mozart as I like happy and motivating music but lately I find myself without much option. I have a few Strauss, Mozart and Tchaikovsky albums but I now need new quality material. I'm getting rid of material from Chopin and Bartok for example as they tend to depress me. Reading some recommendations on Amazon, I bought a Lumbye album (Waltzes...) and I'm very impressed by how uplifting and energetic his works are. I also bought Rita Streich which I like her a lot. Can I ask members here for some suggestions of either composers or albums that are very happy/romantic/energetic? Preferably waltz but all genres are welcome really. Thanks.


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

Get some Haydn symphonies - they are happy a lot of the time, and you cannot go wrong with any selection of them. They are almost all very awesome.

Get some Baroque music if it is your cup of tea - Bach's Goldberg Variations and Brandenburg Concertos, sonatas by Scarlatti, maybe some Handel and Vivaldi.

Also, I think exploring Mozart even further could be really rewarding as he wrote lots of great music.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

I'd stay in the Baroque and Classical field then, as they don't tend to bathe in human grief so much. Have you tried Mozart's Serenades and Divertimenti? - there are plenty of them and all are excellent.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Rossini overtures?
Bizet Symphony in C?
Schubert early symphonies?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

The happiest music I've ever heard, the last movement of Handel's organ concerto No. 14 (with apologies to all the TC members who have endured my championing this work too often in the past).


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Wagner's Overture to Die Meistersinger.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Definitely Joseph Haydn. Listen to his quartets (eg. Op. 76 No. 3 'Emperor', or No. 1), late symphonies (for example, 94, 100, 101, 104, etc.) and his oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. His masses are also very upbeat (but they of course have their more sombre moments too), especially the Heiligmesse, Schöpfungsmesse and the Harmoniemesse. Same goes for his piano sonatas (for eg. Sonata No. 37 in D Major/No. 35 in C Major/No. 59 in E-flat Major, etc.). The piano trios also have some excellent music in this vein, try Trio No. 25 in C Major, 'Gypsy trio' or Nos. 27 and 29. 
Watch out for his humour too .

His brother, Johann Michael Haydn, also wrote some excellent classical music. Listening to any of his symphonies should also do the trick very well.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Happy music (but not necessarily motivating):
Rimsky-Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnol
Shostakovich - Festive Overture (kind of motivating too)
Shchedrin - Concerto for Orchestra No.1
Ibert - Divertissement
Walton - Facade Suite


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Prokofiev Piano Concerto #3.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

This disc of jolly music by Darius Milhaud:


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## Lawrence (Apr 22, 2014)

Thank you all for the answers so far. There is a lot of useful tips here such as Bizet, Ibert and Milhaud. I'll definitely buy more Haydn and other Mozart followed by 'techniquest's' recommendations. Weston; Handel is amazing I loved it. And of course how did I forget Prokofiev! So many composers... Anything similar to Lumbye anyone? Thanks again to you all, great help!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Also, the Pines of Rome by Respighi is pretty extroverted.


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## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

Really joyful & full of such catchy tunes.....Sullivan's Overtures ..the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Alexander Ferris









This cd always works for me.....


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## Lawrence (Apr 22, 2014)

My wife will now spend some considerable time on Amazon :lol:


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Jupiter The Bringer of Joy from the Planets by Holst is happy and motivating music. But this music comes with the other planets, which aren't all happy.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Johann Strauss Junior










You need some of his beard. Eh... I mean music!


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## SilenceIsGolden (May 5, 2013)

I've always found Handel's music to be extremely healthy and robust.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Lawrence said:


> My wife will now spend some considerable time on Amazon :lol:


Welcome to the club! :lol:


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## Lawrence (Apr 22, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Welcome to the club! :lol:


I know the answer; will be something like 'maybe on christmas'


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Oh, also, this album of Boccherini by Jordi Savall:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Also, Haydn's Symphony #94, the "Surprise", boisterously outgoing.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Nereffid said:


> Oh, also, this album of Boccherini by Jordi Savall:
> 
> View attachment 40308


Word. Savall has several Baroque and ancient dance that's worth checking out.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Weston said:


> The happiest music I've ever heard, the last movement of Handel's organ concerto No. 14 (with apologies to all the TC members who have endured my championing this work too often in the past).


Don't worry -- it never gets old!

Händel's L'Allegro is befitting in every way; you may not enjoy Milton's Il Penseroso, but his L'Allegro should be right up your alley! This part even has a laughing motif!

Lap me in soft Lydian Aires,
Married to immortal verse,
Such as the meeting soul may pierce
In notes, with many a winding bout
Of lincked sweetnes long drawn out, 
With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running;
Untwisting all the chains that ty
The hidden soul of harmony.​


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

*James Horner: "Riding the Fire Mares" From the Movie Krull*









Stupid movie. Great plagiarized Wagner though.

"Riding the Fire Mares" is pure Vennusberg-Tannhauser all the way.






Love the soaring violins. Love the fanfare bursts.

The benevolent, heroic sense of life.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Here's a wonderful, happy little piece. Like a little bird flying around. It's titled "Were I a bird".

Adolf von Henselt - Etude Op. 2 No. 6, played by Rachmaninoff himself!

(well, not really... it's a reproduced version from a piano roll)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

One of my happiest discoveries was the Hungarian composer of operettas Emmerich (Imre in Hungarian) Kalman. My favorite mood elevator is his _Grafin Mariza_ (Countess Maritza). The best performance I know is a 1958 recording conducted by Werner Schmidt-Boelcke, with Sari Barabas and Rudolf Schock, found in several CD incarnations. I don't know of an equally stylish stereo version.

More people need to know Kalman. Some of the best tunes ever.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I think you are better off asking a music therapist than a general group of classical music listeners.

That 'happy' being one thing for the general listener (actually many different things) and probably a narrow handful of target pieces or types of music proven to cheer up the depressed or, for example, help people with motor difficulties move more readily.

You might find Oliver Sachs' book, _Musicophilia_, of some interest.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

PetrB said:


> I think you are better off asking a music therapist than a general group of classical music listeners.
> 
> That 'happy' being one thing for the general listener (actually many different things) and probably a narrow handful of target pieces or types of music proven to cheer up the depressed or, for example, help people with motor difficulties move more readily.
> 
> You might find Oliver Sachs' book, _Musicophilia_, of some interest.


Yea, but there are some general 'happy' areas. Most people know Haydn is on the sunny side.

But of course exceptions and wholes are everywhere. Schnittke makes me happy, but I know that's not a commonality for most - so I don't even suggest things like that….


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

I wouldn't say motivational but it is happy! I call it Dittersdorf's "Frog" "Verwandlung des lycischen Bauern in Frosche symphony".






Martinu's Symphony # 2 is somewhat happy and motivational. Here is the first movement.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Camille Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals" is a very happy work.


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