# Looking for recommendations of concert music with supernatural themes



## blakeklondike (Oct 28, 2020)

I have spent a good deal of time looking for music w/ supernatural themes, apart from the classics like "Night On Bald Mountain", "Symphonie Fantastique". It seems like there would have been a lot in the 19th c. but am not having much luck. Can anyone recommend things I should check out? Would be interested to hear opera suggestions as well. Thanks!


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

opera? 
Dvořák - Rusalka

orchestral?
Dvořák - The Water Goblin, Noon Witch


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

blakeklondike said:


> I have spent a good deal of time looking for music w/ supernatural themes, apart from the classics like "Night On Bald Mountain", "Symphonie Fantastique". It seems like there would have been a lot in the 19th c. but am not having much luck. Can anyone recommend things I should check out? Would be interested to hear opera suggestions as well. Thanks!


Mozart's _The Magic Flute_?
Verdi's _Un Ballo in maschera_ (it's got witches, etc)
Any one of a bazillion settings of _Faust_.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Liszt: Totentanz
Schubert: Erkonig
Weber: Der Freischutz
Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel
Dukas: Sorcerer's Apprentice
Mussorgsky: Baba Yaga from"Pictures . . .", Songs and Dances of Death
Mahler: Das Klagende Lied, Scherzo from Symphony #4


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

*Mendelssohn - Die Erste Waldpurgisnacht*: tells of the attempts of Druids in the Harz mountains to practice their pagan rituals in the face of new and dominating Christian forces.

*Carl Maria von Weber:* Der Freischutz with its famous Wolf's Glen scene

*Joachim Raff: Symphony 5*, based on Burger's ballad, which was the source of work by other composers as well.

*Mily Balakirev: Tamara* based on a well-known theme

*Anatol Lyadov: Kikimore and Baba Yaga* based on Russian folk tales of sorcery and evil spirits.

*Rimsky-Korsakov: A Night on Mt. Triglav* is one of my personal favorites for Halloween - very atmospheric and creepy.

Victor Serov also wrote a tone poem to Baba Yaga, but isn't so well known. There are many other works in this genre.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Certain composers are more inclined than most others with respect towards _genre_ content.
Many might still subscribe to the notion that 'program' music, which relies upon extra-musical inspiration, can only - even at its best - be 2nd rate.

Some have had life-long obsession with religion [Caplet, Messiaen, etc.], mysticism/astrology [Jolivet, Ohana] or spiritualism [Scelsi, Radulescu].

Granville Bantock occasionally wrote mythical tone poems like "The Cyprian Goddess" or "The Witch of Atlas", but perhaps the sequence of 'angel' compositions by Einojuhani Rautavaara might be ideal for the OP.










Still further examples: Geirr Tveitt's "Sun God Symphony", Takemitsu's "Spirit Garden", Peter Schat's "Monkey subdues the White-Bone Demon", Pehr Henrik Nordgren's "Nine Kwaidan Ballads", Claude Ballif's Mystic Symphony No.2 ... I could go on ...


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

St. Saens *Danse Macabre*

Chopin Sonata No. 2, *"Funeral march*"

Beethoven Symphony No. 3, "Eroica" *funeral march*

Rachmaninoff *Isle of the Dead*

Tchaikovsky *March of the Sugar Plum Fairies*

Gounod *Dance of the Furies*

Wagner *Ride of the Valkyries*

Mussorgsky *Pictures At An Exhibition* (take your pick)

Herrmann score for Hitchcock's *Psycho*


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

larold said:


> Herrmann score for Hitchcock's *Psycho*


I think Herrmann's score to "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" is more appropriate.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Asrael - Suk

...........


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

That Dvorak tone poem "Noon Witch" which was recommended above is good.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Two Tam O'Shanters, Chadwick and Arnold.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Music with Faust- and Mephisto themes (Liszt, Busoni, Berlioz, Gounod, Schumann, Spohr, Boito).

Music with Dantesque themes (Liszt, Granados, Bantock, Ruders,Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov).

Jon Leifs, orchestral music from Icelandic sagas and mythology, including Saga Symphony, Edda, Baldr etc.

Grieg & Sæverud, Peer Gynt music.

Harty, The Children of Lir.

Cowell, The Banshee.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Myaskovsky's Tenth Symphony, a programmatic work on Pushkin's narrative poem "The Bronze Horseman."


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Raymonda, Giselle, La Bayadère, The Firebird... in fact, about 90% of the classic ballet repertoire.


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## Doctor Fuse (Feb 3, 2021)

I'm a 20th century nut, so here are my supernatural faves:

Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin and Bluebeard's Castle
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Corigliano: Ghosts of Versailles


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## blakeklondike (Oct 28, 2020)

Are there any resources re: supernatural/symbolist tone poems?


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## Fredrikalansson (Jan 29, 2019)

Franck's Let Chasseur Maudit hasn't been mentioned.


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