# Epic/War Symphonies



## DeAlmeida (Oct 1, 2014)

Do you know any Symphony of this kind?

I know composers like Tchaikovsky,Stravinsky,Verdi,Mozart ... So if you know more,let me know it


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

When did any of those composers write "war" symphonies?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Beethoven's Eroica. Shostakovich's Leningrad. Prokofiev's Fifth.

Of course, there's Britten's War Requiem, but that is a pacifist statement.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Probably the most well-known "war symphony" is the Shostakovich #7, "Leningrad." There are others, from all the way back to the 1700s. An example is Wranitzky's Symphony in C Minor, Op. 31, "Grand Characteristic Symphony for the Peace with the French Republic," which includes a pitched battle as one movement. But everybody goes home happy at the end to drink beer and tell war stories.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2014)

I don't know that any of them are specifically "war" symphonies, but Shostakovich wrote several that thematically were inspired by the Russian Revolution. Then there is also his 13th, "Babi Yar," which is in reference to the WWII massacre at Babi Yar.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2014)

There is a "war" of sorts in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet.

If you expand beyond symphonies, then you could also include Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory," also known as the Battle Symphony.

Haydn wrote a Mass "In the Time of War." For that matter, there is also his Symphony 100, aka the "Military" symphony.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

And Liszt's "Battle of the Huns."


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Prokofiev's "Aleksander Nevsky"

Nielsen's Fifth is kind of a response to war.

Gluempferhagen's cantata "Alexander the Great."


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

DrMike said:


> For that matter, there is also his Symphony 100, aka the "Military" symphony.


I like this one a lot too. It is only called the "military symphony" because it contains military-style drum-rolls, but it enhances that movement a lot.

Try Honegger's Symphony No. 3, "Symphonie Liturgique", too!


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Percy Grainger wrote the epic orchestral work "The warriors", I guess it's close enough to the request.
Considering epic symphonies: Popov - Symphony 1


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

KenOC said:


> Probably the most well-known "war symphony" is the Shostakovich #7, "Leningrad."


Although the program isn't as explicit as the 7th, DSCH's 8th is also usually interpreted as a symphony about WWII.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Several of Shostakovich's seem like 'war' symphonies. Since 'epic' is also in the title, I thought Mahler and Bruckner deserved a mention too.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

JACE said:


> Although the program isn't as explicit as the 7th, DSCH's 8th is also usually interpreted as a symphony about WWII.


My thoroughbred Shostys are _always _the war horses: Seven, Eight, Eleven, and Twelve-- with a courtly bow to the _Scherzo_ of the Tenth.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

The Symphony #6 "Gettysburg" by Roy Harris and the Symphonies # 3 "War" and #4 "Victory" by Heitor Villa-Lobos.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I would suggest that Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphonies 4, 5, and 6 form a "war trilogy" -- 4 (1935) the ugliness of, warning of and anticipation of war, 5 (1943) the message of hope to the English to savor their nation and its traditions and to fight to protect them, and 6 (1946) the horror and possibility of total annihilation via war.


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## Guest (Nov 8, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> I would suggest that Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphonies 4, 5, and 6 form a "war trilogy" -- 4 (1935) the ugliness of, warning of and anticipation of war, 5 (1943) the message of hope to the English to savor their nation and its traditions and to fight to protect them, and 6 (1946) the horror and possibility of total annihilation via war.


I got a little dizzy and read "possibility of tonal annihilation via war", and it made total sense that someone might say that, so I didn't question it for a few moments


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I was going to mention the Villa-Lobos 3rd and 4th, but they've already been mentioned. Both are great works which call for offstage brass groups. His Fifth Symphony (subtitled Peace and intended as the third part of a trilogy with 3 and 4) is sadly lost.

His Tenth (Ameríndia) has a 2nd movement subtitled "War Cry".


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Kamran Ince: Symphony No. 2 "Fall Of Constantinople"*

There are so many.

I could come up with so many including concert works that evoke air combat.

Now here is a really unusual one. Kamran Ince: Symphony No. 2 "Fall Of Constantinople". Mr. Ince is a contemporary Turkish American composer who was born in Glendive, Montana in 1960. Currently teaches composition at the University of Memphis.

Link to You Tube of the Symphony:


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

My wife wil start a war if forced to listen to what she doesn't like!
Mahler usually fits the bill nicely:devil:


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## sharik (Jan 23, 2013)

Mahler's 6th (Tragic).


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

DeAlmeida said:


> Do you know any Symphony of this kind?
> 
> I know composers like Tchaikovsky,Stravinsky,Verdi,Mozart ... So if you know more,let me know it


Re: Shostakovich's 7th, do bear in mind that whilst it has been recommended several times in this thread, you are not at all obliged to actually listen to it.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Skilmarilion said:


> Re: Shostakovich's 7th, do bear in mind that whilst it has been recommended several times in this thread, you are not at all obliged to actually listen to it.


No not at all: merely to listen to the last movement "Victory" as if you life_ depended _on it. _;D_


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Holst, The Planets, "Mars, the Bringer of War"
Liszt, "Les Prelude"
Beethoven "Wellingtons Victory"


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Prokofiev's _Alexander Nevsky_ (yes, I know: technically a cantada)

Shostakovich Seven, Eleven, and Twelve

Vaughan Williams Four and the _Dona Nobis Pacem_

Britten's _War Requiem_, especially the_ Dies Irae _in it


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

There are plenty of examples of Russian/Soviet responses (and in memoriam) to WWII. Other than Shostakovich and Prokofiev, other instances include:

*Myaskovsky's* Symphonies nos. XXII & XXIV,
*Popov's* Second Symphony,
*Khrennikov's* Second,
*Janis Ivanovs' * Fourth & Fifth,
*Weinberg's * Sixth,

Other examples in responses to conflicts include:

*Tubin's* 3rd (a response to the Soviet's occupation of Estonia) and his Fifth (in resp. to WWII).
*Boris Parsadanian's * First Symphony (in memory of the 26 Commissars of Baku who were assassinated by the Mensheviks during the Russian Civil War).
*Atterberg's* Fifth (in resp. to WWI) and his Ninth (his resp. to the grim possibilities of what the Cold War could have brought).
*George Antheil's* Fourth (in resp. to WWII).
*David Diamond's* Second (likewise in resp. to WWII).
*Arnold Bax's *First (in resp. to the aftermath of the Easter Uprising). 
*Vaughan-Williams'* Sixth (_arguably_ in resp. to WWII).
*Glazunov's* Eighth (in resp. to the upheavals of 1905/1906 leading up to the Revolution).
*Lyapunov's* Second (a nostalgic, reflective resp. to the upheavals of 1917).


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Music which could theoretically describe war:
Beethoven - 5th symphony, 1st movement
Haydn - Symphony No. 39 in G minor, 4th movement
Mozart - Symphony No. 25 in G minor, 1st movement
Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor, 1st movement
Mozart - Requiem
Beethoven - Symphony No. 3, 2nd & 4th movements; Symphony No. 4, 1st movement; Symphony No. 9, 1st movement
Haydn - Symphony No. 100, 'Military'
Haydn - Nelson Mass in D minor; Mass in Time of War
Haydn - Seven Last Words
Michael Haydn - Symphony No. 29 in D minor
Michael Haydn - Requiem in C minor
Haydn - Symphony No. 49 in F minor, 'La Passione'; Symphony No. 26 in D minor, 'Lamentatione'
Johannes Brahms - 4th Symphony - 1st movement; 1st symphony - 1st movement
Tchaikovsky - 4th symphony - 1st movement
Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Summer - 1st & 3rd movements; Winter - 1st movement


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