# Birds and Music



## Guest (Jun 12, 2007)

Many works are inspired by birds. For instance,

Louis-Claude Daquin : the Cuckoo 
Louis-Claude Daquin:	The Swallow 
François Couperin :	The butterfly 
G Faure: Le papillon et la fleur 
Rameau Jean-Philippe:	The hen 
Stravinsky : Song of the Nightingale 
Telemann : Funeral Music for an Artistic Canary (Canary Cantata) 
Vivaldi	: Flute Concerto in D Major, "The Goldfinch,"
Olivier Messiaen :	Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic Birds) for piano, 11 wind and 7 percussion
Olivier Messiaen :Réveil des Oiseaux (Dawn-Chorus) for piano and orchestra
Clément Janequin « Chant des oiseaux »
Jacques Lenot : the Prophet Bird

What do you think?


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## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

I saw a television programme in the UK some years ago in which recordings of bird songs were slowed down. They revealed highly complex and super-fast singing tones in most bird songs - far more complex than is generally supposed. I personally favour the view that birds use language. And that their language (despite each species having its own distinct songs) is the same language. But it's a fascinating subject and I would like to study it more.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

CREEPY....

I'm reading this thread and simultaneously listening to a filler on pieces inspired by birds on an online radio station. The filler started while I was reading Mr.Newman's post.

CREEPY...

Some pieces mentioned: Respighi's 'The Birds', some Beethoven piece

Anyway, I notice that majority of those composers are French.


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## ChamberNut (Jan 30, 2007)

Alnitak said:


> Many works are inspired by birds. For instance,
> 
> François Couperin :	The butterfly
> G Faure: Le papillon et la fleur
> ...


I'm not too sure about these two?


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## zlya (Apr 9, 2007)

I don't think all bird species speak the same language. I think the different languages are probably about as similar as the different mammalian languages: i.e., we can generally tell if an utterance or gesture means pain or anger or even sadness, but it doesn't go much further.

I think there is a mistake in personification of birdsong. Birds do not sing, they speak to each other in a tonal language which in some ways reminds humans of human music, or inspires humans to create music. The compositions you mention bear no more similarity to the frequencies or function of birdcalls than a painting of a waterfall does to the action of gravity on H2O.


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## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

Hi Zyla. So you don't believe all bird species speak the same language ? Fine. I just happen to disagree. 

But I DO agree where you say human compositions alluding to bidsong bear no more similarity to the frequencies or function of birdcalls than a painting of a waterfall does to the action of gravity on H20. 

I can't agree that birds have a language little more sophisticated than simply making repetitive utterances or making gestures of pain, anger or sadness. I believe their language is actually far more sophisticated than that.


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## Guest (Jun 13, 2007)

ChamberNut said:


> I'm not too sure about these two?


Faure was 16 years old when he composed The song : "le papillon et la fleur", from a Victor Hugo's poem (op1) 
Camille Saint-Saëns, Faure's teacher and friend, gave him advice to compose this op 01.

La pauvre fleur disait au papillon céleste: Ne fuis pas!...
Vois comme nos destins sont différents, je reste. Tu t'en vas!
Pourtant nous nous aimons, nous vivons sans les hommes, Et loin d'eux!
Et nous nous ressemblons et l'on dit que nous sommes Fleurs tous deux!
Etc… etc…


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## ChamberNut (Jan 30, 2007)

What I meant was about the two is they are referring to butterflies and flowers, not birds.


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## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

Alnitak said:


> Many works are inspired by birds. For instance,
> 
> Louis-Claude Daquin : the Cuckoo
> Louis-Claude Daquin:	The Swallow
> ...


Add to this from Telemann's Alster orchestral suite: Die concertierenden Frosche und Krahen. Telemann was great to depict animal sounds. 
And from Handel, Sweet Bird in L'Allegro and the famous chorus from Solomon ( "May no rash intruder"). Also add the Cuckoo and Nightingale organ concerto.


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## Morigan (Oct 16, 2006)

How about J. Strauss's stupid polka, Im Krapfenwald'l? It has cuckoo sounds throughout. CUCKOO SOUNDS! @[email protected]

Oh no, I think I can see the lizards coming.


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## Leporello87 (Mar 25, 2007)

The Haydn lark quartet? I've never found it to be that convincing of a nickname, but I guess it's there. Also, the "clucking" sound in the 1st movement of Haydn Symphony No. 83 gives it the nickname "the hen." 

Sort of a backwards case, but there's the fun story of Mozart's pet bird singing the theme from the 3rd movement of the Piano Concerto No. 17, KV 453 -- almost correctly, except with a couple G-sharps, instead of just G-naturals


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## Guest (Jun 13, 2007)

ChamberNut said:


> What I meant was about the two is they are referring to butterflies and flowers, not birds.


You're absolutely right. 
So, I suggest to erase and replace them.
I propose Maurice Ravel with
« le Martin-pêcheur » (the kingfisher) and « la pintade » (the guinea-fowl)


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## Daniel (Jul 11, 2004)

Rautavaara's "Cantus Arcticus" uses a tape with wild arctic birds.


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

The first movement of Messiaen's 'Quatuor pour la fin du temps'. Many birds included.

Frederick Delius' piece for small orchestra, 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring'. It has the cuckoo call imitated in a melancholic fashion.


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## ChamberNut (Jan 30, 2007)

The 2nd mvt. of Beethoven's Pastorale symphony, nearing the end of the mvt.


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## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

The opening bars of the orchestral suite to Ravel's 'Daphnis and Chloe'.


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

Oh yes, and Liszt's legend for piano 'St Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds'.


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## zlya (Apr 9, 2007)

robert newman said:


> I can't agree that birds have a language little more sophisticated than simply making repetitive utterances or making gestures of pain, anger or sadness. I believe their language is actually far more sophisticated than that.


Of course it is! So are those of dogs and horses and monkeys, but while I can generally understand if a dog is in pain (yelping), angry (growling), or sad (whining), I can't understand much more than that, because I'm not a dog. Now I'm a mammal and dogs are mammals, so we're pretty closely related. Birds are a bit different, so I generally can't tell if a bird is in pain or angry or sad (though I probably could if I studied it) but I'm sure most other birds can. And I think that birds within the same species can communicate on a much deeper level. (Need all the flirting and courtship talk, for one thing).


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## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

Yes, for sure. But species are members of a genus. Is it not reasonable to assume that a given bird species can be understood by other species who are members of it's own genus ? If so, then, surely, the language of birds goes far beyond that of the individual species. It may even be understood by other species. At a sophisticated level. Even where their speech is different. 

To define such things as 'speech' and 'language' is of course not easy. But I simply mean that birds talk the same language in the sense that they can be understood by all other birds, even at very sophisticated levels of communication.


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## Guest (Jun 14, 2007)

Birds are also symbols, sometimes terrifying.
The Schubert’s crow, for example, following the poet in the “Winterreise”, make me shiver every time I hear it.


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## thicks (Jun 13, 2007)

Beethoven said to his pupil, after having composed the 5th symphony, that is was inspired by birds. Also Richard Bennett (Forgive me if thats wrong) wrote pieces insprired by the twelve days of christmas, and the four calling birds piece has cuckoos and other birds in


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## Guest (Jun 14, 2007)

My Verses!


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## Guest (Jun 14, 2007)

Because of Reynaldo Hahn's "Si mes vers avaient des ailes!" (If my verses had wings) :


My verses would flee, sweet and frail,
To your garden so fair,
If my verses had wings,
Like a bird.

They would fly, like sparks,
To your smiling hearth,
If my verses had wings,
Like the mind.

Pure and faithful, to your side
They'd hasten night and day,
If my verses had wings,
Like love!

- poem by Victor Hugo (1802-1885) , from « Les contemplations », published in 1856


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## Guest (Jun 14, 2007)

And of course, the swan in tears.

I’ve chosen the Swan’s song D 745 (and not the song cycle for voice & piano, D. 957 “Schwanengesang”)

The text is by Friedrich von Schlegel (1772-1829), and the music by Franz Schubert, 
D. 745 (March 1820), first published in 1822, translated below:

Lamentingly I express the imminence of death,
Which pervades the limbs with sweet release
I sing out loud, impelled by a feeling of becoming,
Which, redeeming me, wafts towards you, o spirit.
He lamented, he sang,
Fearful of extinction,
Yearning for transfiguration,
Till life left him.
This is the meaning of the swan’s last song.


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## zlya (Apr 9, 2007)

My personal favorite: Sumer is icumen in, with that great "Sing cuccu" mimicking the cuckoo sound.


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## Guest (Jun 15, 2007)

We have not mentioned Felix Mendelssohn. I found three birds in his lieder: an hawk, a Nightingale and a little bird:

1° the hawk flies in "Wartend" op. 9 no. 3 (1830).
_
Sie trug einen Falken auf ihrer Hand
Und hat ihn über den See gesandt.
Komme du bald!

Er kam mit dem Falken wohl über den See
Und blies ins Hüfthorn vor Lust und Weh.
Komme du bald!

Der Falk flog weit in Wald und Nacht,
Vom Morgentraum ist das Fräulein erwacht.
Komme du bald!_

2° the nightingale sings, perched on a Goethe's poem :
"Die Nachtigall" , op. 59 no. 4 (1843) [choral], from Sechs Lieder im Freien zu singen, no. 4.

_Die Nachtigall, sie war entfernt,
Der Frühling lockt sie wieder;
Was neues hat sie nicht gelernt,
Singt alte liebe Lieder. _

3° « Ich hör' ein Vöglein locken, … » from a Adolf Böttger'poem (1815-1870)


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## Guest (Jun 15, 2007)

This morning, as I was strolling in the park, i saw many other birds… a warbler, an other swan, little birds, swallows... and, … a bird catcher, who reminds me of Papageno (from 'The Magic Flute').

" Hello, Warblers, by Georges Adolphe Hüe (6 May 1858 - 7 June 1948).
The poem has been written by Eugène Adenis, dedicated to Miss Cécile Simonnet (de l'Opéra-Comique)
Its original name was "Le Merle" : The blackbird.

-"the swans" Reynaldo HAHN:
_Les Cygnes [Ton âme est un lac d'amour], mélodie de Reynaldo HAHN (1875-1947), poésie d'Armand Renaud (1894), dédiée au poète Jean Lahor_

-" The warbler of the canton" by Louis Clapisson (1808-1866) - (On m'a dit que j'étais rieuse)

-" the bird-catcher" by d'Émile PESSARD (1843-1917)
_L'Oiseleur (Il est un oiseleur perfide), mélodie, poésie d'Émile Asse_

-"where are you going, little bird?" Léopold Amat , born in 1814 - died in 1872.
_Où vas-tu petit oiseau ? (Rêve, parfum, ou frais murmure) _

- "Why sing the birds ?"by Théodore DUBOIS (1837-1907)
_ Pourquoi les oiseaux chantent poem by Stephan Bordèse, from "les Contes mystiques"_

And the Thomas's Mignon Swallow Duet 
_Ambroise Thomas (1811- 1896) - Legeres hirondelles_


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

As the unofficial amateur Wagner anorak, it my bounden duty to bring this up:


Alnitak said:


> Birds are also symbols, sometimes terrifying.


Wotan's Ravens in the Ring cycle... In _Siegfried_, Siegfried says to Wotan (freely translated) "where has that Woodbird gone?" and hears the reply "my Ravens took off after it. Woe to it if they catch up to it!" Again, at a key moment in _Gotterdammerung_, Hagen says to Siegfried "can you tell what those Ravens are saying? To me, they call out 'Revenge!'"


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## Guest (Jun 17, 2007)

While people are squabbling on other threads, I go on with birds and poetry, in mine…

Now, ladies and gentlemen : "The albatross" by the french composer ERNEST CHAUSSON (1855-1899).

I propose a Geoffrey Wagner's translation of the C Baudelaire's Poem:

_Often, to amuse themselves, the men of the crew
Catch those great birds of the seas, the albatrosses,
lazy companions of the voyage, who follow
The ship that slips through bitter gulfs.

Hardly have they put them on the deck,
Than these kings of the skies, awkward and ashamed,
Piteously let their great white wings
Draggle like oars beside them.

This winged traveler, how weak he becomes and slack!
He who of late was so beautiful, how comical and ugly!
Someone teases his beak with a branding iron,
Another mimics, limping, the crippled flyer!

The Poet is like the prince of the clouds,
Haunting the tempest and laughing at the archer;
Exiled on earth amongst the shouting people,
His giant's wings hinder him from walking._


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## Guest (Jun 17, 2007)

The Pigeon Post - _song for voice & piano (Schwanengesang), D. 965a (D. 957/14) _

Die Taubenpost (The Pigeon Post), Schubert's last song, was written in October of 1828, about one month before he died in his thirtieth year.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

Love

....


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

Why?


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2007)

Because « Love is a rebel Bird », - Andre Messager (1953 – 1929)


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## Guest (Jul 15, 2007)

View attachment 74


this an extract from the song "It frightens birds" by Paul Bernard (19827-1879)


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Sorry I wasn't around to play "straight-man" to your _Habanera_ reference. Still, as long as we're in the genre of opera, Father Owen Lee points out a work that contains characters whose names (translated) are K. Birdsong, Conrad Nightingale, as well as off-stage presences Nick Bird and Walter of the Bird-Meadow... _Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg_.


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2007)

I found also an Owl in my garden, last night:

_Under the dark yews which shade them,
The owls are perched in rows,
Like so many strange gods,
Darting their red eyes. They meditate.

Without budging they will remain
Till that melancholy hour
When, pushing back the slanting sun,
Darkness will take up its abode.

Their attitude teaches the wise
That in this world one must fear
Movement and commotion;

Man, enraptured by a passing shadow,
Forever bears the punishment
Of having tried to change his place.

_
---- a Baudelaire's poem,
---- a Deodat de Severac's song.


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## jam*tart (Apr 6, 2007)

Interestingly, two of my friends wrote their honours theses about birdsong and music last year (at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and University of Sydney). It's a really interesting topic! I'm desperately trying to remember some of the birdsong-inspired works that they mentioned/I have come across..all that I can think of right now is:
Peter Sculthorpe -one of his string quartets I think, can't remember which one! Also his Requiem
Ross Edwards-lots of his works
Messiaen-pretty much everything was informed by birdsong in one way or another, I think
Harri Viitanen- lots of pieces

and there's lots lots lots more..but alas, I am too tired to recall any.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2007)

Kiyoshi Mizutani, _Bird Songs.
_
Cage's _Birdcage_ is also nice...


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

Bizet: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle que nul ne peut apprivoiser".


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## Alnitak (Oct 21, 2008)

The author of this thread seems to like birds. I think cats like birds also and, of course, classical music provides many examples of beautiful performances performed by cats. For instance, the duet for Two Cats by Rossini.

As a matter of facts, cats are sometimes pretty good when they play the piano, like Berlioz, here practicing with his mother: 



)

They can play works as difficult as Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 - remember this famous cartoon with Tom and Jerry - Jerry is not a bird, ok! But now, imagine cats singing the 'Swallow Duet' from Ambroise Thomas (from Mignon) instead of the Duet for Two Cats by Rossini… Or, Tom (from the cartoon) performing 'the cuckoo' by Louis-Claude Daquin…


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

This thread seems to have begun as a look at the way birds have inspired music, but there has been at least one famous occasion where music inspired birds. See the story of Beatrice Harrison, the cello and the nightingale here:

http://www.talkclassical.com/3345-beatrice-harrison.html


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Vaughan Williams - The *Lark* Ascending?


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## msegers (Oct 17, 2008)

I have a special joy in re-reading this thread, not only because the birdsong-obsessed Messiaen is a favorite of mine, but also because often when I am at the computer, my parrot is in my lap, as he is now. 
Anyway, here is a presentation of Messiaen's use of birdsong -




And here is a charming film of Messiaen discussing and even imitating birdsongs -


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## periodinstrumentfan (Sep 11, 2008)

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Biber's Sonata Representativa ...with a Cuckoo, nightingale, a hen and a "rooster from the grave"  - 




Schmelzer's (dark) Cuckoo - 




Handel's Cuckoo & Nightingale -


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## bdelykleon (May 21, 2009)

The quintessential birdsong piece is "Le Chant des Oiseaux" from Clement Janequin. Up until Messiaen, no other piece of music used bird song in such a manner, the "cuckoo theme" in baroque music is based in only a little minor third interval, and is more a baroque _locus communis_ than really inspired bu birdsong.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

zlya said:


> I don't think all bird species speak the same language. I think the different languages are probably about as similar as the different mammalian languages: i.e., we can generally tell if an utterance or gesture means pain or anger or even sadness, but it doesn't go much further.
> 
> I think there is a mistake in personification of birdsong. Birds do not sing, they speak to each other in a tonal language which in some ways reminds humans of human music, or inspires humans to create music. The compositions you mention bear no more similarity to the frequencies or function of birdcalls than a painting of a waterfall does to the action of gravity on H2O.


I suppose people personify, except humans don't 'sing' when they speak, they don't use rhythm maybe quite like birds do or tones in quite the same way (although some languages do use tones like Thai/Chinese?). Also just like other animals can see or smell in a different way to people so they can hear differently too. Birds I think hear their sound slowed down. Whales have also been said to 'sing', some of the sounds they create at frequencies I think humans can't hear. Whether these can be structured utterances or largely improvised sound may be added to the argument as to how musical they are or aren't.


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## Methodistgirl (Apr 3, 2008)

I will pick Tric trac polka by Strauss. It reminds me of a bird singing.
judy tooley


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Liza Lim - Diabolical Birds (1990).


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## JAKE WYB (May 28, 2009)

Sibelius - SCENE WITH CRANES - pretty direct nature sounds in there - makes for a very atmospheric and still little piece

Janacek - THE BARN OWL HAS NOT FLOWN AWAY - a very dark and disturbing portrait of something other than an owl - but direct enough to send an instant shiver


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## vavaving (Apr 20, 2009)

I nominate Le Colloque des deux Perruches (conference of two parakeets), by Francaix circa 1989.

Let's not forget to mention the Lyrebird which impersonates _human_ themes.


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## Conservationist (Apr 5, 2007)

opus67 said:


> Respighi's 'The Birds'.


This is queued up for later listening here...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Ketelby* - In a monastery garden
*Hovhaness* - Symphony No. 63 'Loon Lake'

& I agree with the fellow Australian poster above - most of *Sculthorpe*'s works have bird sounds/calls


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

Haydn's String Quartet op. 33 no. 3 in C Major is nicknamed "The Bird".


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## Tockley (Jun 27, 2009)

How can this discussion be had without a mention of _Le Merle Noir_ by Messiaen. I know some people brought up Messiaen, but this piece has explicit cadenzas based on bird calls.


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