# Historical Events Pieces



## gabem (Jan 26, 2012)

I need help. I'm trying to collaborate with our world history teacher. I wanted to do a joint project that involved music that was written because it was directly influenced by a major historical event taking place during the time. So far I have Shostakovich Symphony 7 "Leningrad." Can you help me think of any other ones? Thank


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Some pieces, though not necessarily composed exactly at the time of events and perhaps some decades from them, are:

Tchaikovsky: 1812-ouverture
Beethoven: Wellington´s Sieg; 3rd Symphony "Eroica"
Kurt Weill: Der Lindbergh Flug
Martinu: Thunderbolt P-47; Memorial to Lidice
Penderecki: Threnody to Hiroshima
F.C. Neubauer:"La Bataille di Martinestie oder Coburgs Sieg über die Türken", symphony
Walton: Spitfire Prelude
Balada: Guernica for Orchestra
Schulhoff: The Communist Manifesto, Oratorio (Eastern Block propaganda 20th Century)
Boris Tchaikovsky: Sebastopol Symphony
Stravinsky: Elegy to JFK (Kennedy)
Dussek: The Sufferings of the Queen of France, sonata (Marie-Antoinette)
Khachaturian: Ode to Stalin
Prokofiev: Ode to the End of the War
Gossec: Le Triomphe, Hymn to the Republic


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## campy (Aug 16, 2012)

Karel Husa, Music For Prague 1968


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Handel - Utrecht Te Deum & Jubilate (composed to commemorate the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 which ended the War of the Spanish Succession)

Handel - Four Anthems for King George II's coronation in 1727 (Zadok the Priest being the most famous)

Handel - Occasional Oratorio (apparently composed to celebrate the Government Army's defeat of Charles Edward Stuart's forces at Culloden Moor, Scotland in 1746)

Handel - Dettingen Anthem (composed to celebrate the Austro-British forces victory over the French at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession and King George II's safe return to Great Britain after co-commanding the forces) 


Granted most or all of these events are of selective interest these days but all were considered big news for 18th century European standards.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> Martinu: Thunderbolt P-47


He wrote a piece about Jugs? I'm dropping everything and listening on Spotify. Thanks for the heads-up!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Joseph Schantner's New Morning for the World and Nicolas Flagello's The Passion of Martin Luther King were written at the death of the Reverend.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

Clement Janequin's La Guerre / La Battaille ('Escoutez tous gentilz') was written in celebration of the French victory in the Battle of Marignano in 1515. Complete with imitated trumpet calls and battle noises.

That's the oldest example I can think of..


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Gottschalk "The Union" Re. american civil war. Yeah, i know it's a piano piece but it has been orchestrated.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

John Adams: Nixon in China, The Death of Kilnghoffer, Doctor Atomic


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Beethovens 5th


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

jani said:


> Beethovens 5th


It was inspired by French songs from the French Revolution, but I don't think it was composed to be a direct response to any historical event.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)




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