# Mythology, folklore and epics in Classical Music



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Well I don't know if there is similar thread here on TC, but I wanted to create comprehensive thread of classical peaces (primarily romantic+late romantic, 20th century and contemporary periods) inspired by *myths*, lore, *folklore*, ancient and medieval *epics*, fantastic themes but also compositions depicting scenes of *nature*! You can also recommend "wondrous" or "otherworldly music"...

I ll mention few composers and their most famous works inspired by mythology, fantasy, philosophy, epics, Gods (not strictly religious but more like Milton Paradise Lost inspired compostions) and similar stuff, and other fellow members should revise this thread by posting more compositions and composers affiliated with such music. After some time, I ll create great comprehensive list!

1. *Richard Wagner *- *The Ring cycle*; Der Ring des Nibelungen >>>>Das Rheingold , Die Walküre , Siegfried and Götterdämmerung

2. *Jean Sibelius* - *Kullervo*, Op. 7, Luonnotar, Op. 70, En Saga, Op 9, Pohjola's Daughter, Op.49 , The Swan of Tuonela/ Lemminkäinen Suite , Jungfrun i tornet, Tapiola, Pan and Echo... + his Symphonies

3. *Carl Orff* - Trionfi

4. *Richard Strauss* - Elektra, Also sprach Zarathustra, Eine Alpensinfonie, Tod und Verklärung, Metamorphosen...

5. *Gustav Mahler* - Everything!

6. *Franz Liszt* - Orpheus, Prometheus

7. *Edvard Grieg*- Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46, Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55,

8. *Alexander Scriabin* - Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60

9. *Modest Mussorgsky* - St. John's Night on Bald Mountain,

10. *Igor Stravinsky* - Rite of Spring, Oedipus Rex, The Firebird, Petrushka (ballet)

11. *Alexander Borodin* - Prince Igor opera, In the Steppes of Central Asia

12. *Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov* - Scheherazade, Russian Easter Festival Overture,...

13. ... YOUR TURN 

There are many more of course and I want to make great list so please help me out
in this endeavour. I m currently listening to The Epic of Gilgamesh by Bohuslav Martinů and
Guillaume Lekeu's Andromède 








_*RECOMMENDED*/SIMILAR THREAD
_LIST IN MAKING:
*Mystical, philosophical, profound and music of universe LIST*


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

This has been a major aspect of post war music. 


Birtwistie's Punch and Judy, Masque of Orpheus
Tippett King Priam
Lachenmann Little Match Girl
Nono prometeo
Jonathan Harvey Wagner Dream


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## Medtnaculus (May 13, 2015)

Bax comes to mind right away. Tveitt too (sun god symphony, nykken, Prillar).


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

I like some of Bax's work. Great guys, keep it coming!
Tveitt is new to me, and it seems you gave me a great homework:tiphat:


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Medtnaculus said:


> Bax comes to mind right away. Tveitt too (sun god symphony, nykken, Prillar).


Just yesterday I listened to Bax's _Tintagel _. A nice work with a connection to Arthurian/Celtic mythology.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Great thread topic! I recommend Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus. 

Its overture is very well known, but most of the other movements are rarely heard. Beethoven liked the last movement so much that he re-used some of it in the Eroica finale.


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

I already made three page list, but I would like to hear recommendations from 
far more knowledgeable classical listeners. Two or three months should be enough
to complete this list.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Atrahasis said:


> 1. *Richard Wagner *- *The Ring cycle*; Der Ring des Nibelungen >>>>Das Rheingold , Die Walküre , Siegfried and Götterdämmerung
> 
> 2. *Jean Sibelius* - *Kullervo*, Op. 7,
> 
> 4. *Richard Strauss* - Elektra,


Also:

Ernest Reyer - Sigurd

Leevi Madetoja - Kullervo

Christoph Willibald Gluck - Iphigenia in Tauris

Ildebrando Pizzeti - Ifigenia, Clitennestra


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Great, Sloe! :tiphat:

If you know some more interesting works, feel free to write them down.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Schienberg: Gurrelieder
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
Vaugham Williams: Job
Saint-Saens: Samson et Delilah
Nielsen: Dream Saga


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## Bayreuth (Jan 20, 2015)

Good idea for a thread. I'll mention a few classics...

Daphnis et Chloe by *Ravel*

Moses and Aron by *Schoenberg* (more of a religious theme but I gess it could fit well in your list)

Orfeo by *Monteverdi* (one of the first instances of mythology in music, maybe??)


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Richard Strauss - Daphne


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Great. I m now sure three months would certainly be enough to complete
this so called Definitive list


Thank you for great recommendations, hope all fellow members are willing
to contribute to the thread and help me in this big endeavour. Thanks again:tiphat:


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Kalevala suite by Uuno Klami (Finnish)






Kalevipoeg Suite by Eugen Kapp (Estonian)


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Kivimees said:


> Kalevala suite by Uuno Klami (Finnish)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I like Uuno Klami works, especially his Kalevala!

Thanks :tiphat:


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

-Carl Maria Von Weber: "Der Freischütz"
A bit early maybe but still very important work.

-Debussy: "Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune"

-Alfredo Catalani: "La Wally"

-Alfredo Catalani: Lorelei: Dance of the water nymphs

-Smetana: Die Moldau

-Ravel: Gaspard De la Nuit


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Great recommendations.
Carl Maria Von Weber is one of major representatives
of Romantic schools. Very important indeed!


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Does someone have Rouse's Heimdall's Trumpet recording?


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Reinhold Gliere: _Ilya Murometz_, Symphony No. 3.


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Strange Magic said:


> Reinhold Gliere: _Ilya Mourometz_.


Definitely. Great symphony. 
Thanks.


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

A bit obscure but fits otherworldly, I think. Haunted Manor - an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Glazunov: _Stenka Razin_


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Debussy's song "La Flûte de Pan" refers to the Greek God/faun Pan (Debussy had a thing for fauns! ) The text, which describes a young couple playing Pan's flute, is by Pierre Louÿs.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

I see mentions of Grieg's Peer Gynt as suite 1 and 2 if I may can I suggest the complete original version by Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg S O Rec 1987 on DG 423 079/2 (2CD) and IMO the best version available with many tracks that are not included in suits, it has Sigurd Jorsalfar as a filler.
_With, Barbara Bonney, Marianne Eklöf, Kjell Magnus Sandve, Urban Malmberg, Wenche Foss, Toralv Maurstad, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra And Chorus*, Neeme Järvi_









*Track list and other details here:*

https://www.discogs.com/Grieg-Barbara-Bonney-Marianne-Ekl%C3%B6f-Kjell-Magnus-Sandve-Urban-Malmberg-Wenche-Foss-Toralv-Maurstad-/release/3235340


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Arguably, Glass' opra _Akhnaten_ might also fit into this list...


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

brianvds said:


> Arguably, Glass' opra _Akhnaten_ might also fit into this list...


History, rather than myth. Wonderful music, though. Maybe someone should start a classical music influenced by history thread?


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Sloe said:


> Also:
> 
> Ernest Reyer - Sigurd
> 
> ...


Reyer's _Statue_ (Arabian Nights, djinn) and _Sakountala_ (Indian mythology)

Gluck - _Iphigénie en Aulide; Alceste ; Armide ; Orphée et Eurydice ; Echo et Narcisse ; Pâris et Hélène_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Sloe said:


> Richard Strauss - Daphne


Also _Ariadne auf Naxos; Die Liebe der Danae ; Die ägyptische Helena_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Richard8655 said:


> A bit obscure but fits otherworldly, I think. Haunted Manor - an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko


In that case... Boieldieu's _Dame blanche_!

(And Moniuszko's opera is wonderful!)


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Atrahasis said:


> 1. *Richard Wagner *- *The Ring cycle*; Der Ring des Nibelungen >>>>Das Rheingold , Die Walküre , Siegfried and Götterdämmerung
> 
> 11. *Alexander Borodin* - Prince Igor opera, In the Steppes of Central Asia
> 
> ...


Wagner - _Tannhäuser; Lohengrin; Tristan und Isolde; Parsifal_ (nearly all of his mature operas)

Rimsky-K - _Sadko; The Invisible City of Kitezh; Koshchei the Deathless; Mlada; The Snow Maiden; &c_


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Righty-ho then!

Auber - _Le lac aux fées_ (German Romanticism); _Le dieu et la bayadère_ (Indian); _Le cheval de bronze_ (Chinese, with a trip to Venus); _L'Enfant prodigue_ (Biblical)

Berlioz - _La damnation de Faust _; _Les troyens _(seeing it as legend, rather than legendary history)

Fauré - _Penelope_

Glinka - _Ruslan & Lyudmila_

Gounod - _Philémon et Baucis_

Grétry - _Zémire et Azor_

Halévy - _Le juif errant_; _La fée aux roses_; _La magicienne _; _Prométhée enchaîné_

Lalo - _Le roi d'Ys_

Marschner - _Hans Heiling_; _Der Vampyr_

Massenet - _Esclarmonde_; _Grisélidis_; _Le jongleur de Notre-Dame _; _Ariane_; _Bacchus_; _Amadis_

Méhul - _Joseph en Egypte_

Meyerbeer - _Robert le Diable _; _Le pardon de Ploërmel (Dinorah)_

Milhaud - _Les malheurs d'Orphée _; _L'Orestie _; _Médée _; _3 Opéras-Minute (Thésée, Ariane, Europe)_

Offenbach - _Orphée aux enfers_; _La belle Hélène_; _Barbe-bleue _; _Daphnis et Chloé _;

Puccini - _Le Villi _; arguably _Turandot _(although based on Gozzi and Schiller)

Rossini - _Armida _; _Ermione _; _Mosè (in Egitto)_

Arthurian:
Chausson - _Le roi Arthus_
Goldmark - _Merlin_

Watery tarts:
Hoffmann - _Undine_
Lortzing - _Undine_
Dvořák's _Rusalka_
Catalani's _Loreley_

He loved his mother and she loved him
And yet his story is rather grim:
Leoncavallo - _Edipo Re _
Enesco - _Œdipe _
Stravinsky - _Oedipus Rex_

Medea:
Cherubini - _Médée_
Mayr - _Medea in Corinto_

Noah:
_Noé _(Halévy & Bizet)
_Il diluvio universale _(Donizetti) 
_Noé _(Arrieu)
_Noye's Fludde _(Britten)

Queen of Sheba:
Goldmark - _Die Königin von Saba_
Gounod - _La reine de Saba_


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

I don't think these have been mentioned:

Saint-Saens: Le Rouet d'Omphale 
Saint-Saens: Phaeton
Saint-Saens: La Jeunesse d'Hercule

(and another Saint-Saens, Spartacus, if that isn't pushing the theme of the thread too far)

Another Queen of Sheba was listed, so how about Ottorino Respighi's Belkis, Queen of Sheba (the ballet)?

And also Respighi's Twelve Metamorphosen, after Ovid.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

And two not very well known operas:

Isaac Albeniz: Merlin
Ernest Chausson: Le Roi Arthus

Both from the King Arthur legends.

And Liadov: Baba Yaga (from the Russian fairy tales) and Kikimora (also from Russian fairy tales)

(Liadov also wrote a symphonic poem called Apocalypse, based on the book of Revelations, which might be considered Epic in a way)


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

JAS said:


> And two not very well known operas:
> 
> Isaac Albeniz: Merlin
> Ernest Chausson: Le Roi Arthus
> ...


Good suggestions. I love Liadov's Baba Yaga! And this reminds me--Mussorgsky also wrote a Baba Yaga piece, in Pictures at an Exhibition.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Jon Leifs - Saga Symphony
Prokofiev - Ala & Lolli (Scythian Suite)
Menotti - Amahl and the Night Visitors
Dan Welcher - How Maui Snared the Sun
Davis Bedford - Tales from the Dreamtime
Leonard Salzedo - The Witch Boy
Cyril Scott - Neptune, Poem of the Sea
Podgaits - Thumbelina (not sure if this counts)


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

SimonTemplar said:


> History, rather than myth. Wonderful music, though. Maybe someone should start a classical music influenced by history thread?


But somewhat mythologized history.


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Thank you guys.
Keep it coming.

:tiphat:


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Folkloristic:
Tchaikovsky: "The Little Slippers"
Rimsky-Korsakov: "Christmas Eve" & "May Night"
Ives: New England Holidays (Holiday Symphony)
Myaskovsky: Slavonic Rhapsody on Ancient Russian Themes.
Myaskovsky: Symphony no. XXIII (Symphony-Suite on Kabardanian Themes)
Shebalin: Sinfonietta on Russian Themes
Weinberg: Moldavian Rhapsody
Atterberg: Symphony no. IV
Tubin: Sinfonietta on Estonian Motifs
Ivanovs: Symphony no. VI
Kodaly: Dances of Marosszek, Dances of Galanta
Lehar: "Gypsy Love" (operetta)
Dohnanyi: Ruralia Hungarica

Mythological:
Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys"
Dargomyzhsky: "Rusalka" (part myth, part realism)
Glinka: "Ruslan & Ludmila" 
Stravinsky: "The Firebird"
Roussel: "Padmâvatî"
Prokofiev: The Fiery Angel
Magnard: "Guercouer"
Bartok: "The Wooden Prince"
Melartin: opera "Aino"
Atterberg: Sinfonia Visionaria (Symphony no. IX)
Oskar Lindberg: "From the Vast Forest"
Villa-Lobos: Floresta do Amazonas
Catan: Florencia en el Amazonas

Epic:
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov 
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
Glazunov: Second Symphony & Stanza Razin
Lyatoshynsky: Third Symphony (and the first two).
Lyatoshynsky: "Grazyna"
Massenet: "Le Cid"
Wagner: "Rienzi"
Novak: De Profundis
Shaporin: "The Decembrists"
Tubin: Symphony no. II 
Tubin: Ballet "Kratt"
Villem Kapp: Second Symphony
Bartok: "Kossuth"
Khachaturian: "Spartacus"
Amirov: "Arabian Nights"
Melikov: "Legend of Love"
Alfven: Symphony no. IV "From the Outermost Skerries"
Alfven: "Legend of the Skerries"
Sainton: "Moby Dick"


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## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

*@Orfeo *

Many thanks. Great contribution.
:tiphat:


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## pokeefe0001 (Jan 15, 2017)

Gurre-Lieder by Arnold Schoenberg.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Atrahasis said:


> *@Orfeo *
> 
> Many thanks. Great contribution.
> :tiphat:


You're welcome.......
:tiphat:


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Orfeo said:


> Folkloristic:
> Tchaikovsky: "The Little Slippers"
> Rimsky-Korsakov: "Christmas Eve" & "May Night"
> Ives: New England Holidays (Holiday Symphony)
> ...


Correction: That's "Stenka Razin" not "Stanza Razin" (of Glazunov)


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Bumping this thread for Laurie.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

JAS said:


> And also Respighi's Twelve Metamorphosen, after Ovid.


The full name of the Respighi work is _Metamorphoseon XII Modi, Theme and Variations for Orchestra_. The name refers to the metamorphosis of a theme into twelve variations (modi). To my knowledge there is no connection to Ovid.


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## MissKittysMom (Mar 2, 2017)

Barber: Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin
Shostakovich: The Execution of Stepan Razin
Janacek: Taras Bulba
Kodaly: Hary Janos


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## Omicron9 (Oct 13, 2016)

What a cool thread.


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## Malamir (May 25, 2017)

A few more from Bulgaria 

Marin Goleminov - Nestinarka (ballet);
Petko Staynov - Ratchenitsa ( and the whole Thracian dances suite).


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Malamir said:


> A few more from Bulgaria
> 
> Marin Goleminov - Nestinarka (ballet);
> Petko Staynov - Ratchenitsa ( and the whole Thracian dances suite).


Thanks for sharing and welcome to TalkClassical.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

I can name very _few_ things that _haven't_ found root in mythology and folkore somewhere along the line. List could go on forever...


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