# Works that contain passages about Evil?



## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

As we all know, Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" portrays a witches sabbath. What other pieces or portion of pieces are there that portray something or someone evil? The wolf, from Peter and the Wolf comes to mind. There must be lots of others but I am drawing a blank.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Dvorak's Water Goblin is pretty evil. So is the Noon Witch.


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## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

Manxfeeder said:


> Dvorak's Water Goblin is pretty evil. So is the Noon Witch.


Of course! How silly of me to miss those two, and I have been on a Dvorak binge lately! Bless you.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

The final movement from Tchaikovsky's _Manfred Symphony_ is a depiction of Arimanes, Nemesis and other devilish figures, confronted by the eponymous Byronic hero. It's my favourite depiction of evil.


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## AlexD (Nov 6, 2011)

Des Niblungen Neid in Wagner's Seigfried. Certainly the way the black elves are depicted in La Fura Del Baus version gave me the willies.

Verdi's MacBeth must have a passage dedicated to the witches, although I'm not familiar with the work.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Totentanz for piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt
The final movement of Symphonie Fantastique
Apparitions by Gyorgy Ligeti
Scythian Suite and the Fiery Angel (and by extension Symphony #3) by Sergei Prokofiev
Turn of the Screw by Benjimen Britten features a ghost I believe


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## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

AlexD said:


> Des Niblungen Neid in Wagner's Seigfried. Certainly the way the black elves are depicted in La Fura Del Baus version gave me the willies.
> 
> Verdi's MacBeth must have a passage dedicated to the witches, although I'm not familiar with the work.


I was thinking of Verdi's MacBeth and trying to remember the witches scene, but it completely eludes my memory. Good one from Siegfried.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

violadude said:


> Turn of the Screw by Benjimen Britten features a Ghost I believe


A possibly perverted paedophile ghost, no less. :tiphat:


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## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

Polednice said:


> A possibly perverted paedophile ghost, no less. :tiphat:


Did they have that back in those days?


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Truckload said:


> Did they have that back in those days?


Perverted Pedophile ghosts? No. Perverted Pedophiles? Most definitely.


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

If you like opera, Weber's 'Der Freischutz' (the first romantic opera, as it is called) deals with magic and has a famous part called 'The Wolf Glen's scene' replete with ghostly sound effects, dark spells and enchantments beneath a full moon. The opera is first rate, very, very listenable, great melodies...the overture is brilliant.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

There was a good deal of music written about the Faust story, especially Goethe's Faust.


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## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

Once I began researching, I found quite a few examples. But I think these two have stood out the most so far: Saint-Saens “Danse Macabre” and Prokofiev “Dance of the Knights”. Now I know the Dance of the Knights is not supposed to represent evil, but it seems to do so for me.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Truckload said:


> Once I began researching, I found quite a few examples. But I think these two have stood out the most so far: Saint-Saens "Danse Macabre" and Prokofiev "Dance of the Knights". Now I know the Dance of the Knights is not supposed to represent evil, but it seems to do so for me.


They depict little kiddies dancing in fountains of chocolate compared to the Tchaikovsky! Go on, listen to the Petrenko recording!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Bernstein* - his ballet _*Dybbuk*_ includes an exorcism. In Jewish mythology, a dybbuk is an evil spirit that posesses people. HERE is my review of a recording of this interesting work.

*Vaughan Williams'* ballet _*Job - A Masque for dancing *_has what I remember as the climactic scene, called _Satan's Dance of Triumph._ It's a while since I've heard it, but if my memory is correct, it was quite hair-raising, with wild brass and smashing percussions. Not your typical Vaughan Williams by any means.

Another UK ballet was *ARthur Bliss' *_*Adam Zero*_, telling the story of a man's journey from birth to death, as in the Adam and Eve story from the Bible. It's a while since I've heard it (it's on youtube) but the final few scenes have some dark music - in the modern style - including the _Dance with Death_...


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale" perhaps? I've never heard/seen the full version with speakers, but the devil is a pretty big character in that, right?


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

Right, and you stole my thunder! (shakes fist) 



Crudblud said:


> Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale" perhaps? I've never heard/seen the full version with speakers, but the devil is a pretty big character in that, right?


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## FrankieP (Aug 24, 2011)

A few that spring to mind:
Penderecki: _Die Teufel von Loudon_ (The Devils of Loudon); his _Paradise Lost_, the _Threnody to the victims of Hiroshima_ perhaps?
The Scherzo in Mahler 4 has a scordatura violin part said to be 'death playing the fiddle' if that counts?
I'll keep thinking x


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Iago's "Credo" in Verdi's Otello is a spine-chilling hymn to an evil god.

Unfortunately, Macbeth' witches, while perhaps evil, are given rather jolly upbeat music.


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

A bunch of selections from my Hallowe'en playlist...

Most notably, *Saint-Saens' *_Danse Macabre_.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

There are so many;
Liszt, Malediction for piano and string orchestra, Mephisto Polka
Carl Loewe Ballads. Tom der Reimer (Tom meets the Elf Queen). Edward (Patricide). Erlkoenig (Father and son pursued by the King of the Alders). Also set by Schubert.
Herr Oluf.He is claimed by the Erlkoenig's daughter).
Tausig. The Ghost Ship.
Offenbach. Tales of Hoffmann. Final trio, where the evil Dr.Miracle persuades Antonia to sing by raising the image of her dead mother ,she dies of course.
Mendelssohn. Die Erste Walpurgisnacht. (The First Walpurgis Night). Cantata for chorus and orchestra.
Moussorgsky. Songs and Dances of Death.
Boito's opera "Mefistofele". The huge prelude where Mefisto challenges God. Aria, "Son Lo Spirito" ( I am the spirit who denies everything always. In this aria Mefisto whistles through his teeth like a football supporter.
Paganini. "La Streghe" (the witches dance}.
Schubert. Der Tod und der Maedchen. (Death and the maiden)
Rubinstein. The Demon, opera. I am he who you called.
Meyerbeer,opera. Robert le Diable,opera, Invocation , Bertram the fiend calls the dead nuns from their graves


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Prokofiev's _Seven, They are Seven_ is about demonic gods.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Klavierspieler said:


> Prokofiev's _Seven, They are Seven_ is about demonic gods.


A very scary work.

The Fiery Angel is an opera of an evil subject too, about a woman that gets consumed with the occult, but is caught and burned at the stake. The music was reworked in the 3rd Symphony, which is a great Doom's Day work.

And of course, although it's not explicit, I think Prokofiev deals with evil in his 2nd Symphony too, in that chaos nearly triumphs as one's worst nightmare.

Plus, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring too.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I thought there would be pages and pages by now on this thread. OK ,well here's a few more items:
Bartok. The Mraculous Mandarin. This is quite evil.
Raff. Symphony No.5, "Lenore". She ends up riding to her doom behind a thing from the other side in the saddle.
Malcolm Arnold. Tam O' Shanter. Overture. Based on the Scottish poem by Robert Burns. Tam on his way back from the tavern when he comes across a group of witches and warlocks at it. They pursue him and he only just escapes with his life.
Tartini. The Devil's Trill Sonata.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

The penultimate movement from Pictures at an Exhibition has to do with Baba Yaga, a horrible witch from Slavic folklore. Actually the painting by Hartmann is just the design of a clock based on Baba Yaga's hut on chicken legs, but I don't think Mussorgsky was thinking of a clock when he made that music.

Lyadov also has a tone poem called Baba Yaga, but I don't really know the music.

And oh, the witches in Dido and Aeneas. They're such fun-loving evil creatures.


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## CameraEye (Nov 18, 2011)

_Faust_ by Charles Gounod.


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## Norse (May 10, 2010)

Hugo Wolf has a song called Der Feuerreiter (The Fire Rider). It's about some sort of devil creature on a bony horse setting fire to the country side. As far as lieder go it's probably the wildest one I've heard.

http://youtu.be/Wm69WI4vSZA#t=3m24s


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## ZombieBeethoven (Jan 17, 2012)

Everything ever written by Wagner. The man single-handed destroyed music, gave birth to Hitler and forced all of humanity to sit through untold hours of operatic torture. Surely evil incarnate. I have it from reliable sources that the ink used for the writing of Tristan and Isolde was actually the blood of puppies.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Liszt wrote quite a lot. Both works specifically to do with evil, as well as many which, while maybe not specifically, might as well be due to the sheer diabolism.

Aside from what has already been mentioned, off the top of my head...

Dante Symphony (duh).
Dante Sonata. (Listen to the start and the Presto Agitato Assai near the start especially here. I'm not too fond of Berman's performance as a whole...but he REALLY brings out the evil in that section!).
Mephisto Waltzes. Especially No. 2. Talk about evil and sheer diabolism. Also, the remarkable Czárdás macabre.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

ZombieBeethoven said:


> Everything ever written by Wagner. The man single-handed destroyed music, gave birth to Hitler and forced all of humanity to sit through untold hours of operatic torture. Surely evil incarnate. I have it from reliable sources that the ink used for the writing of Tristan and Isolde was actually the blood of puppies.


Oh,boy---does your Momma know you're out?


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Sorry, but I think it's not only unfair but ridiculous to blame Wagner for Hitler. Wagner may have been an anti-semite , and this should not be excused, but his anti-semitism was nowhere near as extreme and demented as Hitler's . The problem is that Hitler read his own insane philoposphy into Wagner , and read all kinds of ideas into the works which simply are not there .
Wagner disliked Jews, and he was far from being alone in this in his time, and felt that they were incapable of creating great art. But he never advocated genocide against them or any one else . He may have rather mean-spirited, but he was NOT an evil man. A person can say and do reprehensible things without actually being evil , and this was certainly true of Wagner. 
If you go through the librettos of all is operas, you will not find any discussions of Jews or Judaism, and there are no Jewish characters . There is not a single anti-semitic statement by any character in them.
It's a mistake to read Naziism in the Ring, for example. It takes place in a mythical Germanic world where Judaism does not exist . The Ring does not glorify German conquest of any one or anything . It shows how Wotan and the Gods, as well as everything, are destroyed by lust for power . Not a very Naziistic philosophy .
Blaming Wagner for Hitler, the Nazis and the holocaust is like blaming Christ for the Spanish Inquisition .


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

superhorn said:


> Sorry, but I think it's not only unfair but ridiculous to blame Wagner for Hitler. Wagner may have been an anti-semite , and this should not be excused, but his anti-semitism was nowhere near as extreme and demented as Hitler's . The problem is that Hitler read his own insane philoposphy into Wagner , and read all kinds of ideas into the works which simply are not there .
> Wagner disliked Jews, and he was far from being alone in this in his time, and felt that they were incapable of creating great art. But he never advocated genocide against them or any one else . He may have rather mean-spirited, but he was NOT an evil man. A person can say and do reprehensible things without actually being evil , and this was certainly true of Wagner.
> If you go through the librettos of all is operas, you will not find any discussions of Jews or Judaism, and there are no Jewish characters . There is not a single anti-semitic statement by any character in them.
> It's a mistake to read Naziism in the Ring, for example. It takes place in a mythical Germanic world where Judaism does not exist . The Ring does not glorify German conquest of any one or anything . It shows how Wotan and the Gods, as well as everything, are destroyed by lust for power . Not a very Naziistic philosophy .
> Blaming Wagner for Hitler, the Nazis and the holocaust is like blaming Christ for the Spanish Inquisition .


Err.... I think ZombieBeethoven was joking...


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Klavierspieler said:


> Err.... I think ZombieBeethoven was joking...


Don't be too sure!


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## ZombieBeethoven (Jan 17, 2012)

I guess a joke doesn't come across as a joke without a little smiley face. Sorry for the thread derailment.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

I would've thought that the blood of puppies thing would have made it obvious!


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Christopher Rouse _Gorgon_


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Klavierspieler said:


> I would've thought that the blood of puppies thing would have made it obvious!


Not with some of the people you meet here.


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