# Pieces with interesting or evocative titles.



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

I thought up this idea for a thread while listening to _Sheherezade_.
I like two of the titles in the piece, "The Sea and Sinbad's Ship," and especially:

"The Ship goes to Pieces on a Rock Surmounted by a Bronze Warrior"

Here are a few other ones I think are good:

"The Perilous Night" by John Cage
"These Premises are Alarmed" by Thomas Ades
"Fanfare for the New Atlantis" by Alan Hovhaness

There must be loads of other ones out there.


----------



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Some of Satie's compositions have interesting titles. Some of my favourites are:

Dessicated Embryos
2 Preludes for a Dog
Flabby Preludes (for a dog)
Things seen to right and left (without glasses)
Ringtone to wake the big fat monkey king
3 Pieces in the form of a Pear

These are probably quite bad translations from the original French titles. Also, Dessicated Embryos is a perfect name for a low quality death metal band.

A few others of the top of my head:

_Hungarian Rock _by Ligeti
Pieces from Debussy's _Children's Corner_ suite

_Leck mich im Arsch_ and _Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber_ by Mozart
give an interesting insight into the mentality of the maestro.


----------



## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

Sorabji - *Tantrik Symphony*


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Symphony in C by Bizet.


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Tapkaara said:


> Symphony in C by Bizet.


Beat me to it.

I wish more pieces had more memorable titles than "Concerto Grosso for violin, viola da gamba, lute, theorbo and kazoo in Q minor, Op. 794a." That's an awful mess to type into your catalog and is difficult to bring up in casual conversation. I think we should have a big musical summit meeting to determine brand new memorable names for all our classical favorites 

My personal favorite may be "The Enemy God dances with the dark Spirits" or whatever from the Scythian Suite.


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Yeah, perhaps that's one reason why classical music is not as popular as it could be. People hear some of these sterile and functunal titles and then they assume the music is as sterile and fuctional itself.


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

That might be true. However, I still usually prefer that composer just offers me pure music and lets me attribute whatever "meaning" to it I wish. I think it's usually better when we let the music speak for itself, without the aid of words.


----------



## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Scriabin's Poemes of _Ecstasy_, _Aspiration_, _Promethee_, and _Wings_ would go under evocative pieces and titles.

His _Guirlandes_ and _Flammes Sombres_, and _Vers La Flamme _(Moving into the flame) are very evocative titles.

Alkan's _Funeral on the Death of A Parrot_ definitely takes the cake, though.


----------



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Dim7 said:


> That might be true. However, I still usually prefer that composer just offers me pure music and lets me attribute whatever "meaning" to it I wish. I think it's usually better when we let the music speak for itself, without the aid of words.


Indeed; and further to that point, if every piece of music were to have a suggestive title, then we devalue the very nature of absolute music, even if a title in itself doesn't make it programme music.


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Spanish composer *Leonardo Balada *has a piece called "No-res (Nothing) - An Agnostic Requiem." I haven't heard it, but it's on my to-get list, mainly because the title is so wierd...


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I remember a recent thread suggesting works by composer Iiro Rantala. Researching him I came across this piece:

Concerto for Piano and Concerto in G♯ΔA♭ (pronounced Gis-Maj-As according to Wikipedia.)



I think he is considered more of a jazz pianist however.

I also just got through watching a DVD of Peter Schickele's "Unbegun Symphony" (it has only a third and fourth movement) which is quite a hoot.


----------



## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 recorders, 2 violins, bassoon, strings in C major, RV 556 (Per la solennita di S. Lorenzo)

Just rolls off your tongue, eh?


----------



## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

Any of John Adams'. I particularly like On The Transmigration of Souls (about 9/11), Lollapalooza, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, My Father Knew Charles Ives, Fearful Symmetries and I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky.


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

I'm not saying music needs fancy titles to be interesting. I have nothing against so-called functional titles. But I think I still have a point that uninteresting titles have the potential to turn off potential "uninitiated" listeners. Titles like "Poeme de l'extase" do sound more tempting than "Symphony in F major" or something like that. Not that titles should be artificially be made more interesting, JUST a thought.

Perhaps this leads to the perception that classical music is a clinical look-but-don't-touch affair.


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Andre said:


> Spanish composer *Leonardo Balada *has a piece called "No-res (Nothing) - An Agnostic Requiem." I haven't heard it, but it's on my to-get list, mainly because the title is so wierd...


I have been known to buy a CD if it has an interesting title.

Here are some more I like:

*The Confession of Isobel Gowdie* (MacMillan)

*Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima* (Penderecki)

*A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden* (Takemitsu)

*The Devil's Trill Sonata* (Tartini)

*The Assault on Beautiful Gorky* (Shostakovich)

*The Night of the Mayas* (Revueltas)

And best of all, *Quartet for the End of Time* (Messaien)

(The French title for it doesn't have the same ring)


----------



## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Beethoven's Rage Over a Lost Penny

(sorry Weston)


----------



## Herr Direktor (Oct 18, 2009)

Always was a big fan of Darius Milhaud's _Le boeuf sur le toit _- the ox on the roof.


----------



## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Lepo Sumera - Serena Borealis 
Hans Werner Henze - Scorribanda Sinfonica
Granville Bantock - Sapphic Poem
Prokofiev - The Fiery Angel
Stephen Scott - Minerva's Web, The Tears of Niobe, Vikings of the Sunrise
John Adams - Disappointment Lake, Gnarly Buttons
Samuel Barber - Medea's Dance of Vengeance


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Andre said:


> Spanish composer *Leonardo Balada *has a piece called "No-res (Nothing) - An Agnostic Requiem." I haven't heard it, but it's on my to-get list, mainly because the title is so wierd...


The same composer has a fantastic symphony of steel


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

nefigah said:


> Beethoven's Rage Over a Lost Penny
> 
> (sorry Weston)


Now look what you've done! 

I shall have to listen Schoenberg or some such all night to get that out of my head.


----------



## JSK (Dec 31, 2008)

I'm surprised that noone has mentioned PDQ Bach.

Who can forget his Pervertimento for Bagpipe, Balloon, and Bicycle or his oratorio The Seasonings or his half-act opera The Stoned Guest?


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Not as surprised as I am.


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

JSK said:


> I'm surprised that noone has mentioned PDQ Bach.
> 
> Who can forget his Pervertimento for Bagpipe, Balloon, and Bicycle or his oratorio The Seasonings or his half-act opera The Stoned Guest?


According to Wikipedia there's also *A Little Nightmare Music*, *Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion*, and *Two Pianos Are Better than One*.


----------



## Barger (Nov 24, 2009)

*Lots of them from Charles Ives titles such as:*

Orchestral Set No. 2 (third mvmnt)
"From Hanover Square North, at the End of a Tragic Day. The Voice of the People Again Arose."


----------



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I'm sure all the great classical composers would have attached names to all of their symphonies if they knew how much they'd be listened to in the 20th/21st centuries..

"Pavane pour une infante defunte" is a great title. So is "Winterreise."


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Wellington's Victory (more interesting than its corresponding piece, anyway...)

and just about anything by Takemitsu... except maybe the soundtrack to "Ran."


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Walton - Spitfire prelude & fugue
Hovhaness - And God created great whales
Berg - Violin Concerto "To the memory of an angel"
Holst - Rig Veda; Savitri
Elgar - Pomp & Circumstance marches (the title is interesting, even though the music can be mundane)
Bartok - Mikrocosmos
Penderecki - De natura sonoris (virtually anything in Latin sounds intriguing)
Haydn - Many of the nicknames to his String Quartets & Symphonies, eg. The Lark, The Bear, The Hen, etc.
Leroy Anderson - some quirky titles of his miniatures eg. Fiddle Faddle, Chickenreel, Chatterbox
Ketelbey - many of his titles are exotic, eg. In a Persian market, From the Mystic land of Egypt, In a Chinese temple garden


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Andre said:


> De natura sonoris (virtually anything in Latin sounds intriguing)


*Sinfonia da Requiem* (Britten)
*Deus ex Machina* (Michael Daugherty)


----------



## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

When I first saw the title to this thread, the first song which sprung to my mind is the waltz _Wine, Women and Song_ by J. Strauss. Other very fitting titles which fit the music well are Bruckner's 8th ('Apocalyptic') and Mahler's 8th ('Symphony of a Thousand'). Not sure whether these titles were ascribed by the composers themselves. As for the awful yarn, "Rage over a lost penny," the title was not given by Beethoven (however fitting it may be, given the fact that I am overcome with "rage" every time I hear it).


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

According to Wikipedia, Mahler wasn't responsible for the title and didn't like it, although to me it seems perfectly apt.

A few days ago I heard on the radio a suite from an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov called *The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh*.

I had never heard of it and I have no idea what it's about, but I love the title.


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Only nickname of Bruckner symphonies that originates from Bruckner himself is the fourth's one, "Romantic". So the title "Apocalyptic" obviously wasn't given by Bruckner.

Mahler didn't like nicknames people gave to his symphonies, but there are cases when the composer has accepted the nicknames given by others to his compositions. Like the ninth piano sonata by Scriabin, "Black Mass." Scriabin had given the name "White Mass" to his seventh sonata, and that inspired others to call his ninth the "Black Mass Sonata"


----------



## Fritz (Dec 10, 2009)

Schönberg: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) Nice title, it really fits to piece that starts so disharmonic and ends so harmonic. 

Eimert: Der weiße Schwan für Saxophon, Flöte und selbstgebaute Geräuschinstrumente (The white swan for saxophon, flute and home-made noise instruments)
Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirrow in the mirrow)
I think modern composers are the best source for music with interesting titles, although some of their titles are rather boring like “collage no.3” or “metamorphoses I – IV”.

Although Richard Strauss has the inevitable “metamorphoses” in his repertoire he also managed to find some interesting titles:
Also sprach Zarathrustra (Thus spoke Zarathrustra) 
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks)
Salomes Schleiertanz (Salome’s veil dance) That’s my favourite.


----------



## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Polednice said:


> Indeed; and further to that point, if every piece of music were to have a suggestive title, then we devalue the very nature of absolute music, even if a title in itself doesn't make it programme music.


The point is does the composer approve of the title? Titles added by others can often give a one dimensional view of a piece. 'Moonlight Sonata' does not really suit the last movement or the second of the piece. Jupiter symphony suggests the slow movement is less personal than it might be.


----------



## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Dim7 said:


> Only nickname of Bruckner symphonies that originates from Bruckner himself is the fourth's one, "Romantic". So the title "Apocalyptic" obviously wasn't given by Bruckner.


Yes. Thank you. I was wondering how many threads I have to fight this battle on. Maybe it's some kind of rearguard action by people who've grown up with everything having a name that makes them want to dredge up the most remote or fanciful names for things and regard them as official.
In the digital/download age I suppose it's too late, but I might have had some respect for a pop/rock band who had the guts to call their first album "Album No 1" and their second "Album No 2".
Yeah, right...
Graeme


----------

