Top 20 Most Iconic Classical Works for OpenScore
I'm putting together a list of the 20 most iconic classical works for OpenScore to liberate.
You can see the list in the spreadsheet here: https://goo.gl/SwdKxj
I've got 18 out of 20. Let me know what you think the remaining two should be!
The pieces must be in the public domain worldwide. Include a link to the IMSLP page in you reply.
E.g.: http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.5,_Op.67_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_van)
Comments
In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt :
http://imslp.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt_Suite_No.1,_Op.46_(Grieg,_Edvard)
Pachelbel's Canon :
http://imslp.org/wiki/Canon_and_Gigue_in_D_major,_P.37_(Pachelbel,_Joha…
EDIT:
Forget about Grieg - here's something more popular.
Johann Strauss' Blue Danube :
http://imslp.org/wiki/An_der_sch%C3%B6nen_blauen_Donau,_Op.314_(Strauss…
In reply to In the Hall of the Mountain by Jm6stringer
Blue Danube should definitely be on the list, thanks!
In the Hall of the Mountain King and Canon in D are definitely up there, but I think I'll hold out a little bit longer to see if something even more famous comes up.
In reply to Blue Danube should definitely by shoogle
O support the Blue Danube!
In reply to In the Hall of the Mountain by Jm6stringer
No "Pachelbel's Canon" please!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
(I'm just kidding... it's a great piece!)
:-) :-) :-)
In reply to No "Pachelbel's Canon" by carneyweb
Now that's hilarious!!
Regards.
In reply to No "Pachelbel's Canon" by carneyweb
All that and he never got to Puff the Magic Dragon?
Don't do Canon in D, though, because it's too easy. Just one short part, then copy and paste.
Night on Bald Mountain by Modeste Mussorsky (Arr. Maurice Ravel) http://imslp.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition_(Mussorgsky,_Modest) found under the Arrangements and Transcriptions tab.
In reply to Night on Bald Mountain by by mike320
I agree with both of these.
In reply to Night on Bald Mountain by by mike320
I wrote the wrong title when I wrote Night on Bald Mountain, I meant Pictures at an Exhibition as I believe Isaac realized.
I totally forgot The New world Symphony. It definitely belongs on the list more than some others in my opinion.
In reply to I wrote the wrong title when by mike320
Night on Bald Mountain is very iconic, too.
In reply to I wrote the wrong title when by mike320
Disappointed the Dvorak wasn't swapped in...
I left these four in a comment on the spreadsheet, but hopefully redundancy is not a problem:
Holst: First Suite in Eb
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (popular title: the Eroica)
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 (popular title: the New World)
Bach: Partita No. 2, BWV 1004 (famous for: Mvt. 4, Chaconne)
Dvorak 9, the New World Symphony, would probably be the single one I'd pick above the others.
Also, I think I asked about this when talk of OpenScore was first becoming public, but now that I see this list I recognize a few items that people have already notated with MuseScore and made public on musescore.com (for example, https://musescore.com/sheetmusic?text=classicman+eine+kleine). The various transcribers would need to be contacted and agree to contribute their work under the appropriate license, and some double-checking of their work would be needed, but in those cases it seems a shame to start from scratch and redo everything by hand when most of the work is already done.
Saw this related tweet from OpenScore:
"Made a list of iconic musical works & guess what? They're all by white men! Help us add female and non-EU composers!"
So, I humbly suggest the following: The Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
Yes, Joplin should be considered a classical composer. He is not white, and not European, and this piece is his most widely known. BUT, if you want to consider a lesser known, but highly praised piece, consider "Treemonisha":
"Treemonisha (1911/1972) is an opera composed by the African-American composer Scott Joplin, most famous for his ragtime piano works. Though it encompasses a wide range of musical styles other than ragtime, and Joplin did not refer to it as such,[1] it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "ragtime opera". The music of Treemonisha includes an overture and prelude, along with various recitatives, choruses, small ensemble pieces, a ballet, and a few arias.[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treemonisha
"Treemonisha was also fully staged in 1975 on Broadway. The following year, Joplin received a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize, honoring the man who shaped a genre that influenced decades of music."
In reply to Saw this related tweet from by carneyweb
If I were picking a Joplin piece I'd pick The Entertainer. I'm actually working on the "Symphony in E minor (Gaelic)" by Amy Beach at the moment.
In defense of the list already started, these are the most famous of all classical pieces and considered "Greats" by nearly every serious classical student. European music, which is what classical music is, was mostly written by white men. I don't think trying to elevate a piece of music above where it belongs based upon the color or gender of the composer is doing justice to the genre.
In reply to If I were picking a Joplin by mike320
One more vote for Joplin.
It would be cool to have "less classical" but iconic public domain works in larger list. Maybe a march by John Philip Sousa? or first ragtime ever published "You've Been a Good Old Wagon But You Done Broke" by Ben Harney ?
In reply to One more vote for Joplin. It by [DELETED] 5
Yes to Sousa! I'd suggest "The Thunderer" as one of the more famous ones that isn't specifically tied to American patriotism.
But at this point, if we want an initial pool of 20 scores, we need to start pruning the less iconic works from the first draft of the list.
In reply to If I were picking a Joplin by mike320
I don't think stating that Joplin is a classical composer elevates him at all. It just places him where he belongs. His piano pieces certainly aren't jazz... there's no improvisation. He certainly considered them to be art music, not pop music. There's a lot of debate about this. In any case, I made the suggestion specifically because the project asked for pieces by composers that are non-white, non-european.
I love "The Entertainer" too, but it's not really his iconic piece.
I guess someone should mention Ravel's Bolero. I'd pick it over the Pachelbel Canon in D, if for no other reason that than the latter is really famous not so much for its original version but for the various adaptations made over the years.
I'd also ask myself, which composers missing from the list, and then see if maybe you couldn't work some Haydn, Chopin, and Stravinsky into your list (or is everything of Stravinsky still under copyright some places in the world?) Maybe some earlier music as well.
If you're looking at how to create room for all the suggestions made thus far, I'd suggest than maybe since we already have Goldberg and WTC 1, maybe we don't need to devote quite so many of the slots in this project to Bach.
In reply to I guess someone should by Marc Sabatella
I would suggest that we limit the number of pieces permitted by one composer (to one or two) for the first 20. This is not a list of the only things to be done, but a starting point. The goal seems to be to have all* of IMSLP in MuseScore eventually.
*All pieces with no copy right issues.
From Johann Sebastian Bach I could also imagine "Air on G String": //imslp.org/wiki/Orchestral_Suite_No.3,_BWV_1068_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) .
Or the "Vlatva (The Moldau)" from Bedrich Smetana: //imslp.org/wiki/Vltava,_JB_1:112/2_(Smetana,_Bed%C5%99ich) ?
And maybe not for the top 20, but someday: //imslp.org/wiki/Der_Flohwalzer_(Anonymous) ;-).
Two remarks:
1. There is an imbalance of genres: Opera and ballet are well represented, piano music and chamber music (including vocal chamber music) are massively underrepresented and orchestral music is overrepresented.
2. "Iconic" is not the same thing as "famous" and not the same thing as "great masterpiece" either. It means music that lots of people know about, often by means of extramusical titles or programs rather than exceptional quality. Beethoven's 5th is iconic because its opening motif has been associated with fate for example or the Brandenburg concertos because of their titles.
It turns out that there's a project similar to OpenScore called "Mutopia". I ran across it when I was searching for the sheet music to "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin.
http://www.mutopiaproject.org
It is "2072 pieces of music – free to download, modify, print, copy, distribute, perform, and record – all in the Public Domain or under Creative Commons licenses, in PDF, MIDI, and editable LilyPond file formats"
So, if you're considering contributing to OpenScore, you might find that a score already exists there.
... For what it's worth :-)
- Mike.
Just a couple more suggestions.
Transcribing scores opens these up to much more simple re-arrangement.
Borodin
* In the steppes of central asia
* symphony 2
Elgar (died 1934, so copyright expired in 2009)
*enigma variations
* cello concerto
* Introduction and Allegro for strings
Holst (died 1934 also, so copyright expired in 2009)
* planets
* St Pauls Suite
Dvorak
* symphonies, esp #9
* cello concerto
Saint-Saens
* Symphony 3
* Carnival of the Animals
* Cello concerto
* 2 piano concerti
* Introduction & rondo capriccioso
Tartini
* devil's trill
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 Op. 18 - well, any of the three.
Brahms Violin Concerto.
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.
Brahms Intermezzi Op. 117, 118, 119.
(PLEASE skip Bolero)