Name that piece! The game

[Brian]

(Ma Mère l'Oye, perhaps, but can't remember it at all)

Holy smokes no!  If it's by Ravel it's one of the few big things I haven't heard yet, ie, L'heure espagnole. Or very possibly I have forgotten a purely orchestral minute from L'enfant et les sortileges. But it's not Mother Goose or Daphnis...

[Brian]

Got it: the oboe is playing a tune from L'enfant et les sortileges. However, in my recording it's sung rather than oboe'd (it is also briefly tromboned  ). Methinks Amfortas has played a little trick!

[Amfortas]

It is by Ravel. And it's from....."L'Enfant et les Sortilèges"

"Five O'Clock Foxtrot"

London Phil, Bernard Herrmann, conductor

Remember this old LP / CD?



So I will declare Brian the winner 

[listener]

of course!  the 'teapot' duet, the only instance I know in opera where 'Sesue Hayakawa' appears.

[Brian]

So I will declare Brian the winner 

Okay, folks, here's my puzzler.

I'll be flabbergasted if you know the work
My flabber will be moderately gasted if you know the composer
What you might find most fun is to identify the influences and also who might have been influenced
Oh and a date would be a good challenge too. 

[Amfortas]

of course!  the 'teapot' duet, the only instance I know in opera where 'Sesue Hayakawa' appears.

I don't even know the opera. Figured it was an instrumental passage and didn't know a vocal line was replaced. I just thought "something unusual by Ravel!"

that was a good round, thanks

[Brian]

I don't even know the opera. Figured it was an instrumental passage and didn't know a vocal line was replaced. I just thought "something unusual by Ravel!"

that was a good round, thanks

Laughed out loud at this, friend. I didn't know about the "Five O'Clock Foxtrot" version!

[Amfortas]

re: Brian's new clip

For some reason I am thinking of Goldmark....maybe the Rustic Wedding Symphony?

[Brian]

re: Brian's new clip

For some reason I am thinking of Goldmark....maybe the Rustic Wedding Symphony?

Nope, not Goldmark (nor Parry, don't think I missed that    ). I'd say the tunes are too catchy for Elgar, but that might be mean. 

Hoping some other folks will give it a listen!

[Amfortas]

Nope, not Goldmark (nor Parry, don't think I missed that    ). I'd say the tunes are too catchy for Elgar, but that might be mean. 

Hoping some other folks will give it a listen!

I think Elgar is very tuneful.
I had removed the Parry guess since I don't know any of his music.

Wonder if this thread is in the wrong section. There is another 'name that tune' thread going elsewhere. Or maybe people think this is a real competition 

[listener]

For not obvious to me reasons GLAZUNOV and PONCHIELLI come to mind, but I'm sure they are quite off the track.

[Brian]

Nobody's got the right country yet!

If it helps, I would say the first half of the clip is very UNcharacteristic of the composer and his tradition (though Amfortas' "post-Wagnerian" description is highly accurate) and that the second half might be more indicative.

[Amfortas]

There is a motif in the latter half of the clip that reminds me of Czech music....maybe early Janacek?

[Cato]

To paraphrase wine connoisseurs, the excerpt has the initial aroma of Suk, with hints of Humperdinck and Foerster at the end.

I have never heard the work, but those are my impressions.

[Amfortas]

To paraphrase wine connoisseurs, the excerpt has the initial aroma of Suk, with hints of Humperdinck and Foerster at the end.

I have never heard the work, but those are my impressions.

Interesting, I thought of Humperdinck as well.

[Cato]

Interesting, I thought of Humperdinck as well.

We will see what Brian says: what is of further interest is that the mystery composer influenced other composers, which is a stretch for my 3 .

I know Bartok wrote some very early works in a late-Romantic vein, but those opening seconds are redolent of Bohemia, not the Alföld.

[Amfortas]

We will see what Brian says: what is of further interest is that the mystery composer influenced other composers, which is a stretch for my 3 .

I know Bartok wrote some very early works in a late-Romantic vein, but those opening seconds are redolent of Bohemia, not the Alföld.

Yes Humperdinck was not much of an influence as far as I know, nor was Suk (another good suggestion). And this does not sound like Bartók.  Brian confirms the Wagner influence....so many composers were influenced by Wagner, it's hard to pinpoint one at this point.

[Brian]

Janacek...Suk...Foerster... we have arrived in the right country, but not yet in the right time frame! Janacek and Foerster were alive when this work was written, though not by much; the mystery composer died when they were kids.

The contention of mine that our mystery composer is influential would take a lot of musicologists by surprise, because he is so little-known; and yet in his time he was hugely prolific, greatly admired by a noted composer-critic (who claimed him as an influence), and performed on multiple continents! Moreover, as you are discovering, I should say based on the ill-equipped judges that are my own ears that quite a few of his countrymen to follow must have known and been influenced by his example.

The original clip was quite short by the standards of the game, so perhaps you might be interested to hear another short clip from the exact same work.

[Amfortas]

Not good old Smetana??

Uh, make that Zdeněk Fibich (1850–1900)?

[Brian]

Not good old Smetana??

Nope! 
Nor Fibich - the dates don't line up, my clue was that the mystery composer died when Janacek and Foerster (b. 1850s) were children.