Five favourite works inspired by historical events

[JBS]

Which of course brings to mind Martinu's Memorial to Lidice

Shostakovich's 2nd and 12th Symphony are both linked to the 1917 Revolution.

[North Star]

Henning: Thoreau in Concord Jail
Liszt: Funérailles (Octobre 1849) (crushed Hungarian revolution)
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin (in memory of his friends who died in WWI)
Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Pinochet's coup d'état)
Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw
Sibelius: Luonnotar (Finnish creation myth )
Stravinsky: Elegy for J.F.K.

[SymphonicAddict]

I'm gonna try with these ones:

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 (definitely this must be here!)
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution
Hausegger: Barbarossa
Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 (partly based on the Holocaust)
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast

[André]

A trio ov Ives works.

Based on specific dates, but not on actual events, A Symphony: New England Holidays (Washington's Birthday; Decoration Day; The Fourth of July; Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day).

Based on characters: Concord Sonata (Emerson; Hawthorne; The Alcotts; Thoreau).

Based on a tragic event, the third orchestral piece from the Orchestral Set no 2, From Hanover Square North, at the End of a Tragic Day, the Voice of the People Again Arose. On May 7, 1915 the news arrived of the sinking of the Lusitania. Ives witnessed the crowd breaking into the hymn In the Sweet By and By.

They are my favourite Ives works, before the symphonies.

[springrite]

Wow someone actually dig that work? To me it is just hot air. The best version I have heard is the PDQ Bach version.

The PDQ Bach version is a masterpiece!

[Daverz]

Glier Symphony No. 3.

AKA Ilya Murometz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Muromets

I'll add:

Dvorak: Hussite Overture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussites

Mendelssohn: Reformation Symphony

Arnold: Symphony No. 4 (Notting Hill race riots of 1958)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._4_(Arnold)

[Mirror Image]

Henning: Thoreau in Concord Jail
Liszt: Funérailles (Octobre 1849) (crushed Hungarian revolution)
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin (in memory of his friends who died in WWI)
Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Pinochet's coup d'état)
Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw
Sibelius: Luonnotar (Finnish creation myth )
Stravinsky: Elegy for J.F.K.

Can't count, Karlo?

[Mirror Image]

Here's my five and are all in some way related to WWII or events surrounding this war:

(In no particular order):

Honegger: Symphony No. 3, "Symphonie Liturgique"
Schuman: Prayer in a Time of War
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6 (I don't care what anyone says this music written almost immediately following WWII is steeped in anguish and despair)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Copland: Symphony No. 3

[Florestan]

Joseph Martin Kraus ‎– Sorgemusik Över Gustaf III
Beethoven - Wellington's Victory
Chopin - Etude op. 10 No. 12 "Revolutionary"
Liszt - Funerailles
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture

[vandermolen]

Which of course brings to mind Martinu's Memorial to Lidice

Shostakovich's 2nd and 12th Symphony are both linked to the 1917 Revolution.

All works that I admire - well, maybe not so much Shostakovich's Second Symphony. I like the 12th 'The Year 1917' more than most seem to.

[vandermolen]

Henning: Thoreau in Concord Jail
Liszt: Funérailles (Octobre 1849) (crushed Hungarian revolution)
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin (in memory of his friends who died in WWI)
Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Pinochet's coup d'état)
Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw
Sibelius: Luonnotar (Finnish creation myth )
Stravinsky: Elegy for J.F.K.

Fascinating selection Karlo. Good to see Henning included - must hear that one. I could also add the 'Elegy for a Young American' a tribute to President Kennedy for orchestral band by Ronald Lo Presti.

[vandermolen]

Here's my five and are all in some way related to WWII or events surrounding this war:

(In no particular order):

Honegger: Symphony No. 3, "Symphonie Liturgique"
Schuman: Prayer in a Time of War
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 6 (I don't care what anyone says this music written almost immediately following WWII is steeped in anguish and despair)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Copland: Symphony No. 3

I enjoy all of those and the Schuman is a comparatively recent discovery. I'm inclined to agree with your comments on the Sixth Symphony by Vaughan Williams as well. The conductor Malcolm Sargent thought that it related most specifically to the events of World War Two, notwithstanding VW's Prospero/Tempest comment.

I just thought of the excellent 'March of the Hussites' from Novak's South Bohemian Suite, which is very moving in the context of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

[relm1]

Historic events?

Ahh, he's a legend.