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Ian Pace
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« on: 12:34:31, 06-04-2007 » |
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Thought it might be interesting to start a thread about composers using national anthems, what function they play, how they engage with them, etc. A few examples to start with:
Beethoven - Variations on God Save the King
Schumann - Fasschingswank aus Wien (includes La Marsellaise in the first movemet)
Debussy - Hommage a S. Pickwick Esq. PPMPC (includes God Save the King in the bass)
Debussy - Berceuse héroïque (includes La Brabançonne, the Belgian national anthem, in the middle section)
Stockhausen - Hymnen (includes national anthems from all around the world)
Finnissy - My Parents' Generation thought War meant something[ (cites the Debussy citing the Belgian national anthem, quite clearly)
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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martle
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« Reply #1 on: 13:07:17, 06-04-2007 » |
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There's another Debussy: the little wisp of the Marsellaise at the end of Feux d'Artifice.
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Green. Always green.
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Kittybriton
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« Reply #2 on: 13:09:57, 06-04-2007 » |
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slightly off-topic, but when I worked on a military base it was customary for the national anthem to be played at the end of the working day, which would have been fine, but I don't think the composer ever imagined the effect of his music echoing from different loudspeakers and meeting the listener at different stages...  |
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Click me -> About meor me -> my handmade storeNo, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish. |
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autoharp
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« Reply #3 on: 13:26:50, 06-04-2007 » |
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Ives - Variations on America
Many jazz references to the Marseillaise (why ?) eg Ray Nance in Ellington's 1945 version of Caravan
Carla Bley - Spangled banner minor
Beethoven opening of Appassionata (oops, sorry - didn't mean that
Tchaikovsky 1812 overture and Marche Slave
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #4 on: 13:32:15, 06-04-2007 » |
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Beethoven opening of Appassionata (oops, sorry - didn't mean that)
 Let's not forget one of the greatest of all, Jimi Hendrix's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner (the Woodstock version). As you say, what is it about that epitome of French militarism, La Marseillaise that makes so many people want to use it? |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #5 on: 14:35:16, 06-04-2007 » |
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Haydn, Emperor quartet Arne, Alfred (not to be confused with Donatoni) Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance #1  |
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #6 on: 14:39:15, 06-04-2007 » |
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Puccini in La Boheme. In fact, that tune was not adopted as the USA national anthem until 1931.
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richard barrett
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« Reply #7 on: 15:05:52, 06-04-2007 » |
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what is it about that epitome of French militarism, La Marseillaise that makes so many people want to use it?
isn't it the fact that it was the theme tune of the French Revolution? |
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autoharp
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« Reply #8 on: 15:09:42, 06-04-2007 » |
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what is it about that epitome of French militarism, La Marseillaise that makes so many people want to use it?
isn't it the fact that it was the theme tune of the French Revolution? Erm - so how does that relate to jazz ? |
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tonybob
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« Reply #9 on: 15:14:03, 06-04-2007 » |
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Puccini in La Boheme. In fact, that tune was not adopted as the USA national anthem until 1931.
do you mean Madama Butterfly? |
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sososo s & i.
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #10 on: 15:27:15, 06-04-2007 » |
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do you mean Madama Butterfly?
Oops! Yes. |
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #11 on: 15:33:25, 06-04-2007 » |
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Too late now - you've already set me imagining Mi chiamano Mimì in a military band version... |
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martle
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« Reply #12 on: 15:36:00, 06-04-2007 » |
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Let's not forget one of the greatest of all, Jimi Hendrix's rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner (the Woodstock version).
Ian, that reminds me of the time I played that to students in a seminar on music and protest. None of them understood its irony (given of course the time and place it was performed). They just didn't get it. I also played them Janis Joplin's 'Mercedes Benz' ('Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends. Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends, So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?') and they didn't get the irony there either. Sorry, I'll go back to the universities thread. Or perhaps the grumprant room.  |
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Green. Always green.
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richard barrett
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« Reply #13 on: 15:36:23, 06-04-2007 » |
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Erm - so how does that relate to jazz ? It doesn't specifically relate to jazz, but then it isn't only jazz musicians who have quoted it - the Beatles, for example, and Claude-Benigne Balbastre (a set of variations for harpsichord written contemporaneously with the Revolution itself). Anyway, jazz is fundamentally a music inspired by hopes of emancipation, isn't it? |
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #14 on: 15:36:36, 06-04-2007 » |
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BTW we've all heard the short version of the Star-Spangled, haven't we?
Bit hard for me to render here but the pitches in C major would be:
g' e' c' e' g' c''
e'' d'' c'' g' e' c'
c' is middle C, c'' the C above it. The rhythm is that of the first phrase, twice.
Saves a lot of time.
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