Parsons Playlists: Cartoon Classical

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library Associate Melanie A. and features some classical music which can be found in classic cartoons!

Cartoon Classical

What's Opera Doc still

It seems that sometimes folks can feel a bit intimidated by “classical” music. What if I told you that you are probably familiar with a lot more classical pieces than you think because they often show up in the soundtracks of classic cartoons?

During the 1930s and 1940s, many practices from silent film scoring (often performed on piano or organ in movie theaters), which often made use of classical pieces, made their way into cartoon shorts. Use of this music was economical for the movie studios because much of it was public domain and therefore free of copyright restrictions. Moreover, the use of “serious” classical music in silly cartoons often (literally & figuratively) the humor of the cartoons.

Here are a few a few “greatest hits” pieces which found their way into a variety of cartoons. Enjoy! – MAA

Gioachino Rossini – William Tell Overture
The most famous bit of Rossini’s William Tell overture is the finale (aka the “Lone Ranger Theme“) — you’ll see it in scenarios featuring horseback riding among other things.
Animated shorts featuring the finale include: Disney’s “The Band Concert” (1935) and Warner Brothers’ “Bugs Bunny Rides Again” (1948)

Section 2 “The Storm” and Section 3 “Call to the Cows” regularly show up as well
For example, Disney’s The Band Concert (again!) for a cartoon take on “The Storm” and both “The Storm” and “Call to the Cows” feature in Disney’s “The Old Mill” (1937)

Franz Liszt – “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”
Animated shorts featuring Hungarian Rhapsody include Tom & Jerry in “The Cat Concerto” (1947) & Bugs Bunny in “Rhapsody Rabbit” (1946), for example

Franz Von Suppé – “Light Cavalry Overture”
Features in animated shorts like Disney’s “Symphony Hour” (1942)

Franz Von Suppé – “Poet and Peasant Overture”
Used, for example, in the Popeye short “The Spinach Overture” (1935)

Popeye at the Piano

Johann Strauss II – Frühlingsstimmen op. 410
Tends to show up in cartoons where someone frolics in a field or similar, for example, “The Stupid Cupid” (1944) or “From A To Z-z-z-z” (1954)

Johann Strauss II – “An der schönen blauen Donau, Waltz, Op. 314”
Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz” also appears frequently for example in “A Corny Concerto” (1943) or “Johann Mouse” (1953)

Frédéric Chopin – “Marche Funèbre (Funeral March)” (from Piano Sonata No. 2)
Chopin’s funeral march is a bit morbid and will be instantly recognizable, cartoon examples include “Scaredy Cat” (1948) and “Convict Concerto” (1954)

Richard Wagner – “Ride of the Valkyries”
This one is used in one of my all-time favorite cartoons the 1957 classic “What’s Opera, Doc?” starring Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd

and here is a link all of the above (and more) on Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZeyTST0VCx3NOQgyB_9o4ueq&si=v08TGVoC6bD3Y-LZ

P.S. If you’d like to learn a bit more about classical music as used in cartoons, check out this great thread with lots of video examples compiled by animator Vincent Alexander: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1366449816042102787.html

Parsons Playlists: A Classical Playlist

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student assistant Alexandra (class of 2026) featuring some classical music.

A Classical Playlist!

These are some of my favorite classical pieces!

Sergei Rachmaninoff – Symphony No. 2: III. Adagio

Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings

George Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue

Maurice Ravel – Une Barque Sur L’océan

Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No 1. Op. 23

Claude Debussy – Arabesques

Franz Liszt – Liebestraum

Franz Schubert – Serenade

Maurice Ravel – Piano Concerto in G Major, M. 83: II. Adagio assai

Franz Liszt – Un sospiro

Sergei Rachmaninoff – 13 Preludes, Op.32: No. 5

Antonín Dvorak – Serenade for Strings, Op. 22. No.2

Frédéric Chopin – Adante spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op. 22

George Gershwin – Piano Concerto: I. Allegro moderato

Ralph Vaughn Williams – Overture: The Wasps

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZeyqcCKVNgjYdnKujBv5_AcY&si=ZUvB2P79IAty36ia

Parsons Playlists: Sonnet 18

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Esther (class of 2025) which features some music for your Valentine’s Day enjoyment.

Sonnet 18

For the lovers and the dreamers! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 Andante

Schumann: Romance in F-sharp Major

Mahler: Symphony No. 5 Adagietto

Chopin: Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1

Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3

Sibelius: Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 78

Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet, “Fantasy Overture”

Puccini: La bohème “O soave fanciulla”

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, “Prelude and Liebestod”

Mascagni: Intermezzo Sinfonica

Fauré: Après un Rêve

Bellini: I Puritani “A te, o cara”

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Adagio sostenuto

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3, Largo

Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZeyPRn_axqEthrkKs-1nckTU&si=I68XVX-RPvJ38CF0

New CDs added: Summer 2023

New CDs for Summer 2023

Orchestral, Concertos and Chamber Music

J.S. Bach – Complete Sonatas and Patritas for Solo Violin
Maria Bachmann – Fratres
Sir Granville Bantock – Celtic & Hebridian Symphonies
Ludwig van Beethoven – Complete Violin Sonatas, Volume 1 – Heifetz
Ludwig van Beethoven – Complete Violin Sonatas, Volume 2 – Heifetz
Ludwig van Beethoven – Complete Violin Sonatas, Volume 3 – Heifetz
Elliott Carter – Dialogues * Boston Concerto * Cello Concerto * ASKO Concerto
Elliott Carter – Orchestral Works
Shura Cherkassky – II
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast
Peter Maxwell Davies – The Beltane Fire

Peter Maxwell Davies  - The Beltane Fire

Peter Maxwell Davies – Symphony No. 1
Berthold Goldschmidt – Orchestral Works
Berthold Goldschmidt – Three Concertos
Charles Ives – Universe Symphony
Franz Liszt – Emil von Sauer plays Liszt
Witold Lutosławski – Lutosławski – Penderecki- Cage – Mayuzumi: String Quartets
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 8: Symphony of a Thousand
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 9
Bohuslav Martinu – Bohuslav Martinu – The Louisville Orchestra
Bohuslav Martinu – Fantasies Symphoniques * Fresques * Juliette

bachmann fratres

Midori – Live at Carnegie Hall
Darius Milhaud – Milhaud Conducts Milhaud
Paul Moravec – Tempest Fantasy
Sergeĭ Nakari͡akov – Carmen Fantasie: Virtuoso Music for Trumpet
Einojuhani Rautavaara – Garden of Spaces * Clarinet Concerto * Cantus Arcticus
Arturo Sandoval – The Classical Album
Adolphe Sax – America’s Millinnium Tribute to Adolphe Sax, Volume II
Adolphe Sax – America’s Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax, Volume VII
Franz Schubert – Sonata for arpeggione and piano – Rostropovich
Joseph Schwantner – Angelfire * Beyond Autumn * September Canticle * A Sudden Rainbow
Various Artists – 125 Years of the Leningrad Conservatoire

Charles Ives - Universe Symphony

Jazz

Dave Brubeck Quartet – So What’s New?
Allen Farnham – 5th House

Dave Brubeck Quartet - So What's New?

Samara Joy – Linger Awhile
Andy Narell and Calypsociation – The Passage

Samara Joy -  Linger Awhile

Opera, Opera Excerpts, Choral Music and Art Songs

Arleen Auger – Love Songs
Johann Sebastian Bach – Epiphany Mass
Kathleen Battle – Live at Carnegie Hall
Alban Berg – Seven Early Songs
Hector Berlioz – La Revoution Grecque

Hector Berlioz - La Revolution Grecque

Christoph Willibald Gluck- Orphée et Eurydice
Aleksandr Tikhonovich Grechaninov – Songs of Grechaninov
George Frideric Handel – Theodora

G. F. Handel - Theodora

Emma Kirkby – The Emma Kirkby Collection
Stefano Landi – Il Sant’Alessio
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Exultate Jubilate
Stephen Paulus – To Be Certain of the Dawn
Joaquin Rodrigo – Cantico: Obros para Voces, Coro, y Orquesta

Elena Ruehr - Averno

Elena Ruehr – Averno
John Tavener – The Veil of the Temple
Georg Philipp Telemann – Orpheus
Kurt Weill – Street Scene

Elliott Carter - Dialogues

Folk Music

Zespol Polski – Chopin: Spirit of the Lowlands

Zespol Polski - Spirit of the Lowlands

Early Music

Carlo Gesualdo – Prince of Madrigalists
Hildegard von Bingen – 11,000 Virgins: Chants for the Feast of St. Ursula

Hildegard von Bingen - 11,000 Virgins

Claudio Monteverdi – Vespiri di S. Giovanni Battista
Orlando Consort – The Saracen and the Dove
Thomas Tomkins- Above the Starrs

Thomas Tomkins - Above the Starrs

Piano and Harpsichord Music

Martha Argerich – I
Johann Sebastian Bach – Goldberg Variations – Keith Jarrett
Harold Bauer – The 1929 Victor and 1939 Schirmer Recordings
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano sonatas opp. 54, 57, 78, 90 – Maurizio Pollini
Ludwig van Beethoven – Klaviersonaten : No. 17 op. 31, no. 2 ; No. 21, op. 53 ; No. 25, op. 79 ; No. 26, op. 81a – Maurizio Pollini

Yundi Li - Chopin Recital

Frédéric Chopin – Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 35 ; Sonata no. 3 in B minor, op. 58 – Mitsuko Uchida
Frédéric Chopin – Chopin Recital – Yundi Li
György Ligeti – Works for Piano. Etudes – Musica Ricercata
Jon Nakamatsu – Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Murray Perahia – Murray Perahia Plays Franck & Liszt

Sir Granville Bantock – Celtic & Hebridian Symphonies

Parsons Playlists: Studying in the Parsons Music Library

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist features a selection of music for a Music Library study session curated by Music Library student assistant Amy (class of 2025).

Studying in the Parsons Music Library

Study music

Frederic Chopin – Waltz No. 19 in A Minor, Op. Posth.

Camille Saint-Saens – The Carnival of the Animals The Swan

Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor Op. 18 – II Adagio sostenuto

Bach – Cello Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010: 1 Prelude

Tchaikovsky – The Nutcracker Op. 71, Act 2: No. 13, “Waltz of the Flowers”

Dvorak – Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 22, B.52 – II Tempo di valse

Dvorak – Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 22 – I Moderato

Ravel – Ma Mere L’Oye, M. 60 – I Pavan de la Belle au bois dormant

Piero Piccioni – Amore Mio Aiutami (Main Theme)

Dvorak – “Song to the Moon” Rusalka, Op. 114, Act 1

Respighi – Pini di Roma, P. 141: III I pini del Gianicolo

Borodin – Nocturne

Beethoven – Lenore, Op. 72, Act I “Mir ist so wunderbar”

Debussy – La Mer, L. 109, II Jeux de vagues

Lavinia Meijer – Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103, II Danse profane

Shostakovich – Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102

Faure – Pavane, Op. 50

Gershwin – The Man I Love

Debussy – Deux Arabesques, CD 74: I. Andantino con moto

Liszt – Liebestraum

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSwAwMtTLDwjK99x65ClwlqXWXG6vyGRP

And here it is on Spotify:

New CDs added: Fall 2021

New CDs for Fall 2021

Orchestral, Concertos and Chamber Music

Frederic Chopin – Complete Noctures – Jan Lisiecki
Michael Colgrass – Letter from Mozart ; Side by side ; The Schubert Birds

Chopin Nocturnes

Nikolai Medtner – The Complete Piano Sonatas; Forgotten Melodies I, II – Marc-Andre Hamelin
Smyth, Beach and Spain-Dunk – Smyth, Beach and Spain-Dunk: Archaeus String Quartet

Michael Colgrass - Side By Side

Jazz

Kurt Elling – Secrets Are the Best Stories
James Brandon Lewis & Red Lily Quintet – Jesup Wagon
Leyla McCalla – The Capitalist Blues

Mwenso and the Shakes - Emergence

Mwenso and the Shakes – Emergence (The Process of Coming into Being)
Jaco Pastorius – Truth, Liberty, & Soul: Live in NYC: The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive! recording

Jaco Pastorius - Truth, Liberty & Soul

Opera, Opera Excerpts, Choral Music and Art Songs

Aurora Surgit – Ego sum Resurrectio: Gregorian Chant for the Dead
Daron Hagen – Orson Rehearsed: An Operafilm
Franz Liszt – Freudvoll und Leidvoll – Jonas Kaufmann & Helmut Deutsch

Orson Rehearsed

Popular Music

McKinley Dixon – For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
Sarah Jarosz – World on the Ground

McKinley Dixon - For My Mama ...

Leyla McCalla – Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes
Jim Kimo West – More Guitar Stories
Matthew E. White & Lonnie Holley – Broken Mirror A Selfie Reflection

Sarah Jarosz - World on the Ground

World & Folk Music

Gamelan Cudamani – Odalan Bali
Leyla McCalla – A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey
Leyla McCalla – Recorded Live at the 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Leyla McCalla - A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey

Leyla McCalla – Recorded Live at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Leyla McCalla – Recorded Live at the 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Various artists – African Tribal Music and Dances: Featuring Music of the Malinke, Baoule and Others

Gamelan Cudamani

Parsons Playlists: 19th & 20th Century Piano Music

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today we are featuring a collection of 19th and 20th century piano music curated by Music Library student manager Ryan (class of 2022).

Baby grand piano

Samuel Barber – Excursions, Op. 20

Erik Satie – Trois Gymnopédies No. 1

Erik Satie – Trois Gymnopédies No. 2

Erik Satie – Trois Gymnopédies No. 3

Frédéric Chopin – Waltz No. 7 in C Sharp Minor, Op. 64

Frédéric Chopin – Nocturne for Piano, No. 8 in D Flat Major, Op. 27

Franz Liszt – La Campanella

Franz Liszt – Liebestraume S541/R211, No. 3. Nocturne in A-Flat Major

Here is a link to the full playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZeyweOia4E_CpnV5TG7iyQO0

Liszt Chopin Barber Satie