I am, for the most part, a classical music illiterate. With the exception of the odd piece here and there, if it wasn't in either of the Fantasia movies* or a Bugs Bunny cartoon, I likely haven't heard it.** (Okay, so you can add "Also Sprach Zarathustra." I did see 2001, after all.) There is Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major," Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony," Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" (mainly from Independence Day concerts by the Boston Pops when I was in college), and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah (mainly from Christmas church services), but really not much else to speak of. Oh, and you can throw in "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," by Bach, which was the processional for my wedding. (The "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth was the recessional.)
The Red-Headed Menace is developing a serious taste for classical music. And he has introduced me to Vivaldi. Especially the "Four Seasons." Especially "Winter."
Wow. Just... wow.
*I would like to note that I heard "Rhapsody in Blue" many years before Fantasia 2000, and it may just be my favorite piece of music in the world. I once commented that if it came down to a choice of never hearing it again (or Copeland's "Appalachian Spring," for that matter), or giving up sex, I would probably opt for celibacy. While I think I may have been exaggerating, it was not by much, and I still think it would be a tough call.
**I also know a lot of fifteen second snippets of famous classical music pieces that are used as ringtones. (E.g., part of "Flight of the Bumblebee," something from "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," fifteen seconds of the "Moonlight Sonata" ...) You can stop shuddering any time now.
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