So listen to modern stuff; it tends to have catchier names. Like Sun-Treader (I actually didn't care a whole lot for that piece when I heard it, but I love the name).
Actually all 8 pieces from Op. 76 are unbelievably good. Nos. 6, 7, and 8 (which kind of lead into each other) are gems. So are 3 and 4. 2 is the famous one, and fun. 1 and 5 are both good but not often played to the best possible effect.
Try Haydn's symphonies and string quartets--some of the greatest music ever written, and with lots of catchy titles: "The Bear," "The Philosopher," "Farewell," "The Bird," "The Emperor," etc. etc.
I'm in your camp, -gg-d -- I have similar problems in general with music that does not have lyrics.
Not to mention all of the variations on the title Festive Overture. Or was that the Festival Overture. Or Festive Variations?
More seriously, the names aren't that bad. A lot of the categories are formal designations (if it's called "sontata..." it's probably going to be in something close to sonata form) so if you get to recognize the forms it's easier to remember.
The post gets it exactly right.
Well, not totally. I enjoy classical music a lot, but it's really annoying saying "oh, that one that goes da-da-dum-dum-dum-dum." (Mozart's Sonata in C, 1st Movement).
if you get to recognize the forms
FL, when did you learn this? I've had years of musical training (albeit a lot of it vocal, which doesn't much help) and I can't recognize shit.
Speaking of music, did we recognize that last week was Steve Reich's 70th birthday? I used to listen to "Different Trains" at my public library as a kid, which tells you something about what's wrong with me.
Another problem! Names are listed differently by different publishers. It turns out the piece I referenced is actually called Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545. But I swear I saw it in a book just last week listed as either "Sonata in C" or "Sonatina in C."
Typical Americans! You want eeeverything to be marketed! Can't stand simple, descriptive nomenclature! (Except, of course, FL, who we all know is Sweedish.)
10: not that all of these are aurally recognizable-- I just meant that knowing what the funny title words mean (e.g. intermezzo) makes it easier to remember titles, because they're actually like miniature descriptions.
"Sonata" is sort of a bad example since sonata form appears in lots of non-sonatas. But still. Like so many other cello and bass players, I've worked through a bunch of Vivaldi sonatas, and once you've learned a few you can tell what's coming next ("let me guess, after this repeat we're going to modulate to the dominant key, do more or less the same thing, then come back to tonic?"). I think it's easier with instrumental music, because the literature gives clearer examples.
I love musical and dance terms, because they sound so impressive until you realize that the fancy term just means 'move the leg in a circle.' 'big kick.' 'big leap.' 'big leg bend' 'half turned towards the front of the stage 'middle part' 'really really really really really really soft' 'get louder' 'get louder NOW'
9: You're talking about the well-known sonata in C? (Mozart wrote at least two or three, and I play them all.) That one actually goes like "dummm, dum dum dumm, da-da-dummm". I'm not sure what your dums are referring to.
14: I couldn't recognize the form of a piece based on its thematic structure even if I tried. I just don't have an ear for that sort of thing.
Even still, I'm skeptical that there's any structural difference between scherzos and ballades.
16: Yeah, yeah, that's the one I mean. Append a "da" to the front end of my rendition (although your da-dum-ification is better).
I was thinking about this just last night while working on a program note for a certain Mozart piano concerto. Most people don't know "No. 21" or "K. 467," but everybody knows "Elvira Madigan" -- even though maybe only a dozen non-Swedes alive today have seen the movie.
Nos. 6, 7, and 8 (which kind of lead into each other)
Mmm, Brahmscicle.
"Boris Godunov" is easy to remember.
Haydn's most surprising symphonies are the "Passion" and "Lamentation" symphonies.
Believe it or not, Haydn went through a "Sturm und Drang" period. He wasn't always serene and classical. I've even seen it argued that Haydn's Sturm und Drang period was the first, and possibly the only, member of the "Sturm und Drang" set. All other proposed members of the set supposedly really belong to some other set.
There's a piece by Pierre Boulez in which the players, in groups, are scattered about the performance space. It's really good, and I'm either a bad person or a perceptive person for thinking that parts of it are reminiscent of Duke Ellington's "Ad Lib on Nippon". You should look that up, and then tell me its title.
"...even though maybe only a dozen non-Swedes alive today have seen the movie."
Waves hand...not that long ago, either. Cable is good. The other night has "400 Blows" (1st time for me) followed by "Loneliness of a Long-Distance Runner" followed by "L'Avventura".
Also Jess Franco's "Vampyros Lesbos" but never mind.
The titles of those Haydn pieces are all bogus additions -- he just kept cranking out symphonies, identifying them as Symphony or Quartet, and other people numbered and named them. Indeed, there's lots of good music there (take the quartets of his Op. 76).
And Ogged, you should count yourself lucky that Brahms called those pieces something as distinctive as "Intermezzo". As far as I know, he was the first to call piano pieces by that name. Great stuff, indeed.
But why is it unreasonable to have to remember numbers? I hear people having intense discussions about the S series and the 750 all the time.
No link for the Passion symphony, but it also had a Biblical theme and I think that it may have been titled by Haydn.
Lots of classical guitar pieces are named. However, there are certain prolific composers where I suffer from the Ogged problem -- if there are 25 pieces all called Opus X, Andante, it can be bugger recommending them to other people or finding the sheet music in the huge pile of crap that sits on my bookshlf.
Older recordings are particularly bad -- recordings by guitarists pre the 'Naxos' era tend to be very free with both the sheet music and the naming. Segovia will have some piece by, Sor (for example) where i) it's just labelled something like 'Sor, Andante' and ii) he misses out the first 16 bars because they are difficult or he didn't like them. You then get a tradition of performance building up in that vein.
20th century music, in general, seems to be named rather more often.
recordings by guitarists pre the 'Naxos' era
Thank goodness for the Naxos guitar recordings, those by Antigoni Goni especially. I thought I'd lost my copy of Laureate Series: Guitar; when I found it today I did a little happy dance.
Sucker. They're all called Intermezzo in A Minor, Opus 76, No. 7.
I had a head start from playing instrumental music all through school, and studying some forms and historical developments and reading some criticism. But the one thing that has made it easiest for me to sort names and numbers of classical music is having listened to it at work for over ten years, on our local classic music station — we had two when I started — with a playlist. When I heard something I liked, I could immediately see what it was.
My dad used to play a game with me: we'd be listening to classical in the car, and he'd ask: "When do you think this was written? Why?" Rhythms, styles the development of instrumentation were all brought to bear. I play this game with my kids now; my daughter especially can almost always "place" music fairly accurately, and say why.
Actually, I see Brahms got the "intermezzo" thing from his friend and forerunner Schumann -- so he must have named them "in honor".
And I'll admit that the "bogus" names of the Haydn symphonies are useful as mnemonics. I certainly remember more easily that that opening movement I so much admire is from the "Oxford" symphony than from #92. (The melody of the second movement is pretty phenomenal too.)
re: 27
If you don't have it, I highly recommend Anabel Montesinos' disc on Naxos. Antigoni Goni's recordings for them are very good but Montesinos' Laureate Series recital disc for them is quite amazing. It's mostly mid-19th century stuff that needs real virtuosity -- Arcas, Mertz, Coste, Regondi -- but she makes it all flow so musically and every tune sings.
Re: 11. Some of us did. Some of us went to the Barbican Hall for the Steve Reich birthday season of concerts, watching the LSO performing "Desert Music", Paul Hillier's ensemble in "You Are Variations" and SR himself with Musicians performing "Music for 18 Musicians" and "Drumming". And the world premiere of "Daniel Variations". Don't you lot wish you lived in a proper world city?
PS: Steve Reich showed up wearing slacks, an open-necked shirt and a baseball cap, so if it's good enough for him ...
They're all called Intermezzo in A Minor, Opus 76, No. 7.
Reminds me of the Dave Barry book on U.S. history, where the same date is used for everything that happens, to make it easier to remember. Cumulatively, it's pretty funny. I think he chooses the date of the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Act.
9: I have the same problem, both with classical music and Led Zeppelin. (And with the Zeppelin, all of the words, or word-like noises, anyway, are permanently embedded in my brain. Damn you, Bay Area radio.)