What is this orchestral piece
May 7, 2013 6:15 PM Subscribe
What is the piece at the very beginning of Oz & James Drink to Britain, episode 4 (youtube link)?
Best answer: To be specific (because I am one of the classical music pedants around here, wheeeee!):
It's from March No. 1 in D, which is the graduation one. The part in the excerpt is from the beginning -ish, more or less the second theme, but the part we know from graduations in the US (and Land of Hope and Glory elsewhere) is the part of the march known as the Trio -- the third melodic line.
There are six Pomp and Circumstance marches. The first five, together, are considered Op. 39.
Anyway, this is a great opportunity to discuss the concept of the Trio section in marches, etc., which is really interesting to me:
The Trio is usually the part with the "real melody" in most marches, the anthemic part, the bit that gets excerpted. It's the one that gets puffed up into the grandest Thing.
Think of Stars and Stripes Forever. In this video, after a spoken intro, it starts with the first theme. The second theme comes out at 1:34ish, but you can hear that it's kind of in the same vein as the first -- same general key, etc.
But when you get to the Trio section at 2:05 (which I like to refer to as "Be kind to your web-footed friends"), it's a completely different feel. It's a different key, a melody that keeps the same beat/tempo but uses longer, more relaxed notes -- quarters and eighths instead of eighths and sixteenths.
In this first iteration, it starts kind of quiet and simple, with the tiny little ping of the glockenspiel instead of the whole band at once. But that also means it's got a LOT of room to grow into the ginormous music to which we love to light questionable legal fireworks. Huzzah!
This also happens in polkas -- think of the Beer Barrel Polka, aka "Roll Out the Barrel", in which the part we know the best doesn't come until the middle of the dang thing after it starts like this. I don't think I'd know this existed if I didn't live in Wisconsin and have season hockey tickets.
Heino AND Andre Rieu? You're welcome.
And for the final example, closest to my heart, we've got "On, Wisconsin". We know the Trio excerpt almost exclusively (BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME), but here's the full version. (On a 1909 record, no less.) Here's the second theme. And here's the Trio.
The Aristocrats!
posted by Madamina at 7:32 PM on May 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
It's from March No. 1 in D, which is the graduation one. The part in the excerpt is from the beginning -ish, more or less the second theme, but the part we know from graduations in the US (and Land of Hope and Glory elsewhere) is the part of the march known as the Trio -- the third melodic line.
There are six Pomp and Circumstance marches. The first five, together, are considered Op. 39.
Anyway, this is a great opportunity to discuss the concept of the Trio section in marches, etc., which is really interesting to me:
The Trio is usually the part with the "real melody" in most marches, the anthemic part, the bit that gets excerpted. It's the one that gets puffed up into the grandest Thing.
Think of Stars and Stripes Forever. In this video, after a spoken intro, it starts with the first theme. The second theme comes out at 1:34ish, but you can hear that it's kind of in the same vein as the first -- same general key, etc.
But when you get to the Trio section at 2:05 (which I like to refer to as "Be kind to your web-footed friends"), it's a completely different feel. It's a different key, a melody that keeps the same beat/tempo but uses longer, more relaxed notes -- quarters and eighths instead of eighths and sixteenths.
In this first iteration, it starts kind of quiet and simple, with the tiny little ping of the glockenspiel instead of the whole band at once. But that also means it's got a LOT of room to grow into the ginormous music to which we love to light questionable legal fireworks. Huzzah!
This also happens in polkas -- think of the Beer Barrel Polka, aka "Roll Out the Barrel", in which the part we know the best doesn't come until the middle of the dang thing after it starts like this. I don't think I'd know this existed if I didn't live in Wisconsin and have season hockey tickets.
Heino AND Andre Rieu? You're welcome.
And for the final example, closest to my heart, we've got "On, Wisconsin". We know the Trio excerpt almost exclusively (BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME), but here's the full version. (On a 1909 record, no less.) Here's the second theme. And here's the Trio.
The Aristocrats!
posted by Madamina at 7:32 PM on May 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
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posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:44 PM on May 7, 2013 [1 favorite]