Tell me about novelty classical music

December 18, 2023 12:53 AM

I would like some recommendations for "novelty" classical music.

When I think of novelty pop music, what generally comes to mind is humorous but still having some "artistic value." TMBG, Weird Al, stuff like that. I'm interested in finding classical music that would have been considered "novelty" at the time it was written. All I'm really aware of is PDQ Bach and Mozart's famous "Kiss My Ass" song. Any time period is fine, but I don't want quirky arrangements of old pieces - no typewriter orchestras, for example.

posted by backseatpilot to Media & Arts (36 answers total)

"Pianistes" from Saint Saen's Carnival of the Animals - representing two piano players practicing their scales - is supposed to be played badly, out of tune or out of rhythm or both. See this performance or this one for example.

The Duetto buffo di due gatti has two opera singers performing as cats.

Haydn's Symphony No. 45 ends with the members of the orchestra gradually leaving the stage (and snuffing out candles as they go) until just two violins are left.
posted by Paragon at 2:07 AM on December 18, 2023 [12 favorites]

Carmina Burana contains a song (#12) that is sung from the perspective of a roasted duck, and several songs sung in a tavern or by someone who is drunk.
posted by rakaidan at 2:17 AM on December 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

(Not?)Hadyn's Toy Symphony features a rattle of non-standard instruments incl cuckoo, nightingale whistles, a chime-tree and a toy trumpet. Silly hats optional.
posted by BobTheScientist at 4:41 AM on December 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

Before Weird Al there was Dudley Moore and before Dudley Moore there was Anna Russell.
posted by flabdablet at 4:48 AM on December 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

Circus Galop comes to mind. Also the joke scores of John Stump.
posted by MetaFilter World Peace at 4:59 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Hindemith's Overture to the Flying Dutchman as Played at Sight by a Second-Rate Spa Orchestra at the Village Well at 7 o'Clock in the Morning. I have intentionally linked to a Youtube video with a score to emphasize that it's supposed to sound like that.

Bartok's Intermezzo interrotto, from his Concerto for Orchestra, pokes fun at Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 ("Leningrad".)

Aaaand there are also some "novelty" pieces from the late 19th & early 20th century that were "novelties" because they were played on racist stereotypes. In particular, Debussy wrote a short piano piece whose title refers to a Black caricature as part of his "Children's Corner" suite. It also pokes fun at Wagner, so that's a small point in its favor.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:02 AM on December 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

pokes fun at Wagner, so that's a small point in its favor

No! No, I won't have that!

Wagner is serious business.
posted by flabdablet at 5:23 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Late in his life, Beethoven's letters to friends, publishers, patrons, etc. often included (or consisted entirely of) a short vocal canon with a joke or a point he wanted to emphasise. Some are simple but artistic, some are very clearly intended for novelty. Be ready with a translator for the texts if you don't know enough German, Latin, and Italian, because the background stories are somewhat fragmented when trying to search for them on the internet.

A lot of Viennese dance pieces from the Strauss family include unusual percussion - links there are mostly broken but the titles can still be searched. You'll reliably hear one or two each year in the Vienna Philharmonic Neujahrskonzert. (included because they're originally written that way rather than quirkily arranged)

Satie was notorious for this. Here's Entr'acte.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 5:47 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

You may enjoy the work of Claudillea Holloway, whose work combines "classical training with elements of pop, folk, and electronic music".
posted by pollytropos at 6:30 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

John Cage, 4'33"
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:54 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

The inimitable Victor Borge!

The Canadian Brass, way back in the day, commissioned a few pieces from Peter "PDQ Bach" Schickele. The one I remember is "The Hornslinger" (the tale of B-Flat Bart and the lovely Cornetta), but I'm sure the others are YouTube-able.
posted by humbug at 7:41 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Duetto buffo di due gatti by Rossini. Amazing how those choirboys play it completely straight, especially the blond.
posted by potrzebie at 8:02 AM on December 18, 2023

Two solo works for double bass spring to mind:

Failing (a very difficult piece for string bass) by Tom Johnson YouTube link
Romance With a Double Bass by Alice Spatz Youtube link
posted by Gygesringtone at 8:24 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Country Band March by Charles Ives, a “lighthearted send-up of rural musical life”.
posted by bq at 8:28 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Also, there is actually a Weird Al version of Peter and the Wolf, which is hilarious.
posted by bq at 8:29 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Toy symphonies as a genre were designed to be played by families with the adults taking the easier parts, the older children taking the intermediate parts and the little children taking the easy ones.

Here is a partial list from Wikipedia

Felix Mendelssohn: Two Kindersymphonie (1827, 1828)
Bernhard Romberg: Symphonie burlesque, 'Toy Symphony', op. 62 (first published 1852)
Ignaz Lachner: Toy Symphony, op. 85 (circa 1850s)
August Conradi: Christmas Overture for piano and five toy instruments (1860s?)
Henri Kling (1842-1918): Kitchen Symphony
Cornelius Gurlitt: Kindersymphonie, op.169 (1890)
Carl Reinecke: Kinder-Symphonie, 'Toy Symphony', op.239 (1895)
Emma Lomax: Toy Overture (1915)
Adam Carse: Childhood's Happy Days, a Toy Suite for piano and seven toy instruments

Le carnaval des animaux (Carnival of the Animals), 1886- Camille Saint-Saëns

Peter and the Wolf, 1936- Serge Prokofiev - Each character in the story is represent by a different instrument. Peter himself is represented by the strings, the clarinet is the cat, the flute is the bird, the oboe is the duck, and the French horn is the wolf.

The Flight of the Bumblebee, 1900- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Catalogue d’oiseaux (1958) and Le Merle Noir (1952)- Olivier Messiaen are perhaps a little late for you

Duetto buffo di due gatti (“Humorous duet for two cats”), 1825 – Attributed to Rossini
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:39 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Fugue in G Minor (Cat Fugue) — Domenico Scarlatti This is the one where he stops playing because the cat walks on the piano

The Unanswered Question - Charles Ives

There are a lot of Opera pieces that would qualify, only we now take seriously. Listening to a well done redition of O Mio Babino Caro can move you to tears, if you don't consider the context was a comic opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini and it's the song of a histrionic adolescent throwing her weight around that takes place in a farce.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:52 AM on December 18, 2023

You might enjoy Victor Borge, a classical pianist/ comedian. Actually funny and talented.

Peter Schickle's Schickele Mix was a 10 min or so weekly radio show about music. Interesting, funny, informative. Highly recommend.
posted by theora55 at 8:57 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Debussy's G*******s' Cakewalk would count, but has for reasons completely obvious, fallen into serious disfavour. I mention it only as an example of classical music that would have been familiar to people during the era that Classical Music was more mainstream.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:57 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Allan Sherman also did a Peter and the Wolf parody, Peter and the Commissar.
posted by DanSachs at 9:11 AM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Haydn- Symphony No. 94, 'Surprise', 2nd movement.

The rumor is this composition was aimed at making sure Haydn's audience stayed awake during his after dinner performances. In addition to being a beautiful symphony, it's great for introducing classical music to children - just ask them to see if they can tell where the surprise is. (it's very startling!)
posted by mulcahy at 10:04 AM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

There is a related category of novelty performances of "serious" music . Spike Jones and his band did many of these in the 1940s and 50s. More recently, there was the Portsmouth Symphonia. "The Sinfonia was generally open to anyone and ended up drawing players who were either people without musical training or, if they were musicians, ones that chose to play an instrument that was entirely new to them." Brian Eno played in the Symphonia and produced two of their albums.
posted by JonJacky at 10:44 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Also, performances of classical music on modern instruments or in modern style might be considered novelties. Wendy Carlos' Switched On Bach is a famous example. In the 1960s the Swingle Singers were scat singing Bach. Then there are jazz musicians playing classical pieces. Flautist Hubert Laws' album "The Rite of Spring" and bassist Ron Carter's album "Friends" are good examples.
posted by JonJacky at 11:04 AM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Depending on how much effort you want to expend to get the joke, some of David Bruce's works may apply. Here's an explainer video of his "The Lick Quartet", and a full performance.

And although you said you don't want quirky arrangements of old pieces, perhaps his Classical Vaporwave video would still interest you, despite "quirky arrangement" pretty much being a definition for vaporwave.

There's also the tablemusic duet that's read right-side-up by one musician and upside down by the other. "Same" notes, same music, just read upside-down and backwards by the other player.
posted by dave*p at 11:20 AM on December 18, 2023

How about The Doll Song from "The Tales of Hoffmann," where she has to be wound up again in the middle of the aria?

I know you don't want typewriter orchestras, but how about Leroy Anderson's The Typewriter? (When it was performed at my university the typewriter part was played by the secretary from the Music Department office, and every student gave her a standing ovation).

Since Satie was mentioned, one of his pieces was a ballet titled Relâche, which was the traditional sign put up when there was no performance for the night. But the music itself wasn't particularly jokey, just the title and the anti-advertising.

And to get particularly elbow-patchy with the humor, in the liner notes of the recording I own of Beethoven's sixth ("Pastoral") symphony, the third movement's three note bassoon motif is said to be a "caricature of a village band." The (possibly apocryphal) story is that they distracted him when he was working on the symphony, so he wrote them in. Eastman's notes don't go that far, but they do call out some unusual tonalities and modulations.
posted by fedward at 12:16 PM on December 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

Taking you seriously on "any period is fine," there's Guillaume de Machaut's Ma fin est ma commencement, where the gimmick is that the top two instruments play the same tune -- one forwards, one backwards -- while the lowest instrument plays a tune until halfway through, then plays the same tune only backwards.

It... kinda works, in my direct experience. Definitely a gimmick. Here's a performance.
posted by humbug at 12:45 PM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Speaking of Peter Schickele (mentioned above), in HS we played several interesting PDQ Bach compositions, including some droll madrigals in which separate vocal parts combined to form vaguely risque entendres.

Merle Hazzard: Gimme Some of That Ol' Atonal Music

(I've always been a fan of The Toy Symphony, whoever composed it.)
posted by ovvl at 1:16 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

I just want to boost JohnJacky's mention of Spike Jones and his band, the City Slickers. I loved his wacky stuff long before I learned of PDQ Bach. Not everything is classical (though his The William Tell Overture will be rememberd by any Boomer who grew up in the Puget Sound area watching J.P. Patches), but it's all hilarious and performed perfectly, no matter what gadget or distortion of voice is required.
posted by lhauser at 3:16 PM on December 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Mozart himself wrote "A Musical Joke" (ein musikalischer Spaß). It's an intentionally-terrible piece of music that contained everything he disliked about old-fashioned popular music. Performance here.

Verdi's Ave Maria uses the "scala enigmatica:" an unusual scale invented by a music professor.

In Shostakovich's 15th and final symphony, he keeps trying to make serious music and just playing the William Tell overture instead. (You could argue that a lot of Shostakovich is deliberately "novelty" writing, like his opera The Nose, which features a singing disembodied nose.)

In Gottschalk's Le Banjo, the piano pretends to be a banjo.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:37 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Oh and The Flight of the Bumblebee was definitely intended as a novelty when it was written (as part of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Tsar Saltan).
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:43 PM on December 18, 2023

In the 1960s the Swingle Singers were scat singing Bach

to great effect.
posted by flabdablet at 5:32 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

John Zorn's Cat O' Nine Tails, or Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade. John Adams's Road Runner is a similar cartoon-inspired piece.

You might also enjoy early-music collections of bawdy songs, like the Baltimore Consort's "My Thing Is My Own" (the title track) or The City Waites's similar albums such as Penny Merriments: Street Songs of 17th Century England.
posted by amk at 5:57 PM on December 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Shostakovich's 15th and final symphony, he keeps trying to make serious music and just playing the William Tell overture instead.

The first movement of his 9th is pretty comical as well, with the trombone continually trying to get everyone into a nice rousing nationalistic march and the rest of the orchestra ignoring him.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:10 PM on December 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

The brilliant cartoonist/artist Gerard Hoffnung produced a series of comic concerts featuring newly commissioned works - many of which were by musicians who had escaped from Nazi Europe to Britain and would contribute richly to British musical culture in the 20th century and beyond.

Recordings are around on LP and via YouTube.
posted by TheWaves at 10:39 AM on December 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

There’s a 16th c harpsichord piece that enacts a war; the novelty bit I remember is how it uses dissonance and broken rhythm and “bad” technique in the battle scene to make the harpsichord play the clash of arms. I can’t remember the composer or title though.
posted by clew at 12:12 PM on December 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Hm; the most famous one is by William Byrd, in the Oxford battle suite, e.g.

But this says

By the 17th century, battle pieces had become a popular genre, so Byrd can be said to have launched a new keyboard genre in addition to composing the first English keyboard suite.

so I might be thinking of something else for the maximally clashing one.
posted by clew at 10:07 PM on December 21, 2023 [1 favorite]