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How birds and animals have inspired classical music<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Photo gallery of classical musicians who loved animals<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
What are the best pieces by Saint-Sa\u00ebns?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
\u00a0<\/p>\n
2. The Nutcracker<\/h3>\n
At a time when \u2018outreach\u2019 was not a word much\u00a0heard in classical music circles, Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong> arguably did more than any classical composer since to win over a young audience. His 1892 Christmas\u00a0ballet\u00a0 The Nutcracker <\/a>is\u00a0a firm favourite among families and children thanks to its charming story \u2013 based on\u00a0E. T. A. Hoffmann\u2019s\u00a0 The Nutcracke<\/em>r and the Mouse King<\/em> \u2013\u00a0and hit tunes, including the thrilling Russian Dance, the delicate\u00a0Dance of the Reed Flutes<\/em> and the magical Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy<\/em>.<\/p>\n
As well as being one of the best composers ever<\/a> we named Tchaikovsky one of the greatest ballet composers of all time<\/a> and Nutcracker<\/em> one of the best Christmas ballets<\/a> and one of the best ballet scores<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n\n
3. Scheherazade<\/h3>\n\n
Based on One Thousand and One Nights, the same story that gave us Aladdin, this tone poem of 1888 is bursting with wonderful melodies and drama \u2013 played out across four highly characterful movements. Although its composer Rimsky-Korsakov<\/a> deliberately made their titles vague so that they would not be associated with specific tales or voyages of Sinbad, children will have no difficulty in imagining a fairy-tale narrative, thanks to Rimsky-Korsakov\u2019s feel for colourful scene-painting.<\/div>\n\n\n
4. Pictures at an Exhibition<\/strong><\/h3>\n\nMussorgsky<\/a><\/strong> wrote Pictures at an Exhibition <\/a><\/em><\/strong>as a tribute to his friend, the artist and architect Viktor Hartmann, who had died in 1873 aged 39. Shortly after Hartmann\u2019s death, Mussorgsky visited a retrospective exhibit of the artist\u2019s sketches, stage designs and architectural studies and decided to capture the experience in music. What emerged was a series of ten piano pieces, each based on a different exhibit, each packed full of fantastical, even downright bizarre, imagery.\u00a0 Some of them, including The Hut on Fowl\u2019s Legs and The Great Gate of Kiev, pack the biggest punch when heard in Ravel<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s masterful orchestration of 1922. But there\u2019s a lot to be said for the vivid, pictorial detail of the original 1874 piano composition.<\/div>\n\n\n
5. The Planets<\/h3>\n\n
First things first. This ever-popular 1914 piece by Holst<\/strong><\/a> is not really about the planets. Rather, Holst aimed, in his music, to create a series of what he called \u2018mood pictures,\u2019 assigning different personalities to the various planets, partly inspired by mythology. And so we have \u2018Mars \u2013 the bringer of war\u2019; \u2018Venus \u2013 the bringer of peace\u2019; \u2018Mercury, the winged messenger\u2019, \u2018Jupiter \u2013 the bringer of jollity\u2019, \u2018Saturn \u2013 the bringer of old age\u2019, \u2018Uranus \u2013 the magician\u2019 and \u2018Neptune \u2013 the mystic\u2019. It makes for a work of great personality and humour, with huge dramatic contrast and some smashing tunes \u2013 most famously in the\u00a0 central section of \u2018Jupiter\u2019.<\/div>\n\n
6. Peter and the Wolf<\/h3>\n\n
Expressly written as a symphonic fairytale for children, Prokofiev\u2019s 1936 piece is a fantastic introduction to classical music, with each character in the story represented by a different instrument: the wolf by three horns, the duck by the oboe, the bird by a flute and the grandfather by the bassoon. Plus, you\u2019ll find versions narrated by all\u00a0sorts of great\u00a0personalities, from David Bowie<\/a> to Alexander Armstrong<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6fBjh42PQdk<\/div>\n\n\n
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7. Children\u2019s Corner<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
Debussy<\/a><\/strong> adored his only daughter, Claude Emma, whom he affectionately called Chou-Chou. In 1906, when she was just one year old, he started writing\u00a0 a piece of music for her, setting out both to entertain her, and to capture the essence of watching a child grow up from a nostalgic parent\u2019s point of view. The result was a suite of six delightful little pieces inspired by her favourite toys: Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, Jimbo\u2019s Lullaby, Serenade for the Doll, The Snow Is Dancing, The Little Shepherd and Golliwogg\u2019s Cakewalk \u2013 whose music was charming, despite the problematic nature of the doll it was named after.<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n
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8. The Young Person\u2019s Guide to the Orchestra<\/h3>\n\n
Britten<\/strong><\/a> takes his young listeners on a whirlwind tour in this 1945 piece, using a stately tune by the Baroque composer Henry Purcell to show off the characteristics of all the instruments in a symphony orchestra. It begins with a statement of the theme, followed by several variations that each feature a particular instrument in-depth, before concluding in climactic style: with a fugue of astounding complexity, originality and tuneful brilliance. You\u2019ll find recordings of both narrated and unnarrated versions, but my favourite is of Britten himself conducting the London Symphony Orchestra<\/a>.<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n
9. H\u00e4nsel und Gretel<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\nH\u00e4nsel und Gretel<\/em> is not only <\/em>for children. Its composer Humperdinck had worked closely with Wagner<\/a><\/strong>, and that Wagnerian influence can be heard throughout this 1892 opera, both in its sophisticated orchestration and its luxurious harmonic language. Yet, with its familiar fairy-tale story and folk-inspired melodies, one of the most famous being the \u2018Abendsegen\u2019 (\u2018Evening Benediction\u2019), from Act 2, this is the perfect gateway into opera for children, particularly since it\u2019s less than two hours long.<\/div>\n\n
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How Hansel and Gretel became the first opera to be shown on television<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section><\/div>\n\n\n
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10. Swan Lake<\/h3>\n
Tchaikovsky\u2019s 1876 ballet about the cursed love of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette, who was turned into a swan by the evil Baron Von Rothbart, ranks up there with The Nutcracker\u00a0in terms of its popularity with families. Like The Nutcracker,\u00a0it lures huge crowds every Christmas, but it\u2019s much more than a Christmas cracker: in creating a score that was more like a symphonic work, Tchaikovsky set his sights far higher than what was typically expected of dance music in his time. Among the work\u2019s most famous tunes is the Swan Theme, a delicate oboe solo heralded by string tremolos and harp arppegios. But the melodic pickings in this magical work are richly varied.<\/p>\n\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Hannah Nepilova Published: Tuesday, 09 August 2022 at 12:00 am Classical music can be daunting for children, but if you pick the right pieces it can spark a love that lasts a lifetime. So next time they ask for the Frozen soundtrack why not try one of these pieces instead? \u00a0 Best classical music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18418,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children.jpg",640,640,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children.jpg",640,640,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children.jpg",640,640,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children.jpg",640,640,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/10-pieces-of-classical-music-for-children.jpg",640,640,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Hannah Nepilova Published: Tuesday, 09 August 2022 at 12:00 am Classical music can be daunting for children, but if you pick the right pieces it can spark a love that lasts a lifetime. So next time they ask for the Frozen soundtrack why not try one of these pieces instead? \u00a0 Best classical music…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}