On 20 November, the World Cup kicks off in Doha, Qatar. Among the 32 countries taking part, aspirations will range from hoping to scrape an unlikely draw in the opening group stage to lifting the trophy at the final on 18 December.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The best football chants based on classical music<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Football-mad musicians: 6 of the best<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Best Olympic music of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Best national anthems<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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We don\u2019t dare to predict who will be in that final, or even how far Gareth Southgate\u2019s England will get, but we are fairly sure that, after the month-long football fest, the theme tune for the BBC\u2019s coverage will be lodged in people\u2019s minds for a while to come.<\/p>\n
While we don\u2019t know what this year\u2019s theme tune will be (watch this space) for some World Cups, the BBC has commissioned a specially written new theme tune for its coverage \u2013 Mexico in 1986 and Japan\/South Korea in 2002 spring to mind. But in others, Auntie has turned to well-known existing works, often given a little tweak for added impact. Here are five such examples\u2026<\/p>\n
Best World Cup theme tunes<\/h2>\n
1982: Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s Cats<\/h3>\n\n<p>Four years earlier, in 1978, for the World Cup in Argentina, Andrew Lloyd-Webber had written the catchy Latin American-sounding <em>Argentine Medley<\/em>. Now, the BBC turned to him again, but this time used the \u2018Jellicle Ball\u2019 tune from his musical <em>Cats<\/em>, which had hit the stage the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>A curious choice, some might say, given that it sounded not remotely Spanish and also began in a minor key. In the tournament itself, Scotland briefly showed their claws against Brazil, while England and Northern Ireland purred their way through the group stage, only to be put out for the night by Germany and France in the next round.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>1990: Puccini\u2019s Turandot<\/h3>\n<iframe title=\""BBC\" italia=\"\" world=\"\" cup=\"\" sequence=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vqzz7B7V2IE?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>Undoubtedly the most famous BBC World Cup theme of all time, and a choice that gave classical music itself a huge boost in popularity.<\/p>\n<p>Though it\u2019s not entirely true that <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/luciano-pavarotti-best-recordings\/"\">Luciano Pavarott<\/a><\/strong>i\u2019s rendition of \u2018<strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/nessun-dorma-lyrics\/"\">Nessun Dorma<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 from<strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/giacomo-puccini\/"\"> Puccini<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s <em>Turandot<\/em> was largely unfamiliar before the Italia 90 tournament began \u2013 its inclusion in a recent Pirelli ad had already pricked the ears of millions of TV viewers \u2013 it certainly embedded it in people\u2019s consciousness, not least when associated with the dramatic images of Gazza\u2019s tears and Stuart Pearce\u2019s penalty miss as England reached the semi-final against Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Cue the Three Tenors phenomenon and booming CD sales.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>1994: Bernstein\u2019s West Side Story<\/h3>\n<p>After the stirring opera aria of 1990, the Beeb opted for sheer high spirits for the 1994 World Cup in the US \u2013 Bernstein\u2019s vivacious \u2018I like to be in America\u2019 from <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/west-side-story-our-guide-to-bernsteins-original-1957-musical\/"\"><em>West Side Story<\/em> <\/a><\/strong>greeted viewers tuning in to watch a tournament that included crazed goal celebrations by Maradona, a famous German exit to Bulgaria and an infamously boring final between Brazil and Italy. Quite sensibly, BBC producers chose an orchestral moment from Bernstein\u2019s song for the theme tune rather than include any of the words \u2013 given that England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had all failed to qualify, \u2018liking to be in America\u2019 was but a distant dream.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>1998: Faur\u00e9\u2019s Pavane<\/h3>\n<p>At the opposite end of the emotional spectrum from \u2018I like to be in America\u2019 was the restrained, almost elegiac Faur\u00e9\u2019s Pavane, the BBC\u2019s choice for the 1998 World Cup in France. Arranged for choir by British composer Elizabeth Parker, the work was reckoned by some to give an air of sophistication \u2013 a perfect accompaniment to shots of the Parisian skyline and the debonair demeanour of presenter Des Lynam \u2013 while others found it dispiritingly dull. Sadly, it inspired neither Scotland nor England to great things, as France went on to win its own tournament. Zut alors!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>2006: Handel\u2019s Judas Maccabaeus<\/h3>\n<p>How best to introduce a World Cup in Germany in which England\u2019s \u2018golden generation\u2019 were expected to be one of the favourites? The German-born, naturalised Englishman George Frederic Handel was an obvious choice, especially as a beefed-up version of the chorus \u2018See the conquering hero comes\u2019 from the oratorio <em>Judas Maccabaeus<\/em> struck just the right sort of optimistic note.<\/p>\n<p>Given that the music was originally written to celebrate a victory over the largely Scottish Jacobite army at the notoriously bloody Battle of Culloden in 1746, it was, admittedly, perhaps not the most diplomatic choice for pan-UK TV coverage. However, if any Scots feared it might inspire England to greatness they need not have feared, as Sven-G\u00f6ran Eriksson\u2019s team wobbled out in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/best-rugby-songs\/"\">Best rugby songs: what the fans will sing during the Six Nations<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/olympic-hymn-what-is-it-and-what-are-its-lyrics\/"\">Olympic Hymn: what is it and what are its lyrics?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/best-pieces-of-classical-music-for-football-teams\/"\">The best pieces of classical music football clubs should play to inspire their players to victory\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/tv-and-film-music\/match-of-the-day-theme-tune\/"\">Who wrote the theme tune for\u00a0Match of the Day\u00a0?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/shostakovich-and-football-how-the-beautiful-game-shaped-the-composers-life-and-music\/"\">Shostakovich and football: how the beautiful game shaped the composer\u2019s life and music<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><p>Main image by Matthias Hangst\/Getty Images<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeremy Pound Published: Monday, 24 October 2022 at 12:00 am On 20 November, the World Cup kicks off in Doha, Qatar. Among the 32 countries taking part, aspirations will range from hoping to scrape an unlikely draw in the opening group stage to lifting the trophy at the final on 18 December. 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Among the 32 countries taking part, aspirations will range from hoping to scrape an unlikely draw in the opening group stage to lifting the trophy at the final on 18 December. 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