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Nevilledog

(50,687 posts)
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 08:05 PM Mar 2021

🧵THREAD: Lots of us learned classical music from watching old cartoons



Tweet text:
Vincent Alexander
@NonsenseIsland
THREAD: Lots of us learned classical music from watching old cartoons, so I’m going to identify the pieces that frequently popped up.

One of the most recognizable is Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,” performed by those great piano virtuosos Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry.



Unrolled thread here (clips to the cartoon classics at link)
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1366449816042102787.html
67 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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🧵THREAD: Lots of us learned classical music from watching old cartoons (Original Post) Nevilledog Mar 2021 OP
the scoring and playing on the old cartoons is just incredible. bullimiami Mar 2021 #1
+1 2naSalit Mar 2021 #4
I was a figure skating fan ... LSparkle Mar 2021 #2
Leopold! Leopold! Leopold! Blue Owl Mar 2021 #3
video Klaralven Mar 2021 #8
Thanks! nt LAS14 Mar 2021 #23
I was introduced to Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" Ocelot II Mar 2021 #5
It's a beautiful piece of music, and that Mynah bird was pretty fierce. Bongo Prophet Mar 2021 #26
Nope. Too racist for me, sorry. TR/DW n/t TygrBright Mar 2021 #44
Yeah, I get that. I just like the arrangement of the music, and the rest is boilerplate Looneytoons Bongo Prophet Mar 2021 #47
The only part of that cartoon I remembered was the bird and the music. Ocelot II Mar 2021 #66
Elmer Fudd - Richard Wagner......... MyOwnPeace Mar 2021 #6
"Well what did you expect from opera? A happy ending?" Klaralven Mar 2021 #10
Thanks! nt LAS14 Mar 2021 #24
Absolutely true. Do you remember "The Rabbit of Seville?" Laelth Mar 2021 #7
Thanks! nt LAS14 Mar 2021 #25
Oh, I love them all. This is one of the best. 🤗 crickets Mar 2021 #57
With a symphony orchestra. Zoonart Mar 2021 #9
I went to one of those! In a Viking helmet. nolabear Mar 2021 #21
I bet it was. Zoonart Mar 2021 #27
We were discussing opera at work last week happybird Mar 2021 #11
And jazz, too, with Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" nuxvomica Mar 2021 #12
Bingo ! Nt jaysunb Mar 2021 #15
Live performance by Don Byron and his "Bug Music" band at Montreux: klook Mar 2021 #37
Raymond Scott was a versatile genius composer and inventor Bongo Prophet Mar 2021 #51
Tales of the Vienna Woods (my favorite Warner Bros. cartoon since I was a kid) 50 Shades Of Blue Mar 2021 #13
Epic!! Maxheader Mar 2021 #14
The BEST trip back in time I have had for...a LONG time!!! Love Love these, thanks! Guilded Lilly Mar 2021 #16
"Kill the wabbit!" Nt XanaDUer2 Mar 2021 #17
All I know about classical music mcar Mar 2021 #18
I guess this dates us! mainer Mar 2021 #19
i remember as a kid from a old cartoon that was at a building site AllaN01Bear Mar 2021 #20
magical miestro . danger , some racial stereotyping here , be ware AllaN01Bear Mar 2021 #38
This music is from the Barber of Seville Sur Zobra Mar 2021 #58
thanks for corrections. AllaN01Bear Mar 2021 #60
You're welcome! Sur Zobra Mar 2021 #62
corrections added. AllaN01Bear Mar 2021 #61
I had a college professor Jerry2144 Mar 2021 #22
Always seemed to me hurl Mar 2021 #28
And of course the full length movie Fantasia LiberalLovinLug Mar 2021 #29
Re Fantasia -- just found/learned this TuxedoKat Mar 2021 #65
This message was self-deleted by its author Hotler Mar 2021 #30
Just one word ..... Fantasia ashredux Mar 2021 #31
Disney's Fantasia... Xolodno Mar 2021 #32
These immediately spring to mind Lord Ludd Mar 2021 #33
I remember seeing Fantasia at the midnight movies on shrooms. rickyhall Mar 2021 #34
Ehh, Horowitz was pretty good, but... LudwigPastorius Mar 2021 #35
My parents listened to classical music so I picked it up to them... electric_blue68 Mar 2021 #36
I learned from my mother. She loved classical wnylib Mar 2021 #52
That is pretty eclectic 👍 electric_blue68 Mar 2021 #54
I never cared much for Bugs Bunny wnylib Mar 2021 #55
Smetana's "Dance of the Comedians". . . DinahMoeHum Mar 2021 #39
I met Chuck Jones once, and shook his hand...also I met Fritz Freeling as he walked Stuart G Mar 2021 #40
It's twoo! It's twoo! BlancheSplanchnik Mar 2021 #41
I heard my first Franz Liszt via Bugs!! ailsagirl Mar 2021 #42
The reason classical music was used in cartoons kskiska Mar 2021 #43
Partly. Hollywood employed numerous fine artists who were intimate with these classic works. hunter Mar 2021 #67
carTOONS Ampulae Mar 2021 #45
So, back when I was a tyke OldBaldy1701E Mar 2021 #46
No one mentioned Fantasia? Baitball Blogger Mar 2021 #48
What's Opera Doc DeeDeeNY Mar 2021 #49
Cartoons weren't the only ones that used classical music BlueJean Mar 2021 #50
The Lone Ranger theme, too. Talitha Mar 2021 #53
Yes! Ranz des Vaches (Call to the Cows) crickets Mar 2021 #56
The Sorcerer's Apprentice! consider_this Mar 2021 #59
Here's one I remember TuxedoKat Mar 2021 #63
Here's another one TuxedoKat Mar 2021 #64

LSparkle

(11,660 posts)
2. I was a figure skating fan ...
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 08:10 PM
Mar 2021

Learned about a lot of classical music especially because back when I was watching, vocal music couldn’t be used for competition routines (only for exhibitions), meaning every skater used classical music or orchestral versions of show tunes or popular songs. The classical pieces were much better than the Muzak!

Ocelot II

(115,280 posts)
5. I was introduced to Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture"
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 08:12 PM
Mar 2021

in a Loony Tunes cartoon involving some kind of bird, maybe a crow, hopping along, and I still can't hear it without seeing that crow in my head.

Bongo Prophet

(2,641 posts)
26. It's a beautiful piece of music, and that Mynah bird was pretty fierce.
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:25 PM
Mar 2021

Unfortunate about "Inki the Caveman" moniker, but he was actually drawn as a sympathetic character, rather than an object of mockery. And yes, I always see that walk/jump in my head, or even emulate it. But not in public, lol.


Bongo Prophet

(2,641 posts)
47. Yeah, I get that. I just like the arrangement of the music, and the rest is boilerplate Looneytoons
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 10:44 PM
Mar 2021

I linked it as a kindness to someone wondering about it.
Warner bros cartoons were pretty racist, misogynistic, etc, and crude stereotypes were frequent to be sure.

But this thread was about the classical music that entered into the consciousness of kids at that time and for a few generations after.
That's all. Other orchestrations of that piece don't thrill me much, but the oboe lead and crotales(?) in the simplified arrangement are good. Separated from the video, it works.

Was that "too racist/didn't watch"? Clever meme twist there.
Ah, well. That's all folks.

Ocelot II

(115,280 posts)
66. The only part of that cartoon I remembered was the bird and the music.
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 06:37 PM
Mar 2021

I thought it was a crow and not a mynah bird, but I hadn't seen it since I was a little kid, and I certainly don't recall the Inki character - the depiction is shockingly racist even though he's the hero of the cartoon.

happybird

(4,516 posts)
11. We were discussing opera at work last week
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 08:27 PM
Mar 2021

(don’t ask, it was slow day...) and found out our coworker had never heard any, had no idea what it was.

We started with Bugs and Elmer clips (of course) and ended with the cool and particularly badass Flight of the Valkyries from the Metropolitan Opera in 2012. She was more impressed with Bugs, I think lol.

Bongo Prophet

(2,641 posts)
51. Raymond Scott was a versatile genius composer and inventor
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 11:01 PM
Mar 2021

Check out his electronic pieces as well as the jazz variations. In a lot of different ways, he was ahead of his time.




mainer

(12,013 posts)
19. I guess this dates us!
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:09 PM
Mar 2021

I remember those wonderful Saturday morning cartoons. By the time my kids came along, it was Thundercats and Ninja Turtles.

AllaN01Bear

(17,384 posts)
20. i remember as a kid from a old cartoon that was at a building site
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:14 PM
Mar 2021

, and the bricklayer was an octopus . they used Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,” when showing activity at the site .
this was used for several cartoons including some popeye cartoons. raises hand , guilty as charged .

AllaN01Bear

(17,384 posts)
38. magical miestro . danger , some racial stereotyping here , be ware
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 10:00 PM
Mar 2021

Last edited Tue Mar 2, 2021, 10:29 AM - Edit history (1)

figero was written by mozart in the 1700ds.


corrections , additions . deletions . the music presented in this cartoon is from barber of seville composed by Rossini.
 

Sur Zobra

(3,428 posts)
58. This music is from the Barber of Seville
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 04:00 AM
Mar 2021

composed by Rossini. The Marriage of Figaro was composed by Mozart

Jerry2144

(2,046 posts)
22. I had a college professor
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:19 PM
Mar 2021

I use a college professor who had a Loony Tunes sound track CD that he would always play in the background in his office or at home when entertaining. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t a kid watching cartoons and was actually the music he played. He said it helped him think with all the craziness on campus

hurl

(931 posts)
28. Always seemed to me
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:28 PM
Mar 2021

that Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube was one of the most abused pieces of music in cartoons, but 2001 sort of redeemed it.

Response to Nevilledog (Original post)

Lord Ludd

(585 posts)
33. These immediately spring to mind
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:45 PM
Mar 2021

Overtures to Poet & Peasant and Morning, Noon & Night in Vienna -- Franz von Suppe
Excerpts from Midsummer Night's Dream -- Felix Mendelssohn
Academic Festival Overture -- Johannes Brahms
William Tell Overture (2nd & 3rd movements) -- Gioachino Rossini

The 2nd movement in William Tell usually accompanied a storm, & the 3rd movement played under a sunrise. I don't recall hearing the final (Lone Ranger) movement in an old cartoon, but it had to have been used.

rickyhall

(4,889 posts)
34. I remember seeing Fantasia at the midnight movies on shrooms.
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:47 PM
Mar 2021

Like watching old movies at home with the sound off and Pink Floyd on.

electric_blue68

(14,623 posts)
36. My parents listened to classical music so I picked it up to them...
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 09:57 PM
Mar 2021

I saw the original Fantasia as well.

I also got go to Lenard Bernstein's Young People's
Concert at Philamonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) in NYC.

And heard the music in the cartoons, too. 👍

wnylib

(21,146 posts)
52. I learned from my mother. She loved classical
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 11:25 PM
Mar 2021

symphonic music, but my father was a big country and western fan. So when I was a kid, she took me to live concerts by Erie, PA's own symphonic orchestra. This was partly to expose me to an alternative to my father's preferred music, but mostly, I think, to have a companion for something she wanted to do.

When mom was out shopping or visiting with friends and my father was watching us at home, he brought out his harmonica and played tunes for us, like Turkey in the Straw and She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain.

My oldest brother played 1950's rock records when he babysat us younger kids.

It was a musically eclectic childhood.

electric_blue68

(14,623 posts)
54. That is pretty eclectic 👍
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 11:42 PM
Mar 2021

I was the oldest of two so no one played R&R for me.

But I watched The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and became a fan over a short period of time. So British rock, Jan & Dean (bit not really the Beach Boys), r&b, Motown soul, eventually San Francisco psychedelia, Prog rock, Punk and New Wave, Alt, Indie, funk some years later.

While still Loving classical. I love orchestral movie scores, too(

wnylib

(21,146 posts)
55. I never cared much for Bugs Bunny
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 12:20 AM
Mar 2021

and rarely watched him. I preferred Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Popeye. But I heard the Bugs Bunny music when my sister and other brother watched him, and recognized the music from concerts with my mother.

By the time the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, I was in 9th grade and had been very much into 1960s rock for a few years - The Supremes, Beach Boys, Four Seasons. Liked the Beatles right off, but never got caught up totally in Beatlemania. From there, for me, it was Rolling Stones, 3 Dog Night, Mamas and Papas, Bee Gees, and CCR. (Never understood why people criticized me for liking CCR.) Soloists - Helen Reddy, Carly Simon, Judy Collins, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen Bob Dylan, Billy Joel.

Never got into heavy metal, punk, or any of the rest after that. Kind of stagnated musically, except for a few artists on the radio from time to time. Today I prefer classic rock mostly.

DinahMoeHum

(21,737 posts)
39. Smetana's "Dance of the Comedians". . .
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 10:00 PM
Mar 2021

I don't know about the Roadrunner cartoons, but I distinctly remember this from a Bugs Bunny one. . .

Stuart G

(38,365 posts)
40. I met Chuck Jones once, and shook his hand...also I met Fritz Freeling as he walked
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 10:00 PM
Mar 2021

out of a speech that he gave..These two did a host of Academy Award wining toons. Yes, those
are some of my most wonderful moments. I started watching toons as a kid. The local theater
had 25 cartoons for 25 cents in the 50s. A group of them in Chicago had been owned by one
of the Warner Bros. and the had access to many great toons. I became a ...toon fan
and have hundreds of them..All kinds and lengths, on tape and discs.. In the 40s, there were Superman cartoons..I got them too.
Some of you may be a fan of Animaniacs I got them all........................
...Most toons I have are just plain ..fun.. The Animaniacs, were fun as well as satirical. ....Animaniacs....were funded and produced by Stephen Spielberg...and have an outstanding quality of humor and satire..One of
those is so funny that it is truly great..."Potty Emergency" I'll see if I can find it on the net, and give a
link..

ailsagirl

(22,842 posts)
42. I heard my first Franz Liszt via Bugs!!
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 10:13 PM
Mar 2021


I had no idea it was a famous piece by the maestro!!

Still love Liszt today!

>> apologies if someone has already posted this-- I might have missed it, if so

hunter

(38,264 posts)
67. Partly. Hollywood employed numerous fine artists who were intimate with these classic works.
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 07:21 PM
Mar 2021

Making cartoons was their "day job." It paid the bills.

My parents are artists. They met in Hollywood, working their day jobs.

They retired with pretty good pensions and Social Security and then they were full time artists.

Well paid super-stardom in art is as rare as well paid superstardom in athletics.

Every high school and college student should make plans for a day job.

Arranging and performing classical music for Bugs Bunny cartoons isn't the worst thing that can happen to an artist or their art.

OldBaldy1701E

(4,973 posts)
46. So, back when I was a tyke
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 10:42 PM
Mar 2021

There were several tunes that I knew from Bugs and Co.. One of them was the tune that they seemed to play whenever a scene showing big business, or when wealthy people would appear. I liked the tune, and was always curious about it. So, one day, while I was visiting my dear grandmother on my mother's side (I guess I was around 9 maybe?), that tune appeared again. So, I wandered into the kitchen where she was, and I said, "Grandmother, There is this song on Bugs Bunny that I like. It goes like this..." and I proceeded to hum the tune. (My grandmother was a lover of music and an accomplished pianist). Now, I actually figured it was some tune they made for the show and so I thought she would just say, "That's nice." So, I do the bit of the tune that they always use in the show, and I am just getting to the end of the phrase when she suddenly turns to me and sings, "Forty-Second Street!". I simultaneously jumped a foot (startled) and blurted out, "It has words?!?"

To be honest, there is much that I can lay at the feet of cartoons. Hell, thanks to Schoolhouse Rock, I got an 'A' for reciting The Preamble. (As you might guess, I did not speak it, I sang it. Once the other kids saw that this was allowed, they ALL did it. My teacher later asked me why everyone knew the song, because she had never seen Schoolhouse Rock.)

BlueJean

(14 posts)
50. Cartoons weren't the only ones that used classical music
Mon Mar 1, 2021, 11:00 PM
Mar 2021

The theme for the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was a classical work called, “Funeral March of a Marionette” by Gounod. My absolute favorites cartoon were "Fantasia" and "the Rabbit of Seville".

crickets

(25,896 posts)
56. Yes! Ranz des Vaches (Call to the Cows)
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 02:12 AM
Mar 2021

Everyone thinks of the Lone Ranger when they hear the title, "William Tell Overture." Sad to say it was decades before I realized this was part of the same famous piece, but the music itself is instantly recognizable:


consider_this

(2,194 posts)
59. The Sorcerer's Apprentice!
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 08:53 AM
Mar 2021

Is the highlight IMO of Fantasia.

Wish I could post, but it looks like there are no free YouTubes, but Disney has it up to watch at this link:
Sorcerer's Apprentice - Fantasia

It is truly the G.O.A.T.

TuxedoKat

(3,818 posts)
63. Here's one I remember
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 10:55 AM
Mar 2021


Features "Call to the Cows" from William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini. Had to look that up to identify it!

TuxedoKat

(3,818 posts)
64. Here's another one
Tue Mar 2, 2021, 11:01 AM
Mar 2021

I learned from cartoons:

(with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd)

(here with Tom and Jerry)

Sabre Dance by Aaron Khachaturian.
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