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Classical Music Meets the Olympic Standard
A look at (and listen to) distance-specific winners
Image created by Adobe Firefly
As The Olympics continue with a heavy dose of track, let’s look at distance-specific pieces of classical music. We will look at sprints, middle distance, and, of course, the marathon.
Almost every tenor knows the aria "Ch’ella mi creda libero e lontano” from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Girl of the Golden West. The opera is rarely performed but this aria is a vocal sprint that ends too soon, kind of like the Olympic 100 meters. I’ll risk a play on words and say this aria is golden from start to finish.
Video:
La Fanciulla del West: "Ch’ella mi creda libero e lontano”
Another classical sprint is “The Enemy God and the Dance of the Spirits of Darkness” from the Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev. This piece is more like the 200 meters. It comes out strong but needs to negotiate the turn. The brass section slingshots the piece out of the turn and into the home stretch. Russia was banned from The Paris Olympics but this piece definitely medals here.
Video:
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, Op. 20 - II. The Enemy of God and the Dance of the Spirits
For the 400 meters, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by John Adams is the world record holder. The piece literally starts in the blocks. The pace builds and builds to a photo finish after a breathless lap around the track.
Video:
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
The first of the middle-distance pieces is the “adagio” from Spartacus and Phrygia by Aram Khatchaturian. The music takes longer to perform than it took Cole Hocker to win the 1500 meters but the return of the main theme fits perfectly with Hocker’s dramatic final push to victory.
Video:
Adagio of Spartacus & Phrigia - Carlos Acosta & Nina Kaptsova
Though I’m no longer a rabid fan of The 1812 Overture by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, it cannot be denied. It is the greatest middle-distance piece of classical music ever performed. It is a bit long so it could be considered the 3000 meter steeple chase.
For the long-distance category, we have music for the 5000 meters, the 10,000 meters, and the marathon. For the 5000 meters, I’m going with Ludwig Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. We all know the fateful opening theme but it is the triumphant final movement that brings home the gold.
The 10,000 meters is difficult because we are now getting into pieces that are over an hour but less than three hours long, according to the parameters I just made up. That means we’ve got Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 along with Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Art of the Fugue, and Edward Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. We’ve also got operas such as Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Otello, and Madama Butterfly. I’m going to go ahead and say the pieces just mentioned are the field for the 10,000-meter final. You can pick a winner.
For the marathon, you might expect me to go straight to Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and I am. However, there were other considerations such as Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz, Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, and Carmen by Georges Bizet. We all know it has to be the Ring Cycle because it is the ultimate musical marathon–hold on maybe it’s the ultimate ultra-marathon. Shoot, that isn’t an Olympic sport so Wagner it is.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Classical Music Meets the Olympic Standard
A look at (and listen to) distance-specific winners
Classical Music Meets the Olympic Standard
A look at (and listen to) distance-specific winners
Image created by Adobe Firefly
As The Olympics continue with a heavy dose of track, let’s look at distance-specific pieces of classical music. We will look at sprints, middle distance, and, of course, the marathon.
Almost every tenor knows the aria "Ch’ella mi creda libero e lontano” from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Girl of the Golden West. The opera is rarely performed but this aria is a vocal sprint that ends too soon, kind of like the Olympic 100 meters. I’ll risk a play on words and say this aria is golden from start to finish.
Video:
La Fanciulla del West: "Ch’ella mi creda libero e lontano”
Another classical sprint is “The Enemy God and the Dance of the Spirits of Darkness” from the Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev. This piece is more like the 200 meters. It comes out strong but needs to negotiate the turn. The brass section slingshots the piece out of the turn and into the home stretch. Russia was banned from The Paris Olympics but this piece definitely medals here.
Video:
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite, Op. 20 - II. The Enemy of God and the Dance of the Spirits
For the 400 meters, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by John Adams is the world record holder. The piece literally starts in the blocks. The pace builds and builds to a photo finish after a breathless lap around the track.
Video:
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
The first of the middle-distance pieces is the “adagio” from Spartacus and Phrygia by Aram Khatchaturian. The music takes longer to perform than it took Cole Hocker to win the 1500 meters but the return of the main theme fits perfectly with Hocker’s dramatic final push to victory.
Video:
Adagio of Spartacus & Phrigia - Carlos Acosta & Nina Kaptsova
Though I’m no longer a rabid fan of The 1812 Overture by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, it cannot be denied. It is the greatest middle-distance piece of classical music ever performed. It is a bit long so it could be considered the 3000 meter steeple chase.
For the long-distance category, we have music for the 5000 meters, the 10,000 meters, and the marathon. For the 5000 meters, I’m going with Ludwig Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. We all know the fateful opening theme but it is the triumphant final movement that brings home the gold.
The 10,000 meters is difficult because we are now getting into pieces that are over an hour but less than three hours long, according to the parameters I just made up. That means we’ve got Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 along with Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Art of the Fugue, and Edward Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. We’ve also got operas such as Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Otello, and Madama Butterfly. I’m going to go ahead and say the pieces just mentioned are the field for the 10,000-meter final. You can pick a winner.
For the marathon, you might expect me to go straight to Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and I am. However, there were other considerations such as Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz, Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, and Carmen by Georges Bizet. We all know it has to be the Ring Cycle because it is the ultimate musical marathon–hold on maybe it’s the ultimate ultra-marathon. Shoot, that isn’t an Olympic sport so Wagner it is.
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