An interesting group of videos in the Video Vault on this week's UPDATE. The Chairman brings you 10 pieces of music which are very familiar to you but I bet you had no ideas where they really came from. Let's see how smart and musically knowledgable you really are...
In any scary story, when Death is coming for you, you hear this mournful dirge. Where is if from? It was written in 1839 by the famous Polish piano composer, Fredric Chopin, and is called The Piano Sonata Number 2, also aptly known as "The Funeral March"...
If you have ever been to a circus, you have heard this tune. It is called "Entrance of The Gladiators" composed by Czech Composer Julius Fucik in 1897. We hear it and think more of clowns than gladiators...
Benny Hill was a British comedic legend. His slapstick comedy often had no vocalization other than this lively background. It was written in 1963 by American musician, Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph, and called "Yakety Sax". Randolph was a Nashville session performer who worked Elvis, Chet Atkins and other Nashville greats...
If you think of a French can-can dance, the only song that comes to mind is one composed by German-French composer, Jaques Offenbach, in 1858 entitled, "Orpheus In The Underworld". It was a part of an opera he composed and is one of the most performed pieces of the 20th century...
Anyone who ever watched Michael Jordan play at The United Center in Chicago can think of the music that the Bulls used to introduce their team in that era. It is the begining of a piece called "Sirius", written by Alan Parsons for his 1982 album, "Eye In The Sky" and was made famous worldwide due to Jordan's success. Here is the whole song, a classic...
You know you have heard this music and never understood what they were saying, but it always brought a sense of peril and danger. It is a 13th century Latin poem lamenting the fickle nature of fortune, set to music in 1937 by Carl Orff...
Think of a pastoral scene. The sun rising, the birds singing, the grass wet with dew. You always hear this in the background, a song entitled, "Morning Mood" written by Norwegian composer and pianist, Edvard Grieg, as a part of the music to "Peer Gynt" in 1875...
Imagine a death defying situation that a performer is doing for an audience. There can only be one piece of music playing in the background, Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" from the ballet "Gayane". The music has elements of Armenian folk music and is instantly recognizable to all...
Cowboy movies and beef commercials, the music of Aaron Copland is quintessential Americana. Composed as a ballet in 1942, you can't think of this without seeing cowboys in a scene out West...
Modest Mussorgsky was a Russian composer who created the orchestral tone poem, "Night On A Bald Mountain" in 1867. The music was used by Walt Disney in "Fantasia" to give the feeling of fright and danger that gave it exposure to a wide audience...
As Paul Harvey said, "And now you know the rest of the story".