A Mindless Eating Machine*

Who knew that two notes could induce such panic!

Antonin Dvorak certainly didn't. His two-note intro (which could have been where John Williams got the idea) is actually the beginning of the fourth movement of his ninth and most famous symphony, The New World (1893).

The New World Symphony is a celebration of all things America. Dvorak worked and lived in Bohemia (current day Czech Republic), but he spent 3 years in New York City as the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. He wrote this symphony while he was there. It is not only his most famous symphony but also one of the most famous symphonies in the world and the most famous work on the moon.**

Antonin Dvorak

But terror? Not really. Dvorak was inspired by Native American and African American music, and the wide-open spaces in America. He combined all those things with rhythms from his native Bohemia in what is a joyous glorification of the New World.

Prokofiev didn't really see a Mindless Eating Machine when he wrote his "Dance of the Pagan Monsters"*** from the Scythian Suite (1915), but he certainly begins to embody the terror that Williams evoked.

"Dance of the Pagan Monster"

This music was originally written for a ballet, but was rejected before is was ever performed, so Prokofiev turned it into an orchestra suite. This song was a radical departure from his earlier works. You can hear the beginnings of the heaviness that marked so many Soviet composers of the time period. Prokofiev would have lived through the Bolshevik revolution and two world wars. His music reflects that chaotic time period.

Crazy? Yes. Chaotic? Yes. But terror? Mindless Eating Machines? Grinding, unstoppable, instinctual?

That award goes to John Williams.

The soundtrack to Jaws jump-started John William's career. He received his second Academy Award for it, his first for "original score." Like George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg believed that the music made the movie. This soundtrack is number 6 on the list of best soundtracks.

*Say it with me. "I am a nice shark. I am not a mindless eating machine..."
**Neil Armstrong took this symphony with him on the Apollo 11 mission!
***This song is crazy hard to play for us violins! I think Prokofiev was a little nuts! 

Put Your Hair in the Air

He insults the troll king. Then he tries to sneak away. 

It doesn’t really work, and you can hear him running and the troll king chasing him.

So is the moment in the play when Peer Gynt first is accused of being a troll...but not the last. So is the moment when music immortality begins.

Peer Gynt is a weird play. I’m not really sure what Henrik Ibsen* was thinking when he wrote it. 

Henrik Ibsen

Peer Gynt (yes, that’s the name of the main character--it’s Norwegian) travels all over the world, gets in a lot of trouble and dies...maybe? Or is it all in his head? The play is five acts long and, honestly, doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m sure the Norwegians understood it better in 1876. 

I hope.

Ibsen asked Edvard Grieg to compose incidental music** for the play. 

Edvard Grieg (He looks Mark Twain-ish!)

Grieg did it, but it seems he didn’t enjoy it much. He wanted to make stuff up out of his head, not be forced to create things that matched a mood or a place. 

Even if he didn’t enjoy the process, the music he created has stood the test of time. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is the most popular of all the songs from Peer Gynt.

Did it sound familiar? 

It should. This song is everywhere.

Duke Ellington:

Inspector Gadget: 

The Who:

And, in my personal favorite spin off, Trolls, the movie. 

I watched the movie with my son, and when I heard the beginning of the song "Hair Up!" I started laughing. Someone*** was clever. I adore that the composers used a song originally about a guy running from a troll in a movie about trolls. Only in this movie, the song is a celebration, not an escape scene.

In the world of the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, this song accompanies another monster/villain. Here’s a teaser for what you will see when we play "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on October 25 and 26. 

Join us for our Villains and Monsters Halloween concert!  Visit thetso.org for more information and tickets!


*But that beard! That beard is lit!
**Incidental music? Think of it as the soundtrack of the play.
***Justin Timberlake****, Max Martin, Shellback, Savan Kotecha, and Oscar Holter
****Wait, What? Justin Timberlake?*****
*****Yup.