Which Composers Were Influenced by Jazz?

by Emily E. Hogstad  

Jazz, a catch-all term for a musical style that began to emerge from Black communities in the American South during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, revolutionized the international musical landscape around the turn of the century and beyond.

Jazz popularized musical ideas that would prove popular across multiple musical genres, including

• Syncopation (“the practice of displacing the beats or accents in music or a rhythm so that strong beats become weak and vice versa”)
• Swing (“to play music with an easy flowing but vigorous rhythm”)
• Blue notes (“a minor interval where a major would be expected”)
• Polyrhythm (“a rhythm which makes use of two or more different rhythms simultaneously”)

(All of those definitions come from Oxford Languages.)

© omniamericanfuture.org

Those four features are only scratching the surface of the traits that jazz provided to so-called “classical” composers, who, after the chaos of World War I, were looking for new musical languages to be inspired by.

Many of these composers drew profound inspiration from jazz and the blues, integrating elements of these genres into their own compositions.

Today, we’re looking at some prominent composers who incorporated jazzy influences into their works.

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel in 1925

Maurice Ravel was a French composer celebrated for his precise compositional technique and innovative orchestrations. He was fascinated by jazz.

His Violin Sonata, which he wrote between 1923 and 1927, has an entire middle movement called “Blues.”

Ravel’s contemporary, African-American composer and bandleader W. C. Handy, nicknamed The Father of the Blues, performed in Paris in the mid-1920s.

Ravel and his violinist friend Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, who was the dedicatee of this sonata, heard Handy and became inspired by his musical language. 

Jazz continued to inspire Ravel, especially after he made a concert tour of America in 1928 and had the chance to hear more of it.

His 1931 Piano Concerto in G-major takes features of jazz, like syncopated rhythms and blue notes, and integrated them into the traditional concerto structure. The result was fresh, touching, and immediately engaging. 

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud (born in 1890) was another significant French composer who was influenced by jazz.

He heard his first jazz band – Billy Arnold’s Novelty Jazz Band – in London in 1920. He later wrote about them:

“Their constant use of syncopation in the melody was done with such contrapuntal freedom as to create the impression of an almost chaotic improvisation, whereas in fact, it was something remarkably precise.”

Later, in 1922, Milhaud took a trip to the United States and heard American jazz firsthand there.

Milhaud took these ideas and ran with them, composing his ballet La création du monde (The Creation of the World) between 1922 and 1923.

It merged an orchestral chamber ensemble and a jazz band into a six-part ballet lasting around eighteen minutes, utilizing saxophones, trumpets, and a rhythm section. 

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky, who left Russia for other continental European cities after the Russian Revolution, also drew inspiration from jazz.

He began in the mid-1910s with his “Ragtime for 11 instruments” and continued exploring jazz influences for decades to come.

His “Ebony Concerto” from 1945 is a quintessential example of his jazz-influenced work. It was commissioned by clarinettist and big band leader Woody Herman, who led the First Herd band.

The band wasn’t used to playing music in Stravinsky’s style. Herman remembered later:

“After the very first rehearsal, at which we were all so embarrassed we were nearly crying because nobody could read, he walked over and put his arm around me and said, ‘Ah, what a beautiful family you have.’”

They all soldiered on. Saxophonist Flip Philips remembered:

“During the rehearsal…there was a passage I had to play there and I was playing it soft, and Stravinsky said ‘Play it, here I am!’ and I blew it louder and he threw me a kiss!”

This concerto took elements of classical form (the piece can be classified as a modern tongue-in-cheek interpretation of a Baroque concerto grosso) and combined those elements with jazz idioms, employing syncopated rhythms and swing.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin is one of the composers who, being American and a popular songwriter, was most comfortable with weaving jazz into his “classical” compositions.

His “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924) for piano and orchestra is a landmark piece that blends the two genres.

The work’s famous opening clarinet glissando, lush harmonies, and rhythmic vitality are unmistakably inspired by the work of the era’s jazz bands.

Meanwhile, the use of the word Rhapsody (a type of free-flowing piece written by classical giants like Liszt, Dvořák, and Brahms), along with the concerto-like technical virtuosity required to play the solo part, paid tribute to influences from the “classical” world.

Gershwin’s ability to synthesise the improvisational spirit of jazz with classical structures turned him into one of the most successful jazz-inspired classical composers in the modern canon.

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland, 1946

Like Gershwin, Aaron Copland was American and incorporated jazz elements into many of his most popular works.

Copland’s “Music for the Theatre” (1925) and Piano Concerto are packed with jazz vibes.

In 1964, New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein programmed during one of his famous televised New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, and had Copland join him onstage to perform the solo part.

It was a reunion of sorts. Years before this performance, conductor and soloist had briefly been lovers, and their long-standing friendship and chemistry are certainly obvious in their joint advocacy of this 1926 concerto! 

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Which brings us to Leonard Bernstein, a conductor, composer, and pianist who was deeply influenced by jazz.

His 1957 musical West Side Story employs jazzy rhythms and harmonies, particularly in songs like “Cool” and “Jet Song.”

His “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” (written in 1949 for The Herd bandleader Woody Herman, the commissioner of Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto”) is another notable example, composed for a jazz ensemble and incorporating elements of swing and blues. (Unfortunately, Herman never got a chance to perform it, as The Herd disbanded in 1946.)eonard Bernstein was an enthusiastic believer in the universality of music. His fascination with bridging gaps between styles and genres in his compositions (and indeed, over the course of his career) provides a fascinating lens with which to view this music – and the broader history of the intersection of “jazz” and “classical music.”

William Grant Still

William Grant Still

Of course, the elephant in the room here is that jazz is a genre pioneered by Black Americans, and yet the most famous composers of jazz- or blues-inspired classical music are all white.

For many decades, as evidenced by just one glance at the whiteness of the established canon, Black composers have had trouble having their work taken as seriously as white composers.

This changed somewhat after 2020, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Time will tell if organizations are serious about championing incredible works that have been sidelined because of the race of their composers.

One Black composer who incorporated jazz elements into his classical compositions was William Grant Still, who was born in 1895.

His brilliant “Afro-American Symphony” from 1930 draws especially heavily on the musical language of the blues. 

Conclusion

Composers like Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and William Grant Still were all inspired by rhythms, harmonies, and improvisational spirit of jazz and the blues. And these are only the most famous of hundreds of composers who, in some way or another, weaved jazz into their music.

Their works stand as testaments to the magic that can happen when the unnecessary boundaries between classical and popular music melt away, creating exciting new varieties of music.

Some of us were born wit music ...

 

Music

 

Lola - Palladio 2.0 (Live with Orchestra)

A grand celebration for the Manila Symphony Orchestra

 

SOUNDS FAMILIAR - Baby A. Gil - The Philippine Star 

May 14, 2025 | 12:00am

The MSO is one of the oldest orchestras in Asia and the longest surviving artistic institution in the Philippines. Founded in 1926, it has survived wars, endured hardships and emerged as a pillar of artistic achievement. The ‘In Pursuit of Excellence Season’ will reflect this legacy while looking toward the future with exciting collaborations, world premieres and performances that bring together the best of local and international talent.

Music lovers are in for a wonderful treat as the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) gears up for its hundred years celebration with one concert event after another. The MSO together with Standard Insurance presents the aptly titled “In Pursuit of Excellence.” This is the “MSO 99 Concert Series.”

There is one event scheduled for almost every month starting this May, with the grandest of titles and featuring some of today’s best soloists.

First off, here is “Music for Peace,” the first concert of the season on May 24 at the Aliw Theater on the CCP Grounds in Pasay City. Featured are Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 From the New World and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61, which will be performed with Berlin-based violin soloist Emanuel John Villarin and conductor Marlon Chen.

This opener is one that the MSO is very sentimental about. This commemorates the 80th anniversary of the series of over 150 post-liberation concerts that the MSO organized between 1945 and 1946. It was probably the MSO’s way of helping the battered city of Manila and its people find solace and hope through music. The Dvorak and the Beethoven were among those performed by the MSO during this period.

In fact, the entire Dvorak symphony was one of those featured in the MSO’s very first postwar concert held under the sky at the roofless Sta. Cruz Church in Binondo on May 9 to 11, 1945. The piece was selected by then music director Herbert Zipper because Dvorak derived inspiration from American music for his composition and the show was a tribute to the American forces who helped liberate the Philippines from the Japanese occupation.

As such, the Symphony No. 9 from the New World has come to symbolize peace, unity and healing. It was last performed by the MSO at the Meralco Auditorium in a concert commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II last March 2015. Here now is the chance to listen to it performed live and to give thanks for the peaceful past 80 years.

To continue the schedule: June 28, also at the Aliw Theater, has “A Night in Hollywood” with the Los Angeles Film Composers Intensive (LAFCI) Conducting Fellows featuring American guest conductor Angel Velez and cellist Zoltan Onczay.

Aug. 9 presents “Brazilian Guitar and Cello” with music by Villalobos and Jeffrey Ching plus Fabio Presgrave on cello; Fabio Zanon on guitar, Stefanie Quintin-Avila, soprano and Chen again as conductor.

Sept. 7 is the night of the “Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto” also at the Aliw Theater. This is a Filipino work for Children’s Choir and Orchestra probably inspired by the famous composition of the same title by He Zhanhao with violinist Monica Bacus and the Children’s Choir.

Sept. 27 is titled “Dancing with Tchaikovsky” also at the Aliw. As the title says, the evening features Rococo Variations for Cello and Orchestra and the Suite from the “Ballet Sleeping Beauty” by Tchaikovsky with cellist Damodar Das Castillo and guest conductor Alexander Vikulov.

And then to launch the “Road to 100” countdown to the celebration of a century of performances next year, there will be “The MSO 100th Anniversary Concert,” which will be held at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater at Circuit Makati with pianist Muyu Liu and guest conductor Darrell Ang. No repertoire has been announced but I am sure it will be something memorable.

Jeffrey Solares, MSO artistic director says: “This landmark season will celebrate the MSO’s links with music and artists from various countries and celebrate the richness that has contributed to the current artistic palette of the orchestra. It will also feature the young artists it has nurtured through its scholarship and training programs as soloists.”

The MSO is one of the oldest orchestras in Asia and the longest surviving artistic institution in the Philippines. Founded in 1926, it has survived wars, endured hardships and emerged as a pillar of artistic achievement.

The “In Pursuit of Excellence Season” will reflect this legacy while looking toward the future with exciting collaborations, world premieres and performances that bring together the best of local and international talent.

Mantovani And His Orchestra - And I Love You So, The Very Thought Of

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Mantovani And His Orchestra - And I Love You So, The Very Thought Of You, For All We Know, As Time Goes By

Yunchan Lim piano - Beethoven Piano Concerto No 3 from 2022 Yeulmaru New...

2022 Yeulmaru New Year's Concert in GS Caltex Yeulmaru Conductor: Christian arming Piano: Yunchan Lim Orchestra: Korean National Symphony Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3 all copyright issues from GS Caltex Yeulmaru

Finding a New Creative Path: Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto

by Maureen Buja  

When he finally arrived in Vienna as a permanent resident in 1795, Beethoven fit into an interesting hiatus in the city’s music life. Mozart‘s recent death left a place open for a daring piano virtuoso and composer. In his first 10 years in the city, Beethoven wrote 20 of his 32 piano sonatas and 3 of his piano concertos—who better to show off his skills than himself?

Joseph Willibrord Mähler: Ludwig van Beethoven, ca 1804–1805 (Vienna Museum)

Completed in 1803 and revised in 1804, Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto started with sketches as far back as 1796, and the first and second movements were completed around 1800. It was given its premiere with the composer at the keyboard on 5 April 1803 in a concert that included the Second Symphony and Christ on the Mount of Olives, his oratorio.

Beethoven was starting to have problems with his hearing as he approached this concerto, and this set him on his new creative path. Music, for him, became a dynamic process, rather than the filling in of architectural forms. One example of this can be seen in his 3rd Symphony, the Eroica, where the first theme isn’t as it is first stated but comes to define its form through the progress of the first movement.

The 3rd Piano Concerto falls between this new compositional method of the Eroica and his earlier Viennese style, when he was more concerned with establishing his name and credentials as a composer and performer.

If we look at just the first movement, we seem to be starting with a theme more intended for a symphonic movement, rather than a concerto movement. The orchestra gives the first statement of the theme, and Beethoven uses the orchestra to create motivic blocks that can be moved around as necessary. He plays with the different registers of the orchestra and inserts his ‘heavy beats on light places’ to play with the rhythms. His focus, however, is the soloist, and the piano is given a brilliant placement that foreshadows much of his later piano writing.

The repeat of the opening gives him the opportunity to play with the opening theme, but the following development is kept short. It’s the final section, with the Coda where the theme seems to really blossom and show its potential.

There’s so much in this work that gives us an indication of the unique way that Beethoven will progress – always challenging the norm, pressing forward with new ideas, and rethinking the usual to create the unusual. 

This recording was made in 1958, with Alexander Jenner as soloist under Kurt Richter leading the Symphony Orchestra of the Volksoper Vienna.

Alexander Jenner

Alexander Jenner (b. 1929) studied in Vienna and, upon graduation in 1949, was awarded the ‘Bösendorfer-Preisflügel’, a grand piano given to the best student of that year graduating from the Vienna State Academy of Music. In 1957, by unanimous jury vote, he was awarded first prize in the Rio de Janeiro Contest for Pianists. As a performer, in addition to the classics, he was active in the promotion of modern music, becoming the first Austrian pianist to perform George Gershwin’s two great piano works, the Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F in 1951; he also gave the premiere of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka for solo piano.

Kurt Dietmar Richter

Kurt Dietmar Richter was a German composer and conductor (1931–2019) who lived in Pilzen, Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. He received his musical training in Erfurt, where he fell under the influence of Paul Hindemith and, throughout his life, continued to promote modern music. In 1990, he founded the Berlin artist initiative die neue brücke.

Performed by

Alexander Jenner
Kurt Richter
Symphony Orchestra of the Volksoper Vienna

Recorded in 1958

Official Website

On This Day 9 May: Anne Sofie von Otter Was Born

by Georg Predota  

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 9 May 1955, Anne Sofie von Otter is one of the finest singers of her generation. Internationally recognised as a concert and recital singer of exceptional gifts, von Otter has built an incomparable catalogue of recordings. Her ever-evolving repertoire and versatility have seen her branch out into the world of opera, jazz, rock, and pop songs. 

Beatles and Cat Stevens

Anne Sofie von Otter

Her father Göran von Otter was a Swedish diplomat in Berlin during World War II, and Anne Sofie grew up in Bonn, London, and Stockholm. She knew absolutely nothing about classical music and cared even less. “I couldn’t tell the difference between a tenor or a bass, or between Bach and Mahler,” she explained in an interview. Growing up in comfortable surroundings, von Otter took obligatory piano lessons, but she was really into pop and rock music.

She loved the Beatles above all, but also Cat Stevens, Judy Collins and Crosby, Stills and Nash. “It was the nice tidy pop,” she greatly enjoyed. “The Rolling Stones were not for me.” Later, a friend introduced her to fusion jazz, which she thought was very daring at the time. However, she really loved the ballet, especially the Tchaikovsky ballets she attended in Stockholm and later in London, where her father was the Swedish Consul General for five years.

Dashing Music Teacher

Von Otter’s biggest dream as a child was to become a ballerina, and she did take dance classes.
As she once disclosed, “I was terribly disappointed when I realized that I could not do it.” Singing wasn’t even on the radar until her last two years of high school in Sweden when a dashing young music teacher took over the chorus, “and I just had to sign up.” She didn’t know anything about singing and had no experience of going to the opera. “It took me a while to understand,” she remembers, “that I had a gift for singing.”

However, as von Otter explained in an interview, “I always wanted to use the voice in a natural way, so classical singing, with all that it implies, for me was very strange. I didn’t like vibrato. It was horrifying. Whenever I sang in my teens it was with my natural voice.” Von Otter became a dedicated choir singer, learning to read music and different styles, from Baroque to Contemporary. She certainly never had any fantasies about becoming an opera singer at all, as she was “very self-conscious, nervous, and very shy.” 

Studying Under Vera Rózsa

Vera Rózsa

Von Otter sang in a number of choruses, always in the soprano section. “But it was killing my voice,” she said. “I wanted to be a soprano, and it was hurting, so what could I do?” She started taking singing lessons and her singing teacher told her, “You are not a soprano, you are a mezzo.” She won a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and studied with the legendary Hungarian teacher, Vera Rózsa. Her insight into a singer’s voice and technique was famous, and after listening for just a couple of bars, she immediately knew what exercise was needed.

For von Otter, the contrast between Rózsa’s high-energy and the more laid-back approach of her Swedish singing teachers was striking. Rózsa quickly undid some of the damage to von Otter’s voice, and she instilled in her the mantra that a good singer needs, “artistic temperament, concentration, dramatic ability, personality, good taste, and total devotion to the profession. An artist needs a heart on fire and a brain on ice.”

Shift to Opera

Rózsa organised a repertoire of operatic roles for von Otter and suggested that she audition for a position in an opera house. Von Otter was not enthusiastic, as “I didn’t want to be a soloist. I wanted to sing and I didn’t mind people hearing my voice individually but I would rather be up the back of a choir than have them look at me because that was embarrassing.” She certainly did not want to be in the spotlight, and the transformation to the stage did not come naturally.

At that time, von Otter still made a living from singing in a number of choirs in Stockholm, including the cathedral choir, the radio choir, and the Bach choir, and she made enough money to survive. She never dreamt of standing on the operatic stage, but her manager and agent, a little against her will, urged her to audition, and she was quickly snapped up by Basel Opera, making her debut in 1983. “I got my first job,” she recalled, “and indeed it was good for me. It developed me as a performer and my understanding of what I was singing about.”

Forbidden Harmonies: Composers Whose Music Was Once Banned

by Fanny Po Sim Head  

Throughout history, music has been both a reflection of and a response to societal and political climates. Under authoritarian regimes, art—particularly music—has often been a target for censorship. Whether deemed politically subversive, ideologically incorrect, or culturally inappropriate, certain works were banned, silenced, or suppressed in an attempt to control the narratives and voices that music can powerfully communicate. This article explores the lives and works of composers whose music faced censorship, showcasing the deep intersection between art and politics and the resilience of composers who faced suppression under totalitarian regimes.

Alban Berg (1885–1935)

Alban Berg, 1920s

Alban Berg was an Austrian composer known for emotionally intense music bridging late Romanticism and modernism. A key figure in the Second Viennese School, Berg studied under Arnold Schoenberg and created atonal music that expanded emotional and structural expression. Despite his non-Jewish status, his connection to Schoenberg and atonality made him a target of the Nazi regime’s campaign against “degenerate music.”

Berg’s opera Wozzeck, premiered in 1925, was groundbreaking for its atonality and acclaimed. However, with the Nazi rise in the early 1930s, his works were labeled “degenerate” and banned in Nazi-controlled areas. This suppression affected his later opera Lulu and the Lulu Suite, which also faced condemnation. The Lulu Suite premiered in Berlin in 1934 but met resistance, resulting in conductor Erich Kleiber’s resignation in protest. By 1935, all performances of Berg’s music were prohibited in Nazi Germany, and although his Violin Concerto premiered posthumously in 1936, it reflected the peak of censorship. While not openly denounced like some composers, Berg’s music remained silenced during a highly oppressive period of the 20th century. 

Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971)

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky, one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, is best known for his revolutionary ballets The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring, which shattered conventional music traditions. However, Stravinsky’s avant-garde approach did not endear him to all regimes, particularly those with ideologically driven artistic policies. His music was banned and suppressed in the Soviet Union, particularly after the 1917 revolution, when he criticized the regime and emigrated. Stravinsky, a celebrated figure in Russia, soon found himself labeled an enemy of the state.

In Soviet Russia, much of Stravinsky’s music was denounced as bourgeois and formalist. His early works, including The Rite of Spring, were deemed decadent and inaccessible by the Soviet authorities, leading to their prohibition. It was not until the 1960s, after Stravinsky’s return to Russia under tight surveillance, that some of his music was cautiously reintroduced. However, for most of his life, Stravinsky’s works remained largely banned in his home country, silenced by a regime that feared the influence of Western, modernist thought.

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)

Dmitry Shostakovich, 1942 (Red Star newspaper, No. 86 (5150) from 12 April 1942)

Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the Soviet Union, became a symbol of artistic survival under the oppressive policies of Joseph Stalin. Shostakovich’s music, which often oscillated between personal expression and forced compliance, faced constant scrutiny. His opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District (1934), initially acclaimed, was suddenly criticised by the Soviet regime in 1936 after a scathing review in Pravda, labeled as “muddle instead of music.” This criticism led to the withdrawal of several of his works and years of self-censorship as he navigated the complex relationship between artistic freedom and state control.

Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony was suppressed before its premiere, while other works such as the Eighth Symphony and From Jewish Folk Poetry were banned due to their perceived political implications and pessimism. Despite moments of official rehabilitation, Shostakovich’s compositions remained under the threat of censorship for most of his life, reflecting the constant tension between artistic expression and political pressure. 

Ding Shande (1911–1995)

Ding Shande © sin80.com

Ding Shande, a prominent Chinese composer, faced significant challenges during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), a period marked by extreme censorship and the suppression of anything deemed “bourgeois.” Western classical music was viewed as a symbol of imperialism, and many of Ding’s works—rooted in Western tradition—were suppressed during this era. His Long March Symphony, a composition that celebrated the Red Army’s historic journey, was initially well-received but later faced suppression as China’s political climate turned against any perceived foreign influence.

While Ding’s music was not banned in the same way as Western composers, his ability to compose and perform freely was restricted under the Cultural Revolution’s stifling ideological control. 

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969)

Grażyna Bacewicz

Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz is widely regarded as one of Poland’s most accomplished musicians. During the Nazi occupation, she endured the harsh conditions imposed on Polish artists but continued to create, often in secret. Bacewicz, along with other musicians, performed clandestine concerts to keep music alive during the war. After the occupation, she faced more formal repression during the Communist regime, which had a distaste for modernist styles. Her works, particularly her String Quartet No. 2, were composed and performed in defiance of the occupying forces.

Bacewicz’s music became a symbol of resilience in the face of oppression, demonstrating the power of music to both resist and survive under harsh conditions.

Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994)

Witold Lutosławski

Witold Lutosławski was another prominent Polish composer whose music faced suppression under the Communist regime in Poland. Lutosławski’s compositions, particularly his First Symphony, were labeled “formalistic” and banned by authorities for being too complex and nonconformist. His music, which often challenged the conventions of Soviet-approved style, was seen as a threat to the ideological conformity that the regime sought to maintain. Despite these challenges, Lutosławski’s music gained recognition on the international stage, and he became a leading figure in 20th-century music.

Lutosławski’s works, once banned at home, have since become staples of the classical repertoire, symbolising the triumph of artistic freedom over political oppression.

Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)

Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca, a celebrated Spanish poet and playwright, also made significant contributions to Spanish music, particularly through his collection and arrangement of traditional Spanish folk songs. His Colección de canciones populares españolas (1931), created in collaboration with the singer La Argentinita, highlighted the beauty of Spanish folk traditions. However, due to Lorca’s political beliefs and personal identity—he was openly gay and a Republican during Spain’s turbulent years—his works faced severe censorship under Franco’s dictatorship.

After his tragic assassination in 1936, many of Lorca’s works were banned, and his folk song collection was suppressed as part of the Franco regime’s effort to stifle cultural and political dissent. It wasn’t until after Franco’s death in 1975 that Lorca’s music was revived and began to regain its place in Spain’s cultural landscape. 

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)

Paul Hindemith, 1923

Paul Hindemith, a German composer and violist, found himself on the receiving end of Nazi censorship. His music, which combined modernist and neoclassical elements, was initially accepted but soon became targeted due to its perceived lack of alignment with Nazi ideals. Hindemith’s opera Mathis der Maler, which explored the role of the artist during political strife, sparked controversy, and by 1936, his works were banned in Germany. Faced with increasing persecution, Hindemith left Germany and eventually settled in the United States, where he continued his compositional career.

Despite his international success, Hindemith’s legacy in his home country was temporarily erased due to the oppressive political climate. 

Mauricio Kagel (1931–2008)

Mauricio Kagel

Mauricio Kagel, an Argentine-born composer, became known for his experimental and theatrical approach to music. Kagel’s works often defied conventional musical boundaries, using irony and satire to critique societal norms and political regimes. While living in Germany, Kagel’s compositions like Ludwig van (1970) and Staatstheater (1971) were controversial for their audacity and critiques of cultural institutions. Staatstheater, in particular, faced significant resistance and even required police protection for its premiere. Although Kagel’s music was not officially banned, his works were suppressed in politically conservative environments, including during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

Kagel’s contributions to experimental music serve as a testament to the power of art to resist and critique authoritarian power structures. 

Gilberto Mendes (1922–2016)

Gilberto Mendes © Wikipedia

Gilberto Mendes, a Brazilian composer known for his avant-garde approach and political activism, also faced censorship, especially during Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964–1985). While his music was not formally banned, works like Motet em Ré Menor and Santos Football Music were unofficially suppressed due to their political subtext. Mendes used his compositions to criticize societal and political issues, and this led to his music being withdrawn from festivals or omitted from broadcasts. Despite these challenges, Mendes remained a steadfast advocate for artistic freedom, helping to redefine Brazilian music in a time of political repression.

The experiences of these composers reflect the complex and often painful intersection of art, politics, and censorship. Music has long been a powerful force for both expression and resistance. Through their work, composers like Berg, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and others not only endured suppression but also used their art as a form of defiance. The censorship of their music serves as a reminder of the enduring power of music to transcend oppressive regimes, offering hope, resistance, and a lasting legacy of resilience in the face of adversity.

Global Giggle Fest World Laughter Day Unleashes Hilarity

by Hermione Lai  

On the first Sunday in May, we celebrate World Laughter Day. It all started in a park in Mumbai in 1998 when Dr. Madan Kataria gathered hundreds of people in a laughter yoga movement.

It started with some fake-laughing until the giggles turned real. It was gloriously absurd as strangers cackled like hyenas, some wiping tears of laughter, all because someone pretended to laugh at a non-existent joke.

Laughing is highly infectious, and moments of organised silliness remind us that laughter can cut through the daily grind. And while classical music might seem like a stuffy museum of serious faces, composers have given us plenty of giggles over the centuries.

Mozart Joke 

Mozart’s Divertimento for Two Horns and Strings in F Major, K. 522, is like the 18th-century equivalent of a musical prank call. It is a deliberate trainwreck of bad composing, written in 1787 to poke fun at every hack and mediocre musician. To be sure, Mozart throws in every compositional cliché he can think of.

© wfmt.com

We hear repetitive phrases and off-key surprises, with the strings playing along like they forgot how to read music. The horns honk at the worst possible moments and in silly keys, and the transitions are simply awkward. Still, it’s catchy and brilliant. It’s the kind of piece that makes you laugh out loud. Are you laughing with Mozart, or is he secretly laughing at you?

Satie Joke

Erik Satie

The French musical maverick Erik Satie gave the world his “Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear” in 1903. This piano duet isn’t just a composition, it’s a wacky response to stuffy critics who whined that his music lacked form. The title alone is enough to make you laugh, and in fact, it’s actually seven pieces and not three.

The music itself is a delightful mess of quirky melodies, wonky rhythms, and moments when the piano is daydreaming about being in a circus. Satie throws in some playful titles and instructions, like “play with a very profound gentleness,” and “Prolongation of the Same.” The pieces meander through dreamy waltzes like a conversation between friends that keeps changing topics. We can’t help but laugh at such sheer silliness.

Alkan Joke

The reclusive piano wizard Charles-Valentin Alkan unleashed his “Funeral March on the Death of a Parrot” in 1858. This piece is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a mock-serious dirge for a dearly departed parrot, complete with all the pomp and circumstance you might expect for a fallen feathered friend.

It’s pure musical satire with a solemn and plodding rhythm that sounds absurdly grandiose. Alkan piles on the melodrama with heavy chords and exaggerated tempos. Can you hear the quirky little flourishes and dynamic shifts? It’s like Alkan is snickering behind the music and daring you to keep a straight face. This is musical trolling at its finest, and somewhere, the parrot’s ghost is squawking with glee.

Haydn Joke

Franz Joseph Haydn was basically the original musical prankster, and his String Quartet Op. 33, No. 2 is nicknamed “The Joke” for very good reasons. This piece shows Haydn at his most impish as he lures listeners into a false sense of security with its chipper melodies and polite classical vibes.

In the finale, Haydn pulls out all the stops. Just when you think the music is wrapping up with a tidy little bow, Haydn throws in a cheeky pause, and when everybody gets ready to clap, he restarts the music with a cheeky encore. I bet he had some stuffy aristocrats looking like fools. Pure, mischievous and utterly funny genius!

As we celebrate “World Laughter Day,” let’s raise a glass to the musical jesters who turned stuffy concert halls into serious giggle celebrations. Let’s tip our hats to the genius composers who weave hilarity into their harmonies, proving that music can spark laughter around the world.