Tag: Halloween
Halloween Music 2020
Catacombs from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns Dies Irae Dreams of a Witches’ Sabbath from Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg Jaws by John Williams Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky The Addams Family The […]
It’s Halloween: Toccata and Fugue in d minor by J.S Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach’s towering monument of organ music, with its deep sense of foreboding, will forever be associated with Halloween. This is arranged for very easy piano in PIano Maestro. Get a free copy of the sheet music at IMSLP or borrow a copy from the O’Connor Music Studio. I have this arranged for organ, piano, […]
Halloween Music: Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky
Night on Bald Mountain refers to a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed a “musical picture”, St. John’s Eve on Bald Mountain on the theme of a witches’ sabbath occurring on St. John’s Eve, which he completed on that very night, June 23, in 1867. Interestingly, […]
Halloween Music: Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod
The Funeral March of a Marionette (Marche funèbre d’une marionnette) is a short piece by Charles Gounod. It was written in 1872 for solo piano and orchestrated in 1879. It is perhaps best known as the theme music for the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which originally aired from 1955 to 1965. In 1871-72, while […]
Halloween Music: Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns
Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based on an old French superstition. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked […]
Halloween Music: Dreams of a Witches’ Sabbath
The final movement is the best known part of the symphony, thanks to its use in the Julia Roberts movie, Sleeping With The Enemy. It features a four-part structure, which Hector Berlioz described in his own program notes from 1845 as follows: “He sees himself at a witches’ Sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering […]
Halloween Music: Dies Irae
Although not technically a “halloween piece” this very old Gregorian Chant (from the 300s!) is used in a lot of music that sounds spooky. Dies Irae is a Latin term that means “Day of Wrath”. The words of Dies irae have often been set to music as part of a Requiem service. In some […]
Halloween Music: The Purple People Eater
Parents might remember this one – or their grandparents! No one else has captured a monster quite so groovy as the one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater. This is available for students to play in the Halloween Songbook (Easy Piano). The original, by Sheb Wooley From the movie, Contact, by Jimmy Buffet […]
Halloween Music: Jaws
Nearly everyone can figure out the first 2 notes to this spooky piece – just play the B and C notes really low on your keyboard! It doesn’t seem logical that just two notes could cause such a sense of foreboding, but John Williams managed it. His soundtrack to Spielberg’s Jaws has been keeping people […]