Thread: Battle or War Pieces??

Do you guys know any good Classical pieces that conjur up or expertly describe Battle or War?? I have one, but I would like some more. Thanks alot

MM

There are many pieces with "battle sounds" or imitations and feelings of war.

Supreme models are Beethoven's Wellington's Victory, Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, and many works from Prokofiev. There's also Chopin's Military Polonaise and Liszt's Symphonic Poem No. 11 "Battle of the Huns." I think Monteverdi did a vocal work about a Knight's battle, too, but I only know that from reading it somewhere; I never heard the piece.

Gustav Holst: 'The Planets' Mars "God of War"
Carl Orff: 'Carmina Burana' was used in the popular 80's film 'Excalibur'
Franz Liszt symphonic poem: 'Mazeppa' sounds like battle music.
Percy Grainger: 'The Warriors'

Yea, I forgot about Holst. That's a good list there, linz!

I'd also say Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" suggests a ride to war.

Maybe Britten`s War Requiem?

The invasion theme in the first movement of Shostakovich`s 7th Symphony (Leningrad)?

I thought there was a part of Bartok`s Concerto for Orchestra that portrayed bombs falling, but now I`m not sure I`m remembering the right piece...

Thanks alot guys for the suggestions!! I really appreciate it!!

Richard Strauss - Ein Heldenleben (the "Hero's Battlefield" section)
John Williams - Duel of the Fates (from "Phantom Menace")

Shostakovich's 10th, Allegretto? (When you get to the movement, you'll know it!)
Listen to it on www.Amazon.com to see if you like it.
Herbert von Karajan with the Berliner Philharminker on Duetsche Grammaphone is a fine recording of it.

Well, Duel of the Fates by John Williams is a good one, as is Mars, The Bringer of War, in Gustav Holst's "Planets".

I also forgot Shostakovich 11th ("The year 1905")

There is a passage in the 2nd mvmt that portrays the Cossack slaughter of hundreds of peasants. It begins with a percussion solo . . . hard to miss, very graphic.

May I suggest Olivier Messiaen and his "Quartet for the End of Time," composed in 1940 during his captivity in a German prisoner of war camp?

Originally Posted by Daffodylls

May I suggest Olivier Messiaen and his "Quartet for the End of Time," composed in 1940 during his captivity in a German prisoner of war camp?

YES! Awesome piece of music...

May I humbly suggest that the music scored for the 1980's film *Conan the Barbarian* composed by Basil Poledouris is very martial. If my memory serves me, the score calls for 24 wagner tubas (among other things) - WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!


Cheers!

Giovanni

"Battle of the Heroes" -John Williams
Star Wars Ep. 3

Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Time of War), written in 1796 as Napoleon was advancing on Vienna, where it was to be performed

Dimitri Shostakovich wrote most of his 1941 Symphony # 7 in Leningrad during the first two months of Nazi siege.