This episode runs 18:36. By the end, you will understand what makes a work a classic.

[Listening Highlights]

In music history, the terms “classical” and “classic” are often confused. The Chinese term conventionally used for classical music actually means music regarded as classic, rather than music of Classicism or the Classical period. “Classical” in the name Classical period also originally meant “classic,” but gradually came to denote Classicism and distinguish it from the later Romantic period; in English it is now written with a capital C. The established Chinese name for the Classical period may be retained, but a more accurate Chinese rendering of classical music would mean “classic music.”

A musical work need not pass the test of time before becoming a “classic,” and the meaning of that word frequently changes over time. What counts as a classic? The judgment involves far too many subjective factors.

[The following works are discussed in this episode; hear the complete pieces in the album list]

Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D. Conductor: Christopher Warren-Green

Ensemble: London Chamber Players

Canon in D, also known as Pachelbel’s Canon, is German composer Johann Pachelbel’s best-known work. Written around 1680, this Baroque chamber work uses a figured bass and is scored for three violins. Because it is the most famous canon, it is often called simply “the Canon.” Canon, however, is not a title but a musical form; the work’s harmonic progression is sometimes called the grand descending cycle. As one achievement representing human civilization, the piece was even sent into space by NASA aboard an unmanned Voyager spacecraft. 2. Carl Orff: O Fortuna

From Carmina Burana. Conductor: Riccardo Muti

Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra

German composer Carl Orff’s best-known work, Carmina Burana, is a collection of “secular songs for soloists and choruses with instrumental accompaniment and magical tableaux,” composed in the 1930s. Its texts come from a thirteenth-century manuscript discovered at the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria. Orff selected twenty-five poems from several hundred and set them in twenty-five movements under the themes of spring, wine, and love, using soprano, tenor, countertenor, bass, children’s chorus, mixed chorus, and orchestra; fourteen movements are orchestral. “O Fortuna” addresses Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fate, and laments life’s reversals. Drawn from “The Wheel of Fortune” at the manuscript’s opening, it frames the entire work.

*Classical-music rights for this episode are licensed by Naxos Music Library.

[Musicians Mentioned in This Episode]

Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was a German organist and composer born in Nuremberg. He studied music with Heinrich Schwemmer, became a court organist in 1677, and the following year taught Johann Christoph Bach. A composer and church organist of the late German Baroque, he was recognized chiefly for his organ and keyboard music and held an important place in Protestant sacred music. Unfortunately, much of his work was not properly preserved, and some remains buried in libraries across Germany.

Carl Orff (1895–1982) was a German composer, conductor, and distinguished music educator. Born in Munich, he studied at the Munich Academy before leaving to serve in World War I. In 1924 he founded the Günther School in Munich with the dancer Dorothee Günther, beginning a half-century of work in children’s music education. He later founded the Orff Institute and created the Orff approach, establishing a system of music education that made him, alongside Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, a major specialist in the field. Orff pursued throughout his life a rhythmic art between music and poetry. His representative stage works Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina, and Trionfo di Afrodite form a trilogy. Carmina Burana became especially popular during the Nazi era and was admired by Hitler. The regime positioned Orff as a replacement for the Jewish composer Mendelssohn. A U.S. denazification committee later classified him first as “gray unacceptable” and then as “gray acceptable.”

[Classical-Music Terms Mentioned in This Episode]

The Classical period

The principal European musical current and style of roughly 1730–1820. Its leading figures were Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Because all three spent their mature creative years in Vienna, they are known as the First Viennese School, and their works as Classical music.

Canon

A compositional technique and form of polyphony in which the melody of one voice is pursued throughout by another until they merge in the final measure and chord. The first melody is the leader and subsequent imitations are followers. Canons may be classified by the interval between voices, such as unison, fifth, or fourth, and by the time interval, such as one-bar or two-bar canons. Other techniques include accompanied, inversion, retrograde, and contrary-motion canons.