Frightful Classics

For Halloween, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite scary classical pieces. Find them on a CD at the library, in Classical Music Library (a library database), or follow the links.

• In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg, from Peer Gynt)
• Funeral March for a Marionette (Gounod, used as the Alfred Hitchcock theme)
• Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas, featured in Disney's Fantasia)
• Danse Macabre (Saint Saens)
• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Bach)
• Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky, featured in Disney's Fantasia)

Enjoy!

Monty Python

The Monty Python television show began airing 40 years ago, in 1969. It was a cultural icon for a generation, and as such, has influenced what people think of when they hear the theme song -- Sousa's Liberty Bell march. Sousa may have written the march in 1893 for an operetta that he never finished, but it wasn't long before the piece had been published and had become a popular march. Since Monty Python went into reruns/syndication, Liberty Bell has been played by the US Marine Corps Band for three presidential inaugurations -- presidents from the Monty Python generation, Clinton, Bush and Obama.