Sporting the Music Life

Classical music and sports intersect through composers who were athletes or were inspired by sports in their compositions. Piano music has also inspired athletics in training and performance. And think of all the band music...

Composers with Sporting Connections

• Charles Ives: An avid athlete who captained his baseball and football teams in college, Ives composed distinct sports music for the piano. His work "Some South-Paw Pitching" is a famous piano etude designed to strengthen the pianist's left hand, drawing on both baseball and boxing slang. 
• Frederick Septimus Kelly: A highly accomplished pianist and composer who was also an elite Olympic athlete. He won a gold medal in rowing at the 1908 London Summer Olympic Games.
• Maurice Ravel: Though not a sports enthusiast himself, Ravel’s famous impressionist piano piece "Jeux d'eau" (Water Games) evokes images of flowing and splashing water, and was featured during the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics. 
• Erik Satie: A French composer whose minimalist piano works like "Gymnopédies" are widely used for calm, focused sports warm-ups and golf training. 

Piano Music for Athletic Training

Classical piano works can enhance athletic performance by establishing a steady, motivating rhythm, as tempos between 120 and 140 beats per minute are perfect for high-energy workouts. Here are some good choices.

• Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 "Moonlight" (3rd Movement): Features a frantic, driving tempo that matches high-intensity training.
• Chopin's Etudes (e.g., Op. 10 No. 4): Lightning-fast, repetitive runs that provide an excellent pulse for sprints or rigorous cardio.
• Bach's Preludes (from The Well-Tempered Clavier): The steady, driving basslines in Bach's work are great for maintaining a consistent pace during long-distance running or cycling.

Information found at Spotify, WFMT, Classic FM, 

Step to the Music

 

Late May and early June are the traditional times for graduation ceremonies. When Tomoko taught at San Domenico School, the girls graduated to classical music – often Vivaldi. Classical piano music is perfect for graduation ceremonies. Here is the ultimate graduation piano repertoire.

 

1. Processional Music (Walking to Seats)

This music should be steady, dignified, and elegant.

• "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by J.S. Bach: A serene, uplifting chorale that brings a sense of grace and accomplishment.
• "Clair de Lune" by Claude Debussy: Smooth, dreamy, and atmospheric. Perfect if you want an ethereal, reflective background during the walk-in.
• "Gymnopédie No. 1" by Erik Satie: Minimalist and calm, ideal for a quiet, focused processional.

 

2. Interludes & Diploma Presentations

Music played softly while diplomas are handed out should be engaging without overwhelming the speakers.

• "Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 39, No. 15" by Johannes Brahms: A bright, buoyant, and joyful waltz.
• "Für Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven: Highly recognizable and gentle, excellent for quieter moments.
• "Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2" by Frédéric Chopin: Luxurious and flowing, offering a warm, celebratory elegance.

 

3. Recessional Music (Exiting the Ceremony)

The final walk-out music should be triumphant, energetic, and grand.

• "Rondo alla Turca" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Fast-paced, bright, and sparkling with victorious energy.
• "Triumphal March" from Aida by Giuseppe Verdi: While originally an orchestral piece, stellar piano arrangements capture the exact triumphant, crowning-achievement.
• "War March of the Priests" by Felix Mendelssohn: A robust and commanding piece from Athalia that projects an undeniable sense of triumph and accomplishment.

 

 

March On for Classic Piano Composers

 

As spring arrives, here we get to celebrate ten major piano composers born in March.

Frédéric Chopin (March 1, 1810): Known almost exclusively for his piano works, Chopin's output includes legendary nocturnes, etudes, and ballades.

Antonio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678): A prolific Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, and priest, he significantly influenced the development of the concerto form. He is most famous for composing The Four Seasons.

Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875): A master of Impressionism, Ravel composed complex piano masterpieces like Gaspard de la nuit and Le Tombeau de Couperin.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (March 8, 1714): A pioneer of the "sensitive style" (Empfindsamer Stil), he was a prolific composer of keyboard sonatas that bridged the Baroque and Classical eras.

Samuel Barber (March 9, 1910): While known for his Adagio for Strings, he wrote significant piano music, including his formidable Piano Sonata and the Excursions.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (March 18, 1844): Known for his nationalistic style, he produced famous works like Scheherazade and the Russian Easter Festival Overture, while also serving as a professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. 

Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21/31, 1685): Though a Baroque composer, his keyboard works like The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations are fundamental to piano pedagogy and performance. His birthday is often celebrated on March 21st (Old Style) or March 31st (New Style).

Modest Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839): A Russian composer, he drew heavily on Slavonic folk music and natural speech rhythms. He is most known for his vivid piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.

Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881): A major 20th-century composer who wrote extensive piano music, including the pedagogical series Mikrokosmos and three piano concertos.

Franz Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732): A prolific composer of over 50 keyboard sonatas, he helped define the Classical style.

Go for Baroque

One of Tomoko’s CD piano albums features Baroque pieces. While the modern piano) was not invented until the very end of the Baroque era, the period is defined by keyboard masters who wrote for its predecessors: the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ. Today, their works are standard repertoire for modern pianists. 

The "Big Three" keyboard masters were Bach, Scarlatti, and Handel.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is considered the definitive Baroque master. His The Well-Tempered Clavier is often called the "Old Testament" of piano music. Other essentials include the Goldberg Variations, English and French Suites, and his many Inventions.

Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) was an Italian composer famous for writing over 555 keyboard sonatas. His works introduced innovative techniques like hand-crossing and rapid repetitions that pushed the boundaries of what was possible on a keyboard.

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) is best known for his 8 Great Suites (HWV 426–433), which are standard for modern performance. 

Other Baroque keyboard composers are known more in their own country.

In England, John Blow (1549-1708) wrote 30 odes for royal celebrations (he was James II private musician), 50 secular song-like pieces and more than a hundred anthems. One of his students, Henry Purcell (1659-1695), wrote distinctive English suites and rounds.

In France, Francois Couperin (1668-1733) is known for his elegant harpsichord pieces with their intricate ornamentation. Countryman Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was a renown music theorist who used composition techniques never known before, but placed them within the framework of old-fashioned forms.

In Germany, Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) mastered counterpoint and wrote influential organ/keyboard variations. The Danish composer Dietrich Buxtehude’s (1637-1707) works are typical of the North German organ school.

In Italy, Girolamo Frescobaldi pioneered early Baroque toccata and ricercar forms. Baroque composer countryman Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726) is remembered as the most accomplished musician and composer among Jesuit missionaries; he worked mainly in South America. Italian Lodovico Giustini (1685-1743) is credited with writing the first music specifically for the piano.

Teaching What You Compose and Play

 Tomoko is known for both her piano performance and her piano teaching ability. Those same skills and careers apply to several outstanding classical piano composers. Here is a sampling.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a prolific teacher who instructed both his family members and university students. His famous collections of keyboard music, such as the Inventions and The Well-Tempered Clavier, were expressly written for instructional purposes. His pedagogy focused on attentive listening, finger independence, clear articulation, and a strong understanding of harmony. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) earned a significant income from teaching piano to members of the nobility to supplement his income from concerts and commissions. His lessons combined performance practice, compositional theory, and technique training, sometimes even during informal settings like billiards. However, Mozart thought he could teach more by simply playing a piece for a student than through verbal instruction alone.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) taught piano lessons throughout his career to supplement his income, especially when he started out and before his hearing loss became severe. His most famous pupil was Carl Czerny, who documented and passed on Beethoven's methods for interpreting his piano works. Czerny's pedagogical approach is considered the foundation of modern piano technique. 

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) earned a significant portion of his income by teaching piano to aristocratic students in Paris. He was a meticulous and passionate teacher who focused on beautiful, expressive tone and fluidity, which he often demonstrated on a second piano. His method emphasized relaxation and natural hand movement, rather than the rigid, mechanical exercises common at the time. Students were taught using works by Bach, Mozart, Hummel, and Chopin himself.

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was a legendary piano teacher who instructed hundreds of students in his masterclasses. He never charged for his lessons, which was a source of frustration for rival teachers. Rather than drilling technique, he focused on musical interpretation, and he used his lessons to discuss a piece's form, proportion, and emotional character.

Clara Schumann (1819–1896) was a highly regarded pianist and composer – and piano teacher – of the Romantic era.  Her disciplined and traditionalist style of playing, which emphasized a singing tone and clarity, influenced many students.

Classical Piano June Composers

 Happy June birthday to the following classical composers of piano music who were born in June! Tomoko has played the pieces of several of these famous musicians.

Mikhail Glinka was born June 1, 1804, in Novospasskoye, Russia. He is known as the father of Russian classical music. As a child, the first music he heard were church bells (which he didn’t like) and folk songs, which influenced his compositional style, particularly his art songs.

Robert Schumann was born June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Germany. He wanted to have a career as a virtuoso pianist, but a hand injury dashed that dream. The musical world benefitted as he became a renown composer for piano; in fact, he wrote exclusively for the piano until 1840.

Richard Strauss was born June 11, 1864, in Munich, Germany. He bridged the late Romantic and early modern styles. He is famous for his lieder tone poems piano compositions.

Edward Grieg was born June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway. He was both a concert pianist and composer of the Romantic era. His mother was his first piano teacher.

Igor Stravinsky was born June 17, 1882, in Lomonosov, Russia. He is most known for his Firebird suite, The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, and is 1924 Sonata for piano. After his Russian phase, her transitioned to a more austere neoclassical style.

Charles Gounod was born June 18, 1818, in Paris, France. He is best known for his Ave Maria and his “Funeral March of a Marionette,” which was used as the theme song for the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was born June 21, 1732, in Leipzig, Germany. He was Johann Sebastian Bach’s ninth son. He wrote mainly keyboard compositions: for sonatas, choir pieces, oratorios, motels, operas, and songs.

Musical Pranks

It's April Fools' Day.: a day of (hopefully harmless) pranks. Musicians and composers have been known to play pranks on the piano. Probably the most famous playful piano perforrmer was the Danish-American pianist and comic Victor Borge.

One piece that Borge liked to perform was a version of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody (especially the friska section), which is considered a musical comedic classic and has been featured in animated cartoons.

Mozart once wrote an aria for a soprano who tended raise her head for high notes and tuck in her chin for low notes. Mozart hated her, so the nicknamed piece, “The Chicken Dance” in Cosi fan Tutte, featured dramatic fluctuating low and high notes; Mozart took delight in watching the soprano bob her head repeatedly.

More recently, Leroy Anderson is known for his lighthearted compositions, such as The Syncopated Clock. His pieces sometimes featured unlikely instruments such as a typewriter.

Debussy's Carnival of Animals is charming, but how many people realize that his “Tortoises” is actually a very slow version of Offenbach's “Can-Can”?

P. D. Q. Bach is a comedic alias for contemporary composer Peter Schickele. He creates parodies of baroque and classical music, which often employ unusual instruments such as kazoo and slide whistles and even fictional instruments such as the left-handed sewer flute and pastaphone. His humor often draws from odd key changes and inserts of popular music into classical sections.

Violinist Fritz Kreisler played “lost” classical pieces, which she later admitted writing himself. Another violinist, Henri Gustave Casadesus, also wrote faked compositions, supposedly created by Handel and Boccherini.

Some musicians also played practical jokes. For instance, Brahms sketched a fake Beethoven manuscript, and had a street vendor wrap it around a sausage to sell to one of Brahms' friend, who thought he had discovered a lost composition.

Who says composers don't have a sense of humor?

Praising Easter through Music

When Tomoko was in college, she played the organ for Catholic masses. Easter is the most important event in Catholicism, and music has been an important part of Mass throughout the ages, including at Easter. Here are some representive samples of classical pieces for Easter.

Probably the most famous classical piece played at Easter is Handel's Messiah, particularly the “Hallelujah” chorus. The entire composition, which traces the highlights of Jesus's life, took Handel 14 years to finalize, in 1741.

Over a hundred years earlier, in the 1630s, Italian composer Gregorio Allegri set the Latin text of Psalm 51 to music, Miserere mei, Deus, for two choirs. Pope Urban VIII first used it for Holy Week services in the Sistine Chapel.

Bach's first major composition for Easter was St. John Passion, written in 1724 for that year's Good Friday Vespers service. Bach used John 18 and 19's account of Christ's crucifixion as the basis for his masterpiece.

St. Matthew Passion, also written by Johann Sebastian Bach, is often played at Easter because it is the story of Christ's suffering and death. It was performed only three times in the 18^th century, and not performed again until almost a hundred years later.

One more Bach piece, his Easter Oratorio, was first conceived as a cantata for Easter Sunday in 1725.

Even though Haydn was an Austrian composer, his orchestral work The Seven Last Words of Christ (which Haydn also approved in piano version) was written for the 1786 Good Friday service at Oratoria de la Santa Cueva in Spain.

Mahler's 1894 Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, evokes the beauty of that event. At the same time, this piece has both its light and dark moments.

Rimsky-Korsakov's 1888 Russian Easter Festival Overture evokes a grand Easter morning service.

While it is often associated with the American South, the song “Amazing Grace” dates back to 1779, written by John Newton: a clergyman in the Church of England. Poet William Cowper collaborated with him on this hymn.

The more contemporary hymn “How Great Thou Art,” often sung at Easter, was actually based on a traditional Swedish folk tune.

Bring Harmony to 2024

What better way to bring in the new year than with music? And piano music offers a way for an individual to kinesthetically set the tone for the upcoming 365 days. 

The new year is a time of creation. As the 18th century was coming to a close, Joseph Haydn wrote the sacred oratorio The Creation to depict the creation of the world. While it was originally scored for voice and symphonic orchestra, it has also been arranged for solo and four-hand piano. 

J. S. Bach thought systematically about the year, not surprisingly; “In dir ist Freude” is a gladsome way to herald the new year. This chorale prelude is one of the preludes collected in Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, which marks various points in the liturgical year. 

Particularly in Vienna, people welcome the new by clapping to Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March, composed in 1848. It can be arranged for piano solo and duets. The Champagne Polka is another selection by Johann Strauss that fits for New Year’s Eve parties. He wrote the piece as a little joke, imitating the sound of champagne bottles being uncorked. While the piano version does not “pop” as convincingly, it still captures the spirit of the pol,ka 

Since 1936 musicians gather to perform at New Year’s concert in Vienna, and Johann Strauss II’s Pizzicato Polka was played that first year. Another piece by Strauss II performed at the first concert was Die Fledermaus Overture of his famous opera. This Strauss’s Blue Danube is another piece performed at the New Year’s concert, often as an encore. All three pieces have been arranged for the piano. 

The modern English composer Ernest Tomlinson appreciated light classical music. In 1976 he created Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne, which uses that traditional song as the main theme, but also weaves in snippets of other 150 other pieces. Another orchestral composition, it has also been scored for the piano.  

May 2024 be harmonious…. 

Spirited Classical Piano Pieces

 At Halloween time, classical piano music may be very spirited – as in eerie. Here is a sampling, which may have surprising popular culture connetoins.

Viewers of Disney's 1940 movie Fantasia witnessed an abstract visual interpretation of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D minor. The opening chords followed by a rippling effect are hard to forget.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata Opus 27, was written at the start of the 19^th century. The nickname of the piece, bestowed after Beethoven's death, alluded to a musical suggestion of moonlight reflected off a German lake. Even without the moonlight, the tone of the piece is ghostly.

Schubert is known for his lieder. His 1815 piece The Elf King was based on a Goethe poem. The rushing sound evokes haunted galloping horses, and may be heard in some horror films.

Chopin's Funeral March (Piano Sonata no. 2) was played at Chopin's own funeral – as well as the funerals of John F. Kenny, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. It is often played in the media: from Beetlejuice to cartoons.

Rachmaninoff compared his Prelude in C# minor (Opus 3, no. 2) when he was only 19 years old. Also known as the “Bells of Moscow” because of its bell-like opening. The piece was indirectly inspied by Edgar Allan Poets gothic writing.

One could say that these piano compositions are scary good, which is why they have featured in film as well as concert halls. They can spirit one away...

the Dog Days of Piano Music

 

The phrase “the dog days of summer” has a surprising meaning; it refers to the dog star Sirius that appears at that time of the year just before dawn. Apropos of dogs, though, classical music can have a calming effect on dogs. Here is a sampling.

Starting on a somber note – and one of Tomoko’s favorite composers – Chopin’s Prelude in E minor uses a descending melody line that can act as a way to move a dog to slumberland.

Another one of Tomoko’s favorite composers is Bach. His Air on the G String, with its sustained notes, can soothe a savage beast.

While some movements, such as “Fossils,” of Saint-Saën’s Carnival of the Animals might wake up a sleeping day, to let sleeping dogs lie, “The Swan” movement can work well with its tone of gently rippling water.

Similarly, the “Lullaby” movement from Stravinsky’s 1945 Firebird Suite can put a pooch to sleep – unlike the spritely “Scherzo Dance of the Princesses” movement.

A more recent addition to the composer line-up is Ludovico Einaudi, whose music can remind one of the classics. His piece L’Onde, which was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel The Wave (hence the musical title) has a softly flowing rhythm that may seem like a lullaby for your wagging pal.

These lovely pieces can also work on humans….

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On

 In the play "Twelfth Night," Shakespeare wrote: "If music be the food of love, play on." In reality, food can inspire composers. Tomoko appreciated good food herself, and likely played to fuel her own soul Here is a sampling for you to taste.

Probably the most famous food-related piece -- and comic opera -- is Bach's Coffee Cantata. Bach himself liked coffee, and it is told that this piece was performed in a coffee house. The underlying story tells of a young woman's obsession with coffee, which her father wants to curb. 

Prokofiev's opera (which has been arranged for piano) Love for Three Oranges tells a fanciful tale of a prince cursed by a witch to search for three oranges, and finds love on the way.

Another performance piece, in this case a ballet, that food inspired is Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, especially "The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies." The then new piano-like instrument the celeste, with its high-pitched glittery tone, evoked the crystalline texture of sugar plums.

Schubert was inspired by the unlikely food-related song "The Trout", which used the metaphor of fishing as a girl "hooked" a mate. He transformed the piece into The Trout Quartet, which is performed by a piano and four stringed instruments. The work is rather melancholy, as was Schubert at the time. 

Want to play a piano duet about food? Taste-test Satie's piano suite Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear (which actually includes ten morsels). It's a very playful set of miniatures with a surprising variety of moods. Get you get the joke about pears and (piano) pairs?

The (food) take-away? Food-inspired music can be a buffet of delight to feed the soul.

Here Comes the Bridal Piano

 

In the US, June has been the traditional month for weddings. Music is also a traditional part of weddings, and piano piece figure largely. Here is a sampling, all written by composers whom Tomoko admires.

The traditional standard wedding piece is Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Opus 61: IX. Wedding March.  It is often performed in the movies (perhaps because it is in the public domain). A less known wedding choice composed by Mendelssohn, but very endearing, is his “On Wings of Song.”

Tomoko’s favorite piano composer, Mozart, wrote “Serenade, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K 525: II. Romanza-Andante.“ Its stately, measured pace give the wedding ceremony sweet gravitas. To set a more lively yet majestic tone, the wedding couple might choose Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro. Or if the couple wants to exult, they can always choose Mozart’s “Alleluja” from Exsultate, Jubilate, K 165.

Planning an elegant and sophisticated wedding? Then Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Arioso” would set the tone. Tomoko appreciates his timeless structure and use of chords.

Beethoven’s love letter in music, “Fur Elise,” resonates even today, and couples can affirm their own requited love. Tomoko knows that this famous piano piece may serve as a rite of passage for aspiring piano players.

“Claire de lune” from Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque is another favorite (as is Debussy for Tomoko). Its dreamy soft theme creates a lovely background for weddings.

Another romantic choice is Saint-Saens’ “The Swan” from his Carnival of the Animals. Its almost melancholy tone that resolves into a major key reflects the transition from singlehood to couplehood.

Another favorite composer of Tomoko, Edvard Grieg, is known for his “Wedding Day at Troldhauen, Opus 65, No. 6.” It bears a surprising resemblance to The King and I’s “March of the Siamese Children.”

For the bride’s entrance, Strauss’s Radetzky March” Opus 228 makes a bold statement. Strauss’s “Blue Danube” evokes the spirit of Vienna. And while waltzes are not the usual fare at wedding receptions, imagine how lovely the bride and groom would look if this were their first dance.

Tomoko also enjoys the dance music of Brahms. His piece “Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor” strikes a special chord for Tomoko as she married a Hungarian.

Animated Piano

Tomoko enjoys films, and appreciates the music that is incorporated into them. 

One specialized type of film is animated films, which started almost as early as “real life” films. As examples,, Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914 and the first feature-length animated film el Apostol in 1917 greatly attracted audiences. These silent films were often accompanied by piano and organ music, and classical pieces were sometimes used because of their familiarity. Even modern animated films, especially cartoons, continue to incorporate classical pieces. Here is a sampling.

One of most well known cartoons that used classical music was Bugs Bunny’s What’s Opera Doc?, which featured Wagner’s Tannhӓuser chorus. Wagner is less well known for his piano compositions. For instance, his Wesendonck Lieder for piano and voice were studies for Tristan and Isolde.

Several other classical piano pieces have become tropes for cartoons because of their vivid connotations:

·         Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C# Minor

·         Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody

·         Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song” from Leider ohne Worter

·         Rimsky’ Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee

Probably the first full-length animated movie that comes to mind when linked to classical music is Disney’s 1940 Fantasia. Piano composers who were featured in that movie included:

·         Johann Sebastian Bach with his organ music Toccata and Fugue in D minor

·         Tchaikovsky with his Nutcracker Suite; Percy Grainger arranged the Flower Waltz for piano, and Mikhail Pletnev adapted seven segments of the Nutcracker into a concert suite for piano

·         Paul Dukas with his Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which he also transcribed for two pianos

·         Stravinski with his Rite of Spring, which was also composed as a two-hand and four-hand arrangement

·         Mussorgsky with his Night on Bald Mountain, for which he had written a version for piano and orchestra

·         Franz Schubert with his Ave Maria, for which Franz Liszt arranged in three versions for piano.

 Animated films have helped to popularize classical piano, including exposing children at an early age, to animate their interest. Tomoko would approve.

A Little Travel Music

 

Tomoko has a lifetime love of driving. She bought her first car when she was studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and she kept driving to the school during her fifty+ years teaching there.

Composers have also loved cars and used them to inspire their compositions. Here is a sampling of those works.

Probably the best known composition, which has been arranged for piano, is George Gershwin’s 1928 “An American in Paris.” Not surprisingly, the piece was inspired by Gershwin’s time in Paris when he studied with Ravel. The original composition was a jazz-influenced orchestral piece, which even imitated street noises such as taxi horns.

Another French-inspired piano composition, “L’omnibus automobile,” was written by Eric Satie.  This cabaret song, with piano accompaniment, evokes a Bastille Day when an empty bus carrying plaster drove through a crowd.

Frederick Converse was inspired by the early Ford cards in his imagined “The 10 millionth Ford Flivver” orchestral piece. Most of instruments are wind and percussion ones, but an organ is also played.

Even car companies have used classical compositions when naming their models. For instance, Bach’s “24 Preludes” was the inspiration for the Honda Prelude.

Of course, lots of rock and roll music featured cars, such as the Beach Boys and Chuck Berry, but car-inspired music is as class as the cars themselves.