Everything I Know About Classical Music I Learned from Cartoons Pt. 2

And I ain't the only one

Find part one here.

The Blue Danube is one of Strauss’s most famous and beautiful waltzes, thus making it ripe for animated parody. The piece was burned into my brain from infancy because of a VHS tape I had of A Corny Concerto, and now I always hear quacking to go along with it.

Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss served as the entire basis for the 1950 MGM short Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl. As with several Bugs Bunny shorts, the film later was actually screened at the Hollywood Bowl, with live orchestrations to go with it.

Strauss must be the #1 composer among cartoonists because he sure shows up a lot. The Oscar-winning Tom & Jerry short Johann Mouse is even named after him.

It's strange to be intimately familiar with a piece of music without ever actually knowing what it is. This piece is called Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti, but to me it will be "the one where Bugs Bunny ruins that guy's opera."

The hypnotic Fingal's Cave Overture by Felix Mendelssohn was used as the theme music for the mysterious Minah Bird in several WB cartoons. Director Chuck Jones said of these films, "They were really fourth-dimensional pictures and I don’t understand the fourth dimension.” This particular cartoon has NOT aged well (fair warning).

A Mendelssohn piece that you hear constantly in classic cartoons, and even more recent ones like Ren & Stimpy and Spongebob, is Frühlingslied (Spring Song), which is used to denote peace and tranquility. This is my favorite instance, from the first Ralph Wolf-Sam Sheepdog film.

The Minute Waltz by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin (or as Bugs would say, "Choppin') is featured in the classic short Hyde and Hare, where the beautiful trill descends into madness.

Another Chopin piece everybody knows from cartoons is Funeral March, which plays when a character dies or is about to die, as in this memorable bit from the Merrie Melodies short Bars and Stripes Forever.