Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library Associate Melanie A. and features some classical music which can be found in classic cartoons!

Cartoon Classical

It seems that sometimes folks can feel a bit intimidated by “classical” music. What if I told you that you are probably familiar with a lot more classical pieces than you think because they often show up in the soundtracks of classic cartoons?

During the 1930s and 1940s, many practices from silent film scoring (often performed on piano or organ in movie theaters), which often made use of classical pieces, made their way into cartoon shorts. Use of this music was economical for the movie studios because much of it was public domain and therefore free of copyright restrictions. Moreover, the use of “serious” classical music in silly cartoons often (literally & figuratively) the humor of the cartoons.

Here are a few a few “greatest hits” pieces which found their way into a variety of cartoons. Enjoy! – MAA

Gioachino Rossini – William Tell Overture
The most famous bit of Rossini’s William Tell overture is the finale (aka the “Lone Ranger Theme“) — you’ll see it in scenarios featuring horseback riding among other things.
Animated shorts featuring the finale include: Disney’s “The Band Concert” (1935) and Warner Brothers’ “Bugs Bunny Rides Again” (1948)

Section 2 “The Storm” and Section 3 “Call to the Cows” regularly show up as well
For example, Disney’s The Band Concert (again!) for a cartoon take on “The Storm” and both “The Storm” and “Call to the Cows” feature in Disney’s “The Old Mill” (1937)

Franz Liszt – “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”
Animated shorts featuring Hungarian Rhapsody include Tom & Jerry in “The Cat Concerto” (1947) & Bugs Bunny in “Rhapsody Rabbit” (1946), for example

Franz Von Suppé – “Light Cavalry Overture”
Features in animated shorts like Disney’s “Symphony Hour” (1942)

Franz Von Suppé – “Poet and Peasant Overture”
Used, for example, in the Popeye short “The Spinach Overture” (1935)

Johann Strauss II – Frühlingsstimmen op. 410
Tends to show up in cartoons where someone frolics in a field or similar, for example, “The Stupid Cupid” (1944) or “From A To Z-z-z-z” (1954)

Johann Strauss II – “An der schönen blauen Donau, Waltz, Op. 314”
Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz” also appears frequently for example in “A Corny Concerto” (1943) or “Johann Mouse” (1953)

Frédéric Chopin – “Marche Funèbre (Funeral March)” (from Piano Sonata No. 2)
Chopin’s funeral march is a bit morbid and will be instantly recognizable, cartoon examples include “Scaredy Cat” (1948) and “Convict Concerto” (1954)

Richard Wagner – “Ride of the Valkyries”
This one is used in one of my all-time favorite cartoons the 1957 classic “What’s Opera, Doc?” starring Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd

and here is a link all of the above (and more) on Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZeyTST0VCx3NOQgyB_9o4ueq&si=v08TGVoC6bD3Y-LZ

P.S. If you’d like to learn a bit more about classical music as used in cartoons, check out this great thread with lots of video examples compiled by animator Vincent Alexander: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1366449816042102787.html