Thursday, May 9, 2013

Surprise 1

Sometimes, a piece of music contains, somewhere in the middle, a surprise: Something you would not have expected. Of course, Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" is one of these pieces, with a rather overt and shocking surprise at just the right moment. Haydn's symphonies contain more such unexpected turns (I might show a few more sometime), but for the moment, I'll concentrate on other pieces with quirks or parts or motifs that surprised at least me.

Here is an example (the "solution" will follow in another posting): In 1918, Louis Hirsch composed a nice song for the Ziegfeld Follies in New York, with lyrics by Gene Buck: "When I Hear a Syncopated Tune." Here is a link to a recording of this song, with a refrain that's hard to forget ...

When I Hear a Syncopated Tune (from the Ziegfeld Follies, 1918)

... but?!?

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