Music inspired by the sea

I'm changing the way we study our music themes each month.
Now that we're following Sonlight, I've decided we'll look for music that is inspired by the subject matter at hand.

We've had a long break from the books, so I think we'll start with a re-cap of the "Ships of the Sea" theme, especially as so many lovely pieces have been written around the subject.

First on my list is Richard Wagner's Overture to "The Flying Dutchman". Wagner's inspiration comes first hand after a narrowly escaping shipwreck. What a way to capture your experiences of the tumultous seas upon reflection of the ordeal! The theme swirls in and out of quieter moments, giving images of a raging sea, then calmer moments and a snatch at a sailor's song. You can listen to this work for free here. There are also some program notes here.

We also have Spartacus's "Adagio" by Aram Khachaturian. This was made famous by the BBC tv series The Onedin Line (which, yes, I've seen thanks to our library. Personally, I'd vet this first to see if you're happy with family viewing.) A very majestic, beautiful piece.



Hector Berlioz's "Le Corsaire" Overture will stir up some excitment.
"Corsair" means pirate, or pirate ship. This is a swashbuckling work:

"Giddy, scurrying violins, thundering brass, booming kettle drums, jaunty rhythms and flowing melodies start for pulse racing. A slow, soulful passage lingers for a while, but excitement is never far off, and a mounting, crashing storm soon whips up, to lift the spirits and stir the blood."

You can listen for free here.


So many works to choose from, but I'll leave it at four.
We have to have a sailor's hornpipe!!
There are quite a few online to see, but this was a favourite. (The embedding is disabled, so you'll have to use the link).

OR, view this from the 2005 Edinburgh Tattoo:

This easily leads us to Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance, but I won't be able to fit all that in with the children. We'll have to come back to all of that another time.