Thursday, July 19, 2012

Classical Thursdays: Schubert and the Smurfs

No, I haven't given up on my dream of bringing classical music to the several with my Classical Thursdays feature. In fact, today I'm going to present you with a piece that's already received considerable modern play due to its being used in that beloved (or, if you were me, filler) cartoon of the 80s, The Smurfs.

Did you know that The Smurfs was noted for its frequent use of classical music as background or theme music? (See Wikipedia confirmation of this fact here.) Little nine-year-old Rachel never realized this when she was watching the show, but fast-forward ten years later when I was an exchange student in Bielefeld, Germany, and my host mother took me to a Sunday morning symphony. As the orchestra played Schubert's Unfinished symphony, it struck me that I had heard this piece before. I'm not sure how long it took me to figure out where: the first movement is better known to us children of the 80s as Gargamel's theme song.

What do you want to bet they didn't use this piece as his theme song in the creepy-looking 2011 Smurfs movie? Aannnnnnd sigh. Do you recognize this piece?


10 comments:

  1. I didn't notice the classical music in the Smurfs when I was a kid, but now that you mention it- Yep. Sneaky.

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  2. I just wanted to stop by to tell you I hope you're having an awesome time at the SCBWI Summer Conference! I'm happy for you, getting to go!

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    1. Thanks Dawn! The first day was great--I am now officially a fan of Tony DiTerlizzi, he was a riot :)

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  3. Also Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade...

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  4. Also Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade...

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  5. When I think of Gargamel's theme, I think of that little snippet of music that plays roughly 38 seconds into the Smurfs theme song. I had asked about this somewhere a few years ago, and I was pointed to Richter's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Flat:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxzwEPB4Gd0

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  6. You're not going to believe this, but not only am I an 80s kid but about two years before The Smurfs made their debut on NBC, my mommy and daddy introduced me to Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and I loved it from the start. So I knew what I was hearing when the character of Gargamel was introduced.

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