Uses of The Symphony
The 5th symphony was used in 1933 by the Russian-born choreographer Léonide Massine for his - and the world's - first symphonic ballet, Les Présages. This caused a furore amongst musical purists, who objected to a serious symphonic work being used as the basis of a ballet.
Various passages from this symphony were used in the 1937 motion picture Maytime, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The music appears not only in some of the background score, but also in the form of a sung pastiche invented by Herbert Stothart as a fictitious French opera entitled Czaritsa, "composed" by the character Trentini for the lead soprano (MacDonald).
The second movement was featured prominently in the 1986 film "Lucas".
Part of the second movement was given English lyrics under the title Moon Love, recorded by Glenn Miller and Chet Baker among others.
It is said that Annie's Song by John Denver was based in part by the first horn theme in movement two. Annie's Song is also in D major, and when Denver sang it in Russian in a 1985 concert the first five notes of the Russian portion of the song and the theme share the same rhythm.
An arrangement of the second movement was used in a prominent 1970s Australian advertisement for Winfield cigarettes, with the slogan Anyhow, have a Winfield sung by a choir to the movement's central theme, to the great annoyance of many classical music buffs. The ads were presented by Paul Hogan, who also used the arrangement as the theme to his Australian comedy show.
Read more about this topic: Symphony No. 5 (Tchaikovsky)
Famous quotes containing the word symphony:
“The truth is, as every one knows, that the great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man—that is, virtuous in the Y.M.C.A. sense—has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading, and it is highly improbable that the thing has ever been done by a virtuous woman.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)