Snow Music!

Last night, McDoc asked me for examples of music that make reference to snow — a very timely topic for two Californians experiencing their first Michigan winter!

The first thing I thought of was “The Snow is Dancing,” (audio sample) from The Children’s Corner, a suite of piano pieces by Claude Debussy. There’s also “Des Pas Sur La Neige” — Footsteps in the Snow — (audio sample) from his first book of piano preludes.

Next I thought of Jean Sibelius, who must have been quite familiar with snow, being from Finland and all. I didn’t find any titles in his works list that referred to snow directly, but according to Wikipedia,

Sibelius loved nature, and the Finnish landscape often served as material for his music. He once said of his Sixth Symphony, ‘[It] always reminds me of the scent of the first snow.’

Here’s an audio sample from the first movement.

You can always count on somebody, somewhere to have already thought of, and found a way to cash in on, such musical thematic musings such as these… hence the compilation CD Winter Dreams: Classical Music for When Snow Falls. (Yes, I’m just envious that I didn’t do the cashing in myself! 😛 )

On the bright side, I learned from looking at the CD’s page that Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 1 had the nickname “Winter Daydreams.” Ancora imparo, as my buddy Mike liked to say. (I probably learned this once before in Music History class or something, but that’s a benefit of aging — you get to learn things again! :P)

Oh, I was also suprised to find that Snow is the name of an artist — a Canadian dancehall artist who has been called a Canadian Vanilla Ice. 😀 I hadn’t heard of him, but evidently he had a hit in the 90’s called “Informer.”

And then of course, how could this time of year be complete without this old favorite? I know, I know, I’m not nearly old enough to remember it. But I have older siblings who are! 😛

What about you? Add your snow music examples in comments!

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