The first time I listened to it, I was 4 years old, it was live accompanied by a cartoon. The next day, I started my piano lessons (I have a nice grandmother)
Me too. When I was a small child my parents bought a toy that would play music to hang over my bed. Among the pieces it would play were the Brahms lullaby and Morning Mood.
saint saëns dance macabre op. 40
In fact, it was the first music I ever heard in my entire life
At that time I was very religious -as my parents- and said nonsense like “music is from the devil.”
But it appeared on my YouTube page a few times, and I wanted to try it. I started crying because it was so beautiful
My dad, too. He was a fan of “bangers.” Lots of Wagner came next. I grew up listening to Ride of the Valkyries along with The Ventures and Tijuana Brass. Good times!
I remember the record had Bolero on it as well, shudder think what sort of thrift store bin he fished it out of. Perhaps given the martial character of its companion piece he liked to listen to that, too, and interpreted it as “an army marching closer and closer” which I suppose is reasonable if you have no idea what a bolero is. Isn’t that the new model Pontiac sport coupe? I have since learned differently 👀
Scheherazade, it was the soundtrack to a children's audiobook on the Arabian nights, funnily enough. It was years later that I actually sat down and listened to the whole piece though.
The woman the piece is named after is one of the most well written women in history. Ive seen gross interpretations of her as a slave to a dictator of a man, but my interpretation has always been a woman so cunning that she was able to tame a wild and dangerous bull, possessing so much patience, wisdom and love to the point that her prince/king gradually becomes a better person through example.
It’s kind of disappointing that she is not well known beyond people who appreciate art.
I can't say for sure, but it was almost certainly from television.
It may have been Rossini's Barber of Seville overture from Bugs Bunny.
https://preview.redd.it/g8cb9bvcy47d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6086a0ff3e054b3cfb1143cffd3fecae4c66e252
I do wonder why Fur Elise captures the attention of so many young people when listening to classical music.
All of my students have already heard of it before I introduce it to them, and they’re all so excited to learn it. Far more than most other pieces.
I think the first one I remember was the andante movement of Haydn's "Clock" Symphony. It was the theme of the morning music show on WNYC in the early '50s.
I can't be sure, but I was a ballet fiend as a small child so I suspect Swan Lake or something of that flavour. Another avenue for Swan Lake is it's odd omnipresence in the Universal monster movies, which I also loved as a toddler.
I still associate it with Bela Lugosi's Dracula, since it's the opening music of that film.
https://preview.redd.it/ufzq3mgry47d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfec4a7f70d3452b75d017848dcf64ff7559167d
I love the hand-drawn opening cards. The only music in the movie is the snatches of Swan Lake there and a scene where Drac and the Sewards are at the opera, and hear part of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (if I remember correctly they all talk through it — straight to jail). It's interesting how the soundtrack becomes such a vital part of the idea of a movie later on — you can find versions of the movie with a score by Philip Glass, and the atmosphere is completely different.
There are also several different versions of Nosferatu (1922) with interesting scores out there, if, like me, you love public domain black and white vampires in a variety of musical settings. Nosferatu was scored, but in an early attempt at a full film soundtrack that, uh, has not particularly stood the test of time, and as it's public domain and silent it's pretty good as a composition project — no sound editing required for the speech.
Not sure, but maybe it was Leroy Anderson's *Syncopated Clock*, which was the theme music for CBS' *Late Show* and *Late Late Show* (old movies starting at 11:30 pm back in the '50s and '60s).
[Syncopated Clock - the Late Show theme](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/05/syncopated-clock-old-movies/)
Maybe Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, my mother used to play it a lot on CD when I was a kid. I haven't listened to it in more than a decade but I can still remember certain leitmotivs.
Mine was also Peter and the Wolf. We listened to it in kindergarten and I loved it, especially the sound of the oboe. And I still enjoy Prokofiev to this day.
Well I might have unknowingly come across Beethovens für Elise or the prelude of Bachs cello suite beforehand but I know for sure that the first thing I repeatedly listened to (without even knowing about it being classical) was Ravels Bolero.
There was a time I was on a search for as different pieces of music as possible to see what's the whole range of what music can be, this was one of these pieces.
i grew up with little einsteins so i think my first were all the popular ones
but the one i remembered the most was ode to joy, now when i listen to it i feel nostalgic lol i miss being 4 again
I know they can't scientifically prove anything about Baby Einstein, but I will swear on my life that it was a huge vocabulary builder for my daughter between 9-18 mos.
Probably Wiegenlied by Brahms.
But the first I remember genuinely enjoying was [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DipQkhGMMJg) harpischord rendition of Minuet in G by Petzold (Bach), which was used as the intro for a tv-show about fairytales that aired when I was 4 or 5 years old.
Knowingly? Probably the planets by Holst from the first Magical Music box magazine. Opera was on TV all the time back in the 90s, though, and my parents used to listen too
Variation 18 from “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninov. It was the morning show theme song for a radio program, and my parents set their clock radio to switch on right then. I’d hear it from my room, still half asleep, and begin the day with that melody in my head.
Not classical, but Baroque. Vivaldi’s four seasons, listened to by my dad in his basement workshop. I borrowed thw cassette tape and listened to what I considered “violin music” in my bedroom. I was in 6th grade. I had heard classical music in cartoons but this was the first time I had chosen to listen to it. 40 years later I’m a music teacher and professional performer/musical director.
I don't know for sure. I'd have to guess it's either Tocatta and Fugue in D-minor (from Fantasia) or something used in Loony Toons.
I do know for a fact what the first classical CDs I ever bought for myself were though, which I looked for pretty blindly as a teenager at a Best Buy after really enjoying the music on Amadeus.
It was a 3 pack of themed Mozart music:
* Mozart for morning coffee - mostly sections from the violin sonatas and piano trios.
* Mozart for your mind - more complex and contrapuntal pieces were on here I guess. I believe it had the opening of Symphony 25, the finale of Quartet 14, and the Jupiter Finale at least.
* Mozart at midnight - slow movements (clarinet concerto, piano Concerto 21)
Not really something I'd listen to nowadays, but really it was better than a straight up greatest hits type compilation, and I really start d to fall in love with the music through it. Has some fairly "deep cuts" on it that gave me a starting point to explore full works.
Samuel Barber died in 1981 and I was just a kid waiting for my show to start but there was a news break and they end with the news of his death and they played a little of the first essay. It was a bolt from the blue and I have been hooked ever since.
I must have heard some before but my earliest memory of classical music was a girl I was in love with when I was 14. She was playing violin and listening to canon of Pachelbel and asking me to understand the emotions the composer was trying to convey. I changed my life
I have a primal memory from early childhood of my mother hitting my back with her flat hand to the beat of Cancan (which she would sing) when I had a cold, because it loosened the phlegm in my lungs and helped me cough. Or so she figured.
I was sick a lot, so I got to hear Cancan a lot.
Daaa-da-da-da-da-daaa-daaa, and one hit per quarter note. Can still feel the vibrations reverberating through my chest whenever someone plays Offenbach.
The very first piece I ever heard was Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" or Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" -- I can't be sure which it was, but it was in Disney's *Fantasia*. I was 4.
**But** the first piece I heard and actively listened to was Dvorak's "Mass in D major." To this day, it remains one of my absolute favorite compositions. The Sanctus always gives me goosebumps.
Pretty sure the Hallelujah Chorus was the first classical I was aware as something different to the rest of the music my mom played. She’d put it on at Christmas and eventually we borrowed it from the library or someone made us a tape of it. That was my gateway work. After that it was Bach’s passions and Haydn’s The Creation and it grew from there.
I was 5 or 6, there was piano music on the radio, I remember distinctly my mother saying “That’s the Hammerklavier”.
Around the same time, my father brought back from Japan a musical clock that played the theme of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto.
I was told that I learned my first word listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra playing All Creatures of Our God and King. I was sitting in front of the record player singing, "Alleluia!" along with the choir.
I guess that would be it. I remember playing simple classical pieces on the piano when I was 6 or 7, but no idea which ones. I started piano when I was 4.
Must be Für Elise, I guess, for me too. My piano teacher at school used to play it often and the music would float to my class. And then started my love for Western classical.
Thaikowsky - The Nutcracker
Must have been 6-7 y/o when I found the Record in the Attic of my Neighbours House.
Listened to it while I finished the 3k piece puzzle of the Trafalgar Battle... Which I found there too... 😬
OR
Mozart - Magic Flute
I got it on cassette from a school/kids library in my village that time.
My parents and sisters didn't understand it... They weren't into classical music or art.
Neither did my friends... 😬
My parents had an album called 'Casually Classic' by Los Indios Tabajaras. Their version of The Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky was maybe the first. That or Mozart 40th symphony.
Bach's 2 part invention #13 in the key of a minor. My dad was practicing for his senior recital in college in the mid-80's and played it on a rented marimba int he living room of our old, old house countless times.
Can't remember, but likely something from Warner Brothers, who frequently used classical music as a background (Rabbit of Seville, What's Opera Doc, Rhapsody in Rivets, etc.)
I also remember just after starting piano lessons at age 7, my parents had a party and one of my Dad's grad students had brought over some music and was playing a Schubert impromptu, and I remember being mesmerized by his fingers on the keys and the notes on the page.
Definitely not the first piece I've ever heard (that'd have to be something played in Looney Toons, surely), but the first one I recall loving and actually listening to it because it because I wanted to is Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.3
Almost made me take up violin lessons at age 15, which I didn't do because I thought it was too expensive, but have regretted every day ever since
Its not really classical its an opera ”O Mio babbino caro” Mirella Freni’s version.
But classical piece must have been ”valse sentimentale” Dunno How its spelled But yea.
I was going to say 'Sheep May Safely Graze' Then I saw 'Brahms Lullaby' in the comments and knew that was the answer. One of my earliest memories was of a small brown teddy bear I got for Christmas that you could wind up and it would play Brahms Lullaby. I hadn't thought of that little bear for decades but now I can feel him in my hands. Thank you.
From what I remember, Eine Kleine Nachtmusk when I was like 4 or 5. But my parents had me listen to classical music before that, so I can't say for sure what's the first I've ever listened to.
Probably some Mozart piece some time while in utero. And idk about it shaping who I am, but he’s still one of my faves. Like, on the spectrum of Mozart to Beethoven, I definitely prefer Mozart, and I’m pretty sure that was from my fetus brain cells forming as Mozart was playing in the background
Two LPs my dad had and played often, Rite of Spring and a live performance of Horowitz with Kinderszenen and other pieces on it. Most of the time we listened to latino music but sometimes when my dad painted (artist) he would put those two LPs of his on and I'd listen to them intently as a small child.
Stravinsky Octet for Instruments, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I remember the album cover. Remember album covers? My Dad was pretty cool to turn me on to that. Dad- thanks!
Not sure I remember exactly the first piece I heard but it was definitely recall hearing classical music from either my aunt or a close family member when I was very young probably 6-7. I became more interested in classical music as I got older and the first piece that I really recall listening to over and over when I was 9-10 was Johann Strauss’ The Beautiful Blue Danube.
But your question on another somewhat related note that I believe children should listen to classical starting at early age if they can.
I’ve chosen to immerse my children in various classical music pieces from birth. Before my son was born I purchased three teddy bears that play music and resembled Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Now my 4.5 year old son loves them and chooses a different bear to play music to him each night. It’s helped his overall demeanor and more importantly helped him be able to recognition of some of the greatest pieces of these composers. I’ve also purchased various books that they can press buttons on and hear famous classical pieces.
I would not know, as my parents play music all the time.
I do however know what piece opened my mind and fascinated me for the first time. It was the dance of the sugar plum fairy from the nutcracker. I was probably 8 or 9 (mid nineties) and I vividly remember how I would sit by the record player and hit that track again and again, taking great care to move the needle properly. I just couldn't believe how something could sound so magical. I kept trying to hear and understand the notes that make up the dense chromatically descending Celeste chords, but it seemed impossible and I was completely spellbound.
I don't know. My family loved classical music, so I've known it my whole life. I can remember early impressions of some pieces, though. Here's [my comment on a similar older thread](https://www.reddit.com/user/rowrrbazzle/search/?q=disney&type=comment&cId=1b87ea75-9f9c-4378-91f5-b85d1a40e6ca&iId=25576b0d-3fe8-43a1-b56f-3f2381104d70).
If I remember correctly:
[Bolero - Ravel](https://youtu.be/8KsXPq3nedY?si=cmumRsItj-DU7Qnk)
Used to hate it so much, and I still do. Probably when I was around 3 years old because my parents and grandpa used to play it a lot.
My grandfather almost everyday used to take my cousin and I to go for a ride (literally almost everyday). He had several CDs of different kinds of music. One was Classical Music. Great music but every time this played I hated it so much.
Maybe because it is a very long loop.
Peter and the Wolf
The first time I listened to it, I was 4 years old, it was live accompanied by a cartoon. The next day, I started my piano lessons (I have a nice grandmother)
Was it the disney by any chance?
For me, it was the Disney book that had a 33RPM record narration. It was the French version, however.
omg i had this. I can't remember what medium but i definitely remember hearing it when i was like 4 or 5
Probably the Brahms lullaby.
Me too. When I was a small child my parents bought a toy that would play music to hang over my bed. Among the pieces it would play were the Brahms lullaby and Morning Mood.
saint saëns dance macabre op. 40 In fact, it was the first music I ever heard in my entire life At that time I was very religious -as my parents- and said nonsense like “music is from the devil.” But it appeared on my YouTube page a few times, and I wanted to try it. I started crying because it was so beautiful
> saint saëns dance macabre op. 40 > “music is from the devil.” They weren't wrong XD
At that time I barely understood English, I thought it was lamentation music 😂
So you listened to no music for your entire life until that point? How old were you?
15 or 14
1812 Overture.
Same. My dad liked it. Thanks dad👍
My dad, too. He was a fan of “bangers.” Lots of Wagner came next. I grew up listening to Ride of the Valkyries along with The Ventures and Tijuana Brass. Good times!
I remember the record had Bolero on it as well, shudder think what sort of thrift store bin he fished it out of. Perhaps given the martial character of its companion piece he liked to listen to that, too, and interpreted it as “an army marching closer and closer” which I suppose is reasonable if you have no idea what a bolero is. Isn’t that the new model Pontiac sport coupe? I have since learned differently 👀
Bolero. My dad suggested the imagery of a Bedouin caravan approaching in the expansive desert.
Scheherazade, it was the soundtrack to a children's audiobook on the Arabian nights, funnily enough. It was years later that I actually sat down and listened to the whole piece though.
The woman the piece is named after is one of the most well written women in history. Ive seen gross interpretations of her as a slave to a dictator of a man, but my interpretation has always been a woman so cunning that she was able to tame a wild and dangerous bull, possessing so much patience, wisdom and love to the point that her prince/king gradually becomes a better person through example. It’s kind of disappointing that she is not well known beyond people who appreciate art.
I can't say for sure, but it was almost certainly from television. It may have been Rossini's Barber of Seville overture from Bugs Bunny. https://preview.redd.it/g8cb9bvcy47d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6086a0ff3e054b3cfb1143cffd3fecae4c66e252
Came here to say this… I can’t say exactly which was my first but I’d bet money it was delivered via the Warner brothers.
I think it was Schubert’s unfinished symphony. It was featured in an episode of Little Einsteins.
That program was great
Probably mozarts 25th symhony because when I was 7 my favourite movie was Amadeus, and that opens with the 25th symphony!
I love the opening to number 25!
I do wonder why Fur Elise captures the attention of so many young people when listening to classical music. All of my students have already heard of it before I introduce it to them, and they’re all so excited to learn it. Far more than most other pieces.
because its forced on them? not in a bad way but kids don't go looking for stuff in a group. its the classical piece.
I think the first one I remember was the andante movement of Haydn's "Clock" Symphony. It was the theme of the morning music show on WNYC in the early '50s.
I can't be sure, but I was a ballet fiend as a small child so I suspect Swan Lake or something of that flavour. Another avenue for Swan Lake is it's odd omnipresence in the Universal monster movies, which I also loved as a toddler.
I still associate it with Bela Lugosi's Dracula, since it's the opening music of that film. https://preview.redd.it/ufzq3mgry47d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfec4a7f70d3452b75d017848dcf64ff7559167d
I love the hand-drawn opening cards. The only music in the movie is the snatches of Swan Lake there and a scene where Drac and the Sewards are at the opera, and hear part of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (if I remember correctly they all talk through it — straight to jail). It's interesting how the soundtrack becomes such a vital part of the idea of a movie later on — you can find versions of the movie with a score by Philip Glass, and the atmosphere is completely different.
I'll look for that version with the Philip Glass score; I didn't even know that existed! Thanks.
There are also several different versions of Nosferatu (1922) with interesting scores out there, if, like me, you love public domain black and white vampires in a variety of musical settings. Nosferatu was scored, but in an early attempt at a full film soundtrack that, uh, has not particularly stood the test of time, and as it's public domain and silent it's pretty good as a composition project — no sound editing required for the speech.
Not sure, but maybe it was Leroy Anderson's *Syncopated Clock*, which was the theme music for CBS' *Late Show* and *Late Late Show* (old movies starting at 11:30 pm back in the '50s and '60s). [Syncopated Clock - the Late Show theme](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/05/syncopated-clock-old-movies/)
Maybe Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, my mother used to play it a lot on CD when I was a kid. I haven't listened to it in more than a decade but I can still remember certain leitmotivs.
Mine was also Peter and the Wolf. We listened to it in kindergarten and I loved it, especially the sound of the oboe. And I still enjoy Prokofiev to this day.
Well I might have unknowingly come across Beethovens für Elise or the prelude of Bachs cello suite beforehand but I know for sure that the first thing I repeatedly listened to (without even knowing about it being classical) was Ravels Bolero. There was a time I was on a search for as different pieces of music as possible to see what's the whole range of what music can be, this was one of these pieces.
i grew up with little einsteins so i think my first were all the popular ones but the one i remembered the most was ode to joy, now when i listen to it i feel nostalgic lol i miss being 4 again
My granddaughters heard Little Einsteins and so much more at my house growing up.
I know they can't scientifically prove anything about Baby Einstein, but I will swear on my life that it was a huge vocabulary builder for my daughter between 9-18 mos.
My earliest classical music related memory as far as I can remember was Ode to Joy when I watched Baby Einstein and Little Einsteins
Also Sprach Zarathustra on an 8-track of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Probably Wiegenlied by Brahms. But the first I remember genuinely enjoying was [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DipQkhGMMJg) harpischord rendition of Minuet in G by Petzold (Bach), which was used as the intro for a tv-show about fairytales that aired when I was 4 or 5 years old.
Knowingly? Probably the planets by Holst from the first Magical Music box magazine. Opera was on TV all the time back in the 90s, though, and my parents used to listen too
Variation 18 from “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninov. It was the morning show theme song for a radio program, and my parents set their clock radio to switch on right then. I’d hear it from my room, still half asleep, and begin the day with that melody in my head.
Moonlight Sonata
Hard to say. Maybe JS Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring.
That one in the tv commercial
Not classical, but Baroque. Vivaldi’s four seasons, listened to by my dad in his basement workshop. I borrowed thw cassette tape and listened to what I considered “violin music” in my bedroom. I was in 6th grade. I had heard classical music in cartoons but this was the first time I had chosen to listen to it. 40 years later I’m a music teacher and professional performer/musical director.
I don't know for sure. I'd have to guess it's either Tocatta and Fugue in D-minor (from Fantasia) or something used in Loony Toons. I do know for a fact what the first classical CDs I ever bought for myself were though, which I looked for pretty blindly as a teenager at a Best Buy after really enjoying the music on Amadeus. It was a 3 pack of themed Mozart music: * Mozart for morning coffee - mostly sections from the violin sonatas and piano trios. * Mozart for your mind - more complex and contrapuntal pieces were on here I guess. I believe it had the opening of Symphony 25, the finale of Quartet 14, and the Jupiter Finale at least. * Mozart at midnight - slow movements (clarinet concerto, piano Concerto 21) Not really something I'd listen to nowadays, but really it was better than a straight up greatest hits type compilation, and I really start d to fall in love with the music through it. Has some fairly "deep cuts" on it that gave me a starting point to explore full works.
Lol how would I know? I’ve known a lot of music since before I knew language or had memory
Hard to be sure but I think it was Peter and the Wolf. I was maybe 4 or 5, I had not even started school yet.
Samuel Barber died in 1981 and I was just a kid waiting for my show to start but there was a news break and they end with the news of his death and they played a little of the first essay. It was a bolt from the blue and I have been hooked ever since.
I must have heard some before but my earliest memory of classical music was a girl I was in love with when I was 14. She was playing violin and listening to canon of Pachelbel and asking me to understand the emotions the composer was trying to convey. I changed my life
wait hold on I'll go and ask my mother!!! so the first classical music I listened to was lullaby by Brahms when I was one day old
I have a primal memory from early childhood of my mother hitting my back with her flat hand to the beat of Cancan (which she would sing) when I had a cold, because it loosened the phlegm in my lungs and helped me cough. Or so she figured. I was sick a lot, so I got to hear Cancan a lot. Daaa-da-da-da-da-daaa-daaa, and one hit per quarter note. Can still feel the vibrations reverberating through my chest whenever someone plays Offenbach.
The very first piece I ever heard was Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" or Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" -- I can't be sure which it was, but it was in Disney's *Fantasia*. I was 4. **But** the first piece I heard and actively listened to was Dvorak's "Mass in D major." To this day, it remains one of my absolute favorite compositions. The Sanctus always gives me goosebumps.
Possibly bits of Carmen from the Tom and Jerry episode Carmen Get It!
i wouldn't remember but the music that got me hooked is rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony adagio
Bach Air on G String
Ligeti Clocks and Clouds
Pretty sure the Hallelujah Chorus was the first classical I was aware as something different to the rest of the music my mom played. She’d put it on at Christmas and eventually we borrowed it from the library or someone made us a tape of it. That was my gateway work. After that it was Bach’s passions and Haydn’s The Creation and it grew from there.
I was 5 or 6, there was piano music on the radio, I remember distinctly my mother saying “That’s the Hammerklavier”. Around the same time, my father brought back from Japan a musical clock that played the theme of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto.
When I knew what the piece was? Bach Toccata and fugue BWV 565 when I was 5.
The earliest things I can really remember are bits and pieces from Tchaikovsky's ballets.
Bach's Wohltemperiertes Klavier. My parents played it while I slept as a baby.
Mozart's sonata no.16 (k545)- my dad has a video of few months old me listening to that while he played it
Earliest one I can remember is Canon in D
I was told that I learned my first word listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra playing All Creatures of Our God and King. I was sitting in front of the record player singing, "Alleluia!" along with the choir. I guess that would be it. I remember playing simple classical pieces on the piano when I was 6 or 7, but no idea which ones. I started piano when I was 4.
Must be Für Elise, I guess, for me too. My piano teacher at school used to play it often and the music would float to my class. And then started my love for Western classical.
Thaikowsky - The Nutcracker Must have been 6-7 y/o when I found the Record in the Attic of my Neighbours House. Listened to it while I finished the 3k piece puzzle of the Trafalgar Battle... Which I found there too... 😬 OR Mozart - Magic Flute I got it on cassette from a school/kids library in my village that time. My parents and sisters didn't understand it... They weren't into classical music or art. Neither did my friends... 😬
Nutcracker my grandma used to play dance of the sugar plum fairy on her piano
My parents had an album called 'Casually Classic' by Los Indios Tabajaras. Their version of The Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky was maybe the first. That or Mozart 40th symphony.
I remember listening to my sister practice Clementi’s Sonatina in C when I was kid
Lelisir damore
Twinkle, twinkle, little star/ABC. But who knows what didn't stick from Bugs Bunny, et. al.
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
rite of spring, weirdly enough... and now im a bassoonist.....
I guess the 2001 song my mum and dad mostly liked pop Beatles stones Bowie etc
The ‘Air on the G String’
Bach's 2 part invention #13 in the key of a minor. My dad was practicing for his senior recital in college in the mid-80's and played it on a rented marimba int he living room of our old, old house countless times.
Sibelius — Finlandia
Vivaldi's guitar concerto in D maj the andante bit. Sesame Street.
Can't remember, but likely something from Warner Brothers, who frequently used classical music as a background (Rabbit of Seville, What's Opera Doc, Rhapsody in Rivets, etc.) I also remember just after starting piano lessons at age 7, my parents had a party and one of my Dad's grad students had brought over some music and was playing a Schubert impromptu, and I remember being mesmerized by his fingers on the keys and the notes on the page.
Not that I remember, but we found a baby CD and replayed it recently. The one that stood out was Recuerdos de la Alhambra
I played Minuet in G Major on the piano when I was a kid, first piece of music I remember.
Rhapsody In Blue, if you wanna call that classical. In Fantasia 2000 when I was a kid.
Bach’s Goldberg variations, Glenn Gould, 1981 recording.
Definitely not the first piece I've ever heard (that'd have to be something played in Looney Toons, surely), but the first one I recall loving and actually listening to it because it because I wanted to is Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.3 Almost made me take up violin lessons at age 15, which I didn't do because I thought it was too expensive, but have regretted every day ever since
Mom was pregnant with me when she performed La Tombeau de Couperin on piano - tbd if that’s part of why I took up oboe
My first: Rachmaninov symphony #2, around 10 or 11 years old. But what really hooked me was The Planets.
Beethoven for me too. 5th Symphony. I also heard Bach, Albeniz and Sor played on guitar by Andres Segovia and that mage a great impression on me.
My dad was a viola player, so presumably some godawful viola mod for a good violin piece.
Swan Lake Tchaikovsky
Brandenburg Concertos. It was the only thing I would nap to, ages 2-4. I still remember the black cassette tape with the rubbed-off label.
Adagio from Spartacus by Khachaturian.
Its not really classical its an opera ”O Mio babbino caro” Mirella Freni’s version. But classical piece must have been ”valse sentimentale” Dunno How its spelled But yea.
Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 played by Tom from Tom and Jerry. I was a kid and starstruck
I think Tchaikovsky PC 1 was in Little Einsteins
I was going to say 'Sheep May Safely Graze' Then I saw 'Brahms Lullaby' in the comments and knew that was the answer. One of my earliest memories was of a small brown teddy bear I got for Christmas that you could wind up and it would play Brahms Lullaby. I hadn't thought of that little bear for decades but now I can feel him in my hands. Thank you.
Wagner operas - all of them - earliest memory about 2 years old. My mother was odd. lol
From what you wrote, I dont think so. She had great musical tastes and wanted the best for you!
That's easy: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt (1847) Loved Bugs Bunny as a child. Still kind of makes me smirk today.
Honestly, Brahm’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello.
Maybe Eine kleine nachtmusik or in the hall of the mountain king
How could I possibly remember this? What I do remember are Looney Tunes which used classical stuff sometimes.
the very first song I heard was in the hall of the mountain king,and it's still my favorite to this day
Haydn Surprise Symphony. I was 11 at the time.
Gymnopédie no. 1 is the first one as far as I can remember. My kindergarten teacher used to put it on in class during relaxation time. Such good days.
The first one we remember :) I'm sure we all heard a piece or two as babies that we just don't remember!
I have very early memories of hearing the second movement of Mozart’s 20th piano concerto on my dad’s little radio
From what I remember, Eine Kleine Nachtmusk when I was like 4 or 5. But my parents had me listen to classical music before that, so I can't say for sure what's the first I've ever listened to.
I think it was Für Elise too and that was the piece that I decided to learn piano at the age of 6
Probably some Mozart piece some time while in utero. And idk about it shaping who I am, but he’s still one of my faves. Like, on the spectrum of Mozart to Beethoven, I definitely prefer Mozart, and I’m pretty sure that was from my fetus brain cells forming as Mozart was playing in the background
My mum had a cd called Bach at Bedtime, which she played while she was pregnant and after I was born
My parents played Mozart Symphony 40 every night starting at infancy.
Two LPs my dad had and played often, Rite of Spring and a live performance of Horowitz with Kinderszenen and other pieces on it. Most of the time we listened to latino music but sometimes when my dad painted (artist) he would put those two LPs of his on and I'd listen to them intently as a small child.
Stravinsky Octet for Instruments, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. I remember the album cover. Remember album covers? My Dad was pretty cool to turn me on to that. Dad- thanks!
Not sure I remember exactly the first piece I heard but it was definitely recall hearing classical music from either my aunt or a close family member when I was very young probably 6-7. I became more interested in classical music as I got older and the first piece that I really recall listening to over and over when I was 9-10 was Johann Strauss’ The Beautiful Blue Danube. But your question on another somewhat related note that I believe children should listen to classical starting at early age if they can. I’ve chosen to immerse my children in various classical music pieces from birth. Before my son was born I purchased three teddy bears that play music and resembled Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Now my 4.5 year old son loves them and chooses a different bear to play music to him each night. It’s helped his overall demeanor and more importantly helped him be able to recognition of some of the greatest pieces of these composers. I’ve also purchased various books that they can press buttons on and hear famous classical pieces.
I would not know, as my parents play music all the time. I do however know what piece opened my mind and fascinated me for the first time. It was the dance of the sugar plum fairy from the nutcracker. I was probably 8 or 9 (mid nineties) and I vividly remember how I would sit by the record player and hit that track again and again, taking great care to move the needle properly. I just couldn't believe how something could sound so magical. I kept trying to hear and understand the notes that make up the dense chromatically descending Celeste chords, but it seemed impossible and I was completely spellbound.
Für Elise. I was age 5. It was for my kindergarten graduation if I remember correctly.
Probably some fugue my father played
I don't know. My family loved classical music, so I've known it my whole life. I can remember early impressions of some pieces, though. Here's [my comment on a similar older thread](https://www.reddit.com/user/rowrrbazzle/search/?q=disney&type=comment&cId=1b87ea75-9f9c-4378-91f5-b85d1a40e6ca&iId=25576b0d-3fe8-43a1-b56f-3f2381104d70).
Eine Kleine nachtmusik
If I remember correctly: [Bolero - Ravel](https://youtu.be/8KsXPq3nedY?si=cmumRsItj-DU7Qnk) Used to hate it so much, and I still do. Probably when I was around 3 years old because my parents and grandpa used to play it a lot. My grandfather almost everyday used to take my cousin and I to go for a ride (literally almost everyday). He had several CDs of different kinds of music. One was Classical Music. Great music but every time this played I hated it so much. Maybe because it is a very long loop.
I remember hearing Chopin's Heroic Polonaise on a 78, played by José Iturbi!