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Dadtodabone wrote:I love how big a part classic operatic and symphonic music plays in our lives.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Td4RHvyAFsM[/youtube]

That a piece of music written in 1829 to glorify a legendary figure of the founding of the Swiss Confederacy in the 14th century
became a staple in American households for decades, has always amazed me.
The opera "William Tell" was viewed as subversive at it's production, even though 400 years had elapsed since the original events depicted.
Both the Austrian and Spanish lines of the Hapsburgs were still very much in power and would remain so until WW1.
The American and French Revolutions were only a few decades in the past and Monarchist all over Europe bloodily opposed performances.
The Overture was written in 4 parts and what became the "Lone Ranger" theme was the finale "March of the Swiss Soldiers".
The Swiss fielded what was in essence the first "Citizen Soldier" based army since the collapse of the Greek polis.
No feudal levies, mercenaries or conscripts. Swiss pike blocks became the equivalent of the Greek Phalanx,
shock infantry that became as legendary as Tell.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=YIbYCOiETx0[/youtube]

My Wife reminds me that my oldest son had his first "wound" stitched up after he blew a spring out on his "Lightning the Wonder Horse" while riding to
the rescue, accompanied by a looped tape of the finale I had made for him.

Dadtodabone wrote:Otis Redding's 1966 reinvention has become a "Soul Music" classic.
1967 live in Oslo, Norway.