One of the many cool things about classical music is how wonderfully it sets the tone for Halloween. No other genre sets the mood quite like it this time of year!
What follows is over an hour and forty minutes of classical Halloween favorites to set the tone for your trick-or-treaters, Halloween party, pumpkin carving, or however else you’re getting into the autumn mood!
Listen to the playlist via Youtube or by clicking through each piece individually below.
Danse macabre by Camille Saint-Saens
Composed in 1874, Danse macabre is a tone poem based on and inspired by a poem by Henri Cazalis (Saint-Saens originally set the poem as a song and went on to write this tone poem later). He also references Dies irae within Danse macabre.
Toccata and Fugue in d minor by J.S. Bach
Bach composed his famous Toccata and Fugue in d minor between 1703 and 1707, and the piece went on to become one of the most famous pieces written for organ. Megan Sarno posits on why this piece became so closely identified with Halloween. Hint: it has to do with the work’s inherent suspense!
You’ll recognize this piece immediately–it only takes about three notes. It’s been featured in about 30 films such as Fantasia and Sunset Boulevard.
George Crumb completed his Black Angels string quartet in 1970. Inspired by the Vietnam War, the work sounds rather metaphysical and incorporates haunting sounds such as whispering, chanting, and shouting. In visual art, a black angel typically represents a fallen angel.
Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz
High on drama, Symphonie Fantastique is an aural depiction of an artist who is hopelessly in love. Deep in the depths of despair, he poisons himself with opium. The piece was written about his obsession with opera singer Harriet Smithson. After avoiding him for years, Smithson realized that he wrote two pieces about her (the other being Lélio) and the two started dating. Berlioz eventually beat the odds and married the woman of his love-drunk obsession.
Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky composed Night on Bald Mountain in his twenties, completing the work in 1867. This very famous and very Halloween-appropriate piece is a tone poem depicting a witch’s sabbath which takes place on St. John’s Eve. In fact, that’s the day he finished the piece! Eerie. Sadly, this spooky season blockbuster wasn’t performed in Mussorgsky’s lifetime. The version we know and love (and famously was used in Fantasia) was arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov and performed in 1886 in St. Petersburg, Russia.