What's the name of this song?

[loinburger]

Right, so I heard a song earlier today on the classical music station, but I missed the announcement of what the song was called. Anyway, it had some horns and drums and violins and stuff, and the main theme went something like this...

Dunn  Dun  Dun  Dunn  Da  Dunn
  A    A#   B    A#   A    A

Dunn  Dunn  Da  Da  Dunn
  A    G    E   G    A

Dunn  Dun  Dun  Dunn  Da  Dunn
  A    A#   B    A#   A    A

Dunn  Da  Da  Da  Da  Da  Dunn
  A   C   A   C   F   vD   A

I don't have a piano handy, so I'm guessing at the notes. In all cases, the next note is the one that's closest to the preceding note (so the G on the second bar is down from A), with the exception of the D on the final bar -- the F is above the A, but the D is below it. I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that Dunn's are half-notes, Dun's are quarter-notes, and Da's are eighth-notes. Or something.

Any guesses?

[Boris Godunov]

Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, 4th movement. Dubbed "New World"

[chequita guevara]

Boris, you freak.

[Asher]

Impressive.

[Boris Godunov]

Had to edit out the hyperlink, since they won't let me link to the MIDI file.

You can find a MIDI version here under Dvorak:

http://www.classicalarchives.com/

[Boris Godunov]

FYI, Dvorak used to live two blocks from my current apartment. There's a plaque on 17th marking his old building.

[Asher]

/me takes notes of Boris' relative location for future reference.

[Boris Godunov]

Yeah, only about 300,000 people live in my immediate neighborhood. Good luck!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Boris, you freak.

This thread ably demonstrates why no one should ever question my authority when it comes to classical music. Ever.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Yeah, only about 300,000 people live in my immediate neighborhood. Good luck!

I like those odds!

[loinburger]

Holy crap, Boris got it on one.

[Boris Godunov]

Kinda ruins the fun for others, I suppose...

[loinburger]

Screw that, I'm amazed that anybody was able to hazard a guess -- I pretty much figured this for a lost cause. ("Hey, what's the name of the song that goes Dun-Dun-Dun? Maybe it's got some A's in there, or some B's, whatever.")

[Boris Godunov]

I just played the notes as you described on my keyboard. The tune wasn't quite right, but close enough that I could recognize it. Your rythmic notation and breaking it up line-by-line into the proper phrases helped a great deal.

[Boris Godunov]

Re: What's the name of this song?

BTW, the actual sequence is in E minor as thus:

Dunn  Dun  Dun  Dun*  Da  Dunn
  E    F#   G    F#   E    E

Dunn  Dunn  Da  Da  Dunn*
  E    D    B    D    E

Dun Dunn  Dun  Dun  Dun*  Da  Dunn
  E    E    F#   G    F#   E    E

Dun  Di-Di-Di  Dun  Dun Dunn*
  E   G-E-G    B8    B   E

The * represent dotted note values (half again longer), and the "Di" figure is an eigth note triplet. The "B8" represents the B in the upper octave, as opposed to the B just below middle C.