# Classical music in ads.



## Chris Hobson (Jan 24, 2018)

I have very eclectic tastes in music and as well as rock and pop I like some of the classics. Recently I have noticed quite a few pieces of classical music appearing in both TV and radio ads. Dracula is advertising broadband switches to the accompaniment of J. S. Bach's Toccata in D minor. Mozart's Eine Kliene Nacht Music and the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro have been featured on TV ads but I can't remember what for. Morning by Greig was on a radio ad for Now TV. There is of course a long tradition of this kind of thing, Oh Fortuna by Carl Orf was used to sell Old Spice aftershave. Bach's Air on a G String was used to sell Hamlet cigars. The Hamlet ad also lead to the creation of the intro to A Whiter Shade of Pale which is a slightly mis-remembered  version of the tune. I wonder if anyone here has spotted any others or can remember any from the past?


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## Robin (Jan 24, 2018)

Do Neapolitan songs count as classical? ( I'm thinking of just one Cornetto here)
Then there's that British Airways ad that featured the Flower duet from Delibes Lakmé (though I always preferred the spoof version.)


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## mikeyB (Jan 25, 2018)

The cheapskates only use classical music so there’s no composer Royalties to pay.  In Hamlets case, just the cost of a jobbing pianist.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 25, 2018)

I would say that arias from operas count as classical music. The video is funny. The Cornetto reference reminded me of 'Everyone's a Fruit and Nutcase' which was set a tune from the Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky. I also just remembered that a passage from Dvorak's New World Symphony was used to advertise Hovis. I'm not sure that the ad industry is using classics just to save money Mikey, the use of  pop music seems to be much more common. There can be some odd choices, I've just seen an ad for a Ford SUV that uses an old Elvis Costello song about getting an unwanted erection. Incidentally, the secret lemonade drinker song for R. Whites lemonade was written by Elvis Costello's dad.


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## Grannylorraine (Jan 26, 2018)

I think the marriage of Figaro was used by Natwest bank many years ago (maybe late 80s early 90s) to advertise their pig family piggy banks, if memory serves me right, they changed the wording to pigaro.  It has possibly been used in other adverts since then.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 26, 2018)

I think that might be a different Figaro Lorraine, there is a song called Figaro in the opera The Barber of Seville by Rossini.

I couldn't find an orchestral version of Mozart's overture that I didn't have to buy but here is a really good version by prog rock band TSO.


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## robert@fm (Jan 27, 2018)

I think "Morning" from Greig's "Peer Gynt Suite" was once used to advertise Nescafé. "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" from the same suite may also have been used for something, I'm not sure.

I also think that at least one advert which parodied the title sequence of _2001: A Space Odyssey_, complete with the "Sunrise" fanfare from the start of Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra", haas been done.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 28, 2018)

I spotted another one which I think was in an ad for a bank, this one I had to look up as I definitely couldn't name it off the top of my head, I only knew that it was by J. S. Bach. It is in fact the opening bars of the first piece in the collection known as The Well Tempered Clavier, Praeludium und Fugue in C, BWV 846.

The odd thing about adverts is that they almost always seem to be aimed at someone other than me. This is particularly true of the ones that want me to buy a new car. I'm hoping to hang on to my old Saab until it goes around the clock again.


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## Sally W (Jan 30, 2018)

Chris Hobson said:


> I have very eclectic tastes in music and as well as rock and pop I like some of the classics. Recently I have noticed quite a few pieces of classical music appearing in both TV and radio ads. Dracula is advertising broadband switches to the accompaniment of J. S. Bach's Toccata in D minor. Mozart's Eine Kliene Nacht Music and the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro have been featured on TV ads but I can't remember what for. Morning by Greig was on a radio ad for Now TV. There is of course a long tradition of this kind of thing, Oh Fortuna by Carl Orf was used to sell Old Spice aftershave. Bach's Air on a G String was used to sell Hamlet cigars. The Hamlet ad also lead to the creation of the intro to A Whiter Shade of Pale which is a slightly mis-remembered  version of the tune. I wonder if anyone here has spotted any others or can remember any from the past?


One I loved was Beethoven’s Eroica put to electricity advert. Was perfect for the ad I thought


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## Chris Hobson (Feb 1, 2018)

The music for the new Jaguar E-Pace ad sounds like Vivaldi although I don't recognise the tune. I don't think that it is from the Four Seasons but it is a very long time since I listened to that particular piece.


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## Robin (Feb 7, 2018)

Chris Hobson said:


> The music for the new Jaguar E-Pace ad sounds like Vivaldi although I don't recognise the tune. I don't think that it is from the Four Seasons but it is a very long time since I listened to that particular piece.


I think I've tracked this down. It is Vivaldi, (according to the comment underneath the YouTube video) a piece called La Follia, which I've never heard before, but rearranged and recorded specially for the ad.


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## Chris Hobson (Feb 15, 2018)

I heard another one on the radio recently. It begins with a traditional piano arrangement of Fur Elise by Beethoven and then mixes through to an electric guitar version. The argument is that classical/rock isn't a very good hybrid but this car that we want you to buy is.

Adverts are quite a good way to train yourself to spot logical fallacies and this one has at least two. The first is an unsupported assertion on a matter that is entirely subjective. The second is a non sequiteur in that even if the first statement is true it doesn't follow that the car in question is in any way better than the competition.


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## mikeyB (Feb 17, 2018)

Aye, but the trouble now is most cars are pretty good. Not like the good old days, when Skoda and Lada were the pits, and the Morris Marina and Austin Maxi roamed the earth. It’s mainly cosmetic now.


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## Chris Hobson (Feb 17, 2018)

Oh yes Mikey, I am old enough to remember cars that rusted away before your eyes. That problem was eventually dealt with but I can remember a time when I would buy a car and replace the entire ignition system in order to anticipate any problems. In those days it would cost about £25 to replace the coil, the plugs, the points, the rotor arm, the HT leads and the dizzy cap. It was worth it to know that the thing would always start.


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