Rejected Music and a Dare

Dear Bronies and Pegasisters who've read "Beethoven's Tenth,"

while I am indeed glad that the story has done as well as it did, I can't help but shake the feeling that I should give you guys some sort of a thank you. Just something to give back to all the positive feedback that has helped me all these months. So, I decided that I would give you (especially to you music lovers) a little bonus. I'm presenting to you here (in no particular order) the music that I had considered to go into the fic, and the reason why I ended cutting them out.

1: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1: Allegro 1st Movement.

Reason for being cut: While this is one of Beethoven's early piano work, and I did ended up using the second movement of this, nowhere in the story did I feel like I could use it. Don't get me wrong, this is a well written, well performed piece, but story-wise, I just didn't see a need to have this being played when there are other pieces that could work better.

2: Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor Op. 1 No. 3: I. Allegro con brio.

Reason for being cut: Same as above. While this is a atmospheric, moody, and very good background music, I couldn't see an opportunity in which I could use it.

3: "Da stiegen die Menschen an's Licht" aria from Cantata for the Death of Joseph Ⅱ.

Reason for being cut: Originally, this aria was meant to be the audition song for Rara. However, the more I thought of it, I realized there were several problems with this. The first being that this was sung in German, a language in which those in Equestria couldn't understand nor speak. The second was that for a while, I accidentally deleted it from the Soundtrack playlist that helped me to keep organized, it wasn't until recently that I've rediscovered the video that was going to be used. And the third reason was that as beautiful as the aria is, and while it was something that Beethoven has written, I felt deep down that Ludwig in the story wouldn't be that impressed. He probably be thinking that she sung that just to butter him up. For that, I chose something from Vivaldi.

4: Symphony No. 7, 3rd Movement.

Reason for being cut: As much as I try to use as much of Beethoven's symphonies in the story as possible, including the movements that I do like, (including this one) I quickly found that the mood this music had and where the story was, it didn't really fit. Considering the scene where Braeburn had played his heart out, only to find that his love interest was getting hitched, to me, the second movement of Beethoven's 7th fit perfectly with the mood. But as I listened to the next one, to me this happy music just didn't fit with the tone of the chapter. If anything, if I did kept it in, this cheery music would probably sound rather cruel after the description of Braeburn's heart getting shattered.

5: Funeral March WoO 96 for Orchestra.

Reason for being cut: While the somber music would be appropriate for the huge funeral that Beethoven got after his death, and describe the thousands that came out to see him to have this played in the background, I didn't feel that it was necessary. After giving nothing but a description of what his Tenth might be, I needed a counterbalance in which there was dialogue, and maybe end this massive fic on a quite, respectable note. Which was where the conversation between Schiller and Karl van Beethoven came in. I cut the music out because, again, I didn't feel it was necessary.

6: The entire Piano Sonata N° 29 'Hammerklavier'.

Reason for being cut: Of course, I've only used the last movement of this for its original intention - to show off Beethoven's playing skills in Appaloosa. Originally I had in mind to use this whole sonata as a kind of concert for Ludwig, but I couldn't find the right setting to make it look like that it wasn't forced. What I ended up settling on, however, was to use the fugue at the end at that bar piano to get the same point across.

You know, writing this thing while using the music of my favorite composer of all time was both interesting and fun. So much so, that I'm still shocked that nobody has come up with this sort of idea before for classical composers. Which got me thinking, why not let this story be a kind of a dare for all you writers out there. If I can write a smart fanfic in which it uses the music of Beethoven, and to capture the man's personality as close as humanly possible in a world of talking, colorful ponies, can you?

I challenge the next writer to come up with a story, where the main focus is on a composer (I'll list some down below), use as much of their music as possible, and whatever kind of story you do (be it a human in Equestria, pony on earth, human turned pony, etc...) the personality of the composer must reflect as closely to the guy's personality and life as possible.

A list of composers you can use (along with some playlists):

- Vivaldi

- Bach

- Handel

- Mozart

- Paganini

- Chopin

- Liszt

- Tchaikovsky

- Strauss II

- Mahler

- Debussy

Let me know if anybody out there is willing to take up the challenge.

Your fellow writer, closeted brony and music lover,

-CrackedInkWell

Comments

[Dan]

-Nobuo Uematsu
-Joe Hisaishi
-Basil Poledouris
-Trevor Jones
-Kenji Kawai
-Ennio Morricone
-Aaron Copland

[Circut Breaker]

A gauntlet, I see.

Good luck, those who will take up the challenge.

[M4Tiger4014]

You forgot Rachmaninoff. (While he was late romantic and early modern, it would be a little interesting to see him in Equestria, what with how Russia was like before it was communist.)

[Parukia_de_Bolivar]

Hhhmmm... might pick up Debussy