Crowdsourcing for ideas!

[orichalcum]

I'm looking for a song or piece of music (readily available) that deals with the theme of creation stories or myths in some fashion. Time period and culture is irrelevant, but it must be reasonably short. Any ideas? (And no, the band Genesis does not inherently count.)

Comments

[apintrix]

October project, "Adam and Eve" springs to mind.

Classical music, old and new

[kenjari]

Haydn's Creation is a very long oratorio, but there is probably a short chorus or aria from it that would work.
Darius Milhaud wrote his ballet La Creation du Monde in 1923, and based it on African folk mythology. It's 20 minutes long, but is divided into six shorter sections.
One of Gustav Holst's Hymns from the Rig Veda, OP. 24 focuses on creation, and are based on Hindu sources.
Vincent Persichetti wrote a piece for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra, The Creation, op. 111. It's an hour total, but divided into 7 movements.

Re: Classical music, old and new

[orichalcum]

Awesome, thanks! I knew there had to be something, but my tastes aren't eclectic enough to know it well.

(I may be asking for advice later as well; the project here is that for each class of my World History to 1500, a student (or I as backup) will come up with a piece of music that exemplifies the day's discussion in some fashion - whether that's music from the actual time period/culture, or, say, Christian rock when discussing early Christianity, or something more tangential. We'll begin the class as people are coming in with that piece of music, to wake everyone up (it's a 9 AM M/W/F class...))

Re: Classical music, old and new

[kenjari]

Ask away! I'm taking a class on music research and working in the music library, so I'll be spending the whole semester working with the appropriate resources for this stuff.

[mrmorse]

In the realm of long music, see the Philip Glass Symphony No. 5. It draws its text from creation myths around the world.

Surprised that I'm not thinking of songs by bands like Genesis off the top of my head. There's "Rock and Roll Creation" by Spinal Tap. Oh, and "Cosmogony" by Bjork, off her music/iPad project "Biophilia".

[orichalcum]

Thanks! The problem is that it needs to really last "the length of time between when I get my computer set up and when a sufficient number of students have shuffled into the class."

[orichalcum]

Also, mrmorse, since I think you've talked to me before about the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" phenomenon, you might find this amusing: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-new-girl-star-zooey-deschanel

[mrmorse]

Individual movements of the Symphony No. 5 may be short enough for your purposes. In addition, different movements have different sources, so playing different movements for successive classes would have some comparative mythology built in.

It's not a creation story exactly, but you should try "The Beginning of Memory" by Laurie Anderson.

[xlagartixax]

Wasn't there a musical rendition of Shel Silverstein's "The Unicorn" poem (retelling the story of Noah's Ark)?