Music Inspired by Flowers

 In my alternate universe as classical music fan, I have completed a blog series about overlooked, underrated, and unranked composers (The Amadeus Principle). What better way to transition to that topic than a look at classical music inspired by flowers!

Roses for sale in a flower market. 
By Jebulon  CC BY-SA 3.0

Perhaps the most celebrated and loved flower of all time is the rose. Cultivated in both Egypt and China, possibly 5000 years ago, it has been valued for both its color and fragrance. The familiar multi-petaled cultivars arose somewhere along the way from wild ancestors that had just five petals. 

Rosa rubiginosa, a wild rose from
Asia; one of the ancestors of
cultivated roses. Photo by 
Stan Shebs,  CC BY-SA 3.0

In Western Europe, numerous composers took inspiration from roses in their music, including:

    

(click on the links to listen)

Robert Schumann, The Rose, The Lily, The Dove, The Sun  (1840) 

Johann Strauss II, "Rosesof the South" (1880) 

Gabriel Fauré, "Les Roses d'Ispahan" (1884)  

Peter Tchaikovsky, ‘Rose’ Adagio (Sleeping Beauty) (1889) 

Richard Strauss: 'The Presentation of the Rose' from Der Rosenkavalier (1910) 

Herbert Howells, A Spotless Rose  (1919)

 

A botanical illustration of the red
field poppy, Papaver rhoeas, by
Franz Eugen Köhler

Another favorite, particularly among Russian composers, is the wild red poppy found throughout Asia:  

Reinhold Gliere, The Red Poppy ballet (1927)

Aleksander Glazunov included cornflowers in his tribute,  Waltz Of The Cornflowers And Poppies, from the ballet, the Seasons(1899)

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Cornflowers, Centaurea cyanus. Photo by
Thayne Tuason CC BY-SA 4.0

The  blossoms of Heather, inspired a work by Debussy:

Heather, Calluna vulgaris. photo by Aqwis, CC BY-SA 3.0

 Claude Debussy, Bruyéres (Heather) (1912–13)

 

A chrysanthemum festival in Taiwan.

Years before he struck gold with his operas, Giacomo Puccini once found himself inspired by Chrysanthemums, the favorite flowers of Fall.

 

Puccini, Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) (1890)

Amaryllis hybrid, technically in the genus
Hippeastrum

   Giulio Caccini found inspiration in an Amaryllis.

     Caccini, Amarilli Mia Bella (1601)

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A Dahlia cultivar.
Photo by Kinjal bose 78 CC BY-SA 4.0

Bedrich Smetana took a liking to Dahlias, which are in the same family as Chrysanthemums.

 

 Smetana, Dahlia Polka (1840)1

Jasminum polyanthum from southwestern China.

A popular traditional Chinese folk song celebrates fragrant Jasmine flowers. Puccini adapted it for his opera Turandot. Photo by Helen Online CC BY-SA 3.0

 

      Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower); and The Mountainsof the East (Puccini’s adaptation for Turandot, 1926)

 

 

  Rachmaninov – Lilacs (from 12 Romances) (1902)

 

Blossoms of the cotton plant, Gossypium herbacium,
are recognizable as belonging to the Hibiscus Family.
Photo by by H. Zell , CC BY-SA 3.0

Florence Price appeared to be celebrating the flowers of the cotton plant, or was it the opening the mature pods?

Price – Dance of the Cotton Blossoms (1938)

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Edelweiss, Leontopodium nivale

Finally, who can forget Baron von Trapp's tribute to the alpine Edelweiss and his native country of Austria. Is Sound of Music classical music? The difference between classical opera and :Broadway" musicals is not as clear-cut. Both combine stage action and music to tell a story. See my chapter on "The Problem with Opera," for a more extensive discussion.

         Rodgers and Hammerstein, Edelweiss from The Sound Of Music (1959)