When we think of Thanksgiving, many words come to mind. Gratitude. Reflection. Transition. Warmth. Autumn. Harvest. November.
Many works of classical music capture this subject matter perfectly, from cantatas focused on gratitude to autumnal tone poems that describe the season, to melancholy works written toward the end of a composer’s life.
Here are twelve pieces of classical music that are perfect for Thanksgiving.
(By the way, if you’re looking for classical music for the autumn season more broadly, check out our list of thirty pieces of classical music for fall.)
Vivaldi – Autumn from the Four Seasons (ca. 1720)
Vivaldi’s “Autumn” is from a set of four violin concertos known as the Four Seasons.
Each of the three movements is prefaced with a poem about what the music portrays.
The first movement depicts peasants drinking and dancing while celebrating a harvest; the second, their naps afterwards; and the third, a successful hunt.
It’s the perfect background music to a hearty meal and the nap afterwards.
Bach – Cantata BWV 79, “Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild” (1725)
Bach wrote his cantata “Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild” (“God the Lord is sun and shield”) in 1725. It was first performed on 31 October of that year.
The third movement is a chorale on the hymn “Nun danket alle Gott” (“Now Thank We All Our God”).
The hymn’s lyrics include:
Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
in Whom this world rejoices…
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us.
Beethoven – String Quartet No. 15 (1825)
Translated, the third movement of this string quartet is titled “Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian mode.”
During the winter of 1824–25, Beethoven was incapacitated by intestinal illness. After he recovered, despite his deafness, he wrote this string quartet.
The radiant third movement is some of Beethoven’s most intensely personal and beautiful music.
Thanksgiving is often a time when people stop to verbalise and share what they’re grateful for, so it’s the perfect time of year to listen to Beethoven’s exploration of the theme.
Smetana – Má vlast: Vltava (The Moldau) (1874)
Czech composer Bedřich Smetana obviously didn’t celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, but he did write his most famous tone poem, The Moldau, in late November and early December 1874. Maybe some of the rawness of early winter found its way into the music.
This work is a portrait of the Vltava River. Its flowing beauty evokes the motion of water, the whistling of wind, and the passage of time. It’s a perfect soundtrack for a nostalgic time of year or a homecoming more generally.
Raff – Symphony No. 10, “To Autumn Time” (1879)
Joachim Raff was a Swiss composer born in 1822. He’s forgotten today, but he was a prolific composer during his lifetime. His last four symphonies (numbers eight through eleven) were inspired by the seasons.
Raff’s Tenth – subtitled “To Autumn Time” – is a portrait of the season in sound. Its reflective, mellow orchestral colours perfectly capture the mood of late November.
Brahms – Clarinet Quintet (1891)
No adjective is applied more often to Brahms’s late works than “autumnal.” This quintet is among the most autumnal of them all.
It was written for two violins, viola, cello, and clarinet, meaning that lower-toned instruments outnumber the higher-toned ones. That gives the music a darker colour, especially fitting for late November.
In addition, Brahms wrote the quintet just a few years before his death. He was acutely aware that he was approaching the end of his life, and it shows. The reflective character of his late music suits Thanksgiving well.
Dvořák – Symphony No. 9, “From the New World” (1893)
The English horn solo in this symphony’s famous slow movement captures homesickness, a common holiday emotion. (Fitting, given that its melody was later adapted into a hymn commonly known as “Goin’ Home.”)
The symphony as a whole is also full of rich, warm orchestral colour, perfect for kicking off the holiday season.
Chaminade – Automne (c. 1893)
French composer Cécile Chaminade wrote this evocative piano étude, Automne (Autumn), in the early 1890s.
Its murmuring chords evoke falling leaves and the melancholy of darker days.
Mahler – “Der Einsame im Herbst” from Das Lied von der Erde (1908–09)
Mahler’s work Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) for orchestra and voice is six movements long.
The second movement, whose translated title is “The Lonely One in Autumn”, sets Chinese poetry dating from the Tang dynasty.
The poetry and the music portray autumn mists, cold wind, and withered lotus flowers: fitting motifs for the season.
Bax – November Woods (1917)
A brooding tone poem depicting the dramatic swirling winds of early winter, Bax’s November Woods invokes the month’s frostiness with aplomb.
That said, the music portrays more than November; it also portrays forbidden love.
Bax later wrote, vaguely, that it could “be taken as an impression of the dank and stormy music of nature in the late autumn, but the whole piece and its origins are connected with certain rather troublous experiences I was going through myself at the time…”
This was a euphemism for a stormy extramarital affair he was having with a much younger woman. Maybe this would be an especially fitting work if you’re dealing with interpersonal drama at your dining table!
Barber – Violin Concerto (1939)
The first two movements of this concerto boast a lush American lyricism and a profound melancholy.
Both characteristics make it especially fitting for a late-fall, early-winter Thanksgiving playlist.
Copland – Appalachian Spring (1944)
We saved the most quintessential American Thanksgiving piece for last: Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.
Copland’s ballet depicts frontier life and ends with the Shaker melody “Simple Gifts.”
The lyrics include:
’Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
’Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
This message of simplicity, community, and gratitude makes it a natural soundtrack for the holiday.
Conclusion
From Vivaldi’s portrayal of celebrating peasants at harvest time to Copland’s setting of an old American song about gratitude, these pieces of classical music exemplify a wide range of Thanksgiving themes and moods: gratitude to God, nostalgia and melancholy, and dark musical colours.
As you and your family gather this November to celebrate, consider putting on some of these classical music works to enjoy.
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