<p>You have to work up to all this mid-late twentieth century music. </p>
<p>Here’s a brief run through of classical music in the west (I cheated and looked up the timings of some of these operas):</p>
<ol>
<li>Chant, maybe Perotin’s “Alleluia. Diffusa est gratia.”</li>
<li>Early opera, “Dido and Aeneas” is one of the first operas in English, but to be honest, it’s pretty hard to tell that it’s English if you don’t have the words in front of you</li>
<li>Baroque music, something by Bach is probably best</li>
<li>More developed opera. “Don Giovanni” is one of my favorites, especially if they can look at the text in translation at some parts. You could also do a Mozart instrumental piece, but I think it’s nice for people to hear excerpts from a well-known opera if they haven’t before, especially if they can keep an open mind.</li>
<li>Beethoven</li>
<li>Schubert or Schumann, I prefer Schubert usually</li>
<li>Chopin, about the same time as Schubert and Schumann, but some Chopin is pretty well-known and recognizable. Look at preludes.</li>
<li>Liszt, for variety</li>
<li>More opera, most notably Wagner (i.e. Tristan und Isolde)</li>
<li>Debussy, they should like Clair de Lune</li>
<li>Stravinsky, especially if either are dancers (Rite of Spring)</li>
<li>Then you get into weird modern music. I’d suggest maybe Ives or Varese to cover the twentieth century.</li>
</ol>
<p>Anyway, I don’t imagine any of you would want to listen to all this at once. I’ve never played it all in a row before (though it may be sort of fun to do). To boil it down, I’d definitely include some Gregorian chant or other kind of chant. Some of it is pretty cool. Then Bach for the Baroque period, Mozart for Classical, Beethoven for the beginnings of romantic music (important since he’s such a big name), Chopin as a later romantic composer and an 1800s example, Wagner to cover opera, Debussy so that they can listen to Clair De Lune (think: Ocean’s 11), Varese or Babbitt for a taste of modern classical music, complete with electronic music mixed in. You could obviously boil this down even more to chant, Beethoven, later opera, modern music. </p>
<p>Some of the pieces are enjoyable to listen to. Some aren’t as pleasing to the ear but aren’t supposed to be. I think it’s good for people to have a taste of some different examples of “classical music,” which is so often just lumped together and discarded as a genre by teens. Going at it semi-chronologically should make the different pieces make more sense than if they were all randomly mixed together.</p>
<p>Oh, and throw in some folk music, too. World music would be interesting, as well, but it’s not my forte.</p>
A toss-up. Neil Young or CSN&Y are also good for this. Maybe throw in Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” if their attention spans will last that long. For more modern social conscience music with a classic sound, U2 and Springsteen.</p>