Jun 07 2008
Fly Me to the Moon
The group I sing with is leaving shortly to perform JS Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Wilmington, NC Symphony, so we are in heavy rehearsals to prepare. In the bass sectional today the song Fly Me to the Moon came up (don’t ask), and our director remarked that it was originally written in 3 but most arrangements are in 4. I remarked that I have a copy of Astrud Gilberto doing it in 3, but discovered to my embarrassment that she did it in 4 as well. Still, it is a nice arrangement. Naturally, someone has posted it on YouTube.
I want to know why she said 4? Silly girl. 4 works, but 3 is better.
Your instincts are infallible, and this is lovely.
The ringtone on my old Nokia phone played the fugue from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, the pipe-organ warhorse made famous by Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera (and, later, by E.Power Biggs).
I couldn’t understand why, whenever my phone rang, I would invariably end up with “Fly Me To The Moon” stuck in my head. Then it hit me: the two songs, written 250 years apart, have the Same Changes - circle of fifths - with a scalar melody ramping up and down.
This should come as no surprise. Bach practically invented western music, influencing every composer for the past three centuries. Bart couldn’t help himself.
Camron: Our director is actually a he and one of the best musicians I have ever known. He was simply remarking that the most well-known arrangements of the song are in 4.
David: One of the joys of rehearsing the B Minor Mass is that we really get to know the piece and hear what is going on in it. His use of the circle of fifths to change keys multiple times in just a few measures occurs throughout the piece, but he does it so beautifully that you don’t even notice his craft because you are so caught up his art.
Any relationship between the Toccata and Fugue and D Minor and Fly To The Moon completely escaped me. Thanks for pointing it out!