What Was the Music Accompanying the Border Crossing Coke Commercial (Superbowl)

Asked by JohnMayer (4

) February 7th, 2011

I did hear a Fragment of Peter and the Wolf during the Superbowl, but I have a feeling it wasn’t during the Coke commercial I saw (was there more than one?). Wasn’t paying that much attention since I really didn’t give a rat’s hindquarters who won. I also heard Carmina Burana during an American Idol commercial, which is as much of American Idol as I am likely ever to see.

But I am troubled by music I can’t identify during the Coke commercial I DID see, the one involving a border crossing. It sounded like it might have been some sort of royal ceremonial music of somewhere around the Rennaisance (though I’m no musical expert). Anyone able to ID it for me?

Superbowl Commercial Music

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3 Answers

Sarabande by George Frederic Handel

Blueroses (18256

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The music is a specially recorded adaptation of Sarabande by Handel. Brought to the world’s attention more recently in 1975 when used as a recurring theme in Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon.

bennyboy (6

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Yes. But when searching for this music (or other pieces like it), remember: 1. As @bennyboy suggests, this is a transcription, not the original. Handel wrote the melody and harmony, but for solo harpischord. Someone else scored this for strings. 2. Sarabande is not the name of a piece. It’s a type of piece. You need to specify which one it is, since thousands of sarabandes have been written. It’s no different from saying “waltz” or “fox trot.”

This sarabande (by no means the only one he wrote) is from Handel’s Suite in D minor HWV 437. (HWV is how Handel’s music is cataloged. It stands for Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis or “Handel Work List.”)

jazzticity (510

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