The Great Rubber Chicken Galop

In symphonic music, we are often celebrated for portraying the vast array of human emotions.  Composers are lauded if they convey love, passion, fear, dread, anger, rage, pathos, and sorrow in their works.  However, the same cannot be said about humor.  Oftentimes, when humor is the main objective of a work, the piece is written off as “silly,” “not serious,” or as somehow being automatically less worthy of praise than the works that express the other aspects of the human condition.  It’s a stupid idea, but one that has unfortunately taken root in our music culture.