I was listening to the FM this afternoon and one of the pieces was a favorite of mine from my youth. This reminded me that many of us became acquainted with classical repertoire as it was used as dramatic background music for many radio and tv shows, such as The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Northwest Mounted Police, Rin Tin Tin and a number of cartoons as well.

Here's a list of composers - four were extensively used in the dramatic radio programs and four are ringers.

Bach
Beethoven
Mendelssohn
Schumann
Liszt
Rossini
Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky

Bonus points if you can name the compositions used and match them with the shows.

I'm not good on radio shows, but I do know Wagner and Rossini made most of their money on Warner Bros cartoons.

There are some classics! Speew and Magic Hewmet!

Our junior high band director (back in the 60s) told us to listen to cartoons like Popeye for how great brass players should sound and articulate.

Now it's mostly synths.

Ok, I will kick it off with, The Lone Ranger, Rossini, 'William Tell Overture'

As a child in Primary School in Wales, each morning assembly ended with around 15 mins of gramophone records of popular classics being played. The teacher would then give a description of the piece, and a little information about the composer.
It was my favourite part of the school day :-)

At seven years old, I knew this piece, long before I ever knew who the Lone Ranger was

Oh, and not on the list, but Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf was the theme tune to a popular childrens' BBC TV programme: Zoo Time

You mean von Suppe, Light Cavalry Overture.

(It's a trick question, on which I once lost a bet. Lone Ranger did open with William Tell, but Light Cavalry is also used, particularly as a motif anytime Indians appear.)

Talespinners children's records had a series of LPs with classical music background and narration. Peter and the Wolf was one, obviously. And William Tell, with the William Tell Overture. Robin Hood had Mendelsohn's E minor concerto.

It turns out there are a lot more Talespinners than I remember from childhood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_Spinners_for_Children

Not all of these have music, but my daughter likes them: http://www.kiddierecords.com/2007/index.htm

There are tons!

So, here's the theme music from Sergeant Preston. Enjoy reading the comments.