Photo: Adobe Stock

This year, we asked you to vote for your favourite works that:

BRING YOU JOY

MAKE YOU SMILE

LIFT YOUR SPIRITS

Our brains trust collected and counted all ballots, then formulated our Top 100 Classically Cheerful Works which counted down on weekdays throughout May during our 2021 Radiothon.

Here is the 3MBS Top 100 for 2021:

#100: Ennio Morricone – Cinema Paradiso, main theme
#99: Peggy Glanville-Hicks – Come, Sleep
#98: Tomaso Albinoni – Adagio in G minor
#97: Antonín Dvořák – Prague Waltzes
#96: Baldassare Galuppi – Sonata in C major, 1st movement
#95: Jean Sibelius – Symphony No 5, finale
#94: Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No 17, 1st movement
#93: Ludwig van Beethoven – Missa Solemnis, ‘Credo’
#92: Edvard Grieg – Holberg Suite, 1st movement
#91: Charles Gounod – Mors et Vita, ‘Judex’
#90: Emmerich Kálmán – Countess Maritza, Overture
#89: Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto for Violin and Oboe in D minor, finale
#88: Franz Schubert – Symphony No 5, final movement
#87: Antonín Dvořák – Humoresque
#86: Maurice Ravel – Daphnis and Chloe, finale
#85: Arthur Sullivan – Mikado, ‘Three Little Maids’
#84: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Oboe Concerto, adagio
#83: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings Op. 48, finale
#82: Dmitri Shostakovich – Tahiti Trot
#81: Claudio Monteverdi – Beatus Vir, opening
#80: Pablo de Sarasate – Zigeunerweisen
#79: Hector Berlioz – The Damnation of Faust, Hungarian march
#78: Arcangelo Corelli – Concerto Grosso Op 6, No 2
#77: Percy Grainger – Handel in the Strand
#76: Richard Wagner – Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
#75: Johann Sebastian Bach – Chorale – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring from Cantata #147
#74: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ from The Nutcracker
#73: Friedrich von Flotow – M’appari tutt’amor from Martha
#72: Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, 3rd movement
#71: Felix Mendelssohn – Song Without Words, Opening
 #70: Arthur Sullivan – ‘Entrance of the Peers’ from Iolanthe
#69: George Frideric Handel – Dixit Dominus, 1st movement
#68: Igor Stravinsky – Petrushka, opening
#67: Giacomo Puccini – Madama Butterfly, ‘Humming Chorus, One Fine Day’
#66: Jean Sibelius – Valse Triste
#65: Johann Sebastian Bach – Christmas Oratorio, 2nd movement
#64: Johann Strauss Snr – Radetzky March
#63: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – ‘Soave sia il vento‘ from Cosi fan tutte
#62: Johann Hummel – Trumpet Concerto, 3rd movement
#61: Maurice-Alexis Jarre – Lawrence of Arabia (main theme)
#60: Manuel de Falla – Nights in the Gardens of Spain, 1st movement
#59: Johann Strauss Jnr – Tales from the Vienna Woods
#58: Ludwig von Beethoven – Violin Sonata No 5 in F major, Op 24
#57: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – ‘Finale, Act 4’ from Swan Lake
#56: Reynaldo Hahn – A Chloris
#55: Ottorino Respighi – Ancient Airs and Dances #2
#54: Antonín Dvořák – Carnival Overture
#53: Giuseppe Verdi – ‘Chorus of the Hebrew slaves’ from Nabucco
#52: Franz Schubert – Arpeggione Sonata D.821
#51: Joseph Haydn – Symphony 104 in D major
#50: Jeremiah Clarke – Trumpet Voluntary
#49: Gabriel Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine
#48: Ross Edwards – Dawn Mantra
#47: Camille Saint-Saëns – Septet in E-flat major, Op 65, last movement
#46: Vincenzo Bellini – Norma, ‘Casta Diva’
#45: Gustav Mahler – Symphony No 9, last movement
#44: Frédéric Chopin – Piano Concerto No 1, 3rd movement
#43: Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No 3, 1st movement
#42: Charles Gounod – Faust, finale
#41: Gustav Mahler – Symphony No 2, finale
#40: Frédéric Chopin – Nocturne Op 9, No 2 in E-flat
#39: Jean Sibelius – Finlandia
#38: Giuseppe Verdi – Aida, 2nd Act finale, ‘Grand March’
#37: Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 8
#36: Johann Sebastian Bach – Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, ‘Herr, wenn die stolzen feinde schnauben’
#35: Felix Mendelssohn – Italian Symphony, 4th movement
#34: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture, finale
#33: Sergei Rachmaninov – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op 43, 18th variation to the end
#32: Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61, 3rd movement
#31: Johann Sebastian Bach – Coffee Cantata BWV 211, ‘Ei! Wei schmeckt der Coffee süße’
#30: Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No 15 in D minor, 1st movement
#29: Felix Mendelssohn – Midsummer Night’s Dream, ‘Scherzo’ (Wedding March)
#28: Franz Schubert – 9th Symphony, 3rd movement
#27: Max Bruch – Scottish Fantasy, last movement
#26: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – The Magic Flute, ‘Papagena duet’ to the end
#25: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade, 3rd movement
#24: Johan Sebastian Bach – Cantata BWV 82 , ‘Ich habe genug’
#23: Ralph Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
#22: Antonio Vivaldi – Four Seasons, ‘Spring’
#21: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Gran Partita. adagio
#20: Edvard Grieg – Piano Concerto in A minor, 1st movement
#19: Johann Pachelbel – Canon and Gigue in D maj
#18: Darius Milhaud – Le Bœuf sur le toit, Op. 58
#17: Richard Strauss – Four Last Songs No 3
#16: Franz Schubert – Piano Impromptu in A-flat, No 2 D935
#15: Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 6, 4th movement
#14: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D maj Op. 35, 3rd movement
#13: Henry Litolff – Concerto Symphonique No 4, ‘Scherzo’
#12: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Marriage of Figaro, ‘Count’s Aria’ from Act 3
#11: Edward Elgar – Enigma Variations, ‘Nimrod’, finale
#10: Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in B minor, ‘Gloria in Excelsis’
#9: Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 7 in A maj Op. 92, 2nd movement
#8: Sergei Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto in C min, 1st movement
#7: George Frideric Handel – Solomon, ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’
#6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Clarinet Concerto in A maj, K.622, 2nd movement
#5: Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Concerto No 5, 2nd & 3rd movements
#4: Camille Saint-Saëns – Symphony No 3 in C minor, last movement
#3: Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending
#2: George Frideric Handel – Messiah, ‘Why Do the Nations,’ ‘I know that my redeemer liveth’ and ‘Amen’
#1: Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 9 in D min Op. 125, last movement

Subscribe
Donate