OCTOBER

I love October. 

It is truly my favorite month of the year.

The World Series is played, football (college and the NFL) is in full swing, the temperatures in Maryland are crisp and a bit cooler. 

The leaves begin to burst out in the most amazing colors. 

For me October marks the true start of autumn. 

But the best part of October is that it is the month in which Halloween occurs. 

Halloween or "All Hallows Eve" as everyone probably knows is celebrated world wide.

Most scholars link Halloween's origins to the Celtic festival of "Samhain". This occurred on the last day of autumn and was the time for stock taking and preparation for the cold winter months just ahead. 

There are some who dispute "Samhain" as the "origin" of Halloween and point instead to the Roman festival "Parentalia" or " The Festival of the Dead". 

Halloween's popularity was also affected by the Christian Holy Days culminating around  "All Saints Day" which was November 5th.

I will probably write more on Halloween as it grows nearer this month but to me it is just a fun holiday. 

I love the trappings and traditions that accompany it. 

So today in celebration of Halloween and in combination with my fondness for classical music I am listing my ten favorite classical compositions that are (to me) the perfect music for Halloween. The composer is in parenthesis after the title. 

Oh, and to start to get everyone in the spirit of Halloween, here is a picture of Ellie in her Halloween costume at a Halloween party a few years ago. 

10) "Danse Macabre" (Saint-Saens)

9) "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (Dukas)

8) "Toccata" from "D-minor Toccata and Fugue" (Bach) 

7) "Witch's Ride" from "Hansel and Gretel" (Humperdinck) 

6) "Ride of the Valkyries" from "Die Walkure" (Wagner) 

5) "Halloween" (Ives) 

4) "March to the Scaffold" from "Symphonie fantastique" (Berlioz) 

3) "Mars - The Bringer of War" from The "Planets" (Holst)

2) "Night on Bald Mountain" (Mussorgsky) 

and my all time favorite classical piece I associate with Halloween 

1) "Mephisto Waltz" (Liszt)

(and as I was writing this I have two honorable mentions 
"In the Hall of the Mountain King" (Grieg) and "Funeral March of a Marionette" (Gounod) 

Listen to any or all of these and see if Halloween does not appear in your thoughts.