Matthew’s big list of public-domain songs

Hey,

Due to popular demand I’ve decided to make this public. It’s my list of music-works that are essentially free to use (commercially and non-commercially), by virtue of either being a folk-song (and thus belonging to “the folk”), or because they are so old they precede copyright and are generally accepted as public domain. This can help save you a lot of time when scouting for music to use in your film/game/podcast/etc.

I have compiled this over several years, and add interesting titles whenever I stumble upon them. Since I picked these from all kinds of different places there are no unified sources.

Some notes:

While a certain title might be public domain, most modern recordings are NOT. Kilgary Mountain is free to use, Metallica’s cover Whiskey In The Jar is not.
Due to this I advise just creating an own version. It is possible to create something reasonable with simple audio-software (i.e. Guitar Pro) and some sheet-music.
I take no ultimate liability for this information. It is supposed to point you in the right direction. While I am fairly sure of the availabitly of these songs, I implore you to check for yourself. In which case you might very well end up saving a huge amount of time and/or money anyway.
This list is by far not final. In fact there are tons of more pieces, these are the more “popular” ones. Go dig through some Chopin-CDs for the truly underused (und underrated) stuff.
There are few games with a primarly classical soundtrack (Flotilla, Unstoppaball DX). Other games often add these in a few places. In Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, for example, a “high class”-character has some Beethoven running in his room.

Folk-Songs

Auld Lang Syne
Dixie
Greensleeves
Korobeiniki (Tetris-theme)
Levan Polkka
Oh Danny Boy
Scarborough Fair
Whiskey in the Jar

Classical Songs

Bach – “Little” Fugue (G minor, BWV 578)
Bach – Brandenberg Concerto No. 3 – Allegro(1721)
Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Bach – Concerto No. 4 in A
Bach – Concerto No. 5
Bach – Fantasy and Fugue
Bach – Partita No 1. – Gigue
Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Beethoven – Egmont Overture
Beethoven – Für Elise
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 14, “Moonlight Sonata”, First Movement: Adagio sostenuto *
Beethoven – Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight”, 1st Movement.
Beethoven – Sonata No. 14, 3rd Movement.
Beethoven – Sonata No. 23 “Appassionata”, 1st Movement.
Beethoven – Symphony No. 1, Finale
Beethoven – Symphony no. 5 in C Minor: Allegro
Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 in C Minor: Allegro con brio
Beethoven – Symphony No. 5, 1st Movement.
Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”, 1st Movement.
Beethoven – Symphony No. 9, 4th Movement.
Beethoven – Symphony No. 7, 4th Movement: Allegro Con Brio
Bizet – Les Toreadors
Bizet – Habanera
Boccherini – Minuet
Brahms – Hungarian Dances No. 5
Chopin – Ballade No. 1
Chopin – Concerto No. 2, 1st Movement.
Chopin – Concerto No. 2, 3rd Movement.
Chopin – Etude No. 11
Chopin – Etude No. 3
Chopin – Impromptu
Chopin – Prelude No. 15
Chopin – Prelude No. 17
Chopin – Prelude No. 3
Chopin – Waltz No. 6
Chopin’s ‘Funeral March
Delibes – “Flower Duet” from Lakme
Dvorák – Humoresque Op. 101 No.7
Dvorak – New World Symphonie
Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
Grieg – Hall of the mountain king
Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 – “In the Hall of the Mountain King”
Grieg – Peer Gynt Suites Suite No. 1 – “Anitra’s Dance”
Handel – “Hallelujah” from Messiah
Handel – Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba
Handel – Music for the Royal Fireworks
Handel – Water Music (Handel) Suite No. 1 in F Major
Handel – Water Music Suite No. 1 in F Major (Overture)
~~Khachaturian – Sabre Dance~~
Léo Delibes – Coppélia Ballet Suite, Act 1, No. 1
Liszt – Funerailles
Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Liszt – Liebestraum No. 3 in A Flat Major
Mendelssohn – Spring Song
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto, 3rd Movement.
Mily Balakirev’s ‘Song of the Volga Boatmen’
Mozart – Concerto No. 21 2nd Movement.
Mozart – Der Holle Rache
Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1787)[2]
Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 2nd Movement.
Mozart – Haffner Serenade No. 7 in D Major
Mozart – Marriage of Figaro – Overture
Mozart – Serenade No. 13 in G major, IV Rondo – Allegro
Mozart – String Quartet in G Major – 2nd Movement
Mozart – Symphony No. 40 – 1st Movement
Mozart – Turkish March
Mozart – Lacrimosa
Mussorgsky – Night On Bald Mountain
Offenbach – Gaiete Parisienne – Can Can
Pachelbel – Canon In D
Paganini – 24 Caprices
Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto n.2, I. Moderato (part1)
Rossini – Barber of Seville Overture
Rossini – Call to the Cows (William Tell Overture) (1829)
Rossini – La Gazza Ladra
Rossini – Largo al Fatotum
Rossini – Overture from The Barber of Seville
Rossini – The Thieving Magpie
Rossini – Wilhelm Tell Overture
Saint-Saëns – Danse Macabre
Saint-Saëns – Aquarium
Schubert – Ave Maria
Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag
Scott Joplin – The Entertainer
Sousa – Stars and Stripes Forever (1897)
Strauss – Die Fledermaus Overture
Strauss – Leichtes Blut Fast
Strauss – The Blue Danube Waltz
Strauss – Tritsch Tristsch
Strauss – Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Tallis – Fantasia on a Theme
Tchaikovsky – “Dance of the Reed-Flutes” from The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky – “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky – The Sleeping Beauty Waltz
Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto, 1st Movement.
Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto, 3rd Movement.
The Blue Danube
The Charleston
Verdi – La Traviata
Verdi – Rigoletto
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons No. 1
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons No. 2
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons No. 4
Wagner – Lohengrin Overture
Wagner – Ride of the Valkyries
Wagner – Rienzi Overture
Wagner – Tannhaesuer Overture
Wagner – Twilight of the Gods
Waldteufel – Skater’s Waltz