Ka-ching! All of the composers on this week's show were printed on bank-notes, bills and currency. Browse below for some cash-ical music. 

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) Nocturne in E, Op. 62, No. 2 Many different types of piano concert pieces, such as the etude, the ballade and the mazurka, were developed by Poland’s most famous composer and cultural icon Frederic Chopin. His 21 nocturnes published between 1827 and 1846 are some of his most popular works and helped establish the nocturne as a distinct genre for solo piano. Chopin has actually appeared twice on Polish banknotes, or zloty. He was first featured on the 5000 zloty note which circulated from 1982 to 1996. The reverse side of the bill included a facsimile of one of the composer’s polonaises. Then in 2010, the National Bank of Poland issued a special 20 zloty note commemorating Chopin’s 200th birthday, once again with the composer’s portrait as well as a picture of his manor house. One of his mazurkas and his Etude in f minor also appear on the bill.

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) Norma: 'Casta diva' Bel Canto singing emphasized the brilliance of performance and sound over dramatic expression. “Casta Diva,” from Bellini's eighth opera Norma, is the quintessential Bel Canto aria. When it was rehearsed by Italy's most famous soprano, Giuditta Pasta, she baulked at singing the aria, believing it to be unsuited to her voice. Bellini asked her to keep at it for a week, and by their next meeting she had adapted her voice and changed her mind about the aria.Several opera singers have appeared on currency. Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson is on the Swedish fifty dollar bill or 500 Kronor, which is still in circulation, and the Australian 100 dollar bill has a portrait of Nellie Melba, one of the greatest opera divas of the early 20th century. Bellini himself even made it onto an Italian banknote or Lira in 1985. It was in circulation until 2002, surviving Italy’s switch to the euro for three years. 

Clara Schumann (1819-1896) Piano Trio in g, Op. 17 Clara Wieck (as she was known at the time) played her first solo concert when she was only eleven years old. She performed the music of her contemporaries like Felix Mendelssohn, Frederic Chopin, and the man who would later become her husband, Robert Schumann, but she also performed her own music. Even in that first concert at age 11, the young Clara performed her own set of Variations on an original theme. Mrs. Schumann composed many works, mostly short character pieces, virtuoso showcases, and dozens of songs. Though her piano trio from 1846 was written at a stressful time when she was dealing with the health issues of her youngest son, it is considered one of her finest works. Throughout the 1980s, the Bundesbank issued a series of banknotes honoring German artists and scientists, and Clara appeared on the 100 Deutsche Mark issued first in 1989 and again in 1996.

Béla Bartók (1881-1945) Viola Concerto, Op. post., Sz. 120 Bela Bartok spent the early part of his professional career traveling through Hungary collecting folk music, and even as he toured all over the world later in life, the distinctive music that he heard and analyzed in those early days would remain with him. His viola concerto for example, though echoing the style of Hungarian folk melodies, was written while Bartok was on summer vacation in the Adirondack region of New York. Bartok rented a rustic cabin on the historic Saranac Lake to spend his down time delving into the possibilities and limitations of the viola. Sadly, he would pass away from Leukemia only months after starting the concerto, leaving behind incomplete sketches of the work. For that reason, many editions and interpretations of the piece exist, and no recording is exactly the same. Forty years after Bartok’s death, Hungary would honor the composer by printing his portrait on a bank note: the 1000 Forint. The bill circulated in Hungary for almost 10 years, and was retired in 1999. 

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) Gayane, Act I Scene 1 "Spring": No. 6, The Young Men's Dance In 1998, the Central Bank of Armenia released a 50-dram note featuring their most celebrated composer, Aram Khachaturian. On the reverse of the bill is an excerpt from his masterpiece, the ballet Gayane. Set in Southern Armenia during the Great Patriotic War, the ballet takes place on a kolkhoz, a kind of collective farm developed during the Soviet Union. The heroine Gayane is a cotton-picker married to a disreputable husband who is lazy and violent, Gayaneh ultimately stands up to his abuses and protects her child from his corrupt plot, and finds a new husband in the end. The ballet is especially known for its multi-cultural inclusion of many kinds of traditional dances from Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus. This energetic dance from Act 1 known as a lezginka, is usually a kind of saber dance where men use sharp and quick motions to imitate the movements of an eagle.

Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) Helios Overture Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s overture entitled Helios was written during a period of his career when he was preoccupied with the idea of becoming one with nature, and Sun worship seemed a likely place to start. Helios was one of several gods of the sun in the days of ancient Greece, and the one in whose honor the Colossus of Rhodes was built.  According to the historical writings of Philo, Rhodes had been brought up from the sea by Helios himself. Nielsen chose the story as his inspiration while on a visit to Athens, and his use of a classical subject shows his own ambiguity about Danish nationalism during his lifetime. He was deeply interested in Scandinavian folk music, however its influence on his own musical style is debatable. That being said, Nielsen’s music was eventually embraced by Denmark as a national treasure, and his portrait appeared on Danish banknotes for several decades. 

Georges Enescu (1881-1955) Legend While he is best known for incorporating his Romanian heritage into the Romantic art music tradition, Enescu also spent significant time studying in Paris. His versatility and talent as a multi-instrumentalist led him to master French late-Romantic aesthetics, and many of his compositions bear this influence. Though not a trumpet player himself, his ability to write idiomatically for the instrument made his Legend for trumpet and piano a major addition to the repertoire. Since 2005, Enescu has been printed on the Romanian equivalent of the 5 dollar bill, which is still in circulation today. The purple banknote also features the image of the Romanian Athenaeum, which headquarters  the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) Concerto Grosso No. 5 in B-flat, Op. 3 Although no American composer has been featured on a United States bank note, a connection between American coin and classical music, and specifically the music of Francesco Geminiani is not too far off. Geminiani’s treatise on violin playing, a must-have manual for Baroque violin specialists, is one of several musical features of the library of Thomas Jefferson, and even includes notes and annotations in Jefferson’s own hand. Jefferson was one of our most musical presidents. He owned four violins, and even a mini kit-fiddle for practicing on the go. Jefferson’s portrait is still printed on the two-dollar bill. I say “still”  because many people don’t realize that the two-dollar bill is still legal tender and is still being printed, although not in as great a quantity as other American bills due to banking policies that limit its use. For that reason it does not circulate widely and has created a feedback loop that the two dollar bill is rare and thus they are mostly collected rather than spent.

Johnny Cash (1932-2003) Rock Island Line He’s not on a bank note or coin, but with that last name, how could The Man in Black not appear on our Cash-ical Music show? Johnny Cash first hit the top of the country charts in the mid-fifties with Folsom Prison Blues. More than a decade later it climbed the charts again on a live album documenting a legendary concert at Folsom Prison. Over the course of his career, Cash had several brushes with the law, mostly related to problems with drug addiction. He was also something of a musical outlaw, famous for his cool black outfits, as well as for straddling country and rock genres. Like Paganini, Cash knew the commercial value of a “bad guy” mystique, and did little to contradict rumors about his checkered past. Rock Island Line is also about pulling a fast one, this time on the railroad. The track was released two year after Folsom Prison Blues, and featured two additional verses by Cash, to compliment those first recorded in 1932 by inmates in an Arkansas state farm prison.