Insects in music

Insects including bees, cicadas, crickets and grasshoppers produce sounds, whether by flying or by stridulation, attracting human interest.

[1][2] Popular songs with an insect theme include "Glow-Worm", "Poor Butterfly", "La Cucaracha", "The Boll Weevil", and "The Blue-Tailed Fly".

[5][6] The French Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez, working in Italy, wrote a piece in the style of a frottola entitled El Grillo (lit.

The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar's son) into a bumblebee so that he can fly away to visit his father, who does not know that he is alive.

[8] The Canadian violinist Eric Speed broke the record for the fastest performance of the "Flight of the Bumblebee" at the "Just For Laughs" festival in Montreal on 22 July 2011, playing the piece in 53 seconds.

[9] The song has a direct connection to martial arts master Bruce Lee, who starred on the radio program Green Hornet.

[16] The jazz musician and philosophy professor David Rothenberg plays duets with singing insects including cicadas, crickets, and beetles.

"Kissing-Bug" rag by Charles L. Johnson , 1909
Carol Williams performs " Flight of the Bumblebee " by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov .
Two leitmotifs occur in the piece, a simple basic theme and the rapid buzzing motif of the bumblebee 's flight. Play basic theme ⓘ and Play buzzing motif ⓘ
Grasshopper stridulation in musical notation in Simeon Pease Cheney 's Wood Notes Wild , 1892 Play first ⓘ and Play second ⓘ