Thanks, Andrew. Yes, there are many composers who used nature sounds. Ferde Grofé found inspiration in the Grand Canyon (after he saw the sunrise there). From NPR:
Quote:
He uses a lot of percussion devices, you know, even the famous coconut shells to make it sound like the burro making its way around the mountains. And I guess the most interesting of all is in the "Cloudburst" movement, where he uses the rumblings of the wind machine, the thunder sheet. It's not to say that wind machines weren't used. I mean, Ravel used the wind machine in "Daphnis et Chloe." Thunder sheets had been used, and continue to be used to this day. But he did it in a very individualistic way. And I guess what we tend to reward in life is innovation as well as creativity. And Grofe was certainly a remarkable innovator, especially in terms of the orchestration.
https://www.npr.org/2000/10/29/11131...d-canyon-suite
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Olivier Messiaen used birdcalls. Debussy's La Mer evokes the sea. Then there's Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." Chopin's “Raindrop” Prelude is another composition capturing something from nature.
Also, in the
ars subtilior, from the late 14th to the early 15th centuries, composers often incorporated birdsong in their pieces.