There is much music composed about the Sun and I thought it might be interesting to gather some of it together.  All of the following pieces can be heard in performances on YouTube.  This is very much a personal list and I would love to hear about other people’s favourites.   Please send me your suggestions.

I start with a classical list, and my very favourite is the first one, the stunning Daybreak from Ravel’s wonderful ballet Daphnis and Chloe.   My favourite song, for years, was Yum Yum’s pretty aria from the Mikardo, which my mother used to sing, but was later supplanted by Strauss’s exquisite Morgen. 

Classical music

Ravel: Daybreak from Daphnis and Chloe

Greig: Morning Mood from Peer Gynt Suite

Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise

Philip Glass: Akhenaten

Nielsen: Helios Overture

Britten: Dawn from Four Sea Interludes, Peter Grimes

Gilbert and Sullivan: The Sun Whose Rays from Mikardo

Haydn: String Quartet Op76/4 “The Sunrise”

Richard Strauss: Morgen

Richard Strauss: Die Alpensinfonie – Dawn (opening) and Sunset/Night (conclusion)

Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathrustra (opening)

Hymn: Morning has broken (Traditional melody – Bunessan)

Pop, rock and other genres

Beatles:  Here Comes the Sun, Good day Sunshine

Cream: The Sunshine of your love

Rihanna: Music of the Sun

Katrina and the Waves: Walking on Sunshine

Kate Bush: Aerial

Johnny Nash: I can see clearly now

Arthur Kent: Bring me sunshine

Ambrose and his Orchestra: The sun has got his hat on

Bill Withers: There ain’t no sunshine now she’s gone

Norah Jones: Sunrise

Stevie Wonder: You are the sunshine of my life

Donovan: Sunshine Superman

The Police: Invisible Sun

The Eagles: Tequila Sunrise

Johnny Cash: You are my sunshine

Justin Timberlake: Can’t stop the feeling

REM: Around the Sun

The Calling: Chasing the Sun

Parov Stelar: The Sun

Bobby Hebb: Sunny

Mike Oldfield: The Song of the Sun

Indian classical music

As all classical Indian music is improvised, most pieces are named by the Raga (eg Bhairav, Myltani) and the performers.  Ragas are often inspired by the time of day, and Bhairav is about early morning or dawn. 

Raga Bhairav: Uday Bhawalkar – a virtuoso performance by an extraordinary singer.

Raga Bhairav: Pt. Nikhil Banerjee – a more conventional performance using a sitar, but still wonderfully exciting and virtuosic. 

Indian music can also portray sunset and the onset of darkness, unlike most of the music above.  Both of the following are sunset ragas. 

Raga Shri: Ali Akbar Khan – who I was lucky enough to see performing live in the 1970s.

Raga Lalit: Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan – two masters performing together.