I'm not sure if this question has been asked. but, do you think Prince Likes Classical Music? and if so do you think any of his songs have been inspired by any classical music?..actually thinking about it its an odd juxtaposition..well? what do you think?

Well he's said he wants to write a symphony (in that recent Giant interview)... and was happy to agree he was 'the modern day Mozart' back in 92...

The only clue I can think of is the reference to 'Gustav Mahler Number 3 jammin' on the box' from Good Love. Hardly obscure, but you'd really need to be into classical music to listen to that one (unlike, say, Mahler number 5).

His knowledge of music is far too vast for him to be closed off to such a wide field. Whether or not he's an expert / hardcore enthusiast is probably the only unknown.

There's also the matter of his opening music at the London shows. He plays 30 mins approx of the score to John Williams' Memoirs of a Geisha directly before he comes on. Williams is, in my opinion, the greatest composer for orchestra in the modern era (and certainly is, beyond any doubt, the most successful). So it looks like he may be a fan of that too (or maybe he just loved the connection with all those beautiful Japanese girls he saw in the film!)

Yup! He's an artist! I think that he enjoys all genre of music.

in the 80s he liked new age. Andreas Vollenweiders music was played before lovesexy shows

He likes Gustav Mahler.
On the extendet remix of "I hate u " he sings:

If I sound a little bitter it's cuz, my baby, U danced 4 a dollar
I know he didn't make U holler
And if he did, it wasn't like the time we did it 2 Mahler
[Edited 9/3/07 10:26am]

Being an artist, it's in his best interests to listen to all kinds of music, I would think. I'm sure he does.

There's one song off of Emancipation that sounds like it has a little bit of Hungarian Dance No. 5, but I can't remember which one it is...

Christaro said:

He mentions Mahler in Good Love as well...


Technicolor children in Picadilly Square
Whisper words, erotica, when U kiss me there
Gustav Mahler #3 is jamming on the box
I'll have another glass of U, this time on the rocks

In answer to the other part of the original question, there are surprisingly little influences I've ever spotted within his body of work. Something like Kamasutra isn't really classical at all, just instrumental. A rock'n'roll instrumental though - Alexa De Paris - follows classical form quite closely. He could have called it Guitar Concerto No. 1 and gotten away with it.

As for 'borrowing' classical music, there may be many examples. The only one which has popped into my head since this thread started is Wedding Feast from Rainbow Children, which was copied wholesale from Mozart's Eine Klein Nachtmusik (first movement), a piece he's definitely familiar with (as a huge fan of Amadeus), although most of the world knows it too (if not by name).

I've always thought Condition of the Heart was very Debussy-ish.