For all music lovers, I thought it interesting to start this new thread aiming at picking up every popular or classical tune used in each episode of Columbo.
I'll begin the hard work with Etude in Black, Cassa. Its soundtrack is just SUBLIME!

Here goes, for all I could identify myself (in their order of apparition, so far as I remember it - please correct me if I'm wrong or complete my information):
- BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral' in F major Op. 68 - 4th Movement, Allegro (Gewitter. Sturm / Thunderstorm. Storm)
- BACH: Prelude No. 15 in G major from the First Book of the Well-Tempered Clavier
- CHOPIN: Etude Op. 25 No. 1 in A flat major
- MOZART: Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major K. 525 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik' ('A Little Night Music') - 4th Movement, Rondo: Allegro
- EUPHEMIA ALLEN (a.k.a. ARTHUR DE LULL ): Chopsticks
- SCHUBERT: Scherzo No. 1 in B flat major, from 2 Scherzi D. 593

To finish, one curiosity: in the French dubbing, there is one more tune that we hear when Alex Benedict comes back home and finds Janice waiting for him on a sofa. She had taken a sleeping pill and was beginning to sleep. Well, in the French version of this episode we can hear:
CHOPIN: Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major 'Raindrop'.

Here is for Make Me a Perfect Murder (some tunes might well be missing - need your help!):
- PERCY MONTROSS: Oh My Darling, Clementine
- TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker, Op. 71, Act II, Tableau III, No. 10: The Magic Castle on the Mountain of Sweets
- JOHN PHILIP SOUSA: The Thunderer.

Here are the lyrics of 'Oh My Darling, Clementine':

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner,
And his daughter Clementine.

Refrain:
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.

Light she was, and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Walking lightly as a fairy,
Though her shoes were number nine,
Sometimes tripping, lightly skipping,
Lovely girl, my Clementine.

Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles soft and fine,
But alas, I was no swimmer,
Neither was my Clementine.

In a churchyard near the canyon,
Where the myrtle doth entwine,
There grow rosies and some posies,
Fertilized by Clementine.

Then, the miner, forty-niner,
Soon began to fret and pine,
Thought he oughter join his daughter,
So he's now with Clementine.

I'm so lonely, lost without her,
Wish I'd had a fishing line,
Which I might have cast about her,
Might have saved my Clementine.

In my dreams she still doth haunt me,
Robed in garments soaked with brine,
Then she rises from the waters,
And I kiss my Clementine.

Listen fellers, heed the warning
Of this tragic tale of mine,
Artificial respiration
Could have saved my Clementine.

How I missed her, how I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
Til I kissed her little sister,
And forgot my Clementine.

I forgot to mention, just before the Nutcracker scene (we can hear both tunes during the famous scene when Columbo toys with the TV broadcast console):

VIVALDI: Concerto for 2 Trumpets, strings and continuo in C major RV 537, 1st Movement: Allegro.

I'm sure your son had already corrected me, Cassa!

Columbo sings this nursery rhyme at the very beginning of this episode:

'Yankee Doodle'.

Here are the lyrics:

Yankee Doodle went to town,
Riding on a pony;
He stuck a feather in his cap,
And called it macaroni.

Now, the very first song Columbo sings at the beginning of the episode is a Negro spiritual:

'Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot'.

Sorry, it's 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'.
Here are the lyrics:

Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home;
A band of angels coming after me,
Comin' for to carry me home.

If you get to heaven before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Just tell all my friends that I'm a coming too,
Comin' for to carry me home.

I'm sometimes up and sometimes down,
Comin' for to carry me home;
But still my soul feels heavenly bound,
Comin' for to carry me home.

I've never been to heaven, but I've been told,
Comin' for to carry me home;
That the streets in heaven are paved with gold,
Comin' for to carry me home.

This is what I recognized from The Bye Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case:

- MAL HALLETT: Boo Hoo
- TCHAIKOVSKY: Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet.

Here are the deliciously simple but effective lyrics of 'Boo Hoo' (I just love sad lyrics on cheerful music):

Oh you meanie minie mo,
When you let me go
You let me in the middle of next week
When you said you’d let me go
Did I holler “No”
Now the tears are rolling down my cheek

Boohoo, you’ve got me crying for you
And as I sit here and sigh
Says I, “I can’t believe it’s true”
Boohoo, I’ll tell my mama on you,
The little game that you played
Has made her baby oh so blue
You left me in the lurch
You left me waiting at the church;
Boohoo that’s why I’m crying for you
Some day you’ll feel like I do
And you’ll be boohoo hoo in too.

Don't you think there is a correlation between this part of the song and the final scene when Brandt realizes that he's going to be arrested?

Boohoo, you’ve got me crying for you
And as I sit here and sigh
Says I, “I can’t believe it’s true”

Here's for Playback:

CHOPIN: Ballade No. 1 in G minor Op. 23.

BRAVO, abbie!!

that had to be a lot of work to compile all of that! great job!

It was, actually. But I just watch and rewatch these episodes. Pure pleasure, really.

During the closing credits of Identity Crisis, we can hear an orchestral version of this tune:

PUCCINI: Un bel di vedremo (One beautiful day we will see), from Madama Butterfly, Act II.

In this episode, before getting the 'ultimate negative critique', as Headache so well puts it, the victim plays this tune on the piano:

CHOPIN: Etude Op. 10 No. 3 "Tristesse" ("Sorrow").

And I believe we can hear it throughout the episode (its stormy central part, that is). But am I the only one to find it difficult to distinguish this piece from this other one by Saint-Saëns - Aquarium, from The Carnival of Animals?

The Chopin Etude is in E major of course.

Now, during the art gallery scene just after the murder, we can hear a jazzy version of (how original!):

MUSSORGSKY: Promenade, from Pictures at an Exhibition.

Just watching Suitable for Framing and I noticed the Saint-Saens Aquarium similarity also. Definitely intentional as just after the descending sequence of similar notes there are two alternating notes which are also in the Aquarium piece.

Interesting thread - thanks for starting it.

I don't see the similarity between the Chopin Etude and the Aquarium in "Carnival of the Animals" though. For one thing the Etude is a solo piano piece and the Aquarium features strings and a flute - and the melodies are completely different as well!

Well, the beginning of the Etude is quite different, but listen to the dark virtuoso middle part of it!!! The similarity is striking.

During the funeral scene of A Friend in Deed, we can hear an organ transcription of this tune:

BACH: "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", from Cantata No. 147 BWV 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben".

For those who wonder, the original title of this Choral is 'Jesu bleibet meine Freude', and an English translation of the cantata name could be 'Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life'.

During the scene at the Italian dentist's, we can hear this opera tune:

VERDI: La donna è mobile, from the Third Act of Rigoletto.

In Candidate for a Crime, what music is playing when Jackie Cooper’s wife (Joanne Linville) is sitting on the couch calling for Juanita when her drink is empty right before her surprise party? She gets up and turns it off. It was an instrumental.

It's library music.
Anonymous