Name that Composer

[keaggy220]

Okay, I know I can't stump any of you, but I thought of a few brain teasers for you guys - just for fun.

Which two composers shared no love, but their music is shared by many devoted lovers?

Name the composer who would most likely say, "What's that?" No, I'm not sleeping, I'm composing."

Name the composer who would most likely have said, "I have no doubt that today my music will soar, but there is a chance that I may sink."

Name the composer who would say, "I am the first and greatest composer named Johannes."

Name the composer would would most likely say, "What do you mean, why don't you start playing the piece?' "It's almost over."

[Ken]

Well, the last one is John Cage. I imagine the second-to-last is Johannes Ockghem, the Renaissance composer.

[keaggy220]

Well, the last one is John Cage. I imagine the second-to-last is Johannes Ockghem, the Renaissance composer.

Hats off for being the first brave soul! You win a happy face for your correct answer.

I have to admit, I have never heard of Johannes Ockghem - so I've once again learned something from members of this forum.

So for clarification all answers will be Baroque - present, and the rest of the answers are all very well known composers.

[Chalkperson]

I agree with Ken about Ockeghem being the first Johannes and though it is not the answer you are looking for, Palestrina wrote a Mass called...Messe Ecce Ego Johannes...

[SONNET CLV]

Which two composers shared no love, but their music is shared by many devoted lovers?

I'm guessing Mendelssohn and Wagner, both composers of familiar wedding marches. I don't really know much about what the former thought of the latter, but I do recall Wagner wrote an attack against "Jewry in Music" a couple of years after Felix's death.

I also considered Tchaikowsky and Berlioz, both writers of famous "Romeo & Juliet" scores. (Could Prokofiev fit in there somewhere?) But I don't know much about what any of these fellers thought of the others ... though I suspect Berlioz couldn't have had too much of an opinion about either Tchaikowsky or Prokofiev.-- Nah ... I'll stick with Felix and Richard.

Name the composer who would most likely say, "What's that?" No, I'm not sleeping, I'm composing."

My initial thought was the composer of "Nessun dorma"? But I don't think that's correct. Neither is Bach of the "Goldberg Variations"?




--SONNET CLV (currently listening to Bartok's "Hungairan Sketches" from Reiner's RCA recording)--

[michael renardy]

Name the composer who would most likely say, "What's that?" No, I'm not sleeping, I'm composing."

I am thinking of the Russian composer whose first symphony was based on dreams during the cold season.

[keaggy220]

Which two composers shared no love, but their music is shared by many devoted lovers?

I'm guessing Mendelssohn and Wagner, both composers of familiar wedding marches. I don't really know much about what the former thought of the latter, but I do recall Wagner wrote an attack against "Jewry in Music" a couple of years after Felix's death.

Nicely done! Mendelssohn and Wagner are correct... Wagner was no friend of the Jews, but ironically their music are the most played movements before and after western weddings... Double smiley for you!

[michael renardy]

I imagine the second-to-last is Johannes Ockghem, the Renaissance composer.

Actually, John Dunstaple is just a tiny bit earlier.

[Jack Kelso]

Which two composers shared no love, but their music is shared by many devoted lovers?

I'm guessing Mendelssohn and Wagner, both composers of familiar wedding marches. I don't really know much about what the former thought of the latter, but I do recall Wagner wrote an attack against "Jewry in Music" a couple of years after Felix's death.

Nicely done! Mendelssohn and Wagner are correct... Wagner was no friend of the Jews, but ironically their music are the most played movements before and after western weddings... Double smiley for you!

Although he heard "flies instead of elves" in the "Midsummer Night's Dream" Overture, Wagner admired much that Mendelssohn wrote.

"Die Hebriden" Overture admittedly influenced "Das Rheingold".....and also was a favorite of Brahms.

Jack

[nadej_baptiste]

1) Which two composers shared no love, but their music is shared by many devoted lovers?

2) Name the composer who would most likely have said, "I have no doubt that today my music will soar, but there is a chance that I may sink."

I'm going to butcher these. Um...

1) My guess is Brahms and Tchaikovsky...

2) Bartok?! Nielsen?! I don't know.

[jbuck919]

Since the first great composer after the early period was Brahms he is the obvious choice and I have to say him.

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

[jbuck919]

Name the composer would would most likely say, "What do you mean, why don't you start playing the piece?' "It's almost over." sounds like Webern. The two composers meant in the original post led rich lives of passion. I know why they were chosen but it would be a mistake to say that they knew no love.

[keaggy220]

Name the composer would would most likely say, "What do you mean, why don't you start playing the piece?' "It's almost over." sounds like Webern. The two composers meant in the original post led rich lives of passion. I know why they were chosen but it would be a mistake to say that they knew no love.

I only said they "shared no love" and that is based on Wagner's publication of "Das Judenthum in der Musik" in which he attacked contemporaries Felix Mendelssohn and others... In this book Wagner basically called Jews harmful to society. He should have stuck to music and left his opinions to himself - oh well...


The "Why don't you start playing..." question was answered earlier - John Cage...

[keaggy220]

Since the first great composer after the early period was Brahms he is the obvious choice and I have to say him.

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Reading your many posts praising Brahms certainly influenced me to try his music - and I thank you for that, but the answer to this question is trickier than Brahms.

A hint: He came before Brahms and as the original riddle stated, he is the greatest Johannes. Think religious...

[karlhenning]

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Wagner under truth serum.

Cheers,
~Karl

[jbuck919]

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Wagner under truth serum.

Cheers,
~Karl

It's the composer of the operas commonly considered by opera directors at the international level to be the last in the repertory, and no, Mark Simon, it is not George Gershwin.

[karlhenning]

Any luck with that there disc, John? . . .

Cheers,
~Karl

[michael renardy]

A hint: He came before Brahms and as the original riddle stated, he is the greatest Johannes. Think religious...

Yes, of course. But he was neither the first composer nor the first Baroque composer nor even the first Bach named Johann. Most of the Bachs seem to be Johann something.

[SONNET CLV]

Name the composer who would most likely have said, "I have no doubt that today my music will soar, but there is a chance that I may sink."

I'm not certain when he wrote "Flight of the Bumblebee," but I do know Rimsky-Korsakov was a sailor and wrote some of his music while aboard ship. Of course, every sailor contemplates the possibility of "sinking". But, do bumblebees really "soar"?

Was the Vaughan-Williams of "Lark Ascending" a sailor, too?

--SONNET CLV--

[SONNET CLV]

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Sheer guess work suggests Saint-Saëns. I've always admired both Saint-Saëns and Bizet's music. The more I hear of these masters, the more and more I'm convinced they are "better" than often considered by so-called critics. It is difficult to listen to Carmen and dismiss Bizet as less than one of the top opera composers of all time. It is impossible to discount the wealth of beauty in the music of Saint-Saëns as mere ramblings of a "second rate hack". Nobody can be a Beethoven, but a composer should certainly feel no shame aspiring to the heights of either Bizet or Saint-Saëns.

--SONNET CLV--

[michael renardy]

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Alban Berg

[Chalkperson]

Name the composer who would most likely say, "What's that?" No, I'm not sleeping, I'm composing."

Marin Marais, in Tous les Matins Du Monde Gerard Depardieu plays an elderly Marin Marais who is at Court teaching a class whilst he sleeps...upon waking he pretends he was composing...

[Bösendorfer]

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Could it be Bizet?

Florian

[keaggy220]

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Wagner under truth serum.

Cheers,
~Karl

Very nice...

[keaggy220]

Name the composer who would most likely have said, "I have no doubt that today my music will soar, but there is a chance that I may sink."

I'm not certain when he wrote "Flight of the Bumblebee," but I do know Rimsky-Korsakov was a sailor and wrote some of his music while aboard ship. Of course, every sailor contemplates the possibility of "sinking". But, do bumblebees really "soar"?

Was the Vaughan-Williams of "Lark Ascending" a sailor, too?

--SONNET CLV--

Oh, that's a pretty good answer, but the answer I'm looking for is much more practical. Your logic is good.

The key parts of the question are "today my music" (meaning first time it was played) and "possibility I will sink."

[Jack Kelso]

Since the first great composer after the early period was Brahms he is the obvious choice and I have to say him.

What composer said that when he was composing he thought he was as great as Beethoven, but when he was done he was only about as good as Bizet?

Am I happy our "Super-Brahmsian" John is back with us---and hasn't lost his enthusiasm for his pet composer!

In German-speaking lands, "Johann" and "Johannes" are basically the same name---so that would make Bach the "greatest" with that name. No competition namewise with Georg, Wolfgang, Robert ---or even Richard!

What famous composer would slam his fist onto his workdesk while composing and cry, "By God-----genius!"(?)

Tschüß!
Jack

[Jack Kelso]

Oh, here's another one for ya'll:

Who said, "When I began my (composing) career, I wanted to be another Beethoven; then I realized that was impossible---so I hoped to be another Schubert. Finally, I decided to accept that I was only going to be ____________!" Need some hints?

Tschüß!
Jack

[jbuck919]

Mozart was born Johannes Chrysostomos Wolfgang Theophilus.

[keaggy220]

Mozart was born Johannes Chrysostomos Wolfgang Theophilus.

Bingo! Somehow I knew you would get this one - being a Brahms fan and all.. Smiley for John!

[jbuck919]

Oh, here's another one for ya'll:

Who said, "When I began my (composing) career, I wanted to be another Beethoven; then I realized that was impossible---so I hoped to be another Schubert. Finally, I decided to accept that I was only going to be ____________!" Need some hints?

Tschüß!
Jack

Now THAT's probably Brahoms, who worshiped those two, Schubert as much as Beethoven. Though Schumann was his friend and he admired him, the influence of Schubert is obvious. (This is ironic in that Brahms was a fanatic contrapuntist and Schubert not one at all.)

[karlhenning]

Not really ironic; one draws from many influences, and no one influence need answer for all the rest.

Cheers,
~Karl

[michael renardy]

Name the composer who would most likely say, "What's that?" No, I'm not sleeping, I'm composing."

Brahms frequently dozed off as a result of sleep apnea; perhaps it is a reference to that.

[Jack Kelso]

Oh, here's another one for ya'll:

Who said, "When I began my (composing) career, I wanted to be another Beethoven; then I realized that was impossible---so I hoped to be another Schubert. Finally, I decided to accept that I was only going to be ____________!" Need some hints?

Tschüß!
Jack

Now THAT's probably Brahoms, who worshiped those two, Schubert as much as Beethoven. Though Schumann was his friend and he admired him, the influence of Schubert is obvious. (This is ironic in that Brahms was a fanatic contrapuntist and Schubert not one at all.)

Nope....it was Humperdinck. I never would have guessed it either, had I not read it in a German musical anecdote lexicon.

Jack

[keaggy220]

You guys got most of them - thanks for all the answers... As usual I learned a lot from everyone's input.

Which two composers shared no love, but their music is shared by many devoted lovers?

<font color=red>The correct answer is Wagner and Mendelssohn which was correctly answered by SONNET CLV</font>

Name the composer who would most likely say, "What's that?" No, I'm not sleeping, I'm composing."

<font color=red> The correct answer is Ludwig van Beethoven. No one answered this one correctly. Not surprisingly, this is probably the most unfair of all the questions. I read, I believe in the Morris authored biography, that LvB, because of his deafness, laid his head on the piano to feel the vibrations of the notes. Sorry for this question - it was a tough one.</font>

Name the composer who would most likely have said, "I have no doubt that today my music will soar, but there is a chance that I may sink."

<font color=red>This was my favorite one. I should have given a better clue though... No one got the correct answer... The correct answer is Handel. Here's the story behind it:

Water Music premiered in the summer of 1717 (7/17/1717) when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames. The concert was performed by 50 musicians that joined King George I on his barge. King George I was said to have loved it so much that he ordered the exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip.</font>

Name the composer who would say, "I am the first and greatest composer named Johannes."

<font color=red>The correct answer is Mozart and jbuck919 got it right.</font>

Name the composer would would most likely say, "What do you mean, why don't you start playing the piece?' "It's almost over."

<font color=red>The correct answer is Cage and was answered by keninottawa</font>