Composer Quiz

[Ralph]

We haven't had a quiz here in quite a while so here goes.

What composer won accolades for his authorship of a splendid manual on employing grenades in combat?

[jbuck919]

We haven't had a quiz here in quite a while so here goes.

What composer won accolades for his authorship of a splendid manual on employing grenades in combat?

Arnold Schoenberg, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Ralph]

We haven't had a quiz here in quite a while so here goes.

What composer won accolades for his authorship of a splendid manual on employing grenades in combat?

Arnold Schoenberg, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

*****

You're wrong and you SHOULDN'T be ashamed of yourself.

[Wanderer]

Shostakovich?

[jserraglio]

George Dyson? He wrote some good music too--just happened to be listening today to his Violin Concerto, in advance of receiving his Symphony in G viamailorder.

[Gary]

Alban Berg? I already feel ashamed.

[val]

Cesar Cui?

[Gary]

When was the grenade invented?

[matti]

Borodin?

[MaestroDJS]

What composer won accolades for his authorship of a splendid manual on employing grenades in combat?

Of course! It was Claude Debussy, who immortalized one of his evening exploits in his piano piece La Soirée dans Grenade. Debussy later became a pacifist and repudiated his war service, so he renamed this piece La Soirée sans Grenade, but it is still most commonly known by its original name.

Emmanuel Chabrier encrypted a reference to his keen fascination with high explosives in his orchestral rhapsody España. This was later decoded by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning into an English text in the song Hot Diggity, which Perry Como took to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1956:

"Oh, hot diggity, dog ziggity, boom what you do to me"

George Dyson? He wrote some good music too--just happened to be listening today to his Violin Concerto, in advance of receiving his Symphony in G viamailorder.

But seriously, folks, it was indeed George Dyson (1883-1964), whose Manual of Grenade-Fighting was officially adopted by the British War Office during World War I.

Dave

David Stybr, Engineer and Composer: It's Left Brain vs. Right Brain: best 2 falls out of 3
http://members.SibeliusMusic.com/Stybr
String Quintet No. 2 in B Minor (20:00)
http://www.SibeliusMusic.com/cgi-bin/sh ... reid=53172

Personal Assistant and Der Webmeister to author Denise Swanson
http://www.DeniseSwanson.com
Murder of a Smart Cookie
Penguin Putnam ~ Signet, New York, NY

[Ralph]

George Dyson? He wrote some good music too--just happened to be listening today to his Violin Concerto, in advance of receiving his Symphony in G viamailorder.

*****

You win!

Dyson wrote the manual in World War I and subsequently saw action. His experiences profoundly affected him.

Send me your address and I'll ship your prize, a vintage but still live WWII German potato masher grenade, to you.

Are you listening to the recent NAXOS Dyson disc? It's very good.

[jserraglio]

Are you listening to the recent NAXOS Dyson disc? It's very good.

No, I ordered the Chandos Symphony from Berkshire but will probably wind up getting the Naxos sometime if I like the other

[jbuck919]

Oh, who the hell has ever heard of George Dyson? Jeez Louise.

[Ralph]

Oh, who the hell has ever heard of George Dyson? Jeez Louise.

*****

Those of us who listen widely.

[Richard]

Another quiz: What composer was an oboist, took part in the "Battle of Hastenbeck (part of the Seven Year's War), played in his regimental band, and was a conductor at Bath? Hint: He was not known, primarily, as a composer.

[jbuck919]

Another quiz: What composer was an oboist, took part in the "Battle of Hastenbeck (part of the Seven Year's War), played in his regimental band, and was a conductor at Bath? Hint: He was not known, primarily, as a composer.

I don't know, Rousseau? I'm an obvious loser on this thread.

George Dyson, Ralph? I at least have heard of most of these folks. Even Duddersdorf or whatever he is called.

[BWV 1080]

Don't know either, but does anyone beside JBuck know which maritally challenged composer had a canonized saint for an uncle?

[Richard]

Don't know either, but does anyone beside JBuck know which maritally challenged composer had a canonized saint for an uncle?

Emperor Nero?

[jbuck919]

Don't know either, but does anyone beside JBuck know which maritally challenged composer had a canonized saint for an uncle?

Now what makes you think I know? Was it Gesualdo? Murdering your wife does rather qualify as being maritally challenged. But I do not know who the saint was. Carlo Borromeo?

[BWV 1080]

Don't know either, but does anyone beside JBuck know which maritally challenged composer had a canonized saint for an uncle?

Emperor Nero?

Nope, (and I don't quite know how Caligula would have made it through the canonization process) I have CD's of this composer and published scores.

[BWV 1080]

Don't know either, but does anyone beside JBuck know which maritally challenged composer had a canonized saint for an uncle?

Now what makes you think I know? Was it Gesualdo? Murdering your wife does rather qualify as being maritally challenged. But I do not know who the saint was. Carlo Borroomeo?

Yes, I recall this coming up on another thread you participated in



http://www.karadar.com/Jpg/Gesualdo_wit ... rromeo.jpg

[jbuck919]

Steve, I do not remember this coming up at all, and apologize if I spoiled your fun. I'm old enough now to have senior moments.

[jserraglio]

. . . regarding Sir George Dyson, here is J. Scott Morrison's amazon review of the recent Naxos release of the 1937 Dyson Symphony in G plus 2 other works. I have these works on the Chandos label but learned a lot from Mr Morrison's review of the Naxos issue.

- - - - - - -
George Dyson (1883-1964), a composer whom I had strangely enough previously known only as the father of the great theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, was a Yorkshireman who early evinced intense musical talent and who arrived at the Royal College of Music at age 17 and went on to become its Director in 1937. Until this CD I had never heard a note of his music, although I had known of his most-played work the choral 'The Canterbury Pilgrims' from 1930. His son Freeman writes in his autobiography 'Disturbing the Universe' with great love and respect for his father and mentions the acclaim he received for this work. In 1943, during the darkest days of World War II, the now-Sir George Dyson wrote a concert overture, 'At the Tabard Inn,' based on elements of 'Pilgrims.' It is the first band on this CD and is an altogether light-hearted, charming, tuneful and masterful overture in the same vein as Wagner's 'Meistersinger' prelude, albeit unmistakably English in its materials. I cannot imagine why in a lifetime of concert-going I've never encountered this delightful work. It definitely deserves an occasional airing.

Next comes the 'Concerto da Chiesa,' a three-movement work from 1949 based on the concerto da chiesa of baroque times. Hymn tunes, some familiar ('O come, o come, Emmanuel') and some not, are woven throughout the piece. Dyson wrote about it self-effacingly at the time he was working on it, calling the piece 'a churchy one.' It features a solo string quartet and a ripieno orchestral group rather like that of Vaughan Williams's 'Tallis Fantasia' and using some of the same structural gestures. The first movement is intense and almost tortured, and the solo quartet's interjections are pleading in their urgency. The second movement, a set of variations based on 'Corde natus,' is all grace and light. The third movement is lively initially and features some extrovert contributions by the soloists, but it eventuates in an anguished return to the 'Veni Emmanuel' theme of the first movement which ultimately becomes serene, even transfigured. One imagines the Concerto to be in some way a response to the aftermath of the War. A lovely, lovely work.

Finally there is Dyson's 'Symphony in G Major' from 1937. In four movements, it begins with some clear influences from Sibelius -- a current then rampant in English orchestral music (and we're all the better for that) -- but in a clearly English voice, with modal writing and frequent use of sextuple rhythms. The first movement, a sonata-allegro marked Energico, begins with a heiratic, vaulting theme that sets the tone for the movement. It is followed by a somber, lyrical but sometimes ghostly Andante that makes use of a slowly treading gait reminiscent, in a way, of Elgar. The Scherzo reminds one of the world of the 'Tabard Inn' (anticipating that work by six years) and has a courtly Renaissance feel in its use of modal themes and dance rhythms in 6/8 time. It is in several sections alternating fast and slow tempi, and one of the slow sections is a beautiful pensive passage with a memorable theme derived from the symphony's opening moments. The Finale opens with somber brass chords and a string chorale and goes on to recapitulate much of the earlier music in the piece. Like the scherzo, it alternates fast and slow passages and culminates in a stately, ceremonial peroration that brings the 42-minute symphony to a satisfying completion. This work is surely the equal of Moeran's G Minor Symphony, written at the same time, and although it lacks the modernity of the malice of Walton's nearly contemporaneous First Symphony, that was never its intent. A fine beautifully crafted work here played with palpable advocacy by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under David Lloyd-Jones. What we don't owe the Bournemouth for its many fine recordings of British music over the years!

I am happy to give this strong entry an unqualified recommendation.

Scott Morrison

[Richard]

Another quiz: What composer was an oboist, took part in the "Battle of Hastenbeck (part of the Seven Year's War), played in his regimental band, and was a conductor at Bath? Hint: He was not known, primarily, as a composer.

The answer: William Herschel (1738-1822), famous astronomer and the discoverer of Uranus (pronounced with the emphasis on the "Ur", not the "a"). Herschel was probably the most famous atronomer of the 18th century. He grew up in a musical household, played both the oboe and organ, and started off in a musical career until he later became interested in astronomy.

[12tone]

George Dyson? He wrote some good music too--just happened to be listening today to his Violin Concerto, in advance of receiving his Symphony in G viamailorder.

*****

You win!

Dyson wrote the manual in World War I and subsequently saw action. His experiences profoundly affected him.

Send me your address and I'll ship your prize, a vintage but still live WWII German potato masher grenade, to you.

Are you listening to the recent NAXOS Dyson disc? It's very good.

I don't get it. What manual? You mean a composer wrote a manual on how to use a gernade? I never knew gernades had manuals... I'm confused.

[Ralph]

There's a manual for every single piece of ordnance. Obviously you don't take it with you into combat but the hope is that one learns from the manual (or instructors properly use it to train soldiers).

And Dyson wrote a very good manual on employing hand grenades.

[jbuck919]

There's a manual for every single piece of ordnance. Obviously you don't take it with you into combat but the hope is that one learns from the manual (or instructors properly use it to train soldiers).

And Dyson wrote a very good manual on employing hand grenades.

Yes, I believe he's the one who mentioned that after you pull the pin you should throw the grenade as far away from you as possible and at the enemy.

[Muriel]

Another quiz: What composer was an oboist, took part in the "Battle of Hastenbeck (part of the Seven Year's War), played in his regimental band, and was a conductor at Bath? Hint: He was not known, primarily, as a composer.

The answer: William Herschel (1738-1822), famous astronomer and the discoverer of Uranus (pronounced with the emphasis on the "Ur", not the "a"). Herschel was probably the most famous atronomer of the 18th century. He grew up in a musical household, played both the oboe and organ, and started off in a musical career until he later became interested in astronomy.

Herschel's sister was a sought after Handel singer in her day. A contralto who was also an amateur astronomer.

[Gary]

Another quiz: What composer was an oboist, took part in the "Battle of Hastenbeck (part of the Seven Year's War), played in his regimental band, and was a conductor at Bath? Hint: He was not known, primarily, as a composer.

The answer: William Herschel (1738-1822), famous astronomer and the discoverer of Uranus (pronounced with the emphasis on the "Ur", not the "a"). Herschel was probably the most famous atronomer of the 18th century. He grew up in a musical household, played both the oboe and organ, and started off in a musical career until he later became interested in astronomy.

Herschel's sister was a sought after Handel singer in her day. A contralto who was also an amateur astronomer.

Below is from the Feb. 1986 issue of Scientific American magazine:

William Herschel and the Making of Modern Astronomy

Yet astronomy was not Herschel's primary career. He was trained as a musician, becoming sufficiently accomplished on the oboe to join a regimental band in his native city, Hanover. In 1757, the year Herschel turned 19, the French occupied Hanover and he fled to England. He maintained himself in his new homeland first by copying music and then as a performer, conductor and composer. (He also anglicized his given name, Friedrich Wilhelm, to William.) In 1766 he was appointed organist at the fashionable Octagon Chapel in the city of Bath. It was a secure position, and although Herschel had a variety of musical duties, he was at last able to indulge his awakening intellectual interest.



Michael Hoskin

[Ralph]

There's a manual for every single piece of ordnance. Obviously you don't take it with you into combat but the hope is that one learns from the manual (or instructors properly use it to train soldiers).

And Dyson wrote a very good manual on employing hand grenades.

Yes, I believe he's the one who mentioned that after you pull the pin you should throw the grenade as far away from you as possible and at the enemy.

*****

That's one not very original way of using a hand grenade.

[jbuck919]

New Quiz!

What composer killed a cow?

[val]

What composer killed a cow?

The british virginal composer John Bull?

[jbuck919]

This quiz came up on the other board a long time ago. And I was the one who got it, through a Google search believe it or not. I can't for the life of me remember the search strategy, but it is not something I had from scholarly knowledge.