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Composer vs. Composer quiz


bkho

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Just for fun, here are some quotes (or alleged quotes) concerning famous composers hating on other fellow composers.  Can you guess who they are?  As a clue, I'll provide nationalities. 

Try not to use the internet to look them up.  No cheating.....

 

1.  "A dull fellow who composes the same form over and over." - A Russian about an Italian

2. "I have played over the music of that scoundrel.  What a giftless bastard!" - A Russian about a German

3. "The prospect of having to sit through one of his extended symphonies or piano concertos tends quite frankly to depress me.  All those notes.... to what end?" - An American about a Russian

4. "A composer for one right hand." - A German about a Pole

5. "His music sounds like Bach on the wrong notes." - A Russian on another Russian

6. "He would have been a great composer if his teacher spanked him enough on his backside." - A German about an Italian

 

I'll post answers tomorrow.

 

 

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I'll take a stab at these. They are complete guesses, so if any of them are correct, I'll be shocked, lol.

13 hours ago, bkho said:

1.  "A dull fellow who composes the same form over and over." - A Russian about an Italian

The Italian could definitely be Vivaldi, but since I don't know of any Russian composer during the Baroque era (and since I'm assuming these quotes are about contemporaries), I'm going to say it is Tchaikovsky insulting Verdi.

13 hours ago, bkho said:

2. "I have played over the music of that scoundrel.  What a giftless bastard!" - A Russian about a German

This sounds like something Prokofiev would say. But about whom is the question... perhaps Schoenberg?

13 hours ago, bkho said:

3. "The prospect of having to sit through one of his extended symphonies or piano concertos tends quite frankly to depress me.  All those notes.... to what end?" - An American about a Russian

There aren't too many famous American composers, so I'll say this is Copland talking about Shostakovich.

13 hours ago, bkho said:

4. "A composer for one right hand." - A German about a Pole

The US and Poland are in the same boat here—only a handful of famous composers. Perhaps this is Wagner disparaging Chopin.

13 hours ago, bkho said:

5. "His music sounds like Bach on the wrong notes." - A Russian on another Russian

I don't... Prokofiev insulting Stravinsky. Or vice versa.

13 hours ago, bkho said:

6. "He would have been a great composer if his teacher spanked him enough on his backside." - A German about an Italian

Beethoven about... I have no idea who his Italian contemporaries were. Boccherini?

I'm done now.

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I'll take some guesses. Some of these are pretty wild, so have mercy on me.

1. Tchaikovsky on Verdi was a good guess, but I'll go for something different... Borodin about Rossini?

OK, from here on out, I'm going to try not to look at any of @Tónskáld 's guesses.

2. Rachmaninoff about Brahms?

3. Hmmm.... Gershwin about Rachmaninoff?

4. Brahms about Chopin? 

5. Tough one. Shostakovich about Stravinsky?

6. Beethoven about Vivaldi?

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Here are the answers:

 

1.  "A dull fellow who composes the same form over and over." - A Russian about an Italian

Stravinsky referring to Vivaldi (there's another supposed quote of him deriding Vivaldi for composing the same piece 500 times but that is likely apocryphal)

 

2. "I have played over the music of that scoundrel.  What a giftless bastard!" - A Russian about a German

Tchaikovsky referring to Brahms.  Tchaikovsky was quite jealous of Brahms' fame though in their one documented meeting, they actually got along quite well.

 

3. "The prospect of having to sit through one of his extended symphonies or piano concertos tends quite frankly to depress me.  All those notes.... to what end?" - An American about a Russian

Copeland referring to Rachmanioff.

 

4. "A composer for one right hand." - A German about a Pole

Wagner referring to Chopin

 

5. "His music sounds like Bach on the wrong notes." - A Russian on another Russian

Prokofiev referring to Stravinsky

 

6. "He would have been a great composer if his teacher spanked him enough on his backside." - A German about an Italian

Beethoven referring to Rossini

 

Thanks!

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