Classical Quiz (cont.)

[This message was edited by Phil Barry on FRIDAY 08 February 2002 at 14:22.]

Someone elkse has to come up with a question.

Phil

Don't you have another question, Phil?

Herm

Why don't I volunteer a Quiz Question?

When Igor Stravinsky died, in 1971, he was working on an orchestral piece. However, there was very little coherent material as yet. It was just a bunch of short sketches.

Still, in 1974 Mrs S. commisioned a young composer (well, young in the sense that in the arts any one under 50 used to be "young and promising") to create a piece of music using Stravinsky's notes and sketches.

So the question is, who is this composer?

Herm

Hi James,

let me quote:

"Robert Craft consulted a number of people about the right person to design a work around these sketches [...]. X, who loved Stravinsky's late music and was very knowledgeable about it, was invited to compose the work. A dinner was arranged to meet with Craft and Mrs. Stravinsky in New York [...].
Mrs. Stravinsky, then in her eighties, was in a wonderful mood, still coquettish and utterly charming. X, meeting her for the first time, was besotted. In fact, we all were besotted with liberal doses of alcohol and teetered out of the Stravinskys' Fifth Ave apartment very late that evening. The next day X received the sketches."

So, once again: who is Mr X?

(He's composed numerous works since then; lives in the US, and, unlike Igor Stravinsky, has a beard.)

Herm

The only American composers I can
think of with beards are Lou Harrison
and Conlon Nancarrow. I am pretty sure
it's not Nancarrow since he was not in
the US after the 1930's so I guess
Harrison.

James H.

serious as this is, there are more bearded composers in America than Harrison and Nancarrow.

We're also talking about another generation.

Mr X was born in 1938, so he's at the height of his powers now. Recently he completed (correct me if I'm wrong - well, how would you do this? ) a Dante trilogy and a piece inspired by a Salman Rushdie book.

There's not many who'd do this.

Herm

I thought the Classical Quiz had quietly deceased on its own volition.

However, too bad it isn't Corigliano. Rather the composer we're dealing with (as if) is on the other end of the musical spectrum. I think he's considered to be of the New Complexity.

His last name starts with a dubya. His stuff is often performed by the Group of Contemporary Music, as it happens.

Herman

Well, he refuses to deny using consciousness raising herbs, spices, and powders....

Phil

on second thought yours is the correct answer!

See, always trust your instinct. Of course Dubya composes music, and it's pretty darn good, too. My personal favorite is his concerto for Banjo and Rubber Band.

Everybody (especially those no-good liberals) are always crackin' jokes about Dubya spending too little time on the job, but hey, the man is handling two work loads, being prez in the morning and retiring to the back porch in the afternoon to work on his music.

Give the guy some credit, right?

(See how even the little booze episode with Mrs Stravinsky fits Dubya's bio? it was so easy!)

Well, Phil, I guess it's your turn.

Good luck

Herman

But I heard something the other day that I thought would make a great Classical Quiz question, and as the thread had gone quiet...

Question:

Can you link Henry VIII (allegedly) with Puccini's last opera via an Italian composer more famous for his Bach transcriptions?

I think the composer is Busoni and the opera
Turandot. I have no idea of the connection with
Henry VIII.

[I read a book called something like 'Right
Answers that lose Pub-Quizes' and it had the
question 'Who wrote Turandot' -- if you say
Busoni [which is correct] you will lose !!]

James

If I were to have given a clue (which I probably ought to have by now), then that'd probably have been it!

I have a funny feeling though that no-one will answer cos that'll mean they have to come up with a question! Alternately, maybe no-one out there knows too much about Busoni...

James: "I have no idea of the connection with
Henry VIII."

I had gotten as far as James too, but I have no clue what the missing link can be.

Herman

Sorry - only sensible thing I can think to say, I hadn't even got as far as Busoni

Jonathan

You've just won yourself the right to ask the next question sir!

I'm just about to vanish for a long weekend.
So an easy one - also of the radio...

What led to the confusion of numbering Dvorak's symphonies? What was his remark to his students when they heard of the problem?

Jonathan

Phil
Gee, wouldn't it be nice if the President of the US were an adult for a change?

"wouldn't it be nice if the President of the US were an adult for a change?"

You mean you're going to run for the highest office?

Herman