# Who do you want to be?



## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

If you were to choose to live the life of a famous musician, composer, soloist or conductor? Who would you want to be? 

I cannot decide, but I am wondering what would you say? There are so many sacrifice one need to give up to be famous. Are you ready to give them up?


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## PresenTense (May 7, 2016)

I have 5 options:

- Debussy
- Ravel
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Karlheinz Stockhausen
- Thom Yorke (not a classical composer)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Conductor, like Maestro Muti.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Ravel, period.


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## Serenus (Feb 5, 2017)

I love and I write classic music but I would be John Lennon.
(sorry).


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

In line with a previous post extolling the virtues of Arthur Rubinstein, I read the Wikipedia entry on the Maestro to refresh my memory. He indeed was a great musician, and led a long, fulfilling, respected, and merry life. So I wanna be Arthur Rubinstein!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rubinstein


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Gustav Mahler. Great conductor AND great symphonist. (And somewhat neurotic and intense, as I can be myself).


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I don't know that I'd want to live his life (too short, tormented by tuberculosis) but I'd love to be the creator of his music. I can imagine hearing it in my head all the time, including the many pieces he didn't have the hours, or the health, to commit to paper. What a treasury of gorgeous music would be mine! Maybe a short, illness-wracked life would be worth it. In a word: Chopin.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Felix Mendelssohn but with a longer lifespan for him and his sister.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

I have not decided. It is a choice between Barenboim, Yo-yo Ma and Brendel, maybe a combination of the three.


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## Dedalus (Jun 27, 2014)

I want to have been Liszt. With the lisztomania and whatnot you have to know he got a lot of... praise.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Serenus said:


> I love and I write classic music but I would be John Lennon.
> (sorry).


There's a pretty intense ending of your life, you know.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

> Originally Posted by Serenus View Post
> I love and I write classic music but I would be John Lennon.
> (sorry).





Totenfeier said:


> There's a pretty intense ending of your life, you know.


Knowing that, maybe Serenus could avert that disaster?

And while he is at it, he also could not do the infamous, obscene Rolling Stone cover.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Elliott Carter. Not that I'm a particular fan but, if I am to be reincarnated as somebody else, I want my money's worth in terms of longevity


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Conductor, signee of Naxos, redesigning their covers and doing a live recording tour of Bruckner symphonies through the main and best-resonance cathedrals in Spain. In that AU I would also compose and release a modernist post-romantic Zarzuela, perform Daft Punk's Tron Legacy OST at the BBC Proms and arrange with Hans Zimmer a Dark Knight orchestral cycle.

Is it too precise? Am I answering the question?


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Florestan said:


> Knowing that, maybe Serenus could avert that disaster?
> 
> And while he is at it, he also could not do the infamous, obscene Rolling Stone cover.


Aw, THANKS for the VISUAL, Florestan! ("where's the brain bleach? mumblemumblemumble...')


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Betty White.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I can't think of any composer or musician that I'd very much like to be, because most of them had short lives or illness or trouble or all three. If pushed, I might go for Clara Schumann - I admire her strong character & I'd like to be a talented performer too. 

I am happy with my woman's psyche so I wouldn't want to change it for a man's - which limits my choice further. 

But if I had to be a man, maybe I'd choose William Byrd - he had a good lifespan and was able to practise his faith secretly because of the Queen's favour. Also, I love his music.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Meyerbeer might be a good choice. He was fabulously rich and could even pay for productions of his operas. They'd certainly never stage mine otherwise!


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Ingélou said:


> I can't think of any composer or musician that I'd very much like to be, because most of them had short lives or illness or trouble or all three. If pushed, I might go for Clara Schumann - I admire her strong character & I'd like to be a talented performer too.
> 
> I am happy with my woman's psyche so I wouldn't want to change it for a man's - which limits my choice further


I have just the woman for you! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger


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## arnerich (Aug 19, 2016)

Well Brahms of course, hands down! I'll make my case. The last last half of the 1800s was one of the most peaceful eras in European history for one thing. 

After the success of his German Requiem he always had plenty of money and never once in his life did he compose something on commission.

He loved his food, he loved his beer, he loved his books. Every summer he would travel to either Switzerland, Germany, the Austrian alps or Italy where he would go to compose. 

He had a collection of manuscripts and even owned Mozart's handwritten copy of his symphony no. 40. He loved the opera Carmen so much he reportedly went to 23 performances of it in a single year.

And even as an adult he supposedly would play with toy soldiers. That guy lived a pretty comfortable life on top of composing extraordinary music. My choice would be Brahms!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Strange Magic said:


> I have just the woman for you! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger


Looks good! :tiphat:


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Meh, wanting to be someone famous is for teenagers (although I wouldn't mind having all their musical talents and abilities ).


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

No one has said Schubert yet? 

I want to die of syphilis young and poor .... said no one ever


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

arnerich said:


> Well Brahms of course, hands down! I'll make my case. The last last half of the 1800s was one of the most peaceful eras in European history for one thing. !


First and second Schleswig war, Austro-Prussian war and Franco-Prussian war. Don't appear that peaceful.


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## Daniel Atkinson (Dec 31, 2016)

I'd rather be my own grumpy self


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## arnerich (Aug 19, 2016)

Sloe said:


> First and second Schleswig war, Austro-Prussian war and Franco-Prussian war. Don't appear that peaceful.


Perhaps I should have said "relatively peaceful". I did a quick google search and for the casualties of all those wars combined it equaled about 293,233 death. That's way more than I expected the total to be.

But compared to the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 1800s where between 3,250,000 to 6,500,000 people died those other wars aren't even on the same scale.

But during the time of Brahms over 750,000 people died in the civil war over in the US, so over all, yeah, the 1800's in general was not a peaceful century. But Europe in the second half may be considered by some as relatively peaceful.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

arnerich said:


> Perhaps I should have said "relatively peaceful". I did a quick google search and for the casualties of all those wars combined it equaled about 293,233 death. That's way more than I expected the total to be.
> 
> But compared to the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 1800s where between 3,250,000 to 6,500,000 people died those other wars aren't even on the same scale.
> 
> But during the time of Brahms over 750,000 people died in the civil war over in the US, so over all, yeah, the 1800's in general was not a peaceful century. But Europe in the second half may be considered by some as relatively peaceful.


I mentioned these wars because he lived in Germany and Austria. 
There was also the Crimean war and wars on the Balkans.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

KenOC said:


> Meyerbeer might be a good choice. He was fabulously rich and could even pay for productions of his operas. They'd certainly never stage mine otherwise!


An excellent choice, I'd say!

You'd be fêted across the world, loved by audiences and hailed by critics and musicians as the great musical dramatist of the age, compared to Goethe, Shakespeare, Michelangelo and Beethoven.

You'd have grown up in a wealthy intellectual family; your mother presided over a salon, one of your brothers was a playwright, and another mapped the moon. Some tragedy (you'd have lost both your sons in the 1820s), but otherwise a happy and stable family life.

You'd be the target of Jew-hating (particularly from Wagner and Schumann); on the other hand, you'd be the first Jew to be General Music Director for the Prussian Royal Court. You'd receive awards from the crowned heads of Europe. When you died, your body would be taken in a special train from Paris to Germany, with thousands attending the funeral processions.

You'd be cosmopolitan: fluent in several languages, and interested in politics, the arts and the latest technological developments (e.g. the radio telegraph). You'd be generous; you'd financially support poor musicians and widows, and found a scholarship of 10,000 thalers to study in Italy, Paris and Vienna.

And you'd have composed _Les Huguenots_, _Le Prophète_ and _Vasco da Gama_ (_L'Africaine_).


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Nadia Boulanger. This would allow me to keep my same gender and my career as a music teacher, but on a much higher level! I would find it very exciting to teach so many great composers, and to guide them to a point where they could fulfill their potential. This would be an ideal life for me, much preferable to composing or performing. Working with others, particularly in the role of an educator, is what inspires me the most.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

I can see the beauty in that. Nevertheless I prefer being educated myself and enjoying and appreciating all this great music. I really don't want to be anyone else and I certainly would not be prepared to sacrifice what so many conductors, composers and musicians have to sacrifice nowadays, not even from the musical part but just by being world famous, travelling all over the world, having a tight schedule for the next three years and no anonimity. You end up with no (private) life. 

If I had to choose someone it would be Bartók for all of his adventurous travels to meet the roots of folk music.


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## David OByrne (Dec 1, 2016)

Kim Kardashian or Queen Elizabeth II


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## Dedalus (Jun 27, 2014)

SimonTemplar said:


> An excellent choice, I'd say!
> 
> You'd be fêted across the world, loved by audiences and hailed by critics and musicians as the great musical dramatist of the age, compared to Goethe, Shakespeare, Michelangelo and Beethoven.
> 
> ...


Funnily enough, this was the best endorsement of Meyerbeer I've ever seen. I actually want to listen to his music now. Youtube!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

David OByrne said:


> Kim Kardashian or Queen Elizabeth II


That is a very different choice, let alone age.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

SimonTemplar said:


> And you'd have composed _Les Huguenots_, _Le Prophète_ and _Vasco da Gama_ (_L'Africaine_).


There's always a down-side, isn't there...


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

I would choose Ralph Vaughan Williams. I like his music. He lived long and well.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

arnerich said:


> Perhaps I should have said "relatively peaceful". I did a quick google search and for the casualties of all those wars combined it equaled about 293,233 death. That's way more than I expected the total to be.
> 
> But compared to the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 1800s where between 3,250,000 to 6,500,000 people died those other wars aren't even on the same scale.
> 
> But during the time of Brahms over 750,000 people died in the civil war over in the US, so over all, yeah, the 1800's in general was not a peaceful century. But Europe in the second half may be considered by some as relatively peaceful.


Classical music is the only escape that people have when facing war, death, disaster and conflict. Sounds familiar? The world has not changed, so is classical music!


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I'd rather be the pope...


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## David OByrne (Dec 1, 2016)

Pugg said:


> That is a very different choice, let alone age.


How? Queen Elizabeth was young once too 

Anyway, they're both famous and don't have to do anything


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

I am happy to be myself.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

David OByrne said:


> How? Queen Elizabeth was young once too
> 
> Anyway, they're both famous and don't have to do anything


Not for all the money in the world. The woman seems to me always a bit not in the real world.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Pugg said:


> That is a very different choice, let alone age.


What else do they have in common besides both are female and rich.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

pcnog11 said:


> What else do they have in common besides both are female and rich.


H.R.H, or is it Your Majesty for starters.


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## lehnert (Apr 12, 2016)

Leonard Bernstein


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Like some others have articulated, I am perfectly happy simply being myself.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

premont said:


> I am happy to be myself.


Come one there must be someone you would be?


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Greig. Living quietly in the mountains with a loving spouse, writing unbombastic, neatly constructed music. And growing one of history's great moustaches. Sounds good to me.


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## JamieHoldham (May 13, 2016)

If I had to be a musician or composer it would be Beethoven - deaf but yet still not, able to compose music but at the same time never having to listen to my noisy neighbours who shout and scream every single day, dont have to hear anyone talking or bothering me -- and I could be one of the greatest composers to have ever lived. A bargain to the life I live now


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## jenspen (Apr 25, 2015)

Strange Magic said:


> In line with a previous post extolling the virtues of Arthur Rubinstein, I read the Wikipedia entry on the Maestro to refresh my memory. He indeed was a great musician, and led a long, fulfilling, respected, and merry life. So I wanna be Arthur Rubinstein!
> 
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rubinstein


You beat me to it. I was just listening to him playing Schubert. I have read his autobiography and seen a long YouTube interview with him - he must have been the happiest, least neurotic musician who ever lived. Actually, he could have done with being a little more neurotic, might have made him a more loyal husband....

If I had to stick to being somebody of my own sex, I'd say Emma Kirkby because she so bravely sang early music the way she judged best and copped a lot of criticism. But it caught on! I've heard her being interviewed - she's funny, intelligent and genial. I wouldn't mind looking like her either.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I would be a hermit with my piano and a Native American flute for company...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I would be Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova! One of the rare instances of the 19th century Russian music scene of a truly brilliant female musician and conversationalist about music. And I would have been always surrounded by charming, intelligent men! She stopped composing when she married RK, but I would instead maybe try to continue dabbling throughout my whole life.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sonata said:


> I would be a hermit with my piano and a Native American flute for company...


So humble and sincere. :tiphat:


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

I wish I was a catfish, swimming in a deep blue sea.

Actually like some others here, I'd rather be me than anyone else, but, to play the game, I'd choose either Frank Zappa or Sir Thomas Beecham.


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2017)

Dr Johnson said:


> I wish I was a catfish, swimming in a deep blue sea.
> 
> Actually like some others here, I'd rather be me than anyone else, but, to play the game, I'd choose either Frank Zappa or Sir Thomas Beecham.


Let it be Beecham.......
To an under-performing female cellist, "Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands - and all you can do is scratch it."


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

lehnert said:


> Leonard Bernstein


It wasn't easy being him, though.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Traverso said:


> Let it be Beecham.......
> To an under-performing female cellist, "Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands - and all you can do is scratch it."


It is because of his _bons mots_ that I chose him.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Being Herbert Von Karajan might be fun


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## lehnert (Apr 12, 2016)

hpowders said:


> It wasn't easy being him, though.


But then again, it's not easy to be anyone


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

lehnert said:


> But then again, it's not easy to be anyone


Phrase of the day!


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

lehnert said:


> But then again, it's not easy to be anyone


You only have to be someone .


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

lehnert said:


> But then again, it's not easy to be anyone


Really? I find it very easy being me. Nobody else I would rather be.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Haydn man said:


> Being Herbert Von Karajan might be fun


Not anymore.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

lehnert said:


> But then again, it's not easy to be anyone


Some people are rather their self, nobody's so to speak , windbags


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

At my age I am past wanting to be somebody. Rather, I am trying to continue just being. :lol:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> At my age I am past wanting to be somebody. Rather, I am trying to continue just being. :lol:


To me it seems you are doing very well.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Thanks for your replies.

If the mind has a choice between imagination and reality, imagination always wins!


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## TheRedScarf (Feb 22, 2017)

I want to be Ludwig Van Beethoven


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

TheRedScarf said:


> I want to be Ludwig Van Beethoven


Not bad at all.


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