# A Composer in a Word



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Imagine a single descriptive word that you would give any composer you know. Not really an adjective, but more like a _name _or a state of being, ex. The courageous, the rebel, the angel, the epic hero, etc. although I would prefer just one word.

I will begin with just one, and I'll go into detail later why I chose this label below:

Glazunov: Janus.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Satie: The Peculiar.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Bach: God .


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Bach: Crap
Mozart: Crap
Beethoven: Crap
Schubert: Crap
Brahms: Crap
Handel: Crap

:lol:


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## Guest (Aug 20, 2012)

Crudblud said:


> Bach: Crap
> Mozart: Crap
> Beethoven: Crap
> Schubert: Crap
> ...


LOL

Zappa....?


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Indescribable would be a good word for Zappa, I think.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Zappa: The Pork.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Cage: misunderstood.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Brahms: Smbrahms


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Gesualdo: Perp


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Arensky: the Dreamer.

I tally now 5 separate compositions of his about Dreams. I think I can now call him obsessed now, don't you think? 

Also, please feel free to explain why that word was chosen.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Schumann: Visionary


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Is there a single word on English for " refusing to give up/quit"?


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

jani said:


> Is there a single word on English for " refusing to give up/quit"?


Tenacious.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Ok thanks Chris!

Ludwig Van Beethoven: Tenacious


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Two good ones for Liszt have been applied to others - and they work well together. Misunderstood visionary.


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## TrazomGangflow (Sep 9, 2011)

Bach: perfectionist
Beethoven: revolutionist
Haydn: Underrated


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Johann Sebastian Bach: humble
Wolfgang Mozart: proud
Haydn: witty
Beethoven: heroic
Chopin: delicate
Clara Schumann: devoted
Tchaikovsky: romantic
Satie: silly (or clever)
Debussy: imaginative
Richard Strauss: optimistic
Mahler: pessimistic
Ives: badass
Schoenberg: conflicted
Varese: rage
Bernstein: passionate
Shostakovich: tragic
Boulez: rebellious
Stockhausen: spacey
Cage: peaceful
Schnittke: schizophrenic
Zappa: adventurous


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

BurningDesire said:


> Johann Sebastian Bach: humble


Bach? Humble?


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Ligeti: Atmospheric


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Klavierspieler said:


> Bach? Humble?


Well he was really religious, and from what I've read, he didn't really travel much to perform for many people. He was very much secluded to where he lived and worked, as a church organist. That just strikes me as humble.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Carl Nielsen: *Muscular*
Jean Sibelius: *Nuanced*


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2012)

neoshredder said:


> Ligeti: Atmospheric


I see what you did there!


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

BurningDesire said:


> Well he was really religious, and from what I've read, he didn't really travel much to perform for many people. He was very much secluded to where he lived and worked, as a church organist. That just strikes me as humble.


Well, maybe. I'll admit my knowledge of his life is a little sketchy.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Klavierspieler said:


> Well, maybe. I'll admit my knowledge of his life is a little sketchy.


He was humble with respect to his god. Not so much with respect to his fellow human beings lol.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Wagner : megalomaniac (but a brilliant one ! ).


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Bruckner: God-obsessed.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I was looking for titles for composers, not just adjectives. Try to come up with titles.

Borodin the intoxicating
Mussorgsky the barbarian
Rimsky-Korsakov the Flag-bearer


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Scarlatti the Fat
Wagner the Endless
Czerny the Studious
Ditters von Dittersdorf the Unheard


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Varese: Experimental


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

Crudblud said:


> Bach: Crap
> Mozart: Crap
> Beethoven: Crap
> Schubert: Crap
> ...


All the remaining: Charmin:cheers:


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Oh, what a wonderful thread! 

Lully - elegant
Dowland - twangly


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## Ritter (Apr 11, 2013)

Beethoven: (the) composer
Wagner: (the) operist


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Here are a few:

Mahler: Soothing
Shostakovich: Riveting
Ligeti: Inventive
Bliss: Smiling
Widor: Introspective
Stravinsky: Jumping
Messiaen: kaleidoscopic
Franck: solid
Bartok: witticism

/ptr


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Manxfeeder said:


> Bruckner: God-obsessed.


You forgot also boring.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Ingenue said:


> Oh, what a wonderful thread!
> 
> Lully - elegant
> Dowland - twangly


What's with the "twangly"---that's not Scottish by chance ?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

moody said:


> What's with the "twangly"---that's not Scottish by chance ?


No - it's a technical term for lute music. 

'Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments 
Will hum about mine ears...'

Shakespeare, 'The Tempest'


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

This is fun! These all sound like Conan or Tarzan book titles (e.g. _Tarzan Triumphant_, _Conan the Unconquered_, etc.).

Beethoven Indomitable

Scriabin the Mercurial (he seems to slip away just when I think I have him figured out)

His Histrionic Highness, Handel.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Carl Nielsen--Icy
Jean Sibelius--Flowing


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

moody said:


> What's with the "twangly"---that's not Scottish by chance ?


[video]http://soundcloud.com/soundsofrevolution/twangly[/video]


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

samurai said:


> Carl Nielsen--Icy
> Jean Sibelius--Flowing


It be the weather in them parts yuh know.


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## Kazaman (Apr 13, 2013)

Berg: delirious
Hindemith: driven
Pokofiev: scintillating
Handel: theatrical


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

BlazeGlory said:


> [video]http://soundcloud.com/soundsofrevolution/twangly[/video]


What am I supposed to see ?


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Klavierspieler said:


> Scarlatti the Fat
> Wagner the Endless
> Czerny the Studious
> Ditters von Dittersdorf the Unheard


Oh man, poor Dittersdorf!

Great epithets, by the way. :tiphat:


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Weston said:


> His _Histrionic_ Highness, Handel.


He reportedly beat D. Scarlatti when the two were made to compete on the organ. But Scarlatti was a good sport about it.

But he also reportedly lost to Scarlatti in the battle of harpsichord skills, but both Handel and Scarlatti were good sports about it. Kirkpatrick's biography says that Scarlatti spoke for the rest of his life that Handel defeated him in both, such was his admiration for the great Handel.

At least Handel didn't find himself mired in tavern fights like Bach... that I know of, at least. I'm sure he had his moments too.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Novelette said:


> At least Handel didn't find himself mired in tavern fights like Bach... that I know of, at least. I'm sure he had his moments too.


he preferred to defenestrate his prima-donnas


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Yay for resurrecting this thread!

I'd like to explain my first example, Glazunov = Janus.

I read about this comparison in a book a couple years ago. The author compared Glazunov to the mythical god Janus. He was the god of beginnings and endings, hence where we get the name January for the 1st month of the year. The symbol of Janus is a 2-faced figure, looking forwards and looking backwards simultaneously. I thought it thoroughly appropriate as an analogy: Glazunov united the 19th and 20th centuries in Russian music by being the mediator in between. He saw the fall of the Golden Age of Russian music and the rise of the Soviet music era. His music looked back at his country's traditions as well as the new, more modern cosmopolitan style. The wisdom of the Golden Age would not have reached the 20th century without his particular influence.


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## Kazaman (Apr 13, 2013)

Novelette said:


> He reportedly beat D. Scarlatti when the two were made to compete on the organ. But Scarlatti was a good sport about it.
> 
> But he also reportedly lost to Scarlatti in the battle of harpsichord skills, but both Handel and Scarlatti were good sports about it. Kirkpatrick's biography says that Scarlatti spoke for the rest of his life that Handel defeated him in both, such was his admiration for the great Handel.
> 
> At least Handel didn't find himself mired in tavern fights like Bach... that I know of, at least. I'm sure he had his moments too.


Handel did have a famous duel with Mattheson over who would conduct one of Mattheson's operas.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Rorschach blot. That is what you are asking for, really, a word from a composer rather like a subjective reaction / description of what the individual 'sees' when they look at a Rorschach blot. Maybe an interesting parlor game, but....


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Schumann: passionate
Chopin: Opium-addict (This shows in his music)


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Bach=hard-worker
Mozart=Craftsman
Vivaldi=entertainer
Beethoven=heroic
Chopin=painter
Liszt=wild
Brahms=perfectionist
Wagner=meglomaniac (great word for whoever said this first)
Mahler=ambitious
Bruckner=pious
Schoenberg=rebel
Stravinsky=dance
Rachmaninov=dreamer
Shostakovich=trapped


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Adam De La Halle - veribaportal


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Bach: Curmudgeon
Beethoven: Curmudgeon
Brahms: Curmudgeon
Wagner: Curmudgeon

Am I beginning to see a pattern here?


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Bach - Genesis I,I

(I stole that from H.L. Mencken from his cute article 'Masters of Tone'.. The others, though not exactly one word:

Wagner - The rape of the Sabines... a kommers in Olympus.

Beethoven - The glory that was Greece... the grandeur that was Rome... a laugh.

Haydn - A siedel on the table... a girl of your knee... another and different girl in your heart.

Chopin - Two embalmers at work upon a minor poet... the scent of tuberoses... Autumn rain.

Richard Strauss - Old Home Week in Gomorrah.

Johann Strauss - Forty couple dancing... one by one they slip from the hall... sounds of kisses... the lights go out.

Puccini - Silver macaroni, exquisitely tangled.

Debussy - A pretty girl with one blue eye and one brown one.)


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## Ryan (Dec 29, 2012)

Andrew lloyd webber: cats


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Chopin - the poet
Grieg - the fighter (you, people, don't really fancy him, do you?)
Paganini - the Diabolical


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Cosmos said:


> Rachmaninov=dreamer


*Arensky*: The Dreamer (Sr.)
Rachmaninoff: Dreamer Jr.
Scriabin: Nightmare-er

NO doubt Rachmaninoff got his dreaminess from the original, who was his teacher. Like musical father, like musical son.


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