# Nicknames for musicians & composers. . .



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

In a recent issue of BBC Music Magazine, one of the nicknames musicians called the late conductor *Sir Georg Solti *was mentioned. He was nicknamed *"the screaming skull"* for his often intense facial expressions when conducting. There's a photo of him looking like the said skull in the magazine, but I can't find a similar one online. But the photo below is similar, albeit like a smiling skull, here Sir Georg is basking in the glory of one of his over 30 Grammy awards (he was the musician to get the highest number of these things).










In an interview years back, one of the musicians working under Sir Georg in London jokingly called him "that little Hungarian Nazi" referring to the conductor's quite pedantic approach to things like rhythm. Also, his authoritarianism is legendary now, as are his outbursts during rehearsal (boy this guy could make a grown man - or woman - cry!).

*Anyway, this thread is for YOUR nicknames of musicians and composers, your favourites and maybe your not so favourites too.*

*You can relate ones you've read about or just make up your own related to the person's manner, looks, music or interpretative cliches, etc.*

But one I do like is this. Over a decade ago I saw a Czech language film about *Janacek*. It was called (in English translation) _*The Lion with the White Mane*_. I thought that an appropriate title, easy to relate to Leos' appearance and also his often intense character and the power of his music. I see him as a composer who is like the king of beasts, & even though he evidently didn't have much time for Beethoven, I see Janacek as similar to him in some ways.










*Now, over to your own nicknames. . .*


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## tankership (Aug 30, 2012)

Joseph R. Olefirowicz (from Nashua New Hamshire) ,"The dancing conductor", seen here during a performance of "Candide" at the Vienna Volksoper.






http://www.nhmagazine.com/webextras/964447-424/moving-maestro-joseph-olefirowicz.html


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Bruckner - Bashful
Offenbach - Happy
Suppe - Sneezy (fond of snuff)
Brahms - Grumpy
Borodin - Doc (chemist and surgeon)
Berlioz - Dopey (allegedly fond of opium)

Can't think of one for Sleepy - maybe someone else can?


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

They may have been dopey, bashful and sneezy, etc, but these composers are definitely not
dwarfs musically !
Did you hear about the sneezing Chinaman, Ah Chu ?


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

tankership said:


> Joseph R. Olefirowicz (from Nashua New Hamshire) ,"The dancing conductor", seen here during a performance of "Candide" at the Vienna Volksoper.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I love that video! I first saw it last year and I often bring it out to cheer me up. I think it shows a great sennse of humour and a little barminess in the conductor!


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> Bruckner - Bashful
> Offenbach - Happy
> Suppe - Sneezy (fond of snuff)
> Brahms - Grumpy
> ...


Chopin and John Field both wrote a lot of Nocturnes - would that make them Sleepy?


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

In the manner of baseball nicknames, where you start with "The", take the player's home, and add a descriptive noun... as Ty Cobb was "The Georgia Peach".

Beethoven: The Bonn Blaster
Schumann: The Dusseldorf Doppelganger
Bach: The Cöthen Contrapuntalist
Richard Strauss: The Munich Multimorphic
Debussy: The Paris Pointillist


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Thanks guys, some very creative nicknames there.

Some of my own:

Arturo Toscanini - The Walking Metronome

Stravinsky - The Musical Chameleon

& speaking of Stravinsky, I love what he said about Rachmaninov, the bolded part - referring to Rach's quite serious expression and height but also relevant to his often brooding music - has stuck in my mind since I read it over 20 years ago:

"Rachmaninov's immortalizing totality was his scowl. *He was a six-and-a-half-foot-tall scowl."
*
Igor, you definitely had a way with words!


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

waldvogel said:


> Chopin and John Field both wrote a lot of Nocturnes - would that make them Sleepy?


Clever!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I've never been able to wrap my head around people calling Beethoven "Luigi." It's a bit like calling J. S. Bach "Johnny."

If we are making up fantasy names for our composer heroes we could always go the route of Burrough's Tarzan or Robert E. Howard's Conan.

Beethoven the Defiant
Beethoven Triumphant
Beethoven, the Brooding
Beethoven the Headbanger
etc.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Maybe use boxing or wrestling names: Beethoven: "The Bonn Bruiser"


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Pinky, for Pinchas Zukerman.

Maa zel, for Maazel (given by Ray Still, CSO)

Pa Szell, for Szell (given by Ray Still, CSO)

Bubbles, for Beverly Sills.

Flicka, for Frederica von Stade.

Battleaxe, for __________ ________

Probably not many are publicly known. I'd bet there are many crude "inside" nicknames.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Has any composer ever written a diurne ?


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## tankership (Aug 30, 2012)

George Szell - "Dr. Cyclops".

"One of the most enduringly terrifying abusive father figures among great conductors is being honored by a revival of interest. George Szell was nicknamed "Dr. Cyclops" by his Cleveland Orchestra musicians, after a 1940s horror movie villain......"

http://forward.com/articles/137393/dr-cyclops-is-back/


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## TheVioletKing (Jan 9, 2013)

A lot of people call Shostakovich Shosta and Shosty and a lot of people cal Bernstein Lenny...


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A lot of people call Dudamel "the Dude." Don't know if he likes that.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Wolfie


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Haydn called Beethoven 'The Great Mogul.'

I don't think he intended it as a compliment...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I remember a documentary about conductor Otto Klemperer. In a clip of an interview he did, Klemperer said "Bruno Walter is a moralist. I am an immoralist." I checked and this is on several sources on Google, so my memory of that must be right. I don't exactly know what Klemperer meant by that, maybe someone here can conjecture why he said it?


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Kieran said:


> Haydn called Beethoven 'The Great Mogul.'
> 
> I don't think he intended it as a compliment...


Another quote I remember reading by Haydn referring to his erstwhile pupil was papa saying "Beethoven is a man of three heads, three hearts and three [of something else I'm finding it hard to remember - maybe three minds or brains]. Anyway, I'd say that was meant as a compliment, or maybe its referring how papa could not catch up with Beethoven's rapid pace of thoughts or music, etc. Beethoven claimed to have not learnt a thing from papa, which I find hard to believe, maybe it was a kind of 'move over papa, I'm the new kid on the block' type of generational change/gap thing.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Sid James said:


> Beethoven claimed to have not learnt a thing from papa, which I find hard to believe, maybe it was a kind of 'move over papa, I'm the new kid on the block' type of generational change/gap thing.


I've always assumed that Beethoven was referring to his lessons with Haydn, who does seem to have been an inattentive and overly-casual teacher.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

KenOC said:


> A lot of people call Dudamel "the Dude." Don't know if he likes that.


I call him The Dude :3


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

KenOC said:


> A lot of people call Dudamel "the Dude." Don't know if he likes that.


*Doody* would be unfortunate. :lol:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Vaneyes said:


> *Doody* would be unfortunate. :lol:


*Dud* would be even worse!


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I'm sure some of you have seen that I use nicknames quite often; especially for fellow TC'ers! 

For as long as I can remember, I've called Rachmaninov 'The Drac'. And I can't help calling good ol' Vladi, 'Horrorwitz'. Oh,...and I've always called Alfred, 'Brendelfly', but that's a no-brainer.


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