# Make up your own composer/era/style/etc...



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

This is a fun or joke thread. I'm inviting you to make up your own composer, or era, or style, or even technique. But there's one big rule of thumb: it can't be true. However you can insert true things, facts, people into it.

I'll start off:
*
Alexandr Sitilinov* (1789-1860) The original "father of Russian music" before Glinka, Sitilinov fell into obscurity as the younger composer stole his ideas. Stilinov's opera _A Life for the Tsarina_ was plagiarised by Glinka and became _A Life for the Tsar._ Later in life, Sitilinov composed a symphony reputed to be the greatest of all Russian works in the genre, but nobody knew for sure because it had never been performed. In the 1960's, Eugene Ormandy recorded two of its four movements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, however midway through the recording sessions funding was withdrawn so it was not completed. Today, Sitilinov is regarded as an important transitional composer between Glinka and Russian Orthodox chants composed by a guy called A. Nonymous. The late President Yeltsin set up a Sitilinov Society, and many people became paid members, however the Mr. Yeltsin spent all the money collected on his considerable collection of vodka. Today, Sitilinov's legacy is still one of the unknown quantities of Russian classical music.

Ok over to you! The more believable you make it, the better!...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Johann von Schmidt (1824-1892) German Romantic composer, and the one and only figure of the anti-German School. 
His Life: He had a precocious beginning, learning all the techniques of a good German composer at an early age, but unsatisfied with what he was being made to compose, traveled to remote places to gain further teaching, despite lack of support from his mentors. In a space of 10 years, he went to Italy, France, Russia, and even Turkey to absorb the influences of the various kinds of music. They say he learned how to play the duduk during his Traveling period. By the time he had finished with all of them, he spoke 4 other languages besides German, studied with over a dozen musicians, and he was certain that German music was by no means the best on the planet. Firmly convinced of this, he resolved to go back to Germany on a quest to change people's opinions not only on music outside Germany/Austria, but change the overly-high opinions of people about German/Austrian music. 
In Germany, he did a series of a lectures called "The Fall of the Ubermensch" which were accepted by the critics as modestly entertaining but grossly unsubstantial. von Schmidt had become so infatuated with his ideas that he changed his name temporarily to Ivan Smirnov for a period of time, especially as he went around countries with the same lectures. In Russia, he got his first performance of his opera _Turkish Nights_ in St. Petersburg, where it was critically acclaimed. His symphony no. 2 "The Non-German" was also applauded, world-wide, particularly Russia and France. Soon enough, his popularity became so great that Germans once again bid him to come to their country on tour. In Berlin, a concert featuring von Schmidt's Tone Poem suite "Apotheosis of German Music" had to be postponed indefinitely when audience members began a riot in the last movement, also subtitled "Apotheosis of German Music," because of its "unbridled barbarism." Even the critic Hanslick was reported to have cried out in the theater, "Even _Wagner _is better than this!" von Schmidt was subsequently accused and convicted of disturbing the German peace (of mind), demoted to common class with the taking away of "von" from his name, and consequently banned from doing performances of his music in Germany. But this still wasn't enough for many, and in order to erase his name from history, German music critics wrote such disparaging articles about him that he never gained fame again, anywhere. His name was left as "von Schmidt" in these infamous "Traitor" articles, much to the dismay of the composer, who hated his old name in preference for Smirnov. Accepting the criticism humbly, he escaped to Yalta in Russia with his Turkish wife after this, barely getting by as a music teacher and free-lance duduk performer until his death.
His Legacy: There was none, save perhaps a fanciful rumor that a young _Mily Balakirev_ went to von Schmidt's earliest lectures in St. Petersburg. However, in Germany a decade after the Traitor articles, evidence suggests that being called a "von Schmidt" was something akin to _Benedict Arnold_ in the US. Nevertheless, that fad too faded in a few years.
His Music: Most would describe his music as an "interesting" combination of Slavic and middle-eastern folk influence from nearly a dozen countries, an eclectic mix only possible through his own experience of it all. Nevertheless, because he failed to develop his musical ideas in the good-old German style, his music is viewed as paltry to this day. No recordings of his music to this day have been made, to substantiate that Germanly-guaranteed fact.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I'll have to go think about an actual contribution, but thus far, I just love this thread.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Something like this is a recurring subject in my art blog: imaginary albums. Here is one that is at least semi-classical:

View attachment 20604


This disc has got to be on your Christmas wishlist this year. The Italian neo-classical formation Connexon from Naples have taken twenty Ambrosian and Gregorian chants, and transformed them to instrumentals of stunning and consistent high quality. Bassoons, oboes and flutes take over the major vocal lines, with the three violins, viola and cello providing a suitable aural backdrop. Original and fascinating. And essential.

See for full explanation of how I got title, band name and cover here.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Pascal Fortenscu (1878-1921), leader of the aborted *Titans *era of music, which held that Romantic music was too limited and serene, and that music was never fully realised until "it had reflected itself back at itself and then back at man himself, then man would be reflected at himself and then back at the music and the music would reflect all of this" (from the _Titans Manifesto_, Zurich 1899). An example was Fortenscu's brilliant _Piano Octet with Violin_, which was written for eight pianos and a violin. This work was saved from obscurity by the invention of the gramaphone: a popular difficulty was in getting a hall large enough for 8 pianos and an audience.

Fortenscu was the first composer of an opera in reverse, and he also wrote the song cycles, _Man is God and God is Dead_, and _Woman is the ******* of the Western World_, a cycle so poorly received that GB Shaw said that Emily Pankhurst jumped under a horse to escape it. Fortenscu met Picasso in Paris and inspired by the great man's Pink period, began to compose hue-music: sounds which suggested colour. His controversial orchestral work, _Black-Pink-Orange-Beige-Aquamarine-Turquiose-Very Dark Brown_, divided audiences who were often overheard to ask, "what colour are we now? It's still _Black_, is it?" The cognoscenti, however, were heard to chuckle at the joke, that the _Black _and the _Very Dark Brown_ sounded very much similar.

On his visits to Africa, Fortenscu was seen dancing with chimpanzees and orangutangs, and a famous photo exists of him standing knee deep in giraffe faeces trying to record the creatures bowel movement for his _Animals Uprising Symphony_. This symphony was performed by a proper orchestra and zoo. The first performance was in Dublin Zoo in 1913, where a Mr Blaggard was overheard to say, "what a load of crap!" To which the composer replied, in all innocence, "no, that's in the next movement."

Fortenscu's wife, Maria Blakhovskiaia, was a famous clairvoyant and photographer of angels. His brother Claude was a brilliant private detective. So private, unfortunately, that nobody could contact him. Fortenscu caused a kerfuffle in the music world in 1914 by declaring that he would compose a symphony every single day that the Great War lasted. He composed 1478 symphonies during this period, including the _Three Minute Symphony_, the _Silent Symphony, _the _60 Second Symphony, _the _Invisible Symphony_ and the _Absolutely Silent Symphony_ (also known as opus 433).

The _Titan Movement _fell out of vogue with the onset of the war, for which this divisive movement was partly to blame, having been accused of writing "degenerate music", to which Fortenscu replied: "there is no degenerate music, only degenerate players."

He died in his home town of Kerry, from syphilis contracted - according to his wife - from one of the angels who had impersonated her in the marital bed. Fortenscu, a believer in his wife's every utterance, left his life's work to her in his will.

She died penniless and starving in Paris twelve months later...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Great stuff guys, I will do another one!

*Pierre Rambouillet *(1912-2012). Considered one of the 'could have beens' of his generation, Rambouillet's career was plagued by sheer bad luck. Fighting in the French Resistance during World War II, he wound up in the same stalag as Messiaen as a prisoner of war. One composer in a stalag is enough, but two can be a bit of a handful. Especially if one is fervently religious like Messiaen was, and the other a committed atheist like Rambouillet was. They clashed many times, and once Messiaen's position in French music grew in stature after the war, Rambouillet's plummeted. Rambouillet's biggest opponent, however, was none other than Pierre Boulez, who called his combination tonal-atonal style "wishy washy and useless." This disapproval amongst musical quarters seemed to overshadow the support of numerous presidents of the republic, who where attracted to the fact that Rambouillet is the name of the residence of the incumbent French President outside Paris.

President de Gaulle commissioned Rambouillet to write a massive cantata celebrating the tenth anniversary of his presidency. The work was apparently composed and ready to go when de Gaulle lost interest, being diverted by the 1968 riots in the capital. With de Gaulle's resignation and death, Rambouillet again lost a potential ally. His successors, Presidents Pompidou and Mitterand, where supporters of the arts and may have been a way out of this dead end in Rambouillet's career, but they where too busy building monuments to themselves. After that, increasing old age took a toll on Rambouillet and during the Chirac presidency he was in and out of hospital. Finally, President Sarkozy was a huge fan of Rambouillet's tonal-atonal style, and planned a lavish do for the ailing composer's hundredth birthday. But then, Rambouillet again had the usual bad luck he always had - he carked it a week shy of the big event, which would have involved fireworks, a big function in his honour and the premiere of that cantata that de Gaulle had instigated.

Rambouillet's main legacy is the fact that if you're born on a certain day and date, well basically forget being a composer. He was born on a Black Friday and the number of the house he was born in was none other than 13.



brianvds said:


> I'll have to go think about an actual contribution, but thus far, I just love this thread.


Feel free to contribute later. Hope you'll be "Bach!"


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I had to make another one 

Boris Pomelov, AKA the _Pummeler_ (1850-1893), Russian composer of the Late Romantic period and hitman.
*Life:* Pomelov began life as a wrestler in Athletic academy, and planned on having a career as a professional fighter when his life took a turn for the different in 1868, and a group of people then known as the Kuchka found him and hired him as their body-guard. Pomelov, thinking they were highly important government people, took their offer, only a few months later to realize that they were only composers. He was was frustrated with his awkward position, when the Kuchka finally decided to reveal to him what they really wanted him for.
Over his entire career, Pomelov "pummeled" a number of nameless rival composers, and promptly burned their manuscripts when the job was done. The Kuchka became high and mighty, owning all the publishing and musical societies in the Big Apelsin, and since they made lots of money, paid Pomelov lots of money. Eventually the Boss thought it about time that Pomelov would come to learn some composition, so he asked him to "take care" of the current composition professor. Once that was done, the R-King, the youngest but most brilliant of the Kuchka, took the place, and gave Pomelov free composition lessons. He was not at all adept, but R-King brought him through 3 full years of training, and Pomelov's first orchestral work, his _Symphony to the Fists_ was premiered in 1874. Now that Pomelov had "cleaner" credentials, he walked freely with the Kuchka wherever they went, keeping a pistol in his jacket pocket.
Things after this point became much more tense as larger-scale enterprises were put in place, notable a new "members-only" Russian publishing house was made under B-Swag, and the Silver Minions (students of the Kuchka) spread out to international fame. Two Kuchka members had been assassinated, Moose from induced alcohol poisoning, and Potion Man in a cyanide attack while on the dance floor. The remaining members of the Kuchka set their eyes on the Kremlin, which would be untold amounts of money, fame and influence. However, a rival organization had formed there, traitors of the original Minions, who called themselves the Muscovites. An elusive man named T-Money was their boss, who had untold amounts of influence in his ranks. The Kuchka sent Pomelov on his greatest mission yet: take out T-Money, and disassemble the Muscovite society.
They say when he broke into T-Money's apartment the day after the premiere of his 6th Symphony, he almost pummeled him, but T-Money was a smooth talker, and instead took a poison potion in front of Pomelov. "Sabotage! _I'm _suppose to kill you!" Pomelov cried. T-Money only sneered. Just then, the Muscovites came in and jumped Pomelov, throwing him out into the streets. As soon as T-Money mysteriously died from the poison, the Muscovites were bent on revenge, and called for a gang duel in the streets of Moscow against the Kuchka and their Minions. Pomelov died in the duel, and a number were injured, including the "young Samson" who had to be taken to Germany to recover. The Muscovites, however, were appeased, and no further violence occurred between either camp. The remaining members of the Kuchka honored him with a civil ceremony and funeral, but made sure to remove any traces of evidence of his past life, unless their reputation be taken into question.
*His Music:* Pomelov only wrote up to his 10th opus, but his only surviving works are his Symphony to the Fists, his Piano Quartet, and tone poem _In the Dark_ supposedly a programmatic depiction of his first hit-job. His other opuses have never been recovered, their manuscripts likely found and burned by the Muscovites. His music is in the typical Russian Nationalist style, and rather amateur in the writing, but with pleasant melodies nonetheless.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Ok another one -

*Edvard Noglund *(born 1948) was the first composer in Norway to incorporate serialism into his music. Through works such as Isar Particulaten (Ice Particles) and Sinfonia Polaris Beaera (Symphony of Polar Bears) he etched vivid images of the bleak polar landscape in his music. Considered to be a foremost authority on polar bear hybernation (even though polar bears don't hybernate), Noglund has devised a musical system combining serialism and the pitches at which the animals snore. Noglund currently lives in the Bahamas, which he argues lets him come closer to his Norwegian soul, but most people say he just likes dancing the calypso with the women there. Rumour is that he is currently composing the soundtrack to the next James Bond film, which is most likely to be set in the Caribbean. It will be the first serial-polar bear snore-calypso fusion film score. The orchestra will be conducted by jointly by Sergio Mendes and Simon Rattle, with them both brandishing bananas instead of batons.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

El Turko (real name: Zurnazen Mehmed Ağa), c.1730-1796. Originally an ambassador from the Ottoman Empire to the Hapsburgs in Vienna, best known today for laughing hysterically during "alla turca" passages in the music of his contemporary composers. El Turko tried his hand at composing western classical music, but ultimately gave up primarily due to his frustration with the simplicity and limitations of the western modes. May also have been bothered by the barbaric rudeness of the audiences in Vienna. Perhaps his most important legacy has been his tradition of breaking violins on the heads of vocalists, believing both the violins and the vocalists sounded better that way. Pete Townshend denies having been influenced by El Turko, but Doctor Martin Von Bergohaufenstauten-Fahrutstaghtenzorn identified a numerological code in "Magic Bus" which he deciphers as, "El Turko did it, did it banana, banana, El banana Turko did it first." Scholars continue to debate the validity of his work, which presupposes that Townshend or a spirit possessing him understood Gödel numbering.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

science said:


> El Turko (real name: Zurnazen Mehmed Ağa), c.1730-1796. Originally an ambassador from the Ottoman Empire to the Hapsburgs in Vienna, best known today for laughing hysterically during "alla turca" passages in the music of his contemporary composers. El Turko tried his hand at composing western classical music, but ultimately gave up primarily due to his frustration with the simplicity and limitations of the western modes. May also have been bothered by the barbaric rudeness of the audiences in Vienna. Perhaps his most important legacy has been his tradition of breaking violins on the heads of vocalists, believing both the violins and the vocalists sounded better that way. Pete Townshend denies having been influenced by El Turko, but Doctor Martin Von Bergohaufenstauten-Fahrutstaghtenzorn identified a numerological code in "Magic Bus" which he deciphers as, "El Turko did it, did it banana, banana, El banana Turko did it first." Scholars continue to debate the validity of his work, which presupposes that Townshend or a spirit possessing him understood Gödel numbering.


Excellent! I think I'd like this guy! :lol:


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I bet you guys are cheating! Are you contributors to Uncyclopedia, the parody site of Wikipedia? Anyway, seriously its been brilliant. Keep it up.

Ok another one:

*Giovanni Piccante *(1895-1952). Piccante lived by his name, which means spicy in Italian. The composer grew up in the milieu of early 20th century Modernism, studying under Busoni and absorbing the spicy dissonances of Bartok, Schoenberg and Stravinsky.

His claim to fame was that he had more documented love affairs than Liszt, which was four dozen rather than the mere two dozen or so Franz had managed. As a result of being such a busy man in the boudoir, Piccante had little time to actually compose. One project that he laboured on for years was an opera about none other than that Italian composer turned gourmand, Rossini. Following the end of World War II, funding was acquired from the Americans to stage a production of _Rossini_ _Mangia La Pasta (Rossini Eats Pasta) _, but unfortunately Piccante entered an competition of who could eat the most spicy food and succumbed to liver damage due to overconsumption of extra hot chillis, and died just as the opera was being recieved rapturously, primarily by classical nuts who where also foodies.

Apart from the opera, Piccante also composed four dozen serenades, one for each of the women he had those documented affairs with, as well as a orchestral pop song dedicated to his long suffering wife entitled "I am yours and yours only until death do us part." His heirs took the upswing from the success of the opera though, setting up a chain of family restaurants selling spicy pasta dishes in Italy called McPiccante's.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

*Rolph Rauschen von Rauschenbergerdorf *(1912 - 1971) was an American avant garde composer of Austrian descent. Though much of his life remains an intriguing mystery, he is widely regarded as the composer who might have been the most influential in the 20th century had he been able to pursue a musical career. Forced by poverty into a grueling career in the food and beverage industry, he left behind a series of notebooks outlining his musical manifesto (the now infamous "To Do" list) and several ideas for unrealized works. Scholars have taken these scraps of paper and painstakingly reconstructed the works they would have become if von Rauschenbergerdorf had developed musical skill. The only extant, and consequently the most popular of these reconstructed works is the _Sonata for Dishwasher Spray and Prepared Pots No. 1, "Work Schedule," Op. posth._ Other reconstructed works are awaiting funding to be completed, including the much anticipated set of _Variations for Rotary Phone Dial, "Address Book."_ Sadly von Rauschenbergerdorf died in obscurity, leaving behind a legacy of mysterious works for future generations to decipher.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Van Jani hann ( 1992-2101)

He is a composer who combined elements of virtusic classical music and comercial music for example, he wrote fugues with three or more voices were the melody lines would be rapped.
He also wrote loads of film&video game music, he was known from mindblowing musicals, which combined the latest visual effects and his own unique music.
He also wasn't affraid to agressivly market his music to all audiences for old and young, for uber extroverts and for the people with a james bond syndrome etc...
He also founded his own clothing line which mainly manufactured suits and cloths for everyday activities mainly for 20-30 year olds.
He was known for both his ferocious visual and musical entertainment.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

R. A. Jones (1951 - present)

Raskolnikov Adam Smith Rand Jones, better known as R. A. Jones, grew up in a military family fiercely devoted to capitalism. His father, Colonel G. M. Jones, enjoyed a few moments of fame in 1962 when he declared that former President Eisenhower ought to have been tried for treason after the famous "military industrial complex" speech. These minutes concluded with the admission that he never understood why the word "Colonel" sounds like "kernel" but writes like "Call an L."

R. A. grew up listening almost solely to military marches and the most traditional Anglican hymns, and at the auspiciously young age of thirteen he wrote his most famous manifesto, "On the Influence of Satan and Communism in Contemporary Music," in which he denounced rock and roll and the blues along with bebop. He reserved his most eloquent vituperation for the "mindless pseudo-eclectic rhythmic innovation" that he found in composers like Schoenberg and the "chillingly anti-hierarchical implications of all harmonic systems that avoid or strive to avoid a dominant tonal center."

A few weeks later he published his first composition, "Actually in C Major without Anything Rediculous," [sic] in which an entire orchestra plays a C major chord. "I gave them the freedom to play any note they wanted," he explained, "as long as it was a C, an E, or a G. Also they could only play quarter notes, half notes, or whole notes. And they were supposed to play louder than their neighboring musicians. Unless they were the absolute loudest, they were implicitly to regard themselves as failures." He withdrew this composition when he was informed that actually this was somewhat avant-garde, issuing a lengthy public apology and confession.

Thereafter his orchestral compositions consisted largely of plagiarized, re-orchestrated bits of Haydn's less popular symphonies, and in one instance a concerto that he'd mistaken for a symphony. However, due to persistent, consistent, and indecipherable errors in transcription - Jones never fully understood the concept of transposing instruments - as well as to his inability to remember which work he'd been plagiarizing on previous days, these were consistently received as experimentations in novel tonal schemes. Scholars described his works with inventive labels like "semi-augmented Phrygio-Podhalean modality," hailing him as a hero in academic music circles. Considering them atheistic and liberal, he openly despised such circles; therefore he suffered yet greater popularity among them. In one notable exchange, Pierre Boulez praised Jones as "the only American who really, truly understands me like a soul-mate separated at birth." For several minutes afterward, Jones ranted profanely and incomprehensibly about the Vichy regime, the transgressions of serialism, French cowardice, and the slippery slope of polyrhythm. Boulez countered with, "That's exactly what I meant. That's amazing. I wish I could express myself with that kind of, - what do you call it? - ah, yes, eloquence."

In his later years he became convinced that his inability to transpose the works he plagiarized into the key of C major was the result of Satanic forces within him, and renounced music altogether. "Music was meant to be enjoyed," he declared, "not composed." Finding himself treated yet again as a hero, this time to an even younger, more radical generation of counter-cultural rebels, he turned for solace to alcohol and soft drinks, tobacco, fatty foods in large portions, and cable television, "the last bastions of true American patriotism."

Jones' fans eagerly await his next composition, with numerous fan sites scattered across the internet. Unfortunately, his spokesperson, a Russian mail-order bride known as "Tatiana," insists that Jones has no plans to return to composition.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

P.S. - happy fourth!


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

*Regar Don le Miroir (1924 - 1998)*

Founder of the neo-post-anti-pre-modernist revival. Specialized in opera with recurring themes of self-consciousness and irony. His most famous stage work, _La figure que je vois dont me voit que je vois_, was a boldly experimental work (though the composer always claimed he was simply resurrected the practices of ancient Greek theater) that begins with the main character, an aging opera coluratura (played by an alto) admiring herself in a mirror in her dressing room while her jealous lover spies from the closet. Unbeknownst to the lover, the coloratura can see him through her mirror. Moreover, this entire scene is situated within a glass case, to which the coloratura and the lover are apparently oblivious, and peering into the glass case are what appear to be two giant marionettes whose strings are manipulated by a third opera singer, the coloratura's actual husband, who is situated on an elevated platform. Moreover, this platform is being videotaped and projected onto a giant screen that separates the stage from the audience; thus the audience can see what is happening on stage, but only because they see the screen rather than the stage action directly. Finally, the audience is itself reflected through a giant mirror held by an unnamed character (usually played by Regar Don le Miroir himself), who sits on an even more elevated platform atop the entire theater; and his view is in turn videotaped and fed back onto a small screen that sits right next to the coloratura's mirror.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Some styles and technical terms:
*
Post-Post-Minimalism*: what the thing that comes after Post-Minimalism will be called. & the thing after that will be called (you guessed it) _Post-Post-Post-Minimalism_. Goes on and on and on, ad nauseum. Just like this category of music......................
*
Burngittaro: *The exactly specificed technique with which Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar, which was outlined in his treatise _Modern use of Electric Instruments in Contemporary Concert Practice_ (published 1969).

*Ultraexpressivo Conductoritis*: (1) The disease where a conductor's style is all flash and no substance, (2) The condition by which a conductor acts like a tool waving a baton and having facial and bodily expressions that look utterly ridiculous, (3) an exaggeratedly grotesque extension of this term can only be applied to Lenny, who did this and much more: _Ultraexpressivo Hip Swivelacious Ecstaticocmania Orgasmo Conductoritis_.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

More technical terms:

*Soltitis*: The act of gritting your teeth with parted lips and staring wildly with your eyes whilst conducting. Works especially well for conductors who are bald and control freaks. Named after Sir Georg Solti, nicknamed "The screaming skull" due to him raising this mannerism to a high art form.

_*(A) Walking Metronome*_: Any musician who sticks to time signatures in an overly pedantic way.

_*Scream-fright*_: A condition suffered by classical music listeners who avoid opera at any cost due to the scream factor.


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## John Kiunke (Mar 25, 2016)

Carl Friedemann Kaeser (1751-1793) was a composer and pianist. He grew up in Nuremberg, and received his first musical training from his father. In 1758 he gave a concert of a concerto by Agrell, which gave him local fame as a prodigy. His first serious compositions come from 1761, a set of 6 Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord, which was published as Op. 1. He wrote a cantata, La primavera (1763) which got the attention of Fredrick the Great, who commissioned another work, the cantata Il ciclope (1764). He then obtained a position in 1766 as music maker for Charles Theodor, which he kept until 1775. In these years he wrote four concerti for keyboard, 3 for cello, and 12 symphonies. In 1775, he moved to Linz, where he was quite famous. Here he stayed until his death in 1793. He wrote 13 keyboard concerti, 17 violin concerti, nearly 40 keyboard sonatas, and 18 viola quintets, where, oddly, the first viola was the main instrument. He was also fond of the clarinet, for which he wrote three concerti, No. 2 in A (1787) was considered his best work. He wrote only four operas, none of them very important. He wrote close to no sacred music, although his operas were known for having many choral sections. His greatest achievement was a manual on composition that combined partimento, harmony, counterpoint, orchestration and style into a concise method which was used by Kuhlau, Diabelli, and Cramer.


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## Xenakiboy (May 8, 2016)

Biography

*Aboiye Abu* (1895 - 1962) was a composer born in the Central African Public. He grew up an orphan living off the small rice harvests in Bangui. In, 1909 a group of missionaries visited his town. One of the evangelists was a pianist, who traveled with the preachers and the doctors to play hymns met a young Aboiye, when he was practicing a piece by Schoenberg called "Drei Klavierstucke". The piece "changed my life forever" (in his own words), the Pianist gave him the score to that piece. 
While in still in Africa, he composed his op. 1: "Mkethoneth Passim" (For chamber orchestra), op. 2: "Die Donkerte" (for concert orchestra) and op. 3: "Engel Bokant Die Sterre" (for two pianos). By the year of 1918, Aboiye had found the opportunity to travel to New York, America as a builder. While working as a builder, over the next few years gained enough money to travel to Vienna, where he met Schoenberg at the 'Society for Private Musical Performances', there he was able to study with Schoenberg for a brief time. He remained a builder and a part-time composer until 1920, when he premiered one of his most successful works op. 5: "Lyapunov Stability: Sinfonia no#1". The piece is an 80 minute piece for large orchestra (165 musicians) featuring gongs, tin cans, africian drums (including the Djembe), sirens, wind machines, prepared pianos, washing machines getting smashed, choirs and soloists. This piece is most recognized for influencing Edgard Varese, John Cage, Pierre Boulez, Regar Don le Miroir and also the minimalist, texturalist and spectralist movements. The piece was scandalous; the audience broke into a riot, the conductor was killed from an audience member throwing a pitchfork and an audience member lit a curtain on fire (in protest), resulting on the whole building catching on fire. The theater was evacuated but there where several deaths. After the incident, Aboiye moved to India for the next four years, where he learn't about new religious and philosophical ideas. While in India, he started composing the first true minimalist pieces, for piano and small ensembles. His piece "Dreams of starry nights", which is noted to have been the biggest influence on composers Phillip Glass and Terry Riley, was premiered around this time. After moving back to New York in 1923, Aboiye started composing his only opera "The Town Of The Shinning Light" (libretto also by Abu), which was later adapted into a film in 1997. The opera is about two factions of natives that discover a UFO in the desert. It was noted for its inspiration for Gershwins "Porgy And Bess" (through its juxtaposition of styles and stage show), the TV series "The Twilight Zone", novelists such as Steven King and film makers such as Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch. Between the years 1925 - 1936, Aboiye gave lectures at the university of Harvard, Princeton, Julliard and wrote a book called "The Aerodynamics Of The Fundamental Truth Aspects For A Serious Composer", which won awards and inspired composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1940, he premiered his op. 63 "Abstractions (For Piano And Orchestra". But by the year 1953, Aboiye had started going deaf. He gradually composed less and less. His last big work was called op. 75 "Mantra: Sinfonia no#9 (For Large Orchestra)" which is often considered his most personal work, with the last movement called 'Afskeid'. The following years up to his death in 1962, Aboiye was very ill and discovered he had lung cancer. He died on May 8th 1962.

Musical Style and Influence

Aboiye Abu's style of composition started in the shadow of Arnold Schoenberg, influenced by the 12 tone technique. His early works are reminiscent of Debussy, Webern and Schoenberg. His style gradually evolved into his first mature period, with a style utilizing heavy percussion, harsh rhythmic dissonance, sounds and noises including sirens and washing machines. His second period included a proto-minimalist sound, involving subtle timbrel changes and less focus on rhythm. His third period included an emotive romantic style sound, with a primary focus on melody and harmony.

Abu's work is known to have influenced the following composers: Varese, Boulez, Schnittke, Glass, Riley, Gershwin, Cage and influenced the development of all major movements in 20th century classical music. Stravinsky, who attended the premiere was noted saying ""Lyapunov Stability: Sinfonia no#1 is possibly the greatest piece of music I have ever heard. It makes the Rite Of Spring sound like Mozart. I am deeply moved by this piece and now seek to explore neo-classicism because I have found my natural predecessor"

(Ps I might use this pseudonym for a creative excersise now! and create these pieces?)

Dreams Of Starry Nights:




Lyapunov Stability: Sinfonia no#1 excerpt:


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

*Alexandra Jade Bellaverinici (1725-1799)*
Was Italian female violinist of unknown far eastern Asia descendant. She was daughter of Italian merchant who taking spouse from far eastern, born and rise in Asia then brought back to Italy when she was about ten years old. In her childhood, her mother taught her various oriental musical instruments. She was then trained in violin of the Italian school. During her active year, she was live in unknown area in Sicily Island. Later, she was known only in upper class society as her performance mostly held in private and in secrecy. The legend speaks, oftenly, she will disguise in male appearances to only revealed her identity toward the end of the concert. She was left handed, noted as the only left handed violinist to ever success in the highest level. She wrote composition exclusively in inverse score writing, in order to protect her own composition. In her forty, she travel around the world as far to Tibet, where she invented and brought back a five strings violin. Returning to Italy, she believe to spend her old as a nun in Catholic nunnery. Nicola Paganini believe to successfully own some of her compositions, which largely vanished at that time. Her music was recorded as late Baroque with mix of Mediterranean influences. Later, after she return from Asia, her music also incorporated elements of Chinese, Indian and Silk Road.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Nice seeing those old topic being dust off


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Xenakiboy said:


> (Ps I might use this pseudonym for a creative excersise now! and create these pieces?)
> 
> Dreams Of Starry Nights:
> 
> ...


Hahaha! Now he IS a real composer! Curious, where did you get the name Lyapunov from? I assume it has nothing to do with the Russian composer, no?


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

A series of composers I've invented recently for a story, a "Novgorod Kuchka"

1. Alexey Berezin - Pianist, leader of the Novgorod Kuchka, student of Balakirev who was dismissed from the original Kuchka because he wasn't talented enough. Alexey started up his own "Kuchka" called the Composers' Guild in Novgorod where he got his own colleagues to join him in a different attitude towards music, neither overly Nationalistic nor overly Cosmopolitan, pro-democratic and highly anti-establishment and anti-patronage. Teacher of the rest of the Guild. Music sounds much like a mix between Balakirev and Alkan.

2. Boris Epstein - from a Jewish family and a businessman. Although he was not born in Novgorod, he was loyal to this city nonetheless while being very Western-oriented. His music is densely contrapuntal, influenced by Brahms, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, with hints of Jewish folk music.

3. Anton Kalyayev - the 3rd addition to the Guild, a physician. He was known for writing charming miniatures in the Chopinian-Nationalist style because it was difficult for him to have time to write larger works. Music influenced by poetry and salon genres of Eastern Europe.

4. Vladimir Galinsky - Russian marine who serves the Novgorod Kremlin and occasionally goes on tours out to sea with a crew. Music highly influenced by Chopin and Wagner simultaneously.

5. Piotr Antipov - Pianist, one of the first graduates from the Moscow Conservatory, and among the most avant-garde in taste although especially attracted to Russian's own composers such as Glinka and Rubinstein. Fan of show piece literature (Liszt) and opera.

6. Andrei Kirilov - Pianist and singer, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, an experimentalist with Neo-Classicism, and one of the first proponents of the _Macabre Russe_ movement which was influenced by Beaudiment and Gogol.

Six of them there were, the _Gildiya Kompozitora Novgorodskaya_...


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