# Which composers' names are your favourites to say?



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Wagner - A "W" that is pronounced as a "V", how silly is that??

Rachmaninoff - Pronounced "Rah - sound of cat coughing up a hairball - man-in-off"


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

KAIKHOSRU SHAPURJI SORABJI !!!!!!!

*Say it as loud and as angry as possible and you'll sound like a neanderthal or something*


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## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

Also, Charles-Valentin Alkan is quite a sophisticated name, especially when properly pronounced.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Scriabin is a sweet name. Also if you pronounce Muzio Clementi correctly, you get something that sounds like Moochio Clementi.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Aye-no-jew-aw-knee Rah-oo-tah-vah-rah


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Johann - Gambolputty... Wait, you have to be able to say it?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Fanny Mendelssohn, tee hee hee.


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

Dvorak (I cant do the thingy that goes over the 'r' on my keyboard). When I was younger I always pronounced it 'da-vor-rack before I heard differently. The way the Polish and Czech/Slovaks use accents and other fiddly bits with their letters is as intriguing and exotic as it is maddeningly illogical. Closer to home my favourite name is Ralph Vaughan Williams - first name pronounced 'raif'. With a name like that surely he should be breakfasting at the Drones Club with Bertie Wooster and and the rest of the idle rich?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Trout said:


> Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf


That would be my choice too. I always wanted to say this in public, but never found an opportunity.

I sometimes like to deliberately mispronounce the names in a self mocking way or just to annoy people. You know: Frederick Choppin', France Sherbet, Joe Hannis Bramms, Clod Der-byusey, and other composter fellers.


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## Nix (Feb 20, 2010)

John Adams


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Couchie said:


> Wagner - A "W" that is pronounced as a "V", how silly is that??


You do realise, don't you, that English is not the only language in the world? Nor is it the only one using the Roman alphabet!


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

elgars ghost said:


> The way the Polish and Czech/Slovaks use accents and other fiddly bits with their letters is as intriguing and exotic as it is maddeningly illogical.


What is illogical about making pronunciation clear (according to the norms of the language concerned)? Is it more logical for a language like English where anything goes? Look at this:

The tough, dough-faced ploughman walked through the door by the trough and hiccouphed. That's LOGICAL??

The diacritics in foreign languages often make the language much easier to pronounce if you bother to learn what they mean!


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Arcangelo Corelli lays a strong claim to being one of the best names ever.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Some East European names are difficult for English speakers, as has been noted above. The conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski isn't easy, and the first names of composers György Ligeti and Kurtag can be a bit of a mouthful. Easier to say "George" maybe? 

Middle Eastern musicians can also be confusing, esp. in terms of their names often being spelt in different ways, eg. Mohammed Abdel Wahab or his colleague the Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum (I've seen these spelt in quite different ways, not helping pronunciation, eg. Oum Kalsoum, etc.)...


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Delicious Manager said:


> You do realise, don't you, that English is not the only language in the world? Nor is it the only one using the Roman alphabet!


he wasn't being entirely serious

How about composers whose names I hate saying?

Cammis;'dsidoskas Sehn-Saahnsasas;daklsd


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2011)

And now let me reveal the best name ever....

<drumroll please>

Baldassare Galuppi

How sweet is that? Anyone want to name their firstborn son that?


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

Delicious Manager said:


> What is illogical about making pronunciation clear (according to the norms of the language concerned)? Is it more logical for a language like English where anything goes? Look at this:
> 
> The tough, dough-faced ploughman walked through the door by the trough and hiccouphed. That's LOGICAL??
> 
> The diacritics in foreign languages often make the language much easier to pronounce if you bother to learn what they mean!


I meant that it appears illogical from the way that the alphabet is used in English and ITS tendency to eschew diacritics. It was not meant to be a little Englander poke at the way that Slavs use the alphabet differently. Oh, and I promise to bone up on my diacritics if you simultaneously agree to get off your high horse...


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2011)

Drats - double posting again! I gotta improve my upload speed. Please delete.


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Shostakovich!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Some of the Scandinavian ones. Apparently Rued Langgaard is pronounced something like "roo lango."


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I used to have fun saying Prokofiev until I learned how it's supposed to sound.


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Some of my favorites: 

Krasimir Kyurkchiyski
Peteris Vasks
Aram Khachaturian
Conlon Nancarrow
Eugène Ysaÿe


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Toru Takemitsu.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Dodecaplex said:


> KAIKHOSRU SHAPURJI SORABJI !!!!!!!
> 
> *Say it as loud and as angry as possible and you'll sound like a neanderthal or something*


Or angry samurai. Like these two:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Sid James said:


> Some of the Scandinavian ones. Apparently Rued Langgaard is pronounced something like "roo lango."


Is that right? Thanks; I never knew that. Fortunately, the only guy I've spoken with about him knows even less about his music than I do.


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## HexameronVI (May 9, 2011)

Ferruccio Busoni, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

You can't win with *Cesar Franck*. If you pronounce it naturally it comes out as say-zar fronk which is ghastly. But it's almost impossible to inject any gallic into it without sounding like an onion-draped stage Frenchman complete with striped jersey and beret.


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

Anglophones...


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Edvard Grieg has always done it for me...not to mention the look and the hair.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I like to say French names with pretentious accent (raVEEEEL) (foREEE). Also SZOPĘ.

I like to say Italian names rapidly, so fast that you can hardly recognize it, with passionate accent, sometimes making one vowel longer, like, OOOOOO I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, GET LOST 

I like to shout German names like fearsome Gestapo officer.

By the way, I usually use first names in conversations, when I want to ask someone if he liked something by Mahler I ask "have you heard this piece of Gustav?". Of course, many people wouldn't dig who I mean but it's cool anyway.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Béla Bartók


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern Schplenden Schlitter Crasscrenbon Fried Digger Dangle Dungle Burstein von Knacker Thrasher Apple Banger Horowitz Ticolensic Grander Knotty Spelltinkle Grandlich Grumblemeyer Spelterwasser Kürstlich Himbleeisen Bahnwagen Gutenabend Bitte Eine Nürnburger Bratwustle Gerspurten mit Zweimache Luber Hundsfut Gumberaber Shönendanker Kalbsfleisch Mittler Raucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Several names seem to roll off the tongue quite well, many Italian. Domenico Scarlatti, Gaetano Donizetti etc.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

StevenOBrien said:


> Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern Schplenden Schlitter Crasscrenbon Fried Digger Dangle Dungle Burstein von Knacker Thrasher Apple Banger Horowitz Ticolensic Grander Knotty Spelltinkle Grandlich Grumblemeyer Spelterwasser Kürstlich Himbleeisen Bahnwagen Gutenabend Bitte Eine Nürnburger Bratwustle Gerspurten mit Zweimache Luber Hundsfut Gumberaber Shönendanker Kalbsfleisch Mittler Raucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.


Copy-cat!


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> Einojuhani Rautavaara
> 
> Aye-no-jew-aw-knee Rah-oo-tah-vah-rah


Toooooooo dificult for me

Alban Berg, Dmitri Shostakóvich, Ich liebe Dich (this is not a composer...LOL)

Martin


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

FYI, link to a handy reference.

http://iowapublicradio.org/about-ipr/dictionary.html


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## opus55 (Nov 9, 2010)

Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович - I wish I still had Russian coworkers who could say it right for me!


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## Evelina (Sep 30, 2011)

Shostakovich is my favorite, too. When pronounced correctly, instant Russian accent!

Oh had to include Wikipedia's pronunciation guide for the name too, as it made me laugh: [dmʲitrij ˌdmʲitrɪjevʲiʨ ʂɨstɐˈkɔvʲɪʨ]. Is that _really_ supposed to help us out?


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