# Sitting down to dinner and an interview with your favorite composer..



## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

It's not lost on me that this is yet another in a line of pointless hypotheticals but I would say pointless but fun (and if we look at anything through the lens of cynicism isn't everything pointless.. :roll eyes: )

Back to the OP... 

So if this was a possibility sitting down to dinner with the composer who you most dearly follow and love, what would you ask?... and for extra fun lets say as the night progressed the composer took a liking to you and said he would like to compose a new work and dedicate it to you and then asked you what sort of work you'd want it to be.. What sort of work would you like that composer to dedicate to you...


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

My answer would have to be Beethoven. Some of the questions I would ask... (to Beethoven of course)

1) What do you find so interesting about fugues and canons?
2) Why do you prefer Handel to Bach?
3) Who was the immortal beloved? ( you know it had to be asked..  )
4) What is your favorite opus of your own work?
5) What is your favorite opera?
6) As much as you say you never learned anything from Haydn... It's sort of obvious you did why 
downplay his role in your influences?
7) What's your favorite key?
8) Why was the whole thing with Karl(his nephew) so important to you?
9) What was your least favorite of your opus'
10) Can you pay for this dinner? 

If he wanted to dedicate and write a new work for me I'd ask another set of 4 string quartets, to bring his output to an even 20 and to give the world more of where he was going with the last 5. 

Anyway can't wait to see some of your posts..


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

You left out the most obvious question - What do you want for dinner?


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Why would You want to meet someone You hero worship, it is just like finally meeting God and she does not live up to the hype.. :angel:

/ptr


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Fugue Meister said:


> My answer would have to be Beethoven. Some of the questions I would ask... (to Beethoven of course)
> 
> 1) What do you find so interesting about fugues and canons?
> 2) Why do you prefer Handel to Bach?
> ...


Can't help thinking its a good job he wouldn't be able to hear you (or understand your English)!


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Fugue Meister said:


> If he wanted to dedicate and write a new work for me I'd ask another set of 4 string quartets, to bring his output to an even 20 and to give the world more of where he was going with the last 5.


I would have thought 16 is a much more even number in musical terms than 20, isn't it? 
In terms of evening up numbers, I would have gone for a 10th symphony.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

I'd interview Beethoven. I'm gonna hypothesize that this is in the present day so that changes it up quite a bit, imagine that Beethoven has heard all of the music that followed him. Some of my questions will be the same as yours (Fugue Meister)
To play devil's advocate, I actually do agree with ptr, meeting your heroes doesn't always work out to be a good thing. I like the mythical status that my favorite composers have.

1) CAN YOU HEAR ME?!
2) What are your thoughts on the major influential composers of the 19th century (Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner, Brahms, etc.)?
3) Thoughts on the composers of the 20th century, especially those who are radically different in style (Schoenberg, Boulez, Lutosławski, etc.)?
4) Which is your least favorite *and * favorite symphony of your repertoire?
5) Do you regret the way you treated Karl and his mother?
6) Which brand of hearing-aid do you prefer? 
7) We know you didn't think of Rossini as a serious composer, but what do you think of the major Italian opera composers like Verdi and Puccini? (Clearly, Beethoven's resentment of Rossini had to do with his popularity among the Viennese)
8) Who is your Immortal Beloved?
9) Who is your favorite or preferred conductor your works? Are the HIP conductors getting your intentions right?
10) If you could re-work or do over one of your works, what would it be?
11) What do the first four notes of your 5th symphony really represent?
12) Who is your favorite post-Beethoven composer?

I would most definitely ask for an Overture.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2014)

Fugue Meister said:


> It's not lost on me that this is yet another in a line of pointless hypotheticals...


Well, that all depends. I eat dinner with my favorite composers all the time.

And we talk about all sorts of things. Sometimes even music.

Interviews, on the other hand, well, interviews are easy to do, at first. That is, the sitting down with a recorder and chatting is easy. Turning that into a piece of writing that's interesting and fun to read. Well, that's another matter entirely.

But dinner? That's just easy all round. You meet up with your friend. You go to dinner. Or maybe you're staying in her house for a few days. Then you just go downstairs to the dining room and have yourself some dinner. Easy.

It's real food, too. Nourishing and tasty. And real conversation, no pretending. And very much not at all pointless.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

ptr said:


> Why would You want to meet someone You hero worship, it is just like finally meeting God and she does not live up to the hype.. :angel:
> 
> /ptr


Meh I think I could Handel it :lol: ... besides it's the music I worship I think I would be able to keep the two separate and this hypothetical implies things go well and you and your favorite click... so yeah and what about an answer Ptr?


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Can't help thinking its a good job he wouldn't be able to hear you (or understand your English)!


Hey man thats what iPhones are for (well that and a myriad of other uses). Besides how do you know I don't speak German myself....

I don't fluently but I could stumble through it.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2014)

I'm with Fugue Meister, I'd also want to sit down and have dinner with Beethoven. I'd only ask one question (apart from who's gonna pick up the bill): how much would he want to compose a full-blown 'cello concerto. With that out of the way, we'd then just sink a few jugs of wine and chat up some fine-looking women.


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

Shostakovich.

I'd meet him in town one evening and for dinner we'd go to the chippy and get fish suppers which we'd eat walking down the street because I'm as common as muck. Then we'd pick up a couple of girls and head off to a piano bar I know where I'd kick the resident bum off the stool and let Shosty take his rightful place.
I'd tell the girls_ "Wait until you hear this! You know 'Tea for Two', yes? Everyone knows it!" _and Shosty would let rip. Then we'd pose for a selfie and Shosty would post it here on Talk Classical: 
'_Вот те на! ZOMG. Me and mirepoixski and dames. Be jealous. lol_.'
But ultimately we'd dump the girls because he noticed that in a certain light one of them looked a little like Stalin.

So we'd take refuge in a pool hall and shoot the breeze. He'd say "_What a night! I feel inspired! You're my new muse! What will you be having?_" and I'd ask for his take on Gershwin's 'Lady be Good' or Porter's 'Night and Day' but that I'd want to play the finished work myself and so in the piano part could he leave out as many of the black keys as possible because I always trouble with those.

Sadly, we'd have run out of money for bus fare home and late night pelmeni and so we'd have to busk at the taxi queue. I'd sing and Shosty would play comb and tissue paper on 'Froggy went a courtin'' until we raised enough.
Finally, I'd turn to him and ask the big question:
"_Dear Shosty, you always look so happy. What's your secret?_"


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I'd get dinner with Handel, supposing I was in the mood for a big meal.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

mirepoix said:


> Shostakovich.
> 
> I'd meet him in town one evening and for dinner we'd go to the chippy and get fish suppers which we'd eat walking down the street because I'm as common as muck. Then we'd pick up a couple of girls and head off to a piano bar I know where I'd kick the resident bum off the stool and let Shosty take his rightful place.
> I'd tell the girls_ "Wait until you hear this! You know 'Tea for Two', yes? Everyone knows it!" _and Shosty would let rip. Then we'd pose for a selfie and Shosty would post it here on Talk Classical:
> ...


I wonder what his last wife would think, I believe she's still drawing breath...


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## mirepoix (Feb 1, 2014)

^^^^ I don't know. But I'm not telling my girlfriend.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

some guy said:


> Well, that all depends. I eat dinner with my favorite composers all the time.
> 
> And we talk about all sorts of things. Sometimes even music.
> 
> ...


... and the conversation, so often on and about anything _but_ music


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Louis van Gaal would not be someone to sit down peaceably listening to any old question. Have a glance at his "that was a stupid question" response at about 45 seconds in


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

TalkingHead said:


> I'm with Fugue Meister, I'd also want to sit down and have dinner with Beethoven. I'd only ask one question (apart from who's gonna pick up the bill): how much would he want to compose a full-blown 'cello concerto. With that out of the way, we'd then just sink a few jugs of wine and chat up some fine-looking women.


I'd also would have loved to see a oboe or even a bassoon concerto from Beethoven (just love those instruments and hey Mozart did one of each why not good ole LvB?) that would have been awesome. But I still would have wanted the 4 string quartets I think he was really on to something quite special with his last two years writing string quartets.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2014)

There does exist a fragment of a Beethoven oboe concerto if my memory serves me; I'll leave that to the experts here on TC to give you more on that point, Fugue Meister. And of course I wouldn't say "no" to a couple more quartets, that's as sure as mustard is hot. But apart from that, I like to imagine a boozy night on the town with the old codger. I was in Vienna last year (or thereabouts) and went to a bar/restaurant that he used to frequent. The food and service were crap, but sitting there with a beer and a poorly-made "salad" didn't stop my imagination from wandering ...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would sit down with Beethoven and ask him to create a work just for me, sort of an Emperor Concerto for Poster and Orchestra in E Flat Major.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Louis van Gaal would not be someone to sit down peaceably listening to any old question. Have a glance at his "that was a stupid question" response at about 45 seconds in


Reminds me of that interview with Stockhausen (can not find it, sorry) where it is evident the interviewer is a journalist who has looked up a few buzzwords and terms, but has no idea of music, or his composer subject. A few moments in, you can see Stockhausen getting the drift, and essentially either ignoring the interviewer or -- easily -- making a complete fool of him for the duration of that interview.

In a Dutch television interview with Louis Andriessen -- a promo blurb for his then new opera, _Rosa, a horse drama,_ the journalist asked the composer 'what was he thinking / feeling when he wrote the piece." Andriessen, infamously blunt and brusque, blurted out, "That is a terrible question to ask an artist." Interviewer blushed, went to next prepped question on her card.

Ergo, all of us, trained and not trained classical fans who have composers as heroes, be very careful of what you wish for 

_P.s. When I learned that Laurie Anderson and the late Lou Reed were a couple, I did wish I could be 'the fly on the wall,' when they were hanging out in their kitchen, eating, smoking, talking... and maybe the privileged view of 'the fly on the wall' is the better way to get to know what those heroes and heroines are / were really like._


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I'd ask Wagner for his opinion on Israeli/Palestinian relations.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Lope de Aguirre said:


> I'd ask Wagner for his opinion on Israeli/Palestinian relations.


I'll save you the effort: "Vipe dem out!! Da Erubs haf da rite to da lant."


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Lope de Aguirre said:


> I'd ask Wagner for his opinion on Israeli/Palestinian relations.


And whatever he says, you'd agree with him 100% or never meet again. He was notorious for holding forth amid a salon-like circle of sycophants, and whenever one disagreed with him in the slightest, that person was forever banned from the group


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

dupe​ -----------------------------


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Fugue Meister said:


> My answer would have to be Beethoven. Some of the questions I would ask... (to Beethoven of course)
> 8) Why was the whole thing with Karl(his nephew) so important to you?


Because I recently saw ein biopic of me in vich it vas proven that he is in fact mein own son, that's vhy!



TalkingHead said:


> I'm with Fugue Meister, I'd also want to sit down and have dinner with Beethoven. I'd only ask one question (apart from who's gonna pick up the bill): how much would he want to compose a full-blown 'cello concerto. With that out of the way, we'd then just sink a few jugs of wine and chat up some fine-looking women.


Ah yes, a cello concerto by Beethoven. The triple concerto gives us only a glimpse of what might have been. Perhaps if you offer to pay him enough he'd write one. And then sell it to someone else after you have already paid him. 

Me, I might have liked dinner with Brahms, but then, I don't like to be insulted, especially by half drunk midgets, so perhaps I'll give it a skip. Schubert or Mozart may well make for far more congenial company, and with Schubert you could have him quickly write you a masterpiece in return for your paying for the meal.


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