# Classical Puns



## Huilunsoittaja

Can you think of any? 

Here's one:


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## Aramis

Liszt:










List =P

Bach:










Schoenberg:

















Schön - Berg

Alfven:

















Alf - Ven


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## Aramis

Elgar:










El (prefix) - Gar


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## Huilunsoittaja

Haha! Yet how is Bach related to a stream?


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## Fsharpmajor

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Haha! Yet how is Bach related to a stream?


Maybe he meant to say Bruch?


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## Aramis

> Haha! Yet how is Bach related to a stream?


The analogy is the same as in Schoenberg - german language in which bach means stream.


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## Weston

My own that I spring on unsuspecting victims is to say "I really like this _Symphony on a French Mountain Aire_. I don't know know who composed it - the announcer just kept saying it is dandy piece."


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## Huilunsoittaja

Fsharpmajor said:


> Maybe he meant to say Bruch?


Yeah, that works.


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## SuperTonic

This is a little dated and probably only Americans will get it:

Yo quiero Pachelbel


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## Fsharpmajor

To a German speaker the composers *Titz* and *Scheidt* probably don't sound amusing, but to an English speaker, well....


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## Pianoforte

Andrew Lloyd Webber.


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## maestro267

Bernstein, with apologies


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## superhorn

Sorry,no pictures, but here are some more good? ones.

Classical music food puns: Steakhausen. Honey Nut Berlioz. Ham and Eggmont.

Pierre Poulet. Chopin Suey. Ravelioli. BBQ Pulled Porkofiev. Satied Chicken.

Regertoni. Chopin-Fried Steak. Alfred Schnitzel. Veal-Lobos. Wiener Schnittke. 

Gluck al Orange.Peking Gluck. Britten Pears. Ligeti and Meatballs. Marriage of Figarolls.

Humperdinkel bread. Baby Bach Ribs. Bachlava. Mousse-orgsky. Fresh Strawberios.Brandenburgers.

Beeth-oven Roasted Chicken. 

Couperich Dressing. James Levine Ripened Tomatoes. Mauricio Bagel. Ives Cream.

Borodinner. Elgarlic Bread. Mozartichoke Hearts. Lully Pops. Salsa Verdi. Glazunoved Doughnuts.

Entertainment and classical music puns: Bach To The Future. Bach Street Boys.

The Hindenburg Concertos. Gluck Skywalker. Field Of Rihms. New Kids On The Bloch.

Debbie Does Tallis. The Scarlatti Letter. Requiem Faure Heavyweight.Telemann And Louise.

Wagnerds. Marilyn Hanson. The Empire Strikes Bach. Babbitt And Costello. 

Rimsky Business. Dances With Wolf. !2 Angry Pitch Classes. Helter Schenker. 

Indiana University Music School And The Temple Of Doom.

Charlie Wuorinen's Angels. Un Ballo In Mascara.



GROAN !!!!!!


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## Earthling

superhorn said:


> Sorry,no pictures, but here are some more good? ones.
> 
> Classical music food puns: Steakhausen. Honey Nut Berlioz. Ham and Eggmont.
> 
> Pierre Poulet. Chopin Suey. Ravelioli. BBQ Pulled Porkofiev. Satied Chicken.
> 
> Regertoni. Chopin-Fried Steak. Alfred Schnitzel. Veal-Lobos. Wiener Schnittke.
> 
> Gluck al Orange.Peking Gluck. Britten Pears. Ligeti and Meatballs. Marriage of Figarolls.
> 
> Humperdinkel bread. Baby Bach Ribs. Bachlava. Mousse-orgsky. Fresh Strawberios.Brandenburgers.
> 
> Beeth-oven Roasted Chicken.
> 
> Couperich Dressing. James Levine Ripened Tomatoes. Mauricio Bagel. Ives Cream.
> 
> Borodinner. Elgarlic Bread. Mozartichoke Hearts. Lully Pops. Salsa Verdi. Glazunoved Doughnuts.
> 
> Entertainment and classical music puns: Bach To The Future. Bach Street Boys.
> 
> The Hindenburg Concertos. Gluck Skywalker. Field Of Rihms. New Kids On The Bloch.
> 
> Debbie Does Tallis. The Scarlatti Letter. Requiem Faure Heavyweight.Telemann And Louise.
> 
> Wagnerds. Marilyn Hanson. The Empire Strikes Bach. Babbitt And Costello.
> 
> Rimsky Business. Dances With Wolf. !2 Angry Pitch Classes. Helter Schenker.
> 
> Indiana University Music School And The Temple Of Doom.
> 
> Charlie Wuorinen's Angels. Un Ballo In Mascara.
> 
> GROAN !!!!!!


You really should be banned for this, you know. 

"Steakhausen" brings a funny image to mind of an expensive, low-lit steak house-- that plays only Stockhausen overhead. LOL


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## superhorn

In German, Bach means a brook. But Beethoven said that his music is not a brook,but an ocean! How right he was!


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## Norse

I'm posting this as a quiz instead:


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## Huilunsoittaja

Hmmm... all I got was Justin Beaver.


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## Norse

Here's a few hints: It follows the exact same "logic" as at least one earlier pun in this thread. This composer is not exactly in the top 10 most famous composers, but I wouldn't say he's super obscure either.. For "Early Music" fans he might even be one of the big guys.


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## ahansen_cello

And who can possibly forget:

Where's Mozart?

Oh, you can't see him? That's because he's Haydn!


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## Huilunsoittaja

How about...










Less of a pun, but it almost is.


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## Earthling

Why did Bach have so many children?

He didn't have any organ stops.

[slithers away...]


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## nefigah

Earthling said:


> Why did Bach have so many children?
> 
> He didn't have any organ stops.
> 
> [slithers away...]


LOL

Reminds me of the old "Why did they switch to the piano in the Classical period? Because the harpsichord was bar-oke"


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## SalieriIsInnocent

I found this joke because I am not original enough:

A tourist in Vienna goes through a graveyard and all of a sudden he hears some music. No one is around, so he starts searching for the source. He finally locates the origin and finds it is coming from a grave with a headstone that reads: 'Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827.' Then he realizes that the music is the Ninth Symphony and it is being played backward! Puzzled, he leaves the graveyard and persuades a friend to return with him. By the time they arrive back at the grave, the music has changed. This time it is the Seventh Symphony but like the previous piece, it is being played backward. Curious, the men agree to consult a music scholar. When they return with the expert the Fifth Symphony is playing, again backward. The expert notices that the symphonies are being played in the reverse order in which they were composed, the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th. By the next day the word  has spread and a throng has gathered around the grave. They are all listening to the Second Symphony being played backward. Just then the graveyard's caretaker ambles up to the group. Someone in the group asks him if he has an explanation for the music. 'Don't you get it?' the caretaker says incredulously- 
......He's decomposing.'


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## graaf

Tchaikovsky, Чайковский came from Чайки, meaning seagull in Ukrainian
or 








чай meaning tea in Russian (also чај in Serbian)









Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Римский maning Roman in Russian


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## Aramis

> Tchaikovsky, Чайковский came from Чайки, meaning seagull in Ukrainian


You is wrong.

It's not the gull but diffrent bird - lapwing. чайка (tchaika - lapwing) - Чайковський (Tchaikovsky).


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## graaf

Aramis said:


> You is wrong.
> 
> It's not the gull but diffrent bird - lapwing. чайка (tchaika - lapwing) - Чайковський (Tchaikovsky).


Slavic languages have many similar words meaning similar but different things, so it often creates confusions. I see you are from Poland, so you most probably recognized that word чайка (seagull) is pronounced same or similar to Polish word czajka (lapwing). After seeing image of lapwing you posted, I remembered that in Serbian we have word чапља (tchaplya) meaning heron! Not pronounced exactly the same as чайка/czajka, but no doubt there's connection...

To reassure everybody, easiest way is to check google images (in plural) чайки or even Russian wikipedia: Серебристая чайка and Чайковые

Срдачан поздрав!

edit:
PS
I added the thing with tea ( чай ) just for the sake of the word play...


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## Aramis

> we have word чапља (tchaplya) meaning heron!


So do we, except the "y", tchapla.

So I guess I was wrong, not you. Or both of us, since you said that it's seagull in Ukrainian. Seems like it means seagull in Russian, but in Ukrainian it's lapwing (in wikipedia experiment ukraninian article was titled Звичайна *чайка*).


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## Sid James

I'm going to the supermarket with my "chopin liszt"...


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## Norse

Norse said:


> Here's a few hints: It follows the exact same "logic" as at least one earlier pun in this thread. This composer is not exactly in the top 10 most famous composers, but I wouldn't say he's super obscure either.. For "Early Music" fans he might even be one of the big guys.


Ok, here's the answer: Like Bach is "brook" in German, *Biber* is "beaver" in German.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Ignaz_Biber


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## Aramis

Andre said:


> I'm going to the supermarket with my "chopin liszt"...


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## Mike Saville

Pianoforte said:


> Andrew Lloyd Webber.




Slightly OT but humorous nonetheless. Back in the old days of word for windows 3.5 I ran a spell check on Leonard Bernstein - the result being Leopard Bearskin


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## superhorn

How about German baroque composer Heinrich Biber. Biber means beaver in German.(it rhymes with the English word,too).


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## Klassik

nefigah said:


> LOL
> 
> Reminds me of the old "Why did they switch to the piano in the Classical period? Because the harpsichord was bar-oke"


Sadly, nefigah, only us Americans will get this wonderful joke since we pronounce Baroque correctly! :cheers:



Earthling said:


> Why did Bach have so many children?
> 
> He didn't have any organ stops.


Hilarious! :tiphat:



Huilunsoittaja said:


> Hmmm... all I got was Justin Beaver.


 Huilunsoittaja, who knew? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but hopefully there's some context to this comment which is not immediately obvious!


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## Huilunsoittaja

Klassik said:


> Huilunsoittaja, who knew? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but hopefully there's some context to this comment which is not immediately obvious!


I dunno either. Posted that 8 years ago 

The Russians (i.e. Glazunov) loved name puns. I guess their names are expressive like that. In a biography I read about him, he used to say a particular joke, that only Russians would get (cuz the pun is in Russian):

"Do you want to know what got me into ballet? Well, it was a dark outside in my backyard and I fell down the _hatch_."

The word for hatch in Russian is _Lyuk_, but it was also the name of a prominent ballerina at the turn of the 20th century, Elena Lyukom (or spelled Lukom in some places), who supposedly specialized in _Raymonda_.  What a nerd


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## Klassik

Huilunsoittaja said:


> The Russians (i.e. Glazunov) loved name puns. I guess their names are expressive like that. In a biography I read about him, he used to say a particular joke, that only Russians would get (cuz the pun is in Russian):
> 
> "Do you want to know what got me into ballet? Well, it was a dark outside in my backyard and I fell down the _hatch_."
> 
> The word for hatch in Russian is _Lyuk_, but it was also the name of a prominent ballerina at the turn of the 20th century, Elena Lyukom (or spelled Lukom in some places), who supposedly specialized in _Raymonda_.  What a nerd


Are we to assume that Glazunov had a thing for Elena Lyukom? :lol:

Of course, I don't think we can attribute Tchaikovsky's interest in ballet to a ballerina. A ballerino, on the other hand...


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## Huilunsoittaja

Klassik said:


> Are we to assume that Glazunov had a thing for Elena Lyukom? :lol:
> 
> Of course, I don't think we can attribute Tchaikovsky's interest in ballet to a ballerina. A ballerino, on the other hand...


mmmmm there are... stories... Glazunov had quite a reputation for liking women a lot younger than him...


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## Klassik

Huilunsoittaja said:


> mmmmm there are... stories... Glazunov had quite a reputation for liking women a lot younger than him...


Well, that's hardly an unprecedented thing in classical music! I guess we'll add Glazunov to the liszt () along with Bruckner, Mahler, Bartok, Janáček, and probably hundreds of others. Once again, we can add Tchaikovsky and a few others to the list if we loosen the criteria a little bit. 

Come to think of it, can anyone name a composer who liked women a lot older than themselves? :lol:


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## CnC Bartok

......as the Martian said to Schubert:

Take me to your Lieder.

I think I stole that from Tom Lehrer.


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## Larkenfield

“Come to think of it, can anyone name a composer who liked women a lot older than themselves?”


At least one example. Cigar-smoking George Sand was 6 years older than her Polish piano playing friend. But it’s hard to come up with a wider age difference than that for preferring an older woman. Doesn’t seem fair somehow but they were both still relatively young when they got together.


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