# Where does your username come from?



## MoonlightSonata

Just out of interest. There are so many fascinating and unusual screen names on this forum that it'd be interesting to learn more about then.


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## Dim7

My nickname does not come from "diminished wit", it comes from the diminished seventh chord.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Diminished_seventh_chord_on_B.mid


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## Stavrogin

Nikolaj Stavrogin, one of the main characters of Dostoevskij's The Demons.
He is widely considered both one of the purest personifications of evil, and one of the best written characters in the history of literature.
I picked his name for the latter reason.


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## brotagonist

Hey, _bro_! The leading character in a play or novel is the _protagonist_.


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## Fagotterdammerung

It's a pun involving bassoons.


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## Figleaf

Mine's pretty puerile, I'm afraid. It comes from this very fetching garment, modelled by the great Victor Maurel:



 :lol: :lol:


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## PetrB

Not at all imaginative, My given name and the first initial of a chosen pseudonym surname.


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## PetrB

Figleaf said:


> Mine's pretty puerile, I'm afraid. It comes from this very fetching garment, modelled by the great Victor Maurel:
> 
> 
> 
> :lol: :lol:


Early model thong....


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## ahammel

First initial plus last name.

I've had people assume it's an Arabic word, though.


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## Dim7

brotagonist said:


> Hey, _bro_! The leading character in a play or novel is the _protagonist_.


How about "santagonist", the evil twin of Santa Claus.


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## SarahNorthman

My first name and the last name of my favorite character from True Blood.


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## MoonlightSonata

Fagotterdammerung said:


> It's a pun involving bassoons.


Bassoons and the end of the world....


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## superhorn

Simple . I used to be a horn player . I'm not sure how super, though !


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## DiesIraeCX

The 3rd Movement of Mozart's _Requiem_, K 626 - "Dies Irae"

+

My two favorite Beethoven symphonies


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## SixFootScowl

The political prisoner in Beethoven's opera, Fidelio. My avatar in case anyone doesn't recognize him, is Placido Domingo playing Florestan. My son has the jailer's name from same opera.


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## SixFootScowl

ahammel said:


> First initial plus last name.
> 
> I've had people assume it's an Arabic word, though.


Rather, I assumed you are Arabic.


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## Albert7

Just guess folks.


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## musicrom

albertfallickwang said:


> Just guess folks.


You play the violin?


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## Albert7

musicrom said:


> You play the violin?


That is mighty hilarious!


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## Art Rock

I have used this name across different boards since 2006 (before that, it was Dragon Phoenix). I came up with it when I started my blog on fine art and music, and it is one of my favorite genres of rock.


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## Il_Penseroso

Il penseroso (The Thinker) comes from both Rodin famous sculpture and Liszt a short piano music in the second volume of Années de pèlerinage (which he composed inspiring by Michelangelo)... and also to remind me of not being emotional and moody in the life which has cost me great deals! lol


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## Taggart

Name and avatar follow from a classic British detective series:










It's also a homage to our (now departed) border terrier


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## elgar's ghost

I chose mine in a hurry when registering after deciding that I didn't want to use my own name. Then I discovered that there were two or three members already using the name Elgar or variants of it. I don't particularly like my user name all that much, but at least there is a local connection and I can't be bothered to change now after putting up with it for over four years.


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## Ingélou

ahammel said:


> First initial plus last name.
> 
> I've had people assume it's an Arabic word, though.


Oops! 

I reached my user name in two stages. At first I chose the name Ingenue, to indicate that as far as the world of classical music is concerned, I'm a naive newcomer. But so many people assumed that I was a young girl, that it became embarrassing. I was forever having to tell everyone how old I was, rather than have them think that I was in denial about it. And the more years I stay here, the more embarrassing it would have become.

I looked for another name as close as possible so that earlier posts where people addressed me would not be puzzling. Ingelou is a woman's name in Dutch - Inge + Lou(isa). So Ing*é*lou - I added an accent to keep the French link, as I'm a francophile.

Hope this helps,
Madame la Marquise


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## GioCar

The first 3 letters of my name + the first three letters of my surname.
Quite simple but then I liked linking it to my avatar.


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## ptr

the utterly boring; "my first name without vowels"... mostly because I'm thoroughly absent minded and would never remember anything longer or more complicated or funny! 

/ptr


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## schigolch

Schigolch is a character on Alban Berg's opera _Lulu_. He is an old man, that was living on the streets with the child Lulu, and rumored to be her father. He is still in touch with Lulu, and follows her until the sour end, in London. It was also present in the Wedekind's plays that are the source of the opera.


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## Blancrocher

Il_Penseroso said:


> ... and also to remind me of not being emotional and moody in the life which has cost me great deals! lol


In that case, perhaps Handel would be a better model than Liszt! He's a great one for inspiring moderation, imo.


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## Jeff W

Very boring story behind mine. Slightly shortened version of my first name (Jeffrey) and the first letter of my last name... Nothing really special.


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## Ingélou

Jeff W said:


> Very boring story behind mine. Slightly shortened version of my first name (Jeffrey) and the first letter of my last name... Nothing really special.


It's nice and friendly - and your avatar is distinctive, and quite brilliant!


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## Ukko

My username is the result of long contemplation of my mental condition and careful study of possible representations. Same deal with the avatar, for the physical.


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## Jeff W

Ingélou said:


> It's nice and friendly - and your avatar is distinctive, and quite brilliant!


I had intended to use it only until the Christmas season ended (I work retail and we get blitzed nonstop by Christmas music from Thanksgiving through Christmas). I'm glad I'm not the only one who has taken a liking to it !


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## Guest

From the Peter Hammill album In Camera. Plus nice n short.
But dull.


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## Giordano

Giordano Bruno


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## ahammel

How do they get his statue to be always on fire like that?


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## Cosmos

~ The UNIVERSE ~


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## senza sordino

Senza Sordino means "without mute" I have something to say. But compared with many of you here regarding music, I have little to say, maybe my name should be " con sordino" Violins have mutes, it's a soft rubber piece that slides onto the bridge. The music will say con sordino.


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## Giordano

Cosmos said:


> ~ The UNIVERSE ~


:lol: :tiphat:


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## SiegendesLicht

The prologue to Götterdämmerung.


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## TresPicos

MoonlightSonata said:


> Just out of interest. There are so many fascinating and unusual screen names on this forum that it'd be interesting to learn more about then.


You forgot to tell the story behind your username...


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## Dim7

TresPicos said:


> You forgot to tell the story behind your username...


I think he's deliberately postponing the revelation to build up anticipation.


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## TxllxT

My username has to do with my place of living, the Isle of Texel, that we travel round & round + back & back (happily it's quite big).


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## Cheyenne

I like the name. I lie about my name to strangers all the time (it provides a childish enjoyment), and Cheyenne is one of the most frequently used options. I also like the character from Once Upon a Time in the West and his theme.


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## Mahlerian

You know, it's been so long, I don't remember...


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## MoonlightSonata

TresPicos said:


> You forgot to tell the story behind your username...





Dim7 said:


> I think he's deliberately postponing the revelation to build up anticipation.


Drumroll please...
It comes from....
:trp: Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata! :trp:

I know, nobody was expecting that. Sorry to shock you so much. Have a glass of water if you're feeling faint.
I was learning the sonata when I signed up, and so it was the first thing that came into my head.


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## Chronochromie

When I made my account I had just heard Schubert's Winterreise, quite an experience. But it doesn't "flow" very well, so maybe I'll change it.


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## Jos

From my mum and dad. 
It says so on me birthcertificate: username: Jos


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## MoonlightSonata

Der Leiermann said:


> When I made my account I had just heard Schubert's Winterreise, quite an experience. But it doesn't "flow" very well, so maybe I'll change it.


I think it's fine - I quite like it.


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## TurnaboutVox

I was looking for something nicely inconspicuous amongst you humans (like my friend Ford Prefect)*

The username is both the name of the record company who made the Brendel Beethoven piano sonata recordings I first collected as a child around 1970, and a pun on my uncertainty of musical taste and liability to change my mind (hence my opinions - 'voice' or 'vox', would 'turn around' from time to time - and so it proved).

Shortly after joining I managed to snap my cat Arthur, who was sitting on my lap, _turning about_ and giving me the benefit of his _vox_ as I listened to Berg's Violin Concerto, so I decided to use the picture as my profile picture. And he does have great fangs, he thanks you for the compliment, gog!

*This is a joke for older readers


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## SiegendesLicht

Der Leiermann said:


> When I made my account I had just heard Schubert's Winterreise, quite an experience. But it doesn't "flow" very well, so maybe I'll change it.


It's fine as it is, don't change it.

We have a _Winterreisender_ here somewhere too.


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## QuietGuy

I'm a quiet and shy person who prefers to hang back and observe people and then participate when I feel I can. I'm neither deaf nor mute, though.


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## Tristan

It comes from my name 

"Tristan" is a Welsh name that means "noise" or "tumult". Its spelling was influenced by the French word _triste_ meaning "sad".

My parents got the idea for my name from Wagner's opera


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## Skilmarilion

So JRR Tolkien had a novel entitled, _The Silmarillion_, and it *looks* like my spelling was quite underwhleming in April 2013.

Of course *looks* can be deceiving. :tiphat:


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## Antiquarian

I like old things: old music, old books, old paintings, so I guess my user name really expresses my interests. I sometimes feel that I was born in the wrong century.


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## Levanda

Levanda is flower in Lithuanian in English Lavenders, As well I loved in my youth this song singing my Ukrainian singer song about flower Levanda.


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## Dim7

Antiquarian said:


> I like old things: old music, old books, old paintings, so I guess my user name really expresses my interests. I sometimes feel that I was born in the wrong century.


As a Quarian I'm relieved to know that's the meaning behind your username.


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## StlukesguildOhio

According to legend, Saint Luke is supposed to have drawn or painted a portrait of the Virgin and Child:









-Rogier van der Weyden

As a consequence, Saint Luke became recognized as the artist's patron saint and many of the artists' and painters' guilds during the Middle Age and Renaissance were named The Guild of Saint Luke or Saint Luke's Guild.

"Ohio"... my home state... was added after I had not participated on the forum for some time and forgot my password. By that time I had a new e-mail address and found it easier to open a new account.

My avatar is of the soprano, Lna Cavalieri (25 December 1874 - 7 February 1944):

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

Cavalieri was a successful singer, a star of the operatic stage in Paris, New York, and St. Petersburg. She performed opposite Enrico Caruso at the Met.

Cavalieri was perhaps more famous for her stunning looks and her personal life. She was frequently referred to as "the world's most beautiful woman".



















Cavalieri's first husband was a Russian Prince. Her second husband, Robert Winthrop Chanler, was a member of the Astor and Dudley-Winthrop families. This marriage didn't even survive the honeymoon.

Cavalieri and her fourth husband, who lived in Italy, near Florence, were killed in WWII by an American bomber while running to the air raid shelter.

Cavalieri's book on _My Secrets of Beauty_ is still in print.


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## Albert7

albertfallickwang said:


> Just guess folks.


My real name is a Freudian symbol


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## OldFashionedGirl

My username is oldfashionedgirl, because I like things that are considered old fashion.


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## Badinerie

I was listening to an old Compilation lp when registering here and it was playing when I had to choose a username.I always have bother thinking up something appropriate for a forum name.I like the piece, but wouldn't consider it a particular favourite.


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## Headphone Hermit

senza sordino said:


> Senza Sordino means "without mute" I have something to say. But compared with many of you here regarding music, I have little to say, maybe my name should be " con sordino" Violins have mutes, it's a soft rubber piece that slides onto the bridge. The music will say con sordino.


I like your posts - they seem thoughtful and well-considered.

as for my user name .... well, do you need ask? And the avatar is my favourite composer (not necessarily the one that I think was the 'best' composer) to remind me that it doesn't always pay to be outspoken and to act as a warning not to be ground down by mediocrity


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## hpowders

Wait a minute! These are not your real names?

So, the 10 million euro donation to the Taggart Elizabethan Music Fund will probably not arrive!

Sorry.


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## SixFootScowl

So, hpowders, what is the origin of your username? I did not see a post of such from you yet.


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## Taggart

hpowders said:


> Wait a minute! These are not your real names?
> 
> So, the 10 million euro donation to the Taggart Elizabethan Music Fund will probably not arrive!
> 
> Sorry.


The bill* is in the post. :cheers:

_(* - Or should that be *Bull*?)_


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## hpowders

Florestan said:


> So, hpowders, what is the origin of your username? I did not see a post of such from you yet.


From that great Elizabethan composer hpowders, one of the pithiest of all composers.

He wrote a half-minute gavotte. I think he influenced Chopin, but I'm not sure.


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## clara s

hpowders said:


> From that great Elizabethan composer hpowders, one of the pithiest of all composers.
> 
> He wrote a half-minute gavotte. I think he influenced Chopin, but I'm not sure.


a half-minute gavotte? hahaha

no, it was more than forty seconds

I am sure hpowders influenced Johann Sebastian Bach to write his partitas


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## hpowders

clara s said:


> a half-minute gavotte? hahaha
> 
> no, it was more than forty seconds
> 
> I am sure hpowders influenced Johann Sebastian Bach to write his partitas


I read somewhere that hpowder's gavotte was the inspiration for Chopin's Minute Waltz...or if Claudio Arrau is the soloist, the 2 minute 27 seconds waltz.

I will have to research the Bach-hpowders composing connection. I think it's weak.

No insult to either composer intended.


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## clara s

hpowders said:


> I read somewhere that hpowder's gavotte was the inspiration for Chopin's Minute Waltz...or if Claudio Arrau is the soloist, the 2 minute 27 seconds waltz.
> 
> I will have to research the Bach-hpowders composing connection. I think it's weak.
> 
> No insult to either composer intended.


come on Brad

gavotte en rondeau from partita no 3

a typical sample of Bach's influence by hpowders

3 minutes 15 seconds too big huh?


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## hpowders

clara s said:


> come on Brad
> 
> gavotte en rondeau from partita no 3
> 
> a typical sample of Bach's influence by hpowders
> 
> 3 minutes 15 seconds too big huh?


You want to hear something brilliant. Listen to the entire Bach Keyboard Partita No. 5.

I used that avatar hoping Angelina would stop by here and PM me. I can do a great Brad Pitt impersonation as long as she and I are on opposite sides of a thick cyberspace wall.


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## SixFootScowl

I don't know about the musical side of it but a Google search shows users named hpowders all over many different websites. You have a popular username.


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## Skilmarilion

Il_Penseroso said:


> Il penseroso (The Thinker) comes from *both Rodin famous sculpture and Liszt ...*


The Rodin is enough.


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## Skilmarilion

btw -- I must add that it took me many, many hours to come up with a username, mostly due to _millionrainbows_ having already been taken.


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## hpowders

Florestan said:


> I don't know about the musical side of it but a Google search shows users named hpowders all over many different websites. You have a popular username.


I've been around. Car forums. Watch forums. Music forums. Angelina Jolie Forums.
Scarlett Johansson forums.


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## amfortas

Mine's simple: it's an anagram of asfortam!


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## GhenghisKhan

Ghenghis Khan.

Nuff said.


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## SeptimalTritone

albertfallickwang said:


> My real name is a Freudian symbol


Just be glad that your first name isn't Richard.


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## Lunasong

My username is about two things that are ever-changing, ever-present, ever the same. When I think about how many people have looked at the moon! Or sung a song! or maybe both at the same time!


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## Überstürzter Neumann

Some interesting stories here. Alas, I have none such. I just decided to use my first name after having considered Ûberstürzter Neumann, which I use on another classical music where I never post.


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## spokanedaniel

Simple and unimaginative: My first name plus the year I was born. Generally I try to use just daniel, but if that's already taken, or I'm too lazy when signing up to check, I add on the birth year. So far, that's never been taken. I've used other usernames, but never been particularly happy with them. Other names I think of always end up sounding pretentious. Daniel I am, and I like my name and its connotations (cats, so a certain very popular book tells us, don't bite people of my name, and I like cats) so it suits me as a username.

Edit. Oops! I was thinking of the username I used on some other boards. Here, I'm my name preceded by the town I live in. I cannot remember why I didn't use my birth year here. Maybe it WAS already taken???


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## isorhythm

Browsing the forum I saw that a couple other people had music theory terms as their usernames. Isorhythm seemed appropriate because it is a technique used by a couple of my favorite composers, Machaut and Messiaen, centuries apart. The technique itself and the composers with whom it is associated, together, sum up my aesthetic or philosophical approach to music pretty well.


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## Albert7

septimaltritone said:


> just be glad that your first name isn't richard.


lol :d lol lol lol


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## Dim7

My real name is in fact Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen, that is if you want to say my real name you have to play the entire Ring Cycle. But if you're really in a hurry I guess it's okay if you just call me Dim7.


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## ptr

Dim7 said:


> My real name is in fact Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen, that is if you want to say my real name you have to play the entire Ring Cycle. But if you're really in a hurry I guess it's okay if you just call me Dim7.


I shall forthwith call You Grimgerde!

/ptr


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## Granate

Granate is the Spanish word for the red and purplish jewels coming from the Garnet mineral. The colour has little symbolism in my country, except it is one of the two colours present in FC Barcelona (azul-grana is the way they call their T-shirt out of their colours).


















However, I am no fan of this football/soccer team, although I respect and admire their concept as a club and team.
I would say this shade represents an angry feeling about the world that was in my mind at the time I made the avatar. After the revamped designed I erased the small letters to leave it in a menacing eye and its brow.


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## Pat Fairlea

My second forename plus the name of my house.

Not exactly imaginative.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

My username comes from the innermost part of Sognefjorden, in Luster, in western Norway...This is what you see...


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## ldiat

ldiat--->Louis Diat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Diat


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## starthrower

The Star Thrower is a poem by naturalist/author, the late Loren Eiseley. And the late great Auden's introduction to this compilation is worth the price of admission. Here it is! http://southerncrossreview.org/44/auden-eiseley.htm


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## Bettina

My username comes from the 19th-century writer Bettina von Arnim (maiden name Brentano). She and Beethoven were good friends, perhaps even lovers. They often discussed music, literature, and aesthetics. I like to imagine that I would have had a similar role in his life, if I had lived in his time. My username is a tribute to that fantasy.


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## hpowders

My user name came out of the phone book. My real name is Helden Leben.

Don't ever call me Heli!


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## ArtMusic

My username comes from my belief that quality composed music is true art, other pieces are not.


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## 433

My username comes from how I discovered this website.
I was googling information about 4'33 after a friend at work was discussing it with me, which landed me on a thread about it, then I signed up. 

Weirdly enough, it still seems to be a popular topic here


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## Krummhorn

My username, Krummhorn, is my most favorite organ solo stop. All the years that I've been an organist my church keys have always been on a ring with a Krummhorn stop tab.


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## Huilunsoittaja

Krummhorn said:


> My username, Krummhorn, is my most favorite organ solo stop. All the years that I've been an organist my church keys have always been on a ring with a Krummhorn stop tab.


Wow I didn't know that! That's cool!

Huilunsoittaja, nothing special. It just means "Flutist" in Finnish, thereby it is 2 identities. I am a Flutist of Finnish descent.


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## Vasks

I chose a short, easy spelling name of a modern composer.


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## SixFootScowl

When I first came here my username was TallPaul. I used that because I didn't know what else to use and my boss once hired a second Paul, a short guy, and wanted to tell us apart, so he pointed to me and said, "you are Tall Paul," and to the other guy he said, "you are Small Paul." 

A couple years later when i was totally awestruck by my first opera on video (Fidelio conducted by Bernstein), I had my name changed to Florestan after Leonore's husband who was imprisoned in the dungeon. 

More recently I was thinking to change it to Figaro for Barber of Seville, but thought everyone would think of the Mozart opera instead.

It is more fun to change your avatar image now and then, which I just did for my latest opera obsession.


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## SarahNorthman

My first and last name.


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## Pugg

My nan used to call me Pugg when I was a toddler, now she calls me handsome.


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## SixFootScowl

Pugg said:


> My nan used to call me Pugg when I was a toddler, now she calls me handsome.


And here I thought all the time that you had one of these:


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## Pugg

Florestan said:


> And here I thought all the time that you had one of these:


That's one with two g's


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## Strange Magic

You're sailing softly through the sun
In a broken stone age dawn.
You fly so high.
I get a strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic.....

Courtesy of Electric Light Orchestra

Music, for me, is a Strange Magic indeed.


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## Judith

I've just used my first name. My full name is Judith Harris!


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## Daniel Atkinson

ArtMusic said:


> My username comes from my belief that quality composed music is true art, other pieces are not.


Well that was pretentious


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## Daniel Atkinson

I just used my name


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## Pugg

Daniel Atkinson said:


> Well that was pretentious


That's the prerogative on a forum, one can choose a name he / she, likes.


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## Marinera

Florestan said:


> And here I thought all the time that you had one of these:


Yeah, me too


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## Marinera

Mine is a mixture of my two first names and the surname


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## Granate

Marinera said:


> Mine is a mixture of my two first names and the surname












¿^-^?


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## Marinera

Granate said:


> ¿^-^?


Yes, I wanted seafaring association too, because I love the sea very much, and in our family there were marines and sailors. Ships, navy and fishing forever. 
And the sea of course.


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## David OByrne

Pugg said:


> My nan used to call me Pugg when I was a toddler, now she calls me handsome.


Very strange but a pug is a Pugg, you can't run from that :lol:


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## SixFootScowl

Granate said:


> ¿^-^?


She'd look a lot better without the lipstick. Must have used half a stick. The stuff is really caked on.


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## Granate

hpowders said:


> My user name came out of the phone book. My real name is Helden Leben.
> 
> Don't ever call me Heli!












_Wait what?_


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## hpowders

Granate said:


> _Wait what?_


Wow! What an astonishing coincidence!!


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## hpowders

Florestan said:


> She'd look a lot better without the lipstick. Must have used half a stick. The stuff is really caked on.


Wow! You are so hard to please!!!


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## Manxfeeder

When I signed up, I was having trouble coming up with a name. As I dithered, my cat came in reminding me that my main function in his world was to feed him. So I named myself in his honor, Manxfeeder.


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## Daniel Atkinson

Pugg said:


> That's the prerogative on a forum, one can choose a name he / she, likes.


It's not his username, it's the pretentious statement he made


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## Pugg

deleted, not worth the time of day.


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## Marinera

Granate said:


> _Wait what?_


The real Helden Leben please stand up

Those rap songs do mash up nicely with classics


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## hpowders

Pugg said:


> My nan used to call me Pugg when I was a toddler, now she calls me handsome.


Post deleted.


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## hpowders

Daniel Atkinson said:


> I just used my name


Thinking outside the box!!!

What a terrific idea!! :tiphat:


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## hpowders

Marinera said:


> The real Helden Leben please stand up
> 
> Those rap songs do mash up nicely with classics


Please don't use my name in _vein_ or anywhere else in the circulatory system of TC.


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## znapschatz

I'm a photographer and my last name begins with the letter z. I have no imagination whatsoever.


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## TxllxT

hpowders said:


> Please don't use my name in _vein_ or anywhere else in the circulatory system of TC.


Vanity of vanities, All is vanity!


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## Varick

When I was 16 years old, I was helping my cousin move a couch he bought from an old woman who was having a house sale. While my cousin was looking around at other things, I wandered into her library and was perusing through her book shelves when I came upon a black book called "Varick." I took it down and noticed that it was written in 1912. It was written about a man who interviewed an immortal named Varick in 1910. He was born in the year 500 in the beginning of the Middle Ages.

He was attacked by an animal at night in the forest when he was in his early 20's. He then became a wolf (what is now known as a werewolf). It took him years to get complete control over the beast to the point where he was completely cognizant while in the wolf form and to where he could change forms at will. The book was written as NON-fiction. The author swears that he met Varick and had this interview with him.

I am thoroughly convinced that Ann Rice came across this book at some point in her life and came up with the idea for "Interview with a Vampire." Varick transformed in front of the author (Edmund Millington) just as in Ann Rice's book Lestat shows the interviewer what he is. The author said it was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. This book was over 700 pages thick and I read it in two weeks. I could not put it down. I had many friends who wanted to read it, but I would not lend it to them. I told them they could come to my house as often as they wanted to read it. Two of them did but only one finished. I kept it in my father's house. When he died, I went looking for it and could not find it anywhere.

I spent years trying to track a copy of the book down. The publishing company went out of business in the 1950s. I have always had a dream of re-writing this book as a novel. I have taken the name Varick and used it often, even when I had my own woodworking business (Varick Woodworking).

And no, it has nothing to do with the street in downtown Manhattan.

Sorry for the long story, but it is a very long story.

V


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Might have been Jack Daniels that suggested mine to me when I registered on TC.


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## Varick

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Might have been Jack Daniels that suggested mine to me when I registered on TC.


Somehow, I don't think it was Jack Daniels. Maybe it might of had something to do with a cup????? :devil:


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Varick said:


> Somehow, I don't think it was Jack Daniels. Maybe it might of had something to do with a cup????? :devil:


Yes, there is that too but Jack pushed me over


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## Guest

I like contrapuntal music, so I used the German word for counterpoint. (or at least Bach's spelling of it!)


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## Sol Invictus

"Unconquered Sun." Deity of Ancient Rome.


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## Totenfeier

"Totenfeier" is the name of the tone poem Mahler wrote and later adapted as the first movement of his Second Symphony, which is the one that, on first hearing at the age of fourteen, readjusted all my neurons to a love of classical music in general and Mahler in particular. The usual translation into English is "Funeral Rites;" Mahler has us imagine ourselves standing beside the coffin of a great man (some say the "Titan" supposedly depicted in the First Symphony), and asking the fundamental question: what is the meaning of life?

And "Funeral Rites" is O.K. as a translation, I suppose - but I like to play around with the contrasting ideas of death and celebration. Google translates it as "Death party," which I think is pretty funny, and calls to mind the Irish wake and the sort of ebullient resignation to life characteristic of Celts in general. I also see Mahler's use of the term in the context of his symphonic vision of death, the reflection on and celebration of life, and the ultimate triumph of hope and Resurrection. And my avatar is the most _peaceful_ and _flattering_ image of Mahler's death mask that I could find; many of the angles from which it is lit and shot make it appear quite gruesome.

Also, it makes me sound like a craftsman - I am he who Totenfeis!

Yes, TMI. Yes, most of you already knew this. Yes, I really think this way, and talk this way until I am told to shut up. If you are still reading at this point - haven't you something better you could be doing?


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## Überstürzter Neumann

Überstürzter Neumann said:


> Some interesting stories here. Alas, I have none such. I just decided to use my first name after having considered Ûberstürzter Neumann, which I use on another classical music where I never post.


So, apparently I changed it after all... Überstürzter Neumann is a Viennese coffee speciality, which I got slightly addicted to during one of my stays in said lovely city.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

No idea.........................


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## Harmonie

My username is the classic era (and there about) term for an ensemble of woodwind and brass instruments. I have a particular fondness for woodwind and brass instruments. Plus, I own a ton of them. I'm like a Crazy Cat Lady, but for wind instruments! So I think I found the best username for me. Sadly, on non-classical music forums people probably won't understand it, and think it's just an alternate spelling of "harmony".


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## Tchaikov6

Tchaikov6= Favorite composer (or at least he was at the time until TC has opened me up to so many different composers I could hardly call him a favorite anymore) + the number of numbered symphonies he wrote.


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## Crystal

Just think crystals are beautiful.


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## SixFootScowl

Crystal said:


> Just think crystals are beautiful.


I used to love rock candy crystals, but now I avoid them because I can't afford to break any more teeth. Not that rock candy should break teeth but many of my teeth seem to have more filling than tooth and so it is precarious.


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## EdwardBast

Edward Bast is a character in William Gaddis's novel _JR_, a composer who becomes indebted to the eponymous eleven year old student. JR begins a business by transshipping surplus government sporks through his elementary school, reinvesting the proceeds in various penny stocks and eventually building a business empire. The "JR Family of Companies" needs an adult front man, so Bast is pressed into service, even though all he really wants to do is complete a composition he is working on. The novel is a satire on the U.S. educational system and business culture.


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## Pugg

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> No idea.........................


I am sure we can help you, lets say $ 150 an hour .


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## distantprommer

My user name says it all. Promming from afar.


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## ST4

Pugg said:


> I am sure we can help you, lets say $ 150 an hour .


Well, every dog wants his bone but why Eddie's?

I'm surprised how dedicated you are to meet him, congrats :tiphat:


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## Barbebleu

Mine is from Bartok's opera minus of course the dukedom and the associated castle and in French! Simples!:lol:


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## Barbebleu

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> No idea.........................


RU kidding? One of Frank's great lines.


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## Tallisman

guess (should be easy)


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## Judith

Florestan said:


> The political prisoner in Beethoven's opera, Fidelio. My avatar in case anyone doesn't recognize him, is Placido Domingo playing Florestan. My son has the jailer's name from same opera.


Just found this post to let you know your name was mentioned in the book "Trio" about Schumanns and Brahms!


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## scratchgolf

I'm named after Pythagoras. His middle name.


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## T Son of Ander

T Anderson = T Son of Ander

In the Avengers, the Asgaardians call Agent Coulson (of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Son of Coul, which is where I got the idea.


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## hpowders

"hpowders" was one of the Knights of the Round Table. My Uncle Arthur's idea, about the round table, instead of a rectangular one, that I maintained was more user-friendly.


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## Bulldog

Since I love dogs, especially bulldogs, my username came easily to me.


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## Tallisman

hpowders said:


> "hpowders" was one of the Knights of the Round Table. My Uncle Arthur's idea, about the round table, instead of a rectangular one, that I maintained was more user-friendly.


I think you've been snorting too much of that hpowder


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## Atrahasis

Atra-hasis which means "exceedingly wise" is a precursor to the Biblical character known to us as Noah. Of course there are examples which predate Atrahasis, like Ziusudra "the founder of long life"/ "life of long days. So in short Akkadian Atrahasis ("extremely wise") and Utnapishtim ("he found life"), as well as biblical Noah ("rest" or "comfort") are emanations of the same hero of flood legends of the ancient Near East. I ve chosen this name to show how all things are just partial interpretations of original /first knowledge of the human insight, all those partial and false interpretations are later modified into something more suitable for mass manipulation etc. All things take the shape we want them to take. Cirlce with the dot in its center, that is the symbol of the whole human existance. Completely mysterious symbol yet it explains everything. Poet T.S. Eliot once said: We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.


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## SixFootScowl

I started out here many years ago as TallPaul. I used that name because I was not very creative in coming up with a username at the time and that is what my boss called me to differentiate between me and a shorter Paul who also worked for him. However, once I got Fidelio fever leading off a Beethoven craze I changed my username to Florestan. At the same time my son joined and took Rocco as a username, also from Fidelio.

I have been thinking of changing my username for a while and focused on a couple of my favorite operas that don't always get much attention: L'amico Fritz (Mascagni) and Martha (Flotow). I noticed that it is not typical for a character in an opera to have a full name, and Fritz Kobus from L'amico Fritz appealed to me. Though I am more into Martha now, two of the male figures, Lyonel and Plunkett, would not do. Lyonel is not distinctive enough, and Plunkett just seemed a bit dull. And while Sir Tristan Mickleford is quite distinctive, and a bit corny, it is too long to be typing to sign in and he is the guy who ends up the loser in the opera, besides being rather a buffoon throughout.

So anyway, here I am, Fritz Kobus, and I plan on being so for a long time.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

The origin of my username is quite obvious, but it's also deceptive in that I've never played Gaspard de la Nuit (probably way too difficult for me) and I probably like/ identify more with Jeux D'eau. 

On another forum earlier in my life my username was "Wagnerian", and I re-signed on to that forum more recently as "Rococo", which reflects the fact that music from the late baroque has come to account for most of my listening, esp. Couperin and Rameau who I guess are the epitome of "rococo" in music.


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## SarahNorthman

My first name plus me being a fangirl....


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## Haydn man

Because I am a big Mozart fan


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## Animal the Drummer

Mine is a salute to my favourite Muppet character, an idol of mine for four decades.


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