# The most unfortunate-named composer.



## matsoljare (Jul 28, 2008)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx_(composer)

What makes it even stranger is that he seems to have been a Nazi supporter. :devil:


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Nope.

The most unfortunately named composers were Boris Tchaikovsky and William Schuman, because they kept hearing and reading about how great composers they are but their pride and joy always ended bitterly when the person behind the appraisal decided to start using first names.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Aramis said:


> Nope.
> 
> The most unfortunately named composers were Boris Tchaikovsky and William Schuman, because they kept hearing and reading about how great composers they are but their pride and joy always ended bitterly when the person behind the appraisal decided to start using first names.


Or the most fortunate. Their names certainly causes interest. A composer with unfortunate or fortunate first name and middle name is Georg Friedrich Haas.


----------



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Aramis said:


> Nope.
> 
> The most unfortunately named composers were Boris Tchaikovsky and William Schuman, because they kept hearing and reading about how great composers they are but their pride and joy always ended bitterly when the person behind the appraisal decided to start using first names.


I would also add Siegfried Wagner to that list.


----------



## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Manuel Ponce has always seemed unfortunate in his surname to me.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

There is also the immortal Schobert, whose name even auto-corrects to some other composer. 

Robert and Kenneth Fuchs might have some claim to having been unfortunately named. Edit: Along, of course, with the even more famous Johann Joseph Fux.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Arvo Pärt, Hugo Alfvén, Ture Rangström, Per Nörgård and Yngve Sköld.

Since some people can´t pronounce their names.

I guess there are those who say Schonberg too. Despite that Arnold Schönberg even changed his name to Schoenberg so the Americans could pronounce his name.

To be fair I pronounce names wrong myself. But it is a bit peculiar to hear names being pronounced as they are spelled with other letters or names with accents being pronounced as they have none.


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Sloe said:


> I guess there are those who say Schonberg too.


You mean Adam Schoenberg, or Claude-Michel Schonberg, the composer behind the Broadway smash Les Miserables?


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sloe said:


> Arvo Pärt, Hugo Alfvén, Ture Rangström, Per Nörgård and Yngve Sköld.
> 
> Since some people can´t pronounce their names.
> 
> I guess there are those who say Schonberg too.


In that case, Milhaud!


----------



## Epilogue (Sep 20, 2015)

science said:


> There is also the immortal Schobert, whose name even auto-corrects to some other composer.


Same problem for Piccini (and unlike Schobert, he even kind of matters).

In a different way, the famous-for-knowing-the-famous Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Another possibility: the most unfortunately named composer could be anonymous.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Epilogue said:


> Same problem for Piccini (and unlike Schobert, he even kind of matters).
> 
> In a different way, the famous-for-knowing-the-famous Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf.


Schobert matters. He was voted the worst composer on a talkclassical voting deal thing, and it wasn't even close. Piccini never had an honor like that.


----------



## Epilogue (Sep 20, 2015)

And then, of course, Camille Saint-Saëns, who was wracked with pains when the world addressed him as St. Saynz.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Epilogue said:


> And then, of course, Camille Saint-Saëns, who was wracked with pains when the world addressed him as St. Saynz.


In Korean, his name sounds a lot like "Sang Songs."


----------



## Epilogue (Sep 20, 2015)

science said:


> Schobert matters. He was voted the worst composer on a talkclassical voting deal thing, and it wasn't even close.


Wow! Who was the runner up?

Add to that the Darwin Award (http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/TheMushroomChronicles_Toxicity.htm) and I guess I have to take back my words - a man of rare distinction indeed.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Mahlerian said:


> You mean Adam Schoenberg, or Claude-Michel Schonberg, the composer behind the Broadway smash Les Miserables?


Are there those who say Adam Schonberg?


----------



## Epilogue (Sep 20, 2015)

Sloe said:


> Despite that Arnold Schönberg even changed his name to Schoenberg so the Americans could pronounce his name.


I assumed he did it because f___ Hitler.


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Sloe said:


> Are there those who say Adam Schonberg?


No, there actually is an American composer named Adam Schoenberg, no relation that I'm aware of, born in 1980.


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Englebert Humperdink was posthumously unfortunate to have had an easy-listening crooner named after him.


----------



## Guest (Oct 26, 2015)

Sloe said:


> Or the most fortunate. Their names certainly causes interest. A composer with unfortunate or fortunate first name and middle name is Georg Friedrich Haas.


Yeah, but I listen to Haas more than Handel myself  So it's really Handel that lucked out.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Definitely this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Joseph_Fux


----------



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Elmer Bernstein perhaps (or Leonard Bernstein, depending on whom you're asking: one can be a movie guru/aficionado but know little or no Classical music or conversely).


----------



## Grizzled Ghost (Jun 10, 2015)

I've always liked the name Baldassare Galuppi. Or is it Galuppi Baldassare?

Someone should name their kid after him.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

I'd say John Adams. I wonder how many times per day he needs to remind someone else that he was NOT one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> I'd say John Adams. I wonder how many times per day he needs to remind someone else that he was NOT one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.


Just try to find his Wiki page! Also, he is cursed with a doppelganger, another American post-modernist composer with the same name.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/n...er-adams-composer-spends-his-sunday.html?_r=0


----------



## Hmmbug (Jun 16, 2014)

How about Ludwig Schytte?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludvig_Schytte


----------



## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

Alexandre Schubert (Manhumirim, MG: February 23, 1970):


----------



## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

violadude said:


> Definitely this guy:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Joseph_Fux


"_Fux!_", I say every time I have to read yet again his counterpoint book


----------



## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

aleazk said:


> "_Fux!_", I say every time I have to read yet again his counterpoint book


'Any musician who has not experienced - I do not say understood, but truly experienced - the necessity of strict counterpoint in music is USELESS. For his whole work is careless and irrelevant to the standards of any epoch'


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Biber
Locatelli, whose music is too easily derided as cheesy
Bernard Parmegiani, for similar reasons
Tavener
The other Tavener


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

violadude said:


> Definitely this guy:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Joseph_Fux


Well, it's not like his name is pronounced "*****". It's more like "fooks".


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Hmmbug said:


> How about Ludwig Schytte?
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludvig_Schytte


It is usually spelled skytte and means archer.

I don´t get the cleanest association from Albert Lortzing.


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Sloe said:


> Arvo Pärt, Hugo Alfvén, Ture Rangström, Per Nörgård and Yngve Sköld.
> 
> Since some people can´t pronounce their names.


Arvo Pärt is easy to pronounce. You say it just like you spell it.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Kivimees said:


> Arvo Pärt is easy to pronounce. You say it just like you spell it.


I saw a documentary recently were someone actually called him Part that was why I wrote that post in the first place.


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Surely Schobert gets trumped by both Franz Anton Schubert and his son Franz Anton Schubert (who changed his name to François Schubert).


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Sloe said:


> I saw a documentary recently were someone actually called him Part that was why I wrote that post in the first place.


But Arvo doesn't look, walk, or sound like a duck.*

(Cyber prize to the person who figures this out.)


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Kivimees said:


> But Arvo doesn't look, walk, or sound like a duck.*
> 
> (Cyber prize to the person who figures this out.)


Part Estonian for duck.


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Bingo! :tiphat:


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schumann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schuman
I mixed up these two for years lol


----------



## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

But when one died in approximatley same time other was BORN...Re-Born???


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

I think Woodduck has mentioned the hymn writer Augustus Toplady before- I'm not sure whether he was actually a composer, but it's certainly a humorous name. I remember seeing his religious songs on some green Zonophones which had belonged to my great grandmother's husband. 

Thinking of all the other Schumanns and Schoenbergs mentioned upthread, I googled the light music composer Haydn Wood to see if he was confused with the more illustrious composer he was named after (I assume Haydn was his given name) but it seems that the composer of 'Roses of Picardy' is well remembered in his own right.


----------



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

Louis (George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué Vincent Luc Michel Jules-de-la-plane Jules-Bazin Julio César) Jullien.

His father had the bright idea of naming him after the members of his orchestra who also became the kid's collective godfather. Maybe not unfortunate when abbreviated but probably for any other time when his name had to be written out in full.


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Sloe said:


> It is usually spelled skytte and means archer.
> 
> I don´t get the cleanest association from Albert Lortzing.


I'm really curious to know which language(s) you speak, in which Der Bajazzo and now Albert Lortzing sound like rude words!


----------



## shadowdancer (Mar 31, 2014)

(Sarcasm mode on)

Leopold Mozart?

(Sarcasm mode off)


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Friedrich Nietzsche. Lots of unnecessary letters.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

How about Walter von der Vogelweide?


----------



## motoboy (May 19, 2008)

*Why is it that the world never remembered the name of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> I think Woodduck has mentioned the hymn writer Augustus Toplady before- I'm not sure whether he was actually a composer, but it's certainly a humorous name. I remember seeing his religious songs on some green Zonophones which had belonged to my great grandmother's husband.
> 
> Thinking of all the other Schumanns and Schoenbergs mentioned upthread, I googled the light music composer Haydn Wood to see if he was confused with the more illustrious composer he was named after (I assume Haydn was his given name) but it seems that the composer of 'Roses of Picardy' is well remembered in his own right.


I was informed by someone that Augustus Toplady was a lyricist, not a composer or a dominatrix, but his name is always a mood-elevator.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> I'd say John Adams. I wonder how many times per day he needs to remind someone else that he was NOT one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.


Nor one of the great composers.


----------



## Epilogue (Sep 20, 2015)

In the future, people will think John Luther Adams used his middle name to distinguish himself from the old politician. And then they'll forget about _his_ music too.


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

How about Alo Põldmäe?









"Why can only a million people in the world pronounce my name correctly?"


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> I'm really curious to know which language(s) you speak, in which Der Bajazzo and now Albert Lortzing sound like rude words!


I have said were I come from before in an other thread. I am from Sweden.
Lort means dirt and for Bajazzo I think Schytte gives similar associations.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Pulchricimo Marck, nickname 'Beauty'. Born in Iowa to Italian immigrant mother, native father. Composer of music for common nursery rhymes, e.g. Pushing Up Daisies.


----------



## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Just goes to show...your couldt make 'em up!

Christoph _Willibald_ Ritter von Gluck (1714 -1787)
Claude Balbastre (1724-1799)
Marcel Bitsch (1921-2011)
Oliphant Chuckerbutty (1884-1960)
Eduard Pütz (1911 - 2000)
Josef Suk (1874 - 1935)
John Blow (1649 -1708) 
William Crotch (1775 -1847) an organist of course...


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, of course. Everybody snickers at his name.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Oh, and who could forget Biber? (Still figuring out how to pronounce his name.)


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

The church organist the other day played something by Buxtehude, and I remember thinking to myself, "What an odd-sounding name." (But I'm guessing it doesn't sound odd to Germans.)


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> Oh, and who could forget Biber? (Still figuring out how to pronounce his name.)


It's pronounced just like the last name of a certain pop star.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> The church organist the other day played something by Buxtehude, and I remember thinking to myself, "What an odd-sounding name." (But I'm guessing it doesn't sound odd to Germans.)


He was Danish from Helsingborg.


----------



## Überstürzter Neumann (Jan 1, 2014)

matsoljare said:


> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx_(composer)
> 
> What makes it even stranger is that he seems to have been a Nazi supporter. :devil:


Why in the name of Shub-Niggurath is that an unfortunate name? It is not like it is for instance Soorjo Alexander William Langobard Oliphant Chuckerbutty...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliphant_Chuckerbutty


----------



## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

In summer, when the post-1950 project was up and running, Mrs GioCar was VERY upset when I told her I was listening to Goebbels' music.
I had to explain it was not "that" Goebbels...


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Sometimes people write berg and assuming it is obvious they mean Alban which it in someway is. There are also at least two other Bergs:

Natanael Berg
Gunnar Berg


----------



## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Don't forget Ice Berg (he sunk the Titanic).


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Sloe said:


> He was Danish from Helsingborg.


 Shows how much I know! Thanks for the information.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> Shows how much I know! Thanks for the information.


Helsingborg is now a part of Sweden. I think Buxtehude means trouser skin.


----------



## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> Don't forget Ice Berg (he sunk the Titanic).


The Titanic assaulted 'Ice Berg'


----------



## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Sloe said:


> Sometimes people write berg and assuming it is obvious they mean Alban which it in someway is. There are also at least two other Bergs:
> 
> Natanael Berg
> Gunnar Berg


Were they cousins.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Polyphemus said:


> Were they cousins.


Probably not since they came from different countries and it is also a rather common name.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Sloe said:


> Sometimes people write berg and assuming it is obvious they mean Alban which it in someway is. There are also at least two other Bergs:
> 
> Natanael Berg
> Gunnar Berg


I also have a CD by composer Fred Jonny Berg (Norwegian I think).


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Art Rock said:


> I also have a CD by composer Fred Jonny Berg (Norwegian I think).


Who changed his name to Flint Juventino Beppe he certainly is a unfortunate named composer.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Henning Mankell

Giacomo Puccini


----------



## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

Not a composer, but I kind of feel bad for this guy:


----------



## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

Sloe said:


> Helsingborg is now a part of Sweden. I think Buxtehude means trouser skin.


And Dietrich means "Lockpicker"...

And Leon Dudley - How unfortunate to be a (Dudley), which was then changed to Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji... xD

Lo and behold - Sorabji went on to write some of the most challenging music there is...


----------

