James Ballard - Composer
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Something on the intellectual side... or not...

4/19/2011

2 Comments

 
Often times on this blog I try to add an intellectual element to my writing, discussing historical and philosophical aspects of music in addition to simply recapping what's been going on in my own musical career as of late. I've been thinking of topics I could write on that might be intellectually stimulating: composers who have influenced me in terms of style and technique, my preffered methods of notation and how this affects orchestration, etc. Instead of all that, this is what I came up with - 

FAMOUS COMPOSERS AND THEIR MEME FACE COUNTERPARTS 

So without further interruption, I give you...


LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
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Innovate radical harmonic and structural ideas and change of the face of music forever... like a boss.


FRANZ LISZT
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I betcha can't play that...

GUSTAV MAHLER
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Strikingly brilliant, but also incredibly depressed

W.A. MOZART
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Just read his letters and you'll know what I mean by this one

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
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Dodecaphonic music: you either REALLY like it, or REALLY don't

IGOR STRAVINSKY
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On May 29th, 1913, Stravinsky succeeded in trolling the entire audience of the Paris Ballet. Polytonality - you mad?

GIUSEPPE VERDI
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Mmmm... quite.

RICHARD WAGNER
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Apparently he just found out that Mendelssohn was billed first on the program


So... as you can see, I've been using my time wisely.

~James B
2 Comments
Granny Lou
4/24/2011 11:46:04 pm

To keep up your energy, play Liszt. Otherwise, you'll be "Liszt-less".
Who did Mahler maul? Or--did he just perform in malls??
Was Verdi ecologically correct, and only used "Green" energy sources? Was his music verdant??
Wagner wrote music for many tales in opera form. Did he Wag his own tail? Was he a "wag" or a "nerd"??

That's enough Pun-ishment for now.

Reply
Mary Lou Wade
5/10/2011 12:38:03 am

I tried leaving a reply before, but I don't think it went through, so I'll try again. Anyway--as I said before ,Jim and I watched the DVD of "Darkest Day" last night, and don't have enough words to tell you how much we enjoyed and were awed by it! As my dad used to say "There are not enough superlatives in in the combined editions of Webster and his contemporary lexicographers adequately to express--" our admiration and awe and amazement (triple A--AAA!) It was beautiful, and moving. You knew how to convey every mood in the appropriate musical language. So--keep on keeping the stream of music flowing! MLW

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