Thread: Classical Music

I love classical music. I use to listen to rock, but when I decided to pick up the violin I started getting into classical. I couldn’t go back after that, most of the popular music just sounded dull and simplistic. If I had to make a recommendation on emotional pieces I would have to say Vaughn Williams, You’ll be hard pressed to go wrong with him. His “Lark Ascending” is just awesome, as well as his “Phantasy Quintet” and string quartets 1 and 2. Samuel Barber has a nice violin concerto and his “Adagio for Strings” is quite nice as well if not a little over used by Hollywood. Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” is one of the most popular quartets ever composed. Korngold was shunned by the classical music world when he went to Hollywood to become a composer for soundtracks so you might find some works by him that you will like. Personally I found Korngold’s violin concerto agreeable.

Gentlemen,

A high society lady in Chicago invited Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist and conductor, to play at her party. She asked his fee. He said $3,000. She accepted, adding, "But of course, it is understood that you will refrain from mixing with my guests." Kreisler wrote back, "In that case, madam, the fee will be only $2,000."

Here is another one:

Mark Twain preferred to be anywhere but at a Wagner opera. "There isn't often anything in a Wagner opera that one could call by such a violent thing as acting," he said. "As a rule, all you would see would be a couple of people, one of them standing still, and the other catching flies."

These and many other delightful stories and anecdotes from the world of classical music appear in the book "Obie's Opus" by Obie Yadgar (yours truly, the author, obieyadgar.com). The book is also useful for gentlemen shavers taking interest in classical music. Enjoy.

Regards,

Obie

Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

A high society lady in Chicago invited Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist and conductor, to play at her party. She asked his fee. He said $3,000. She accepted, adding, "But of course, it is understood that you will refrain from mixing with my guests." Kreisler wrote back, "In that case, madam, the fee will be only $2,000."

Here is another one:

Mark Twain preferred to be anywhere but at a Wagner opera. "There isn't often anything in a Wagner opera that one could call by such a violent thing as acting," he said. "As a rule, all you would see would be a couple of people, one of them standing still, and the other catching flies."

These and many other delightful stories and anecdotes from the world of classical music appear in the book "Obie's Opus" by Obie Yadgar (yours truly, the author, obieyadgar.com). The book is also useful for gentlemen shavers taking interest in classical music. Enjoy.

Regards,

Obie

I can't recall who said it and I'm paraphrasing but something like ....." Wagner's music is better than it sounds."

EDIT; googled it .... attributed to Mark Twain.

My dear JimmyHAD,

You have the quote right on the nose. It was Mark Twain who said it: "Wagner's music is better than it sounds."

For sure I don't know who said this: "A true music lover is one who on hearing a blond soprano singing in the bathtub puts his ear to the keyhole."

When the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer died, his nephew, while visiting Rossini, insisted on playing the march he had written for his uncle's funeral. Rossini listened to it. "Very nice," he said, "but wouldn't it have been much better if you had died and your uncle had composed the march?" — from "Obie's Opus" by Obie Yadgar (obieyadgar.com).

Regards,

Obie

Speaking of Rossini, I found this when googling for the quote by Twain,"Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour." -- Gioacchino Rossini, 1867. I agree with that.

On the odd occasion that I drive to school through Bangkok traffic I enjoy listening to Tchaikovsky 1812. It puts me in the necessary frame of mind to face my students.