I'm not optimistic I'll get a definite answer here, but I'll give it a shot.
Late 70s...possibly very early 80s...I'm watching the news before Carson came on. The anchor announced that a famous composer had died that day. Being a young musician, I was intrigued by this but the name meant nothing to me and I can't remember it now.
I'm pretty sure he was from Europe, but at that time of my life, I was young and untravelled so the world was pretty much the US and the non-US.
The anchor said the composer was known for his sense of humour and quips, one of which was, when asked about a certain woman, 'I knew her before she was a virgin.'
Not much to go on, I know. Any guesses?
Google says the quote was made by Oscar Levant in reference to Doris Day. He died in 1972.
But it also points to Groucho Marx (died 1977) and Milton Berle. But you wouldn't think of them as obscure musicians, and Berle died in 2002.
Were you watching Carson in 1972?
Oscar Levant, indeed.
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on December 30, 2016, 04:04:16 PM
Were you watching Carson in 1972?
When my mom would let me stay up with her. This is definitely later.
Clearly I'm misremembering something
I loved watching reruns of You Bet Your Life while Groucho was still alive and remember his death well (I've even watched several this week on DVD).
Doris Day is still alive (news to me I much admit), so it's not her death I'm misremembering.
My best theory is that the news reported on a retrospective of Levant's work at the time. Maybe a fifth or tenth anniversary of his death.
Who was the chap that was killed in a War? Not Butterworth, someone else?
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on December 31, 2016, 04:48:38 AM
Who was the chap that was killed in a War? Not Butterworth, someone else?
Magnard? Webern? Butterworth did too.
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on December 31, 2016, 04:48:38 AM
Who was the chap that was killed in a War? Not Butterworth, someone else?
Getting a bit obscure here: Cecil Coles?
This may be an easy one (for some): this composer died from an infection brought on by a bug bite.
Quote from: Mirror Image on December 31, 2016, 06:41:05 AM
This may be an easy one (for some): this composer died from an infection brought on by a bug bite.
Alban Berg, naturally.
This composer died peacefully and happily, at a fulfilling old age and surrounded by loved ones.
Quote from: Brian on December 31, 2016, 12:55:39 PM
This composer died peacefully and happily, at a fulfilling old age and surrounded by loved ones.
Haydn.
One hopes, Henning.
Boulez?
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on December 31, 2016, 04:48:38 AM
Who was the chap that was killed in a War? Not Butterworth, someone else?
William Lawes died in the English Civil War, serving in the King's Life Guards.
Quote from: North Star on December 31, 2016, 03:05:42 PM
William Lawes died in the English Civil War, serving in the King's Life Guards.
I might have been thinking about Webern:
On 15 September 1945, back at his home during the Allied occupation of Austria, Webern was shot and killed by an American Army soldier following the arrest of his son-in-law for black market activities. This incident occurred when, three-quarters of an hour before a curfew was to have gone into effect, he stepped outside the house so as not to disturb his sleeping grandchildren, in order to enjoy a few draws on a cigar given him that evening by his son-in-law. The soldier responsible for his death was U. S. Army cook Pfc. Raymond Norwood Bell of North Carolina, who was overcome by remorse and died of alcoholism in 1955.[66]
Quote from: Mirror Image on December 31, 2016, 06:26:56 AM
Getting a bit obscure here: Cecil Coles?
He is the only one aside from Butterworth I know of. Debussy died during but not in the war of course.
Quote from: Ken B on December 31, 2016, 07:32:25 PM
He is the only one aside from Butterworth I know of. Debussy died during but not in the war of course.
Yeah, I can't think of any other Brit composers who died during WWI.
Quote from: KevinP on December 30, 2016, 03:45:51 PM
I'm not optimistic I'll get a definite answer here, but I'll give it a shot.
Late 70s...possibly very early 80s...I'm watching the news before Carson came on. The anchor announced that a famous composer had died that day. Being a young musician, I was intrigued by this but the name meant nothing to me and I can't remember it now.
I'm pretty sure he was from Europe, but at that time of my life, I was young and untravelled so the world was pretty much the US and the non-US.
The anchor said the composer was known for his sense of humour and quips, one of which was, when asked about a certain woman, 'I knew her before she was a virgin.'
Not much to go on, I know. Any guesses?
The only reason Oscar Levant's passing was noteworthy was that he was under contract to MGM and appeared in several films with the big stars. Also, he had a radio show, "Information Please." As a pianist and part-time composer his name wouldn't have made the news...(he was American, a Gershwin specialist). He wrote two great books on his life in music.
Quote from: Ken B on December 31, 2016, 02:35:16 PM
Haydn.
One hopes, Henning.
Boulez?
I honestly didn't know. I was hoping somebody would be able to name one!
I heard this story some time ago so any detail may be wrong. So I remember being told that a long time ago, in baroque or perhaps even renaissance, conductors didn't use batons but big sticks that they beat on the ground or something to keep time. The story I remember is just that a conductor hit his toe with his conducting stick, it got infected, and he died like two weeks later.
I don't seem to remember this guy being a very important name but more of a grim but funny story. Really hits home the Hobbesian idea of life being nasty, brutal and short.
Quote from: Dedalus on January 11, 2017, 08:23:31 PM
I heard this story some time ago so any detail may be wrong.
I don't seem to remember this guy being a very important name but more of a grim but funny story. Really hits home the Hobbesian idea of life being nasty, brutal and short.
No, your details are quite right - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Lully
In the French Baroque, a
very important name. Regarding unusual ways to die, quite unique. Ironic too that the piece he was conducting was written to celebrate the king's recovery from illness.
Hint: This composer died following quite a risky brain surgery.
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 12, 2017, 08:21:53 AM
Hint: This composer died following quite a risky brain surgery.
Ravel.
Now, who died gun in hand fighting Germans in WWI?
Quote from: Florestan on January 12, 2017, 08:34:43 AM
Now, who died gun in hand fighting Germans in WWI?
Magnard, of course.
Who died saying "Mozartl"?
These three guys have been stabbed to death.
Quote from: Florestan on January 12, 2017, 08:52:21 AM
These three guys have been stabbed to death.
Alesandro Stradella is one (had to look up Flotow because I couldn't remember the name)
Quote from: listener on January 17, 2017, 12:35:06 PM
Alesandro Stradella is one (had to look up Flotow because I couldn't remember the name)
Right.
Hint for the other two: they were both French.
Quote from: Florestan on January 18, 2017, 02:17:51 AM
Right.
Hint for the other two: they were both French.
Leclair &
Vivier. The story of the Vivier's demise is particularly scabrous (with the piece he was working on when it happened being almost prophetic of the event ::) )...
An easy one: which composer drowned, after jumping off a lifeboat in an attempt to save his wife's life? The boat on which they were crossing the English Channel had been torpedoed...
Quote from: ritter on January 18, 2017, 02:52:54 AM
Leclair & Vivier. The story of the Vivier's demise is particularly scabrous (with the piece he was working on when it happened being almost prophetic of the event ::) )...
Right on
Leclair, wrong on
Vivier who was Canadian. :laugh:
Quote
An easy one: which composer drowned, after jumping off a lifeboat in an attempt to save his wife's life? The boat on which they were crossing the English Channel had been torpedoed...
Enrique Granados.
Died at the bottom of a steep hill on a bicycle.
Quote from: vandermolen on January 18, 2017, 08:55:41 AM
Died at the bottom of a steep hill on a bicycle.
Chausson.
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on December 31, 2016, 04:48:38 AM
Who was the chap that was killed in a War? Not Butterworth, someone else?
Ernest Farrar? The teacher of Finzi.
Crushed under a cupboard full of his music manuscripts.
Quote from: vandermolen on January 18, 2017, 10:24:44 AM
Crushed under a cupboard full of his music manuscripts.
Alkan.
Quote from: Florestan on January 18, 2017, 10:33:42 AM
Alkan.
Not quite.
QuoteFor many years it was believed that Alkan met his death when a bookcase toppled over and fell on him as he reached for a volume of the Talmud from a high shelf. This tale, which was circulated by the pianist Isidor Philipp,[75] is dismissed by Hugh Macdonald, who reports the discovery of a contemporary letter by one of his pupils explaining that Alkan had been found prostrate in his kitchen, under a porte-parapluie (a heavy coat/umbrella rack), after his concierge heard his moaning. He had possibly fainted, bringing it down on himself while grabbing out for support. He was reportedly carried to his bedroom and died later that evening.[76] The story of the bookcase may have its roots in a legend told of Aryeh Leib ben Asher, rabbi of Metz, the town from which Alkan's family originated.[77]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan#Death
Quote from: Florestan on January 18, 2017, 10:33:42 AM
Alkan.
10/10 you should enter the Mastermind TV quiz programme choosing tragic deaths of composers as your special subject. :)
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 12, 2017, 08:21:53 AM
Hint: This composer died following quite a risky brain surgery.
This could also, sadly, apply to Gershwin.
Quote from: North Star on January 18, 2017, 10:45:58 AM
Not quite.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan#Death
Thanks for the update.
accidental mushroom poisoning?
drowning in a freak boating accident?
And not a composer, but one of my favorites (to defend sleeping in because rising too early in the morning can be lethal): having to rise too early (and in a climate he was not used to). There is a musical connection as the person responsible for these harsh conditions later lived in a warmer country and received the dedication of an historically somewhat important set of musical pieces.
Quote from: Jo498 on January 18, 2017, 11:02:04 AM
accidental mushroom poisoning?
Johann Schobert
Quote
And not a composer, but one of my favorites (to defend sleeping in because rising too early in the morning can be lethal): having to rise too early (and in a climate he was not used to). There is a musical connection as the person responsible for these harsh conditions later lived in a warmer country and received the dedication of an historically somewhat important set of musical pieces.
Descartes. Corelli's Violin Sonatas were dedicated to Christine of Sweden.
I was just asking about a half-remembered death. Never imagined this thread would take on a life of its own like this. :-)
Quote from: KevinP on January 18, 2017, 03:48:05 PM
I was just asking about a half-remembered death. Never imagined this thread would take on a life of its own like this. :-)
An obvious case of members of the GMG Forum coming to terms with their shadow side. :blank:
Fell into the River Kenmare in Ireland?
Who died while composing at his harpsichord?
And --- not a composer and technically speaking not a death: this guy simply vanished without a trace from contemporary records and nobody knows where, when and how he died.
And the other French composer stabbed to death is Jean Gabriel Guillemain.
Quote from: Florestan on January 19, 2017, 10:51:13 AM
And --- not a composer and technically speaking not a death: this guy simply vanished without a trace from contemporary records and nobody knows where, when and how he died.
This applies to surprisingly many people (not only in times and places from which historical information is sparse anyway), my first guess it Ambrose Bierce who disappeared in Mexico.
Another mystery although it concerns the whole biography is this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._Traven#The_mystery_of_B._Traven.27s_biography
Quote from: Florestan on January 18, 2017, 11:06:46 AM
Johann Schobert
Descartes. Corelli's Violin Sonatas were dedicated to Christine of Sweden.
Yes to both, only it was actually the trio sonatas op.1 (1681) that set the standard for the high/late baroque trio sonata.
The guy who drowned during a pleasure boat tour was Thomas Linley jr., the "English Mozart"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Linley_the_younger
Quote from: Jo498 on January 19, 2017, 11:36:55 AM
This applies to surprisingly many people, my first guess it Ambrose Bierce who disappeared in Mexico.
I never knew that, thanks for the info.
No, it was not him that I had in mind. Hint: a poet.
Quote from: Florestan on January 19, 2017, 11:44:07 AM
I never knew that, thanks for the info.
No, it was not him that I had in mind. Hint: a poet.
Homer.
Quote from: Ken B on January 19, 2017, 11:54:56 AM
Homer.
Fits in the bill, but no.
Supplementary hint: a Frenchman (yet another one :laugh: ).
Quote from: Florestan on January 19, 2017, 12:00:05 PM
Fits in the bill, but no.
Supplementary hint: a Frenchman (yet another one :laugh: ).
For some odd reason I now want to re-read The Song of Roland.
Quote from: Jo498 on January 18, 2017, 11:02:04 AM
drowning in a freak boating accident?
Might also be Robert Parsons, who drowned in the River Trent at Newark - whether boating or not is not recorded. My theory is that he was pushed by Byrd - Newark is not far from Lincoln, where Byrd was based, and Parsons' death created a vacancy at the Chapel Royal that was filled by... Byrd.
Quote from: Ken B on January 19, 2017, 12:02:30 PM
For some odd reason I now want to re-read The Song of Roland.
Doesn´t help. The guy lived much later.
Quote from: Florestan on January 19, 2017, 12:00:05 PM
Fits in the bill, but no.
Supplementary hint: a Frenchman (yet another one :laugh: ).
Sacre blue!
I think I know the individual you mean, but can't remember his name.
The one I'm thinking of lived during the 16th or 17th century, and came close to being hanged at one point because of his association with criminals.
Francois Villon who was a criminal (Brecht (or probably his mistress) translated some of his ballads for use in the Dreigroschenoper and they fit very well) and in fact vanished from the records in 1463. Although in the 15th century I'd call this less unusual than in the 20th.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Villon
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on January 19, 2017, 06:09:19 PM
Sacre blue!
I think I know the individual you mean, but can't remember his name.
The one I'm thinking of lived during the 16th or 17th century, and came close to being hanged at one point because of his association with criminals.
Quote from: Jo498 on January 19, 2017, 11:24:45 PM
Francois Villon who was a criminal (Brecht (or probably his mistress) translated some of his ballads for use in the Dreigroschenoper and they fit very well) and in fact vanished from the records in 1463. Although in the 15th century I'd call this less unusual than in the 20th.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Villon
Yes, Villon. Well done!
Whilst on holiday in Ireland having eaten a box of Turkish Delight which he had intended to take back to England.
Quote from: vandermolen on January 21, 2017, 12:17:38 AM
Whilst on holiday in Ireland having eaten a box of Turkish Delight which he had intended to take back to England.
This is a difficult one. Could you give another hint?
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 21, 2017, 07:00:09 PM
This is a difficult one. Could you give another hint?
Of course :)
Felt that Ireland was his spiritual home although born in Streatham in London.
New one:
Gassed himself having put the cat out of doors.
None of these are as good as Aretino, the Italian writer of the Renaissance period, who allegedly died laughing at an obscene joke.
Quote from: vandermolen on January 23, 2017, 01:48:13 PM
None of these are as good as Aretino, the Italian writer of the Renaissance period, who allegedly died laughing at an obscene joke.
That is nothing compared to
Donizetti, who allegedly died after prolonged self-abuse. :o
The one who died composing at harpsichord:
Leonardo Leo.
Quote from: Florestan on January 23, 2017, 01:54:07 PM
That is nothing compared to Donizetti, who allegedly died after prolonged self-abuse. :o
He died by his own hand.
:o
Quote from: vandermolen on January 23, 2017, 02:06:56 PM
He died by his own hand.
:o
Hah, great one! ;D
I am not sure it is true, though, actually I have a hard time imagining someone dying from that.
New one, quite easy: died from typhoid fever a few months after eating a contaminated sorbet.
Quote from: Florestan on January 23, 2017, 02:26:23 PM
I am not sure it is true, though, actually I have a hard time imagining someone dying from that.
I can imagine someone trying.
Quote from: Florestan on January 23, 2017, 02:26:23 PMNew one, quite easy: died from typhoid fever a few months after eating a contaminated sorbet.
Lekeu.
This guy died of the plague.