Composers with the most fascinating life story

Started by DaPianist, September 20, 2021, 07:56:53 PM

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DaPianist

Which composer (in your opinion) has the most fascinanting life story?
I'm dying to heard abotu your opinions  :laugh:
If you are reading this then go practice your instrument thank you

vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

The new erato


vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).


vandermolen

#5
Quote from: Roasted Swan on September 21, 2021, 01:53:19 AM
But is the music any good......? (I don't know - never heard it)
IMO yes (listening to Symphony No.1 now)
Slightly reminiscent, in places, of Walton (as the review states) and Honegger.
My favourite part of his biography was his arrest for defacing an Elvis poster on the subway.

https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-10277/
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

relm1

I think Shostakovich.  With his Stalin vs Shostakovich era, living in Leningrad during the siege (or was it called Stalingrad then?).  I find his life long struggle against the Soviet autocracy is very fascinating and how he rode the line of public approval/official disapproval. 

Mirror Image

#7
Shostakovich is certainly a candidate as relm1 rightly points out. I suppose my own choice would have to be Stravinsky. What an extraordinary life he lived. Born in Russia, studied under Rimsky-Korsakov, leaves Russia for Europe, bounced around from Switzerland to France and then remained in the United States (LA to be exact) for the rest of his life to escape WWII. In the US, he lived near Schoenberg and Gershwin. He hobnobbed with some of the biggest names in the 20th Century like JFK, Picasso, Coco Chanel et. al. All of this while writing some of the most memorable and incredible music ever conceived. Wow!

vandermolen

Quote from: relm1 on September 21, 2021, 05:45:09 AM
I think Shostakovich.  With his Stalin vs Shostakovich era, living in Leningrad during the siege (or was it called Stalingrad then?).  I find his life long struggle against the Soviet autocracy is very fascinating and how he rode the line of public approval/official disapproval.
Yes, I agree - also perhaps Prokofiev who returned to the Soviet Union just in time for the Great Terror of the Stalinist era.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

aukhawk

Quote from: relm1 on September 21, 2021, 05:45:09 AM
I think Shostakovich.  With his Stalin vs Shostakovich era, living in Leningrad during the siege (or was it called Stalingrad then?).  I find his life long struggle against the Soviet autocracy is very fascinating and how he rode the line of public approval/official disapproval.

Just to say, that Stalingrad was a different city altogether.  Alternatively named Volgograd, it's as far south of Moscow as St Petersburg is to the north.

Florestan

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

relm1

Quote from: aukhawk on September 23, 2021, 07:52:26 AM
Just to say, that Stalingrad was a different city altogether.  Alternatively named Volgograd, it's as far south of Moscow as St Petersburg is to the north.

Thanks for clarifying! 

Daverz


ritter

You may like or dislike the guy, but Wagner's life was quite something.