Myths about Composers

[Brian]

11. Tchaikovsky was killed for being gay.

I've never heard this one, but I've heard Tchaikovsky killed himself whilst being blackmailed for being gay.

How about "Shostakovich is the Most Recent Great Composer"? Frankly I think the statement could be true depending on how you define Great.

And Lethe beat me to the punch - I was just copying that article over here.  

[Josquin des Prez]

12. Shostakovich was the Last Great Composer.

I think it would be more accurate to say he is the last genius.

[Lethevich]

I've never heard this one, but I've heard Tchaikovsky killed himself whilst being blackmailed for being gay.

The usual one is phrased well by the WP article, "According to one variation of the theory, a sentence of suicide was imposed in a "court of honor" by Tchaikovsky's fellow alumni of the St. Petersburg School of Jurisprudence, as a censure of the composer's homosexuality.", so I definitely misphrased it - "was forced to kill himself" would be better.

[karlhenning]

I think it would be more accurate to say he is the last genius.

Certainly he does not suffer any competition from your esteemed self.

[DavidRoss]

I think it would be more accurate to say he is the last genius.

Again with the genius!  [insert forehead-slapping emoticon]  Good grief!  You expounding on "genius" is like Saul expounding on tolerance.  (Oy vey!)

[The Six]

This genius thing is like a running joke in a SCTV episode. Will it end?

[Josquin des Prez]

Again with the genius!

It's the only thing that matters.

[Brian]

Certainly he does not suffer any competition from your esteemed self.

Zing!

[Josquin des Prez]

Certainly he does not suffer any competition from your esteemed self.

Neither he does from yours. Zing?

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Certainly he does not suffer any competition from your esteemed self.

LOL 

What are we up to now, 14? Anyway: Mozart never struggled with the act of composition. He composed all his music in his head, and then set it down on paper, without ever revising or reworking. And everything he wrote was perfect.

(I think Peter Shaffer and Milos Forman get the most blame for this one)

[Gurn Blanston]

LOL 

What are we up to now, 14? Anyway: Mozart never struggled with the act of composition. He composed all his music in his head, and then set it down on paper, without ever revising or reworking. And everything he wrote was perfect.

(I think Peter Shaffer and Milos Forman get the most blame for this one)

Perhaps for spreading it in modern times, but not for making it up. It was in his obituary for one thing, and was "common knowledge" even during his lifetime. But it was probably only occasionally true. And he and Constanze did nothing to help the cause of truth: he admitted that in many cases he did just that (all the composition was done in his head before touching pen to paper), which was true up to a point. And then, after his death, Constanze threw out all his sketches, thinking they would have no value  .  But in certain works where sketches exist (like the Haydn Quartets, for example), it is obvious that he worked his butt off, just like any other composer (well, maybe not like Beethoven, who agonized over every note).

[DavidRoss]

Neither he does from yours. Zing?

Not zing, but splat.  Sorry.

[Josquin des Prez]

Not zing, but splat.  Sorry.

Hey, he started it.

[Superhorn]

  It looks like we've got a rabid anti-wagnerian in our midst. Oh well, nobody's perfect.
  Other myths: Bruckner was a simpleton and had no understanding of correct form. His music is entirely derivative of Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner. He was the Forrest Gump of music. In fact, Bruckner,though somewhat naive and childlike, was also a good friend of eminent scientists and physicians, and was very interested and knowledgable about these things. His symphonies are perfectly logical and coherent,in their own way.

  Richard Strauss composed only a handful of works that are any good,and declined greatly as a composer after Der Rosenkavalier.His later operas are failures and worthless.His music is cheap, bombastic,tawdry, superficial, and cloyingly sentimental. In fact, Strauss never declined at all. He is a very great composer. His later operas,such as Die Schweigsame Frau, Daphne, Friedenstag, Die Agyptische Helena,
etc,are very underrated.
  Wagner was a rabid anti-semite. In fact, Wagner's attitude towards Jews was more like Archie Bunker's than Hitler's. He disliked them,and felt that they were incapable of creating great art works, but never advocated genocide against them,or any one else. And as the old saying goes,"some of his best friends were Jews".
  He would have been horrified to see the actrocities of the Nazis.
 

[DavidRoss]

Wagner was a rabid anti-semite.

This is no myth.  I suggest you read Marc Weiner's Richard Wagner and the Anti-Semitic Imagination--or at least a thoughtful review of it, like this one.

[ChamberNut]

  It looks like we've got a rabid anti-wagnerian in our midst. Oh well, nobody's perfect.
 
  Wagner was a rabid anti-semite. In fact, Wagner's attitude towards Jews was more like Archie Bunker's than Hitler's. He disliked them,and felt that they were incapable of creating great art works, but never advocated genocide against them,or any one else. And as the old saying goes,"some of his best friends were Jews".
  He would have been horrified to see the actrocities of the Nazis.
 

Superhorn, you forgot to add that anybody who enjoys Wagner's music is by association, an anti-semite.  Which means Marvinbrown, myself, Andy and countless others are rabid anti-semites.

Or is it anti-dentite?

[Bunny]

The myth is that Richard Strauss was an anti-Semite.  Richard Wagner was an anti-Semite, and proud of it.  Strauss on the other hand had no antipathy to Jews,  He championed Stefan Zweig by keeping his name on the libretto of Die schweigsame Frau, even at the cost of his position as president of the Reichsmusikkammer.  He also exerted himself to keep his Jewish daughter-in-law safe in very uncertain times.  His mistake was thinking that he could accept an appointment from Goebbels and remain politically neutral.  Instead, he found it impossible to remain neutral, and lost his position.  He was lucky that he had such a great international following that the Nazis didn't feel secure enough to force his "suicide."  

Btw, Archie Bunker was a lovable (or not) bigot who was invented to parody bigotry.  Wagner was not a fictional character.

At some point everyone has to separate the artist from the art. Sometimes, even the art is truly depraved.  At that point, you just have to throw it all in the trash.

[ChamberNut]

I remember reading on this board years ago that Saint Saens would travel to Africa for adventures with little boys. Someone actually said that. Myth?

No myth.  He was caught my Chris Hansen himself on NBC's Dateline "To Catch A Predator".

[DavidRoss]

Superhorn, you forgot to add that anybody who enjoys Wagner's music is by association, an anti-semite. 

I trust you mean this as some sort of joke?  Otherwise you should join Ernie and Eric in a remedial logic class.

[ChamberNut]

I trust you mean this as some sort of joke?  Otherwise you should join Ernie and Eric in a remedial logic class.

We're talking about myths, aren't we?  That's what I stated.  A myth.