'Intellectual Snobbery'?

[Flosshilde]

If someone who hears the William Tell overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger is an intellectual, is an intellectual snob someone who claims to think about Shostakovich's 15th symphony when they hear it?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If someone who hears the William Tell overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger is an intellectual, is an intellectual snob someone who claims to think about Shostakovich's 15th symphony when they hear it?

I think that that would be a "poseur" rather than a "snob"; isn't a snob someone who looks down on those who do not share his/her tastes? (That's partly why the addition of the word to the original witticism doesn't work.)

[Flosshilde]

According to ScottyTipps favourite dictionary a snob is -

1. A person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who seeks to associate with social superiors and looks down on those regarded as socially inferior: her mother was a snob and wanted a lawyer as a son-in-law [as modifier]: extra snob appeal

1.1 [with adjective or noun modifier] A person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people: a musical snob

[jean]

It's a verb in Italian, though I think they may have got it mixed up with snub:

http://www.wordreference.com/iten/snobbare

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

According to ScottyTipps favourite dictionary a snob is -

1. A person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth who seeks to associate with social superiors and looks down on those regarded as socially inferior: her mother was a snob and wanted a lawyer as a son-in-law [as modifier]: extra snob appeal

1.1 [with adjective or noun modifier] A person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people: a musical snob

- I think the important aspect is the "looking down" on others with supposedly "inferior" tastes.

[Rolmill]

Slightly OT but related, reminds me of AP Herbert having his Albert Haddock character (in Uncommon Law) say: "A highbrow is the kind of person who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso." Years (decades actually) since I read it, and I'm generally very poor at remembering quotes, but for some reason that one stuck.

[ahinton]

I would sack any Radio 3 presenter who referred to the Hovis symphony

Oh, don't encourage them, FF! If it hasn't already happened (given the gaffes to which you've drawn attention elsewhere), it's probably just waiting in the wings for a suitably wrong opportunity.

And, speaking of Hovis (and remembering those examples that you gave), how much is Butterworth these days?

Sorry to be so crusty, but...

[ahinton]

If someone who hears the William Tell overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger is an intellectual, is an intellectual snob someone who claims to think about Shostakovich's 15th symphony when they hear it?

That was the first thought that entered what's left of my mind when starting to read this thread! - but, speaking of Shostakovich, is an intellectual snob someone who claims to think of Shostakovich when listening to that bit of a certain late work by Bartók which a conductor who shall remain nameless once described in my hearing as The Old Person's Guide to the Orchestra?...

Anyway - Hovhaness symphony, yes; Hovis symphony, most decidedly no.

[visualnickmos]

That was the first thought that entered what's left of my mind when starting to read this thread! - but, speaking of Shostakovich, is an intellectual snob someone who claims to think of Shostakovich when listening to that bit of a certain late work by Bartók which a conductor who shall remain nameless once described in my hearing as The Old Person's Guide to the Orchestra?...

Anyway - Hovhaness symphony, yes; Hovis symphony, most decidedly no.

Go on - that's half the fun!

[mercia]

for a lot of people their first encounter of classical music is through its use in films, adverts, signature tunes. Nothing wrong with that. As good an entry point as any, I would have thought.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

for a lot of people their first encounter of classical music is through its use in films, adverts, signature tunes. Nothing wrong with that. As good an entry point as any, I would have thought.

Personally, I think there's a great deal wrong with that:-
It indicates that classical music is not being made available (realistically) to people other than as cheap background music. When a work like Peer Gynt becomes better known as Nescafe or Alton Towers, our society and musical education have gone sadly wrong.

[Bryn]

That was the first thought that entered what's left of my mind when starting to read this thread! - but, speaking of Shostakovich, is an intellectual snob someone who claims to think of Shostakovich when listening to that bit of a certain late work by Bartók which a conductor who shall remain nameless once described in my hearing as The Old Person's Guide to the Orchestra?...

Anyway - Hovhaness symphony, yes; Hovis symphony, most decidedly no.

Hmm. Just wondering what sort of category I must find myself confined within. When I listen to Shostakovich's 11th Symphony, I always hear "On Top of Old Smokey" alluded to, though it's actually a Russian folk melody which is quoted. Then there's "Three Blind Mice" in the second movement of Rachmaninov's 4th Piano Concerto and ...

[MickyD]

That's funny, Bryn - the Rachmaninov always makes me think of 'Two Lovely Black Eyes', rather than the Three Blind Mice! Each to his own...

[Bryn]

That's funny, Bryn - the Rachmaninov always makes me think of 'Two Lovely Black Eyes', rather than the Three Blind Mice! Each to his own...

Well yes, there is that. A rather more sophisticated association than my nursery rhyme reminiscence, perhaps?

[visualnickmos]

I hear Summertime, when the living is easy in Walton's violin concerto - am I normal?