Six hundred string quartets for you

[Pulcinella]

Regarding string quartets I wasn't surprised not to find my own three listed, but it seems I'm in good (and numerous) company.

Were they written before the 'approximately 1980' mentioned in the OP, Richard?

As MrGG says, nothing to see here.

I'm not sure what this apparently dismissive comment means.
Even if nothing appeals to you and MrGG, surely it's an impressive bit of compilation, providing a potentially good source of material for anyone interested in the genre and its development?
Or am I misconstruing what you are saying (that there's physically nothing to see, despite mention of YouTube)?
I haven't clicked on any of the links.

[vinteuil]

Regarding vans:

something I gradually came to realise during my years living in the low countries was the Netherlands and Belgium have different rules as far as this is concerned. A Dutch "van" has a small "v" and doesn't come before the main part of the name in alphabetical order, while a Flemish "Van" has a capital "V" and does. So, knowing which of the two styles to use depends really on which side of the border the person in question comes from.

Beethoven's family stemmed from Flanders so "Van" would theoretically be correct, although in German "von" (which is an indicator of upper-classness in a way that "van" and "Van" aren't) doesn't use a capital letter and comes after the name in alphabetical order, so for that reason the capital "V" probably got worn down at some point in Beethoven's ancestry.

All clear now? .

... thanks for that : I had known, but had forgotten.

Hence the Dutchman Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and the Flemish Antoon Van Dijck

Tho' of course we usually call one Rembrandt and the other Van Dyke (or Sir Anthony Van Dyck).


.

[Richard Barrett]

Were they written before the 'approximately 1980' mentioned in the OP, Richard?

Depends on how approximate it is!

Even if nothing appeals to you and MrGG

It isn't the music that doesn't appeal, just the silly omission of numerous important composers, from Shostakovich onwards - we know what SG thinks of Shostakovich of course; it's a matter of his somewhat limited taste rather than anyone else's. Off the top of my head: Andriessen, Boulez, Crumb, Dillon, Estrada, Finnissy, Glass, Holliger, Ives, Johnson (Tom), Kagel... well I could go on through the alphabet, probably several times, but you get the idea. Also, I haven't gone past K but there are no female composers thus far.

[Pulcinella]

Depends on how approximate it is!

It isn't the music that doesn't appeal, just the silly omission of numerous important composers, from Shostakovich onwards - we know what SG thinks of Shostakovich of course; it's a matter of his somewhat limited taste rather than anyone else's. Off the top of my head: Andriessen, Boulez, Crumb, Dillon, Estrada, Finnissy, Glass, Holliger, Ives, Johnson (Tom), Kagel... well I could go on through the alphabet, probably several times, but you get the idea. Also, I haven't gone past K but there are no female composers thus far.

Ah, understood.
I hadn't examined the list at all closely.
Strange omissions indeed.
But he does say he welcomes additions (or do those have to go through the mysterious Rita too?).


Meanwhile, I'm waiting for scores of Tippett 4 and 5, mysteriously not in stock at Schott HQ.

[Sydney Grew]

I haven't clicked on any of the links.

1) Click three times on a line, fairly quickly, to highlight it, and then select "Open Link" to play the music. I did it that way in order to save space on the page and give it a neater appearance.

2. Here are a few among many that it would not do to miss:
- Gustave Samazeuilh

- Sullivan's jolly production.

- Fartein Valen's beautiful independenly invented atonalities.

... actually not one item deserves to be overlooked.

3) (Van) Beethoven's contributions, although the earliest, are I might say among the best of all the items collected here. Not having heard it for many years, I was quite bowled over after rediscovering the second movement of the B flat quartet (at 9 minutes 50 seconds from the start of the performance here).

[french frank]

Depends who's doing the cataloguing. My friend and I liked to subvert the process occasionally......

There must be a common thread of mischief. I used to include an anagram of my own name each year, usually inventing a mini biog. which suited every name for the subject index. Though it was necessary to cheat a little some years in pursuit of novelty. I was inspired by an AP Herbert essay, 'Humour in the index'.

Sorry, Syd, for straying:

[Grew, Syd (1908- ), serial inventor of new forums, p 94]