Alphabet associations - I

[mercia]

it must be Dohnanyi's 'Variations on a Nursery Theme'

indeed it must

[Nick Armstrong]

I only got it 'with a little help from my friends' but I have a modest O up my sleeve which I could deploy....

Which O unites Messrs. Schubert, Mendelssohn and Macpherson?

The Beatles reference is not a clue...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Which O unites Messrs. Schubert, Mendelssohn and Macpherson?

Ossian?

[Nick Armstrong]

Ossian?

Ossian!

Och aye.

Easy, huh? I find that whole story intriguing (was listening to the R3 Essay podcast about it from 'Schubert Week'). THE cultural con of all time. Naughty Mr Macpherson.

So: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Macpherson seems to have created the myth
Schubert wrote songs based on it
Mendelssohn was inspired to get all Hebridean by it

Time for a P, fhg

[vinteuil]

Ossian!
I find that whole story intriguing ... THE cultural con of all time. Naughty Mr Macpherson.

My top hero - (up there with Pierre Bayle) - Samuel Johnson - saw through him straight away.

"a mountebank, a liar, and a fraud, ... the poems were forgeries".

Johnson also dismissed the poems' quality. Upon being asked, "But Doctor Johnson, do you really believe that any man today could write such poetry?" he famously replied, "Yes. Many men. Many women. And many children."

Johnson called the story of Ossian "as gross an imposition as ever the world was troubled with".

[Nick Armstrong]

My top hero - (up there with Pierre Bayle) - Samuel Johnson - saw through him straight away.

"a mountebank, a liar, and a fraud, ... the poems were forgeries".

Johnson also dismissed the poems' quality. Upon being asked, "But Doctor Johnson, do you really believe that any man today could write such poetry?" he famously replied, "Yes. Many men. Many women. And many children."

Johnson called the story of Ossian "as gross an imposition as ever the world was troubled with".

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I remember a lecture on the Ossian myth from my University days, many years ago! At least nine wonderful settings by Schubert (there are two others that are missing: he called the set Ossian's Eleven. A "good" time for literary forgeries: Chatterton, too!

Anyroadup:

182 between the scatterbrained and those on an ASBO; a processional from a Master of the Monarch's Music; and the first letter of the law from the Greek stranger. Connected by which P?

EDIT: originally wrote "N": the clues and answer all relate to the same P word!

[vinteuil]

the Greek stranger.

... would be Ξενάκης?

[Nick Armstrong]

... would be Ξενάκης?

ξιπασμένος? Moi?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... would be Ξενάκης?

[cloughie]

Never mind all this greek code and s. PLEASE WRITE IN PLAIN ENGLISH!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sounds like a type of Buddhism gives you a peck on the cheek, cloughie?

(The nearest I get to "plain English"!)

[vinteuil]

ξιπασμένος? Moi?

... prétentieux? ... ¿nosotros?

[vinteuil]

Never mind all this greek code !

... helpful hint: copying and pasting into google or other search injins usually works wonders

[cloughie]

... helpful hint: copying and pasting into google or other search injins usually works wonders

And when the paint has dried......