Alphabet associations - I

[cloughie]

Sidney Torch - Blackpool ?

A Sidney you may have thought of in the heat of the night. You guys need to get organised.

[Thropplenoggin]

A Sidney you may have thought of in the heat of the night. You guys need to get organised.

Virgil.

[cloughie]

Virgil.

The only V is the subject on the card, the others are pointers to it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The only V is the subject on the card, the others are pointers to it.

Is that a "yes" or a "no"?

[Nick Armstrong]

The only V is the subject on the card, the others are pointers to it.

Come on, Virgil was a cracking shout after your "Heat of the Night" => Sidney Poitier clue. Credit where it's due, eh Throppers?

[cloughie]

Come on, Virgil was a cracking shout after your "Heat of the Night" => Sidney Poitier clue. Credit where it's due, eh Throppers?

Keep your hats on guys - Virgil was a very good wrong guess. Where's Poitier(s) and as I say get organised!

[Nick Armstrong]

Keep your hats on guys - Virgil was a very good wrong guess. Where's Poitier(s) and as I say get organised!

It's in Vienne....

Have to take to the road now, good luck people!

[amateur51]

It's in Vienne....

Have to take to the road now, good luck people!

Safe driving Caliban!

[cloughie]

It's in Vienne....

Have to take to the road now, good luck people!

...and where's Vienne?

Who's from Poitiers, what do you know about him and what did he write - I repeat get ORGANised. I'm off-line shortly for a while - Western Power are working in our patch so no juice!

[Flay]

It's in Vienne....

Ha Ha, Calibs left his Rs out! Good thing our V was practically blind....

...and he died on the job, expiring on a low E. But I'm working so daren't say who....

[Quarky]

...and where's Vienne?

Who's from Poitiers, what do you know about him and what did he write - I repeat get ORGANised. I'm off-line shortly for a while - Western Power are working in our patch so no juice!

Louis Vierne, is prime candidate, organist at Notre Dame cathedral - it's not more complicated than that is it (what an understatement)?. He died while playing the organ.

[Nick Armstrong]

Ha Ha, Calibs left his Rs out! Good thing our V was practically blind....

I'm confused but I'm working too so never mind. (Is there a Vierne/Vienne clue going on?). The 'get ORGANised' clue was a good one though, annoyed I didn't twig that...

[Quarky]

I am reliably informed that Louis Vierne originated form Poitiers (along with the Visigoths and various other V people).

count me out for W by the way.

[Flay]

Oi!!!

I'm confused but I'm working too so never mind. (Is there a Vierne/Vienne clue going on?). The 'get ORGANised' clue was a good one though, annoyed I didn't twig that...

I didn't know that Poitiers was in Vienne - I live and learn.

Wiki:

Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers, Vienne, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts

Was that the "darkness," cloughie?

He sounds like a jolly nice, committed man:

He was deeply affected by a separation and subsequent divorce from his wife, and he lost both his brother René and his son Jacques to the battlefields of World War I. Though he held one of the most prestigious organ posts in France, the Notre-Dame organ was in a state of disrepair throughout much of his tenure at the instrument. He eventually undertook a concert tour of North America to raise money for its restoration. The tour, which included major recitals on the famous Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia and its smaller sister instrument, the Wanamaker Auditorium Organ in New York City, was very successful, although the trip physically drained him.

Notre Dame - The Bells?

A street accident in Paris caused him to badly fracture his leg, and it was briefly thought his leg would need to be amputated. The leg was saved, but his recovery, and the task of completely re-learning his pedal technique, took a full year during one of the busiest times of his life. Despite his difficulties, however, his students uniformly described him as a kind, patient and encouraging teacher.

Then tragedy:

Vierne suffered either a stroke or a heart attack (eyewitness reports differ) while giving his 1750th organ recital at Notre-Dame de Paris on the evening of 2 June 1937. He had completed the main concert, which members of the audience said showed him at his full powers - "as well as he has ever played." Directly after he had finished playing his "Stele pour un enfant defunt" from his 'Triptyque' Op 58, the closing section was to be two improvisations on submitted themes. He read the first theme in Braille, then selected the stops he would use for the improvisation. He suddenly pitched forward, and fell off the bench as his foot hit the low "E" pedal of the organ. He lost consciousness as the single note echoed throughout the church. He had thus fulfilled his oft-stated lifelong dream - to die at the console of the great organ of Notre-Dame.

Was that the implied "death" in the clue?

[Flay]

"Memorial for a dead child" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8d5F5GY4hw

From Youtube:

Here is Vierne's description of the circumstances under which he wrote it:

"Stèle pour un enfant défunt was written in the memory of a poor urchin, who died at the age of ten, under dreadful circumstances. He was a precocious little being, sensitive far beyond his years, named Jean de Brancion. As an old friend of the family, I was grief-stricken at his tragic passing. In a kind of votive offering dedicated to his memory, I refrained from conventional obsequiousness; there was nothing appropriate to express my sorrow, merely a suggestion of sadness through an illusory poetry; that was what I tried to achieve."

Vierne died at the organ console of Notre-Dame de Paris, moments after finishing playing this piece, on June 2nd, 1937.

Thank you cloughie, I have learned something today