Alphabet associations - I

[hedgehog]

Sorry, only recently back from a stunning performance of Britten's Spring Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall

I was thinking of T S Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Ah.....well, I think I have to adjust the question. The "book both speculative and practical"would better be described as a treatise.

The "composer’s satire" however is, in a way, somewhat akin to T S Eliot's romp.

So removing some of the obfuscation the question is:

What P links one composer’s satire of another’s earnest studies, a set of dancing muses and a treatise?

[amateur51]

Ah.....well, I think I have to adjust the question. The "book both speculative and practical"would better be described as a treatise.

The "composer’s satire" however is, in a way, somewhat akin to T S Eliot's romp.

So removing some of the obfuscation the question is:

What P links one composer’s satire of another’s earnest studies, a set of dancing muses and a treatise?

Thanks for the revision, hodge but .....

How was your dinner party, btw?

[hedgehog]

Thanks for the revision, hodge but .....

How was your dinner party, btw?

The dinner was very amiable - hardly a party, just a very old friend with her new partner so I felt obliged to do a 3 course job!

The answer is a bit lofty I guess, but if you take the right steps not really that difficult

[amateur51]

The dinner was very amiable - hardly a party, just a very old friend with her new partner so I felt obliged to do a 3 course job!

The answer is a bit lofty I guess, but if you take the right steps not really that difficult

Sounds lovely, hodge - a nice thing to do for you friend

now then ... 'lofty' ... is that a clue, I wonder?

[hedgehog]

now then ... 'lofty' ... is that a clue, I wonder?

Yes it is, the whole sentence in fact. It's a very big clue and we are not talking about carpets

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Wasn't the Muse of Dance, Terpsichore?

[hedgehog]

Wasn't the Muse of Dance, Terpsichore?

Yes, but there are a number of muses here, in a set. With dances (hence "dancing muses").

Oh and the first composer's satire is a musical one, perhaps more of a friendly joke than a scathing demolition!

[amateur51]

Still going with what pops into my noddle, 'steps' and 'lofty' yields 'ladder' yields Schoenberg's Jakobsleiter

[hedgehog]

One or two songs from "The Sound of Music" would probably be more helpful.

(Though Schönberg most definitely knew the treatise.)

[amateur51]

Paganini's Art of Playing the Violin, with a Treatise on Single and Double Harmonic Notes

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini? or Witold Lutosławski, Variation on a Theme by Paganini for 2 pianos?

[mercia]

Gradus ad Parnassum - textbook on counterpoint by Johann Fux (1725) - Parnassus, the loftiest part of a Greek mountain range - gradus/step

Stravinsky's ballet Apollo - characters Terpsichore, Calliope, Polyhymnia

Debussy - from Children's Corner making fun of Clementi's instructional pieces

[hedgehog]

Bravo Mercia (again )

Except for the Stravinksy. Parnassum is the answer and is in another title.

Filling in: The first piece of the Children's Corner Suite is called Dr Gradus ad Parnassum (steps to Parnassus) which is both the title of Fux's treatise (two parts: Musica Speculativa and Musica Practica) and - somewhat pretentiously (maybe that's what ired Debussy) - of a set of studies by Clementi; another being the Studies in Velocity (groan to bad memories).


So still looking for the piece in the middle!

[mercia]

sorry I haven't the remotest idea and google doesn't seem to be helping

[hedgehog]

google doesn't seem to be helping

Try googling parnassum muses music composition

[mercia]

J C F Fischer 1656-1746

Musikalischer Parnassus (Musical Parnassus, c. 1738), nine dance suites for harpsichord, each named after one of the Muses