Alphabet associations - I

[mercia]

I don't know any Gliere, which I guess is rather a gliereing ommission
just listened to The Sailors' Dance and The Charleston from The Red Poppy - they both sound good Breakfast-Show fare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NkCsfHEbnc

[Nick Armstrong]

More than likely!! The Sailors Dance is world famous, I think you would know it if you heard it!
Just the film score (from a book) to get, (American composer and author) Come on Cali, are you a man or a mouse?
Edit: Disregard this post!!!

She so loves to goad !

Meanwhile events move on around her!



Nice topical question, Anna. A classic AA puzzle!

[Nick Armstrong]

they both sound good Breakfast-Show fare

How much more damning can you get!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd heard of The Red Pony Suite, but I don't think I've ever heard it (and had forgotten all about it until you mentioned it )

- you didn't, did you! "Poppy"/"Pony" must be the most useful "mishearing" I've experienced!

I have a Q if nobody objects to bouncing around the alphabet.

Without further howdo; I'm fed up of Red Nose Day, so:

A Q to connect:
Another name for Twelfth Night;
A Magic Night;
the end of a sleepless night.

[Anna]

Just to tidy up after myself and hand the coleslaw around:
The Red Poppy by Gliere, famous for Dance of the Sailors
The Red Pony by Copland, film score, book by John Steinbeck
Red Priest (Vivaldi and ensemble of the same name)
Red Roses for a Blue Lady (additional clue), who cares who it's by!! I too have had enough of Red Nose Day!

[amateur51]

She so loves to goad !

Meanwhile events move on around her!



Nice topical question, Anna. A classic AA puzzle!

Yes indeed Anna, a classic, nice to see that some still have the skill, ahem

[Anna]

Yes indeed Anna, a classic, nice to see that some still have the skill, ahem

Thanks Ams and Cali! I quite feel I may be getting my mojo back again!

A Q to connect:
Another name for Twelfth Night;
A Magic Night;
the end of a sleepless night.

Sorry ferney, after much thought I've drawn a blank of this Q so far and now off for a while.

[Anna]

At nearly half ten of the clock, still no idea, even fortified by a riffle through my Oxford Dictionary of Music. Cannot be a composer, is it a foreign word? Not that I'll be able to give it much throught until tomorrow but I know how dispiriting it is to set a puzzle and feel all have deserted you .....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

At nearly half ten of the clock, still no idea, even fortified by a riffle through my Oxford Dictionary of Music. Cannot be a composer, is it a foreign word? Not that I'll be able to give it much throught until tomorrow but I know how dispiriting it is to set a puzzle and feel all have deserted you .....

Possibly it might help to start with the last bit; possibly the most famous piece of Music associated with insomnia?

Or, from what you say, it sounds as if I've given a vile clue.

[mercia]

vile

well Kurt Weill apparently wrote a children's pantomime called Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) from which, says wikipedia, he extracted a suite called Quodlibet opus 9 (1923)

a quodlibet is the thirtieth [last] variation of The Goldberg Variations, which I'm ashamed to say I didn't know was written as an antidote to insomnia. I've chopped a bit out of wikipedia if there's anybody else out there who didn't know.

The most famous part of Goldberg's life is the portion, probably in 1741, recounted by J.S. Bach's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, which involved the composition of a set of variations by Bach as a soporific to help the insomniac Count Keyserlingk fall asleep. Keyserlingk's favorite chamber harpsichordist was the 14-year-old Goldberg, whose technical accomplishments were so spectacular that they made it possible for him to perform a work of such extraordinary difficulty. Whether the count actually slept through performances of the piece is not recorded, but he did indicate that Bach's composition was a great favorite of his

and finally, as we all know, quodlibet translates as 'what you will' which is the alternative title of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

very impressed if the ferne knew all that before setting the question - <prostrate worship emoticon>

[antongould]

Excellent question - top notch solution - one of mercs best - I was getting nowhere down the insomnia route but reading it here I now recall the Goldbergs connection.

[mercia]

oops, I should have left a Goldberg question for Mr Gould to solve never mind

[Anna]

Mercia, you are a marvel! I got as far as Magic Night (after ferney's generous clue) but remained totally stuck thereafter, so went to bed before more fruitless puzzling gave me insomnia!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

well Kurt Weill apparently wrote a children's pantomime called Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) from which, says wikipedia, he extracted a suite called Quodlibet opus 9 (1923)

a quodlibet is the thirtieth [last] variation of The Goldberg Variations, which I'm ashamed to say I didn't know was written as an antidote to insomnia. I've chopped a bit out of wikipedia if there's anybody else out there who didn't know.

The most famous part of Goldberg's life is the portion, probably in 1741, recounted by J.S. Bach's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, which involved the composition of a set of variations by Bach as a soporific to help the insomniac Count Keyserlingk fall asleep. Keyserlingk's favorite chamber harpsichordist was the 14-year-old Goldberg, whose technical accomplishments were so spectacular that they made it possible for him to perform a work of such extraordinary difficulty. Whether the count actually slept through performances of the piece is not recorded, but he did indicate that Bach's composition was a great favorite of his

and finally, as we all know, quodlibet translates as 'what you will' which is the alternative title of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

That wasn't just an ordinary answer: that was a Mercs and Spencer gold standard answer with Guernsey cream mayonnaise and Tibetian Mountain fennel!
We've already had the splendid R from Anna (and I've cleaned that up) - So a splendidly scintilating S, s'il vous plait!

very impressed if the ferne knew all that before setting the question

All except the Weill - for some reason, I thought it was by Korngold! (So easy to confuse the two, isn't it!

[amateur51]

Top puzzle & top solving - well done both!