Alphabet associations - I

[Anna]

mercia, having had a look this morning what you say seems perfectly correct. I found this "Chopin put all preludes into an order of tonalities, however with a difference; in the Well Tempered Clavier all tonalities rise chromatically, while Chopin put his preludes into an order that follows the circle of tonalities. It is known that Chopin studied thoroughly the works of Bach before writing his preludes" Like you, tuning, temperament and tonalities are a mystery. No doubt Angle knows all about them.

[Anna]

I didn't mean to interrupt your answering of the question Anna, I just had nothing better to do at 5:10 this morning

No problems mercia, interrupt as much as you like! I had not a clue about the Chopin. You always seem to be up early in the morning and retire early, can I be nosy and ask if you are in a different time zone to the UK?

[Dave2002]

Maybe the final answer has a little to do with Nielsen's 2nd symphony, in a singular kind of way?

[Anna]

Could be woven into the answer I guess Dave. Also, there is a lovely childrens book by Eric Carle called The Bad-Tempered Ladybird! Or tempered steel maybe

Angle said to carry on with a U (I see I also set the last U) so here goes. An easy one.

Which U is found in the following:

An comic opera, an Aria of which Mozart used for a set of Variations, later used by Tchaikovsky
An re-working of the Opera 11 years later by a different composer
An 80s tv series with music by Ron Grainer, (a quote by Oscar Wilde could also be brought in)

Edit: Obviously the Opera title is in translation, not yer actual French!

[Dave2002]

Maybe the final answer has a little to do with Nielsen's 2nd symphony, in a singular kind of way?

I'm feeling unimaginative and useless at this mention of unexpected operatic variations.

Out for a while now.

[Angle]

LIke Mercia, I have my own time zone but it is out of synch at the other end, as I think is quite well-known here and everywhere else. Woe betide the person who phones before 11am!


I might have been a bit clever with the Chopin bit of T but :

"Well tempered" means that the twelve notes per octave of the standard keyboard are tuned in such a way that it is possible to play music in most major or minor keys and it will not sound perceptibly out of tune. In most tuning systems used before 1700, one or more intervals on the twelve-note keyboard were so far from any pure interval that they were unusable in harmony and were called a "wolf"

J. S. Bach wrote The Well-Tempered Clavier to demonstrate the musical possibilities of well temperament, where in some keys the consonances are even more degraded than in equal temperament

An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for every note in the system.

We now live in a world where Bach will probably be played on a well tempered instrument. Medieval music may be performed using a Pythagorean scale. And, Chopin will probably be played on an equal tempered piano.

[Anna]

Oh, thanks Angle. Very clearly explained, I'm now wondering if you were a music teacher and/or musician?

[antongould]

I'm feeling unimaginative and useless at this mention of unexpected operatic variations.

Out for a while now.

Is there an answer in here?

[Dave2002]

AntonG

Not sure. There may be, but I've not worked it out yet. You might want to work on unexpected, and you'll probably get the TV series. I've not got any further.

[Anna]

Is there an answer in here?

Anton, yes, indeed there is more than a tiny cluette in Dave's answer (btw, the Oscar Wilde quote was just thrown in as an extra, no need to worry about it)

Edit: cross posting with Dave (one of the only faults with this MB I find)

[antongould]

So Unexpected
As Dave who obviously should have the V says Mr. Trainer wrote the music for Tales of the Unexpected.
The Opera is I think The Unexpected Encounter by Gluck?
Wilde said "To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.." but then he said so much!

[Anna]

So Unexpected
As Dave who obviously should have the V says Mr. Trainer wrote the music for Tales of the Unexpected.
The Opera is I think The Unexpected Encounter by Gluck?
Wilde said "To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.." but then he said so much!

Exactly anton. Now, any idea who reworked the Opera in 1775 using the same libretto?

[antongould]

Just got it I think the Unexpected Encounter by Uncle Jo in 1775 - sorry Anna I got an F in French O Level!

[Anna]

Just got it I think the Unexpected Encounter by Uncle Jo in 1775 - sorry Anna I got an F in French O Level!

Well done anton. So the full answer (which you have got) is

La rencontre imprévue (The Unexpected Encounter), also known as Les pèlerins de la Mecque (The Pilgrims to Mecca) is a comédie mêlée d’ariettes, a form of opéra comique, by Gluck, first performed at the Burgtheater, Vienna on January 7, 1764. The libretto was by Louis Hurtaut Dancourt

In 1784 Mozart wrote a set of variations for piano (K.455) on the aria “Unser dummer Pöbel meint” from this opera. In 1887 the variations were orchestrated by Tchaikovsky as the final movement of his orchestral Suite No.4 “Mozartiana”.

The Haydn Opera in 3 acts ‘Unexpected Encounter’ as previously set by Gluck was performed in 1775 using the same libretto. Rarely performed it was first staged in the UK at the Camden Festival in 1966. The first complete recording was made by Philips in 1980

Roald Dahl wrote Tales of the Unexpected with music by Ron Grainer and the Oscar quote was spot on.

So, you obviously have the V

It's a bit odd at the moment with so many of the regulars being away due to work, family, holidays.

[Dave2002]

Very well done Anton. I wasn't getting anywhere - spent most of the afternoon avoiding rain and watching golf as an aside.

I think the V is with you.