Alphabet associations - I

[Norfolk Born]

I hope this question doesn't turn out to be a signal failure

[Simon]

I'm delighted that this thread has almost reached 10,000 replies. I wish that it were possible to invite all participants to have a glass of something with me, if and when we reach that point.

I have looked in from time to time, but your routine knowledge is usually too extensive to give me much of a chance - though I nearly got one last week. I was pipped by a matter of seconds.

[mercia]

I was just about to post that I was completely stumped, then found your clue

how about Vergnugungszug polka opus 281 by J Strauss II for starters?

[mercia]

........... followed by

Bahn Frei! opus 45
and Mit Dampf! opus 70
by Eduard Strauss ??

T = Trains ?

[Norfolk Born]

Well done, mercia - I knew you would end up on the right track!
Rough translations: Bahn Frei - Full Speed Ahead; Mit Dampf = Steam Up (or In Steam); Vergnügungszug = Pleasure Excursion Train.
Over to U (or V...)

[mercia]

Over to U (or V...)

not sure I deserve that. You virtually gave the answer away after several clues. I haven't really had time to spend playing this game today.

anyway, a fairly easy U

a U to connect

a conductor banned from conducting in his home country for six years, a 'combined' work that celebrated the end of an early 18th century war, and the composer of a work for "any loud group of instruments" (which happens to feature another U but ignore that)

how convoluted is that !!

[antongould]

Have we gone all Dutch?

[mercia]

Have we gone all Dutch?

quite so
you might as well set the V question straightaway !!

[antongould]

I think it is Utrecht

Willem Mengelberg from Utrecht was banned from conducting after the Second World War for Nazi "connections"
Louis Andriessen again from Utrecht composed Workers Union for the type of instruments as described .......

On the other clue I'm not 100% but GFH composed Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht that marked the end of the War of the Spanish Succession.

[mercia]

brilliant work, oh maestro Gould, I bow down at your feet in unalloyed admiration
a perfect answer, faultless in every detail
I hereby pass on the baton of association, be careful not to drop it

[antongould]

A V that connects

Felix in his early teens
Rebecca Clarke
Definition of Perfect Pitch

[Norfolk Born]

Mendelssohn wrote a viola sonata when he was 15 years old
Rebecca Clarke wrote works for the viola, including a sonata
There's a joke about perfect pitch = throwing a viola in a dumpster.

[antongould]

Full marks to the Duke of Norfolk. The W is yours sir.

[Norfolk Born]

Which 'W' links Felix, Paul, Bette and Ernest? (All elements musical)

[mercia]

is that Ernest Bloch?
Bette Midler?
Felix-Bartholdy?
Adolf Paul?

what is a dumpster?