Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[french frank]

Tricky though, because though Mozart is enough, Wolfgang Amadeus is definitely preferable to Wolfgang.

Indeed - I really meant that the 'Simon Denis' was on that analogy!

[Flosshilde]

I suppose that it depends on what name people are generally known by. As with Mozart, either 'Bach' or 'Johann Sebastien Bach'. His sons are generally given their full names (Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, etc), which distinguish them from father. The problem with Simon Denis Rattle is that as it's unfamiliar it could be misunderstood & thought to indicate a different Rattle.

[Serial_Apologist]

Maybe someone want to drop a hint to University Challenge, where teams often display remarkable ignorance when it comes to answering questions on well-known composers' christian names.

[gurnemanz]

It has always seemed rather odd to me that the Germans always refer to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , with the extra surname the family adopted, but in Britain he only ever gets one surname.

[P. G. Tipps]

It seems odd to me that it is Anton Bruckner and not Joseph Bruckner or, if they must, Josef Anton Bruckner. I suspect it started as a family thing as his doting mum apparently referred to him as 'Tonerl'

But I can just about live with it ...

[MrGongGong]

Maybe someone want to drop a hint to University Challenge, where teams often display remarkable ignorance when it comes to answering questions on well-known composers' christian names.

It's not just University Challenge, some folks who frequent these parts seem totally unaware of Miles Davis and/or Metallica

[Padraig]

I don't know Metallica's christian name either.

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't know Metallica's christian name either.

Ms.?

(Actually, I thought Metallica was her christian name.)

[Flosshilde]

I don't know Metallica's christian name either.

What makes you think she/he is Christian?

[Serial_Apologist]

What makes you think she/he is Christian?

That's a heavy metal kinda question, Floss!

[Padraig]

What makes you think she/he is Christian?

christian with a kleine c.

[Don Petter]

Tina would be a good name?

[P. G. Tipps]

... some folks who frequent these parts seem totally unaware of Miles Davis and/or Metallica

Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"I'm sure you'll agree that..."

[Serial_Apologist]

"We have no plans to..."