Which composers of any period would you invite to dinner and why?

[Richard Tarleton]

If you mean James VI and I otoh......

Indeed - the brother in law of his previous employer.....

[Serial_Apologist]

Frank Zappa, for one - to find out what made so talented a man so, so cynical...

[mangerton]

Indeed - the brother in law of his previous employer.....

I reckon first cousins twice removed, going by this, assuming that you mean Elizabeth the first of England was his previous employer.

Actually, though he wasn't a composer, Will Kempe would be an interesting dinner guest. What was it like to dance to Norwich, to that one (rather short) tune?

[ahinton]

Looking at this down the other end of the telescope, the prospect of receiving a dinner invitation from the forum member who earlier today made such disparaging remarks about the work of that immensely laudable institution NMC is one that could result only in polite refusal if the risk of open warfare were to be avoided...

[roberta]

i would ask john lennon to dinner to ask him why he wrote a song about gustav holst's daughter

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

i would ask john lennon to dinner to ask him why he wrote a song about gustav holst's daughter

Mangerton's mentioning Will Kemp made me think that the dinner guests I'd most like to have would be Mozart (at the age when he wrote Cosi) and Shakespeare (at the age he wrote MSND). Just me, them and the camera crew!

[teamsaint]

Frank Zappa, for one - to find out what made so talented a man so, so cynical...

and Beefheart ? now that would be ..er..interesting.

Schubert and Buddy Holly...to ask them what they had in mind for the future.....

[Serial_Apologist]

Schubert and Buddy Holly...to ask them what they had in mind for the future.....

A collaboration?

(Take no notice, TS)

[Richard Tarleton]

I reckon first cousins twice removed, going by this, assuming that you mean Elizabeth the first of England was his previous employer.

No I meant his previous employer was King Christian lV of Denmark, brother of Anne of Denmark, wife of James 1. Dowland was famously never employed by Elizabeth, owing to his accidental involvement with a group of Papist plotters while on his European travels. He wrote a long grovelly letter to Robert Cecil but to no avail. John Johnson got the top job. Interestingly Dowland and Johnson were both called John, their sons were both called Robert.

[teamsaint]

A collaboration?

(Take no notice, TS)

given that i am "watching " X factor right now, its doesn't seem like the daftest idea ever !

" I love you guys"............

[Nick Armstrong]

J S Bach
Bruckner
Ravel
Vaughan Williams

Interesting chaps, interesting lives but then there are so,so many.

Caliban as butler, interpreter and to set the quiz. Oh and to moan about Shostakovich not being invited.

I gratefully accept the appointment (before you realise that I have no German at all beyond the ability to mutter 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen' and 'Christ lag in Todesbanden' under my breath)

[Nick Armstrong]

Tempted to say

Ravel
Shostakovich
Mahler
Rachmaninov

I'd like to know what they were really like. Of course the last two knew each other so that would break the ice. I fear old Maurice would be rather isolated though. Maybe I'd smuggle him in to act as sommelier and make my fourth choice Mozart, another one I would like to know the truth about. Or maybe bin Rachmaninov in favour of WAM.

[Nick Armstrong]

Elgar, so we could talk football as well as music..

DSCH would be your man for that, too: this from The Guardian - "Shostakovich was a football fanatic. He was, said Maxim Gorky, 'a rabid fan. He comported himself like a little boy, leapt up, screamed and gesticulated' at matches. Shostakovich supported Leningrad Zenith; he would cut short his composing retreats in some rural idyll and return to the city for home games."

[antongould]

T

DSCH would be your man for that, too: this from The Guardian - "Shostakovich was a football fanatic. He was, said Maxim Gorky, 'a rabid fan. He comported himself like a little boy, leapt up, screamed and gesticulated' at matches. Shostakovich supported Leningrad Zenith; he would cut short his composing retreats in some rural idyll and return to the city for home games."

......and your other 3 M'Lud? - I could offer my services to regale DSCH with tales of Harlepool United......

[EdgeleyRob]

DSCH would be your man for that, too: this from The Guardian - "Shostakovich was a football fanatic. He was, said Maxim Gorky, 'a rabid fan. He comported himself like a little boy, leapt up, screamed and gesticulated' at matches. Shostakovich supported Leningrad Zenith; he would cut short his composing retreats in some rural idyll and return to the city for home games."

Of course,I'd forgotten about DSCH.

However I'd feel more at home talking Wolves with Elgar than Zenit St Petersburg with Shostakovich.