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Sydney Grew
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« on: 10:39:31, 05-08-2007 » |
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Many Members are reluctant to essay an answer to the question, "Who was the greatest composer?" As we have just now indicated elsewhere, they excuse themselves by questioning the question in a more metaphysical way than the true metaphysician, even. Let us then see what they have to say about the surely objective question of who the fattest composer was. Here is an example to start the ball rolling, although we can already think of several considerably more abdominous candidates. The illuminating legend is the good Percy Scholes's by the way. |
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #1 on: 11:05:52, 05-08-2007 » |
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Rossini ?
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Dreams, schemes and themes
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #2 on: 11:10:46, 05-08-2007 » |
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 ... was a composer was not he? And then they're the Scarlatti anecdote about the spectacular hand-crossings of his earlier sonatas disappearing in the later sonatas because he allegedly couldn't cross his hands any more. |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #3 on: 11:15:59, 05-08-2007 » |
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Rossini was certainly inclined to great girth, although most of it was gained after he stopped composing at the age of 32. There are several pieces ascribed to Henry VIII, and it seems quite likely that "Pastime with good companye" is indeed his. |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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smittims
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« Reply #4 on: 11:27:38, 05-08-2007 » |
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According to his widow, VW's size came from his liking for cakes and puddings.when at the RCM he was not well fed at home by his increasingly eccentric mother and aunts and used to fill up at cafes. He was quite tall and large-framed,so it was virtually inevitable.
Elgar became quite plump in old age.
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autoharp
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« Reply #5 on: 11:47:38, 05-08-2007 » |
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Difficult to tell, but I always suspected Max Reger of being somewhat porky . . .  |
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #6 on: 12:41:41, 05-08-2007 » |
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Schubert was quite portly wasn't he?
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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increpatio
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« Reply #7 on: 12:53:04, 05-08-2007 » |
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Let us then see what they have to say about the surely objective question of who the fattest composer was.
Are we talking bmi here, or? I heard Scarlatti (the sonatist) put on quite a lot of weight in his later years; he was at the very least unable anymore to utilize the technique of hand-crossing that he had invented. |
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MabelJane
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« Reply #8 on: 13:05:45, 05-08-2007 » |
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 I've always liked this picture of Brahms - but perhaps it's just his posture that makes him look tubby! |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Kittybriton
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« Reply #9 on: 13:27:57, 05-08-2007 » |
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Has anybody noticed how many of these gentlemen hide behind facial hair?
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Click me -> About meor me -> my handmade storeNo, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm only a halfwit. In fact I'm actually a catfish. |
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #10 on: 13:30:55, 05-08-2007 » |
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I'm not surprised when you look at the razors they had to deal with in those days. Cut-throat wasn't an exaggeration!
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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MabelJane
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« Reply #11 on: 13:55:10, 05-08-2007 » |
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Saint-Saëns was a bit chubby too:  |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #12 on: 14:00:24, 05-08-2007 » |
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Beethoven was pretty stocky. People were smaller in height then so couldn't afford to put much weight on. (As I well know!)  |
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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increpatio
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« Reply #13 on: 14:03:56, 05-08-2007 » |
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Beethoven was pretty stocky. People were smaller in height then so couldn't afford to put much weight on. (As I well know!) Yeah; you'd have to get everything refitted at the tailor's.... |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #14 on: 14:06:13, 05-08-2007 » |
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Has anybody noticed how many of these gentlemen hide behind facial hair?
Yes - as far as the 19th century figures are concerned, to grow a beard was quite standard for men of a certain age and class, I believe. |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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