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#109478 08/07/03 09:30 AM
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Which Dead Russian Composer are you most like?

http://www.angelfire.com/va/randomlyweird/russcomp.html


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Stravinsky...but this test is incorrect, though fun. "You are a neat freak" does not match my profile.

I was tempted to plug in all those vodka responses, however, just to see who that composer was. Can we guess?


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I'm too modest to say.


Ya Dmitri Shostakovich.

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Not as modest as I am.


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Not as modest

Can you give us the picture?


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I was tempted to plug in all those vodka responses, however, just to see who that composer was. Can we guess?

go on, guess, I know the answer




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I know the answer

And she's not modest at all. You might even say she's willing to make an exhibition of it.


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Well it said that I'm Dmitri Shostakovich. Never heard of him.

Endorsing the vodka answers will get you this:

You are Modest Mussorgsky.
You are a Romantic period psycho who's drunk more often than not. You died of this affliction, not surprisingly. Your famous works include "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Pictures at an Exhibition.



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Modest Mussorgsky

!


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Well it said that I'm Dmitri Shostakovich. Never heard of him.
XX century composer. his 7th symphony is well known (in Europe)




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Maybe it's one of those pieces that if I heard it I'd say "Oh yes, that one!" but I can't hear it in my head by memory. My knowledge of "classical" music is pretty shallow.


#109489 08/07/03 04:51 PM
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There, there, Faldage and WW. I appreciated your bald-faced repartee.


#109490 08/07/03 04:56 PM
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bald-faced repartee

We'll climb that mountain when we come to it.


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Niet, niet. I am Dmitri Shostakovich

Bingley


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I am Aleksandr Borodin.
Son of a 19th Century Russian prince and a...non-royal...mother, you went to medical school and became a biochemist. Most people, however, (and probably your twenty cats as well) agree that they'd trade all of your scientific discoveries for another set of "Polovetsian Dances."

Remarkable.



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Sorry, Bingley, it looks like Shostakoviches are a dmitri a dozen. Here's another one.


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You are Igor Stravinsky.
Known as a true son of the new 20th Century, your music started out melodic and folky but slowly got more dissonant and bizzare as you aged. You are a traveler and a neat freak, and very much hated those rotten eggs thrown at you after the premiere of "The Rite of Spring."


yeah, I don't quite fit the neat bit either...



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it looks like Shostakoviches are a dmitri a dozen. Here's another one .
well, i am a rarer bird - Chajkovsky... although I don't like his music anymore, I hear it too often on Classic FM, his works are something like pop-classics


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Polovetsian Dances !!!




#109497 08/08/03 05:18 PM
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Vika, I liked (and fully understood) the way you transliterated your composer. The common way in these parts is Tchaikovsky, though you see variations of that, too.


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Another Dmitri am I.


#109499 08/10/03 11:40 AM
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The common way in these parts is Tchaikovsky, though you see variations of that, too.

thanks, you are absolutely right. i spend to much time on Russian forums, forgetting about proper transliteration. sorry about that [sad]




#109500 08/10/03 12:12 PM
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How about Polov(e)tsian? I found about a 3:1 ratio of Polovtsian to Polovetsian on the googlometer, whether in all languages or just in Russian sites. I couldn't find it in Cyrillic, however. How *do you do it in Russian, vika?


#109501 08/10/03 01:58 PM
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i spend to much time on Russian forums
I think you do just fine, my Dear. :-) And yes, I too would very much like to know whether Polovetsian or Polovtsian is correct, if you could take the trouble to tell us. If memory serves, my youth orchestra conductor told us that, although the music was printed with the e, the "true" spelling didn't have it. My suspicion is that the differences in English spelling might be due to the fact that the two languages have different alphabets.


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Hey, doc, I'm Borodin, too!...can there be two of us? are we multiple personalities? And I've always been more of a dog person, anyway.

Cool site, vika.


#109503 08/10/03 03:42 PM
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My suspicion is that the differences in English spelling might be due to the fact that the two languages have different alphabets.

Because the letter 'V' is a voiced fricative US'ns would *naturally put a vowel between a 'V' and a 'T' when spelling out a pronounciation. I suspect Slovic languages wouldn't consider that *natural at all.


#109504 08/10/03 05:33 PM
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Because the letter 'V' is a voiced fricative US'ns would *naturally put a vowel between a 'V' and a 'T' when spelling out a pronounciation.
[impressed e] Kewl!


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Because the letter 'V' is a voiced fricative US'ns would *naturally put a vowel between a 'V' and a 'T' when spelling out a pronounciation.

I wonder if of troy would agree with that.


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Because the letter 'V' is a voiced fricative US'ns would *naturally put a vowel between a 'V' and a 'T' when spelling out a pronounciation.

I wonder if of troy would agree with that.


Um...I think where you put the emPHAsis (hi, tsuwm) makes a difference. I never say or think OF troy--it's always of TROY, so I have no "need" of adding a sound in there. But the music is pol-OV-tsi-an, and it's easier for English-speaking tongues to say pol-oh-VET-si-an. I think.


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I've never had any problem saying Polovtsian.

And I had the same roughly 3:1 ratio on .ru sites.


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the problem is, it is Polovetsian.

the name of the tribe (?) is polovtsy, but it is a common rule to insert "e" in adjectives from the nouns that end in ts. I guess, we can not pronounce vtsk - this is Check, not Russian. for example, molodcy - brave men. the adjektive
molodetskie...

and the stress is pol-oh-VET-sk -ie as well


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So is Polovetskaya or something like that? Then it seems as though the English adjectival form could well be Polovtsian, since we don't have that pesky K in there.

I remember from my youth that the standard spelling was Polovtsian but it was always pronounced Polovetsian (or Polovitsian).


#109510 08/11/03 04:54 PM
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Yet, even when voiced, an 'f' *is shorter and softer (to me) than that of a 'v'. In "of Troy" the 'f' is barely voiced... un-les-wun-egg-za-ger-ray-tss-an-d-de-vi-des-ev-er-ree-sow-n-d


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We must be at least a trio, WO'N and Doc C, for I am also Aleksandr Borodin. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


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So is Polovetskaya or something like that? Then it seems as though the English adjectival form could well be Polovtsian, since we don't have that pesky K in there.

I remember from my youth that the standard spelling was Polovtsian but it was always pronounced Polovetsian (or Polovitsian).

Faldage, you are absolutely right! "A" for your Russian.
so the question now is what is the correct English form?
Polovtsian Dances?





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Another Borodin here... and I've always said it(if that's possible) Polov-sian


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Google score c.4300 for Polovtsian: 1370 for polovetsian: "about 10" for polovetskian


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If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Sergei Rakhmaninov.I lived in the early Twentieth Century and was well known for my compositional, conducting, and piano skills, yet I am melancholy despite this talent. My famous works include my nearly-impossible piano concerti.<


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my nearly-impossible piano concerti.

But your All Night Service is exquisite.


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Hey--she ain't that kind of gal! Dody: if that offended you, I apologize, and I'll remove it.


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I never get offended Jackie, I'm far too egotistical


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I've just found time to do this, and am delighted to say that I'm Shostakovich, writer of impenetrable string quartets and magnificent symphonies.


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impenetrable string quartets

Impenetrable!? You don't try to penetrate them. Just let them envelope you.


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envelope you
Well, he is a man of letters...


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... and this is my stamping ground.


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Another Borodin checking in.

I think I make it about five of each.

The number of choices appears much more limited than the permutations of questions...

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Moderated by  Jackie 

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