Unutterably Silly Quiz

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

Keats?

Not Keats.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Do I detect a hint of William McGonagle?

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

Do I detect a hint of William McGonagle?

Afraid not. I think the original composer might be rolling in his grave at that comment though! Remember, this is the only translation I could find.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Originally Posted by natasha_fawn

Afraid not. I think the original composer might be rolling in his grave at that comment though! Remember, this is the only translation I could find.

Yes, I did wonder if I were offering a terrible insult to some poet It was the jerky rhythm that made me wonder about WM. Translating poetry must be super-hard, though.

Was the original in Greek? Or Latin?

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

Yes, I did wonder if I were offering a terrible insult to some poet It was the jerky rhythm that made me wonder about WM. Translating poetry must be super-hard, though.

Was the original in Greek? Or Latin?

Nope, not in Greek or Latin.

There's a snippet of story behind this starling and the poem's composer that I'll put up if people need more hints than the couple I've dropped already.

[natasha_fawn]

It's past my bedtime, so I'll leave you with another clue or two before I hit the hay.

The composer of the poem bought the starling because of a fragment of tune he heard it whistle. He wrote the tune fragment in his expense book along with the note "Das war schon!" (That was beautiful!) The tune fragment can still be heard today (though not sung by a starling) depending on your taste in music.

[WT Sharpe]

Wagner. Now I'm hitting the sack. That's probably wrong anyway.

[poohbear_nc]

Thomas Mann?

[poohbear_nc]

Goethe?

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Wagner. Now I'm hitting the sack. That's probably wrong anyway.

No, but you've got the right idea.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Thomas Mann?

No.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Goethe?

And no, but he was contemporary.

[orlok]

I'm pretty sure this was a question on University Challenge (UK) just last week. Is it Mozart?

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by orlok

I'm pretty sure this was a question on University Challenge (UK) just last week. Is it Mozart?

It is! Interesting coincidence, what's University Challenge?

Mozart bought the starling in 1784 when he heard it singing a snippet of what was probably a folk tune. He had used that same tune in the third movement of a piano concerto he had finished a couple months prior.

When the starling died three years later he held a funeral at which he read the poem by the side of the starling's grave (I would have thought Mozart to be a better poet, but maybe it's not so bad in the original German).

You're up, Orlok.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by natasha_fawn

It is! Interesting coincidence, what's University Challenge?

You're up, Orlok.

University Challenge is a quiz show in the UK - all the teams are from top Universities, and I'm lucky if I can answer 4 or 5 questions in the whole show.

Back in a mo with a question - have to run my eldest daughter to Youth Theatre...(Dad's Taxi).

[orlok]

What does it mean if, on a war statue of a mounted soldier, the horse's front legs are both in the air?

[Shayne Parkinson]

That's a nice question, Natasha! And I'm sure it was a better poem in German.

A while ago I was learning a new (to me) piano piece, playing the same section over and over. When I next went outside, one of our native songbirds, a tui, was trilling away, and I realised it was singing the opening three bars over and over! It had a good ear.

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