Question for the hivemind, but feel free to send me off to the music thread if it's more appropriate to ask there...
I have a character in my WIP who's a reasonably competent, though rusty, amateur musician. In another few chapters I intend to place a violin in his path and have him pick it up and try to remember some of the songs he used to play in earlier, more carefree times. For him, earlier, more carefree times would equal the 1780's and 90's, and he would've played solo or in very small string ensembles. Duets and quartets, but nothing orchestral.
So. Any ideas on composers and pieces my violinist might've played? Obviously they could come from before the 1780's, though if anyone just HAPPENS to know which pieces were most popular among aristocratic amateur musicians in the British Isles in 1790, that'd be wonderful, too. (With this group, you never know what kind of expertise you'll turn up!) I want to go digging through iTunes a bit and see if I can find a few appropriate signature pieces for my character...
Are Valhall and Valhalla the same thing?
Depending on the language in question, I think. In Old Norse, it's an inflected word (all words are inflected words!) so they'd be the equivalent of saying "from the lighthouse" and "to the lighthouse". Or similar.
Yes, I just made a grammatical point with Virginia Woolf! So what!
Are Valhall and Valhalla the same thing?
Yes. The Norwegian is Valhall but somehow the Swedish version ends up Anglecized as Valhalla.
I'd only ever heard Valhalla until recently. Our client in Houston has a server named Valhall, and I was referring to it as Valhalla for the longest time.
That story wasn't very interesting, was it?
Susan, my first instinct is Bach. I know he wrote a lot of stuff for keyboard that could be played by amateur musicians. I don't know if he wrote for violin, or if it would have been transcribed.
From the FEMA fiasco article:
The White House said it was unaware of the briefing beforehand. "It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House," said press secretary Dana Perino.
Yeah, now that it's been revealed how badly it blew up in the face of the FEMA brass! Without that test case, I'm not so sure...
Susan, my first instinct is Bach.
Hmm. I'll look into it. I'm not sure my character is a Bach kind of guy, but my own exposure is limited to some of the more obvious church pieces--e.g. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," which I've heard at so many weddings over the past decade or so that I've actually burned out on it.
Oh, the Bush Administration would never use fake reporters.
t sprains eyes from rolling them
Susan, you could e-mail this guy: [link] He's writing a social history of the violin. The train of thought that led me to him started with "Jefferson was an amateur violin player."
More Valhalla.
I think it’s interesting to consider the concept of heaven across cultures. The fallen Viking warrior can expect to be greeted valkyrja just as (some) Muslims can expect to be greeted by virgins. But this is where Valhalla and paradise diverge. Viking warriors get the valkyrja AND all-you-can-eat barbeque AND beer! That’s a heaven! I’m pretty sure that you don’t get any pork ribs or beer in the Muslim heaven.
