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Composers have very distinct styles my teacher would joke Mozart adored the triad, Beethoven the octave and Chopin the tenth. A fun game I like to play myself

Composers have very distinct styles my teacher would joke Mozart adored the triad, Beethoven the octave and Chopin the tenth. A fun game I like to play myself is "guess the composer". I think I shocked my friend the most when I watched West World with him and after seeing the intro only once I guessed correctly that it was the same composer as the Game of Thrones intro. Sometimes I second guess myself too much between late Mozart and early Beethoven but I think most the composers have their own hallmarks. Chopin in particular was quite idiosyncratic because his piano writing was fairly innovative. He came up with a lot of new ways to play the piano and his polish influences and focus on salon music is very distinct

pubutil 2y ago
If you haven’t already heard of it, you might enjoy the Piano Puzzler podcast[0] “Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer … [someone calls in and] listens to Bruce play his Piano Puzzler™. They then try to do two things: name the hidden tune, and name the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.” Of course, you can play along at home as you listen. [0] https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443927/performance-today-s-piano-puzzler https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443927/performance-today-s-p...
- sho_hn 2y ago
  I like this one: https://youtu.be/WRfsibwR5x4 https://youtu.be/WRfsibwR5x4
- HERMANOPRIMERO 2y ago
  This reminds me of Hidden Melody from an old British quiz show that I loved as a child: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_the_Music_(British_game_show) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_the_Music_(British_game....
- djtango 2y ago
  Thanks for sharing this - very fun! Reminded me that nowadays I listen to less classical music than I did so a modification of the game I enjoy playing with myself is "guess the influencing composer". For example I hear so much Prokofiev influence via harmonic language in the early Harry Potter movies and I was listening to Rachmaninoff the other day and thought "oh gosh that reminds me a lot of Kingdom Hearts" and did a quick check and lo and behold Yoko Shimomura cites Rach as a major inspiration. Similarly I often hear shimmers of Ravel in Masashi Hamauzu
Jabbles 2y ago
Is the joke accurate in this example? Are there many tenths?
- eitally 2y ago
  Yes, and it can be quite a stretch when playing. Similar to Rachmaninoff in terms of "reach" (but absolutely not in style). (Am pianist, too.)
bongodongobob 2y ago
Check out Emmit Rhodes. My only music conspiracy theory is that he was a ghost writer for Paul McCartney. The musical similarities are absolutely uncanny.
fsckboy 2y ago
>Chopin in particular was quite idiosyncratic because his piano writing was fairly innovative I bow to your superior knowledge, just want to add for the poor shlubs who are even dumber than me: Chopin was not simply a composer, but a virtuoso piano player, and i guess because of that he wrote what he wrote for the piano; in contrast to say Mozart who performed at the piano but mostly composed for orchestras, etc. And the periods of time were different wrt, when Chopin was active, Mozart, Beethoven et al's music innovations already existed, along with larger audiences to play for, which created Chopin's niche or something like that, i'm not a music guy
- Synaesthesia 2y ago
  Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and Brahms (as well as many other composers) were all virtuoso piano or keyboard players. Chopin is unusual in that he wrote almost exclusively for the piano.
  - gmueckl 2y ago
    My understanding is that when writing for an orchestra, a composer needs to adjust to the orchestra's skill level and likely err a bit on the easy side for good measure.
    - tolciho 2y ago
      Most composers, most of the time. Beethoven, on the other hand, refused to rewrite portions of the Ninth that were maybe too high for some to sing, and you can probably find difficult instrument parts if you chat to, say, Bassoon players.
      - dbalatero 2y ago
        Heh to quote Beethoven (from: https://brooklynrail.org/2007/07/music/third-party-beethoven/ https://brooklynrail.org/2007/07/music/third-party-beethoven...): > As practice gradually moved away from this insular model, and standing, virtuoso quartets replaced ad hoc groups as the chief vehicles of chamber music performance, Beethoven’s compositions became increasingly experimental (and daunting). Legend has it that when Ignaz Schuppanzigh—a well-known Viennese violinist and Beethoven supporter—complained about a particularly difficult passage in one of the Op. 59 quartets, the master retorted, “Do you suppose I am thinking about your wretched fiddle when the spirit moves me?”
tunesmith 2y ago
There was a time when I was rather good at guessing the composer from hearing a snippet of music I hadn't heard before. We had a group exercise where I had a streak going of guessing correctly every time. Then our instructor tricked us by playing a snippet of a Chopin Concerto that didn't have any piano in it. :)
- djtango 2y ago
  Love this story. Especially because Chopin often gets flak for his orchestration of his Concertos. Don't suppose you remember roughly where in the music the snippet was?
BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago
Oh wow I had no idea westworld and got were the same guy! Both themes were very noticeably a cut above; that totally explains it.
yongjik 2y ago
Another thing to remember is that the piano was very much an instrument being developed during Mozart and Beethoven's time. There's a reason why most of Beethoven's sonatas don't utilize the uppermost and lowermost part of the modern piano: he didn't have those keys then. So, in a sense, these composers weren't writing for the same instrument.
ericmcer 2y ago
If you play piano much you definitely develop a "style" to your improvisations pretty quickly. It is probably some combination of your nature, what you played early on and what you listen to. Anytime I fiddle around on the piano I fall into a sort of default pattern and everything I do sounds similar to me. Makes me think that a way for a popular artist to do something "new" would be to take a year off and just play music from artists with a totally different style to theirs. After the year they could attempt composing again and maybe their internal style would have been updated.

pubutil 2y ago

If you haven’t already heard of it, you might enjoy the Piano Puzzler podcast[0] “Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer … [someone calls in and] listens to Bruce play his Piano Puzzler™. They then try to do two things: name the hidden tune, and name the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.” Of course, you can play along at home as you listen. [0] https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443927/performance-today-s-piano-puzzler https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443927/performance-today-s-p...

sho_hn 2y ago
I like this one: https://youtu.be/WRfsibwR5x4 https://youtu.be/WRfsibwR5x4
HERMANOPRIMERO 2y ago
This reminds me of Hidden Melody from an old British quiz show that I loved as a child: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_the_Music_(British_game_show) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_the_Music_(British_game....
djtango 2y ago
Thanks for sharing this - very fun! Reminded me that nowadays I listen to less classical music than I did so a modification of the game I enjoy playing with myself is "guess the influencing composer". For example I hear so much Prokofiev influence via harmonic language in the early Harry Potter movies and I was listening to Rachmaninoff the other day and thought "oh gosh that reminds me a lot of Kingdom Hearts" and did a quick check and lo and behold Yoko Shimomura cites Rach as a major inspiration. Similarly I often hear shimmers of Ravel in Masashi Hamauzu

Jabbles 2y ago

Is the joke accurate in this example? Are there many tenths?

eitally 2y ago
Yes, and it can be quite a stretch when playing. Similar to Rachmaninoff in terms of "reach" (but absolutely not in style). (Am pianist, too.)

bongodongobob 2y ago

Check out Emmit Rhodes. My only music conspiracy theory is that he was a ghost writer for Paul McCartney. The musical similarities are absolutely uncanny.

fsckboy 2y ago

>Chopin in particular was quite idiosyncratic because his piano writing was fairly innovative I bow to your superior knowledge, just want to add for the poor shlubs who are even dumber than me: Chopin was not simply a composer, but a virtuoso piano player, and i guess because of that he wrote what he wrote for the piano; in contrast to say Mozart who performed at the piano but mostly composed for orchestras, etc. And the periods of time were different wrt, when Chopin was active, Mozart, Beethoven et al's music innovations already existed, along with larger audiences to play for, which created Chopin's niche or something like that, i'm not a music guy

Synaesthesia 2y ago
Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and Brahms (as well as many other composers) were all virtuoso piano or keyboard players. Chopin is unusual in that he wrote almost exclusively for the piano.
- gmueckl 2y ago
  My understanding is that when writing for an orchestra, a composer needs to adjust to the orchestra's skill level and likely err a bit on the easy side for good measure.
  - tolciho 2y ago
    Most composers, most of the time. Beethoven, on the other hand, refused to rewrite portions of the Ninth that were maybe too high for some to sing, and you can probably find difficult instrument parts if you chat to, say, Bassoon players.
    - dbalatero 2y ago
      Heh to quote Beethoven (from: https://brooklynrail.org/2007/07/music/third-party-beethoven/ https://brooklynrail.org/2007/07/music/third-party-beethoven...): > As practice gradually moved away from this insular model, and standing, virtuoso quartets replaced ad hoc groups as the chief vehicles of chamber music performance, Beethoven’s compositions became increasingly experimental (and daunting). Legend has it that when Ignaz Schuppanzigh—a well-known Viennese violinist and Beethoven supporter—complained about a particularly difficult passage in one of the Op. 59 quartets, the master retorted, “Do you suppose I am thinking about your wretched fiddle when the spirit moves me?”

tunesmith 2y ago

There was a time when I was rather good at guessing the composer from hearing a snippet of music I hadn't heard before. We had a group exercise where I had a streak going of guessing correctly every time. Then our instructor tricked us by playing a snippet of a Chopin Concerto that didn't have any piano in it. :)

djtango 2y ago
Love this story. Especially because Chopin often gets flak for his orchestration of his Concertos. Don't suppose you remember roughly where in the music the snippet was?

BriggyDwiggs42 2y ago

Oh wow I had no idea westworld and got were the same guy! Both themes were very noticeably a cut above; that totally explains it.

yongjik 2y ago

Another thing to remember is that the piano was very much an instrument being developed during Mozart and Beethoven's time. There's a reason why most of Beethoven's sonatas don't utilize the uppermost and lowermost part of the modern piano: he didn't have those keys then. So, in a sense, these composers weren't writing for the same instrument.

ericmcer 2y ago

If you play piano much you definitely develop a "style" to your improvisations pretty quickly. It is probably some combination of your nature, what you played early on and what you listen to. Anytime I fiddle around on the piano I fall into a sort of default pattern and everything I do sounds similar to me. Makes me think that a way for a popular artist to do something "new" would be to take a year off and just play music from artists with a totally different style to theirs. After the year they could attempt composing again and maybe their internal style would have been updated.