Wednesday, December 31, 2008

This or That

A meme for New Year's Eve:

1. Josquin or Palestrina?

2. Bach or Händel?

3. Haydn or Mozart?

4. Beethoven or Rossini?

5. Brahms or Wagner?

6. Verdi or Puccini?

7. Debussy or Ravel? 

8. Strauss or Mahler?

9. Stravinsky or Schönberg? 

10.  Cage or Carter?

Bonus round:

1. Astaire or Kelly?

2. Yeats or Elliot?

3. Joyce or Mann?

4. Welles or Hitchcock?

5. Duchamp or Picasso?

8 comments:

Samuel Vriezen said...

Josquin; Bach; Mozart; Beethoven; Brahms; don't know; both; Mahler; depends; Cage. Bonus round: dunno; dunno; probably Joyce; depends; Duchamp. Do I win anything?

Justin Friello said...

Josquin; Bach; Haydn; Beethoven; Wagner; Puccini; Debussy; Mahler; Both (I've never thought that one had to choose); Cage. Bonus: Kelly; Elliot; Joyce; Hitchock; Duchamp.

Anonymous said...

Josquin; Bach; Mozart; Rossini; Brahms; Verdi; Debussy; Mahler; Stravinsky, maybe, (I respect Schonberg more, but listen to Stravinsky much more,); Cage; Kelly; Yeats; Joyce; Hitchcock; Duchamp

David Ocker said...

Either; Bach; Mozart; Either; Brahms; Neither; Both; Mahler; Stravinsky (only early or middle); Neither; Either; Neither; Joyce; Hitchcock; Either

How about: "Black or White?" "True or False?" "Good or Bad?" ('both' to all three)

Civic Center said...

1. Josquin or Palestrina?
Both.

2. Bach or Händel?
Both.

3. Haydn or Mozart?
Both.

4. Beethoven or Rossini?
Both.

5. Brahms or Wagner?
Neither.

6. Verdi or Puccini?
Verdi.

7. Debussy or Ravel?
Both/neither.

8. Strauss or Mahler?
Both.

9. Stravinsky or Schönberg?
Stravinsky.

10. Cage or Carter?
Both or neither.

Bonus round:

1. Astaire or Kelly?
Kelly.

2. Yeats or Elliot?
Yeats.

3. Joyce or Mann?
Joyce.

4. Welles or Hitchcock?
Hitchcock.

5. Duchamp or Picasso?
Picasso.

This feels just like a "Psychology Today" quiz. As Samuel asks, is there a prize, or at least a "free personality test" result a la those fun Scientologists?

Daniel Wolf said...

It's just a game. There's no prize, sorry. Or maybe I should offer up a 10 lb. ham?

(On the other hand, the only correct answer to bonus question nr. 1 is Fred Astaire.)

Why do we put things and people into pairs so easily? I could have added Bartok or Kodaly, Britten or Tippett, Schostakovich or Prokofiev, or I could have gone into chains of pairs: Verdi/Wagner, Wagner/Brahms, Brahms/Bruckner, Bruckner/Mahler, Mahler/Ives... each time creating very different binary oppositions.

Osbert Parsley said...

My answers here.

Civic Center said...

Dear Daniel: I knew that (Astaire vs. Kelly), but I hate "correct" answers almost as much as you.