Dead Russian composer personality test
If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Dmitri Shostakovich! I am a shy, nervous, unassuming, fidgety, and stuttery little person who began composing the same year I started music lessons of any sort. I wrote the first of my fifteen symphonies at age 18, and my second opera, "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," when I was only 26. Unfortunately, Stalin hated the opera, and put me on the Enemy Of The People List for life. I nevertheless kept composing the works I wanted to write in private; some of my vocal cycles and 15 string quartets mock the Soviet System in notes. And I somehow was NOT killed in the process! And Harry Potter(c) stole my glasses and broke them! Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test |
Via Silly Humans.
I'm Shostakovich too! Awesome.
Make sure you check out the result you get for putting down "Vodka" for every question.
Posted by: Andrew | June 06, 2005 at 12:13 PM
Sergei Prokofyev...anti-Stalinist genius...yeah! That's me alright.
Posted by: mudkitty | June 06, 2005 at 12:47 PM
Woah. Stravinsky.
Not too sure about the results --- it says I'm a neat freak. If you saw my place, however, you'd beg to disagree.
As evidence, I present what's sitting on my computer table at this very moment: a bag of crocus someone gave me, two flashlights, an overdue bill I'm refusing to pay, a digital camcorder, tea tree oil, my monarch watch waystation kit, a stapler, a hoodoo bag given to me by a medicine man, glasses I haven't worn in three years, some ginger, stamps, peat pots, a bag of unsalted unroasted peanuts, the back of a heater, an empty nicotine lozenges thing, Marvel of Peru seedlings, a hairbrush, hydrogen peroxide and a dog leash.
Posted by: Cookie | June 06, 2005 at 01:58 PM
'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."'
I'm not a neat freak, but I am becoming more dissonant and bizarre as I age. I also don't like the rotten eggs being thrown at me...lousy kids.
Posted by: Njorl | June 06, 2005 at 04:07 PM
I'm also Shostakovich -- and there's an urgent problem with my computer system!
Posted by: ADS | June 06, 2005 at 04:19 PM
I'm Stravinsky, too.
I see I'm not the only one who felt compelled to find out what would happen if I picked the "vodka" answer to every question. I didn't realize that about MM.
A few months ago I saw a performance of Shostakovich's opera "Lady McBeth of Mitsensk," and it was magnificent.
Posted by: janet | June 06, 2005 at 04:22 PM
Last time I took this, some time ago, I think I got Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. Now I got Dmitri Shostakovich.
Posted by: Julian Elson | June 06, 2005 at 06:24 PM
Prokofyev. Is that how you pronounce that?
Posted by: d mason | June 06, 2005 at 08:28 PM
Crap. I'm Stravinsky, who apart from the three great ballets, I'm not a fan of (and despise in his neo-classical period).
I'd prefer to be Prokofiev. A man that would say this about his great, great opera The Fiery Angel:
"Of theology, there is little in my opera. Orgies, they are plentiful"
(the opera ends with an orgy in a nunnery)
is someone I'd like to have a drink with.
Posted by: Jim | June 06, 2005 at 08:56 PM
You are Dmitri Shostakovich.
I think I would have preferred being Stravinsky. I want people to riot at my show.
Posted by: pansauce | June 06, 2005 at 10:06 PM
Looks like I'm odd man out. I'm Rakhmaninov.
Posted by: Linnaeus | June 06, 2005 at 10:26 PM
My favorite Russian composer is Mussorgsky, and knowing how these tests work, I succeeded in being declared Mussorgsky by writing "vodka" for every single answer.
Mussorgsky did drink too much, as do I, and he wasn't too prolific since he drank too much, but "Pictures at an Exhibition" and "Boris Gudonov" are two of the ten best things that any Russian ever composed.
Posted by: John Emerson | June 06, 2005 at 11:16 PM
I wonder what you have to answer to get Tchaicovsky? Probably that bit about being remembered for the holidays.
So, who prefers the Russians to the Germans? I do, which bugs the hell outta my dad and my Teutonic ancestor spirits.
Posted by: Njorl | June 07, 2005 at 10:28 AM
i long ago elided "schiesse" with "shostakovich" to form my own personal epithet "schiestakovich" so im as happy as one could be with this quiz for bringing me that much closer to myself. if only i knew whether dimitri enjoyed auto-erotic nipple stimulation as much as stalin did, my day would be complete.
Posted by: annoying pedant | June 07, 2005 at 11:17 AM
but "Pictures at an Exhibition" and "Boris Gudonov" are two of the ten best things that any Russian ever composed.
I always liked "Night on Bald Mountain" myself.
Not knowing enough about Rachmaninov, I have no idea why I got him.
Posted by: Linnaeus | June 07, 2005 at 11:30 AM
I'm Borodin, apparently. Don't know much about his/my work. Where should I start?
Posted by: Ben | June 08, 2005 at 08:50 PM
His Polovtsian Dances is his best work. He was a very interesting guy. Composing was just a hobby. His career was chemistry. If you want to listen to Polovtsian Dances, make sure you get a version with a choir. I can't see why anyone records this without the singing.
Posted by: Njorl | June 09, 2005 at 01:52 PM