[Lunasong]

As I mentioned elsewhere on the forum, I've recently finished reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The book's two main protagonists, Aziraphale the angel and Crowley the demon, work together to avert the Apocalypse because they are rather fond of life on Earth. There is a lot of mention of music in the book, from Crowley's fondness for Queen, to Vivaldi and Handel. Early in the book is a curious dialogue:


"We'll win of course," (Aziraphale) said.

"You don't want that," said the demon.

"Why not, pray?"

"Listen," said Crowley desperately. "How many musicians do you think your side have got, eh? First grade, I mean."

Aziraphale looked taken aback. "Well, I should think-" he began.

"Two," said Crowley. "Elgar and Liszt. That's all. We've got the rest. Beethoven, Brahms, all the Bachs, Mozart, the lot. Can you imagine eternity with Elgar?"

Aziraphale shut his eyes. "All too easily," he groaned.

"That's it then," said Crowley, with a gleam of triumph. He knew Aziraphale's weak spot all right. "No more compact discs. No more Albert Hall. No more Proms. No more Glyndbourne. Just celestial harmonies all day long."

"Ineffable," Aziraphale murmured.

My question is: Why did only Elgar and Liszt go to heaven? The book doesn't give a clue and neither does any on-line exposition of the book. What would be your reason? Who would you choose to go to heaven (my obvious choice is JSB...)

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I would certainly choose Bach.
For hell, BTW, I would choose the infamously devilish Paganini.

Yes, I know, they're clichés.

 

[Morimur]

You can bet Wagner is pretty thirsty right now. -- Tee-hee!

 

[violadude]

It depends on which religion we are talking about and which denomination of that religion.

 

[KenOC]

I would certainly choose Bach.
For hell, BTW, I would choose the infamously devilish Paganini.

Yes, I know, they're clichés.

A very early cliché! from Wiki: "A week later, on 27 May 1840, Paganini died from internal hemorrhaging before a priest could be summoned. Because of this, and his widely rumored association with the devil, the Church denied his body a Catholic burial in Genoa. It took four years and an appeal to the Pope before the Church let his body be transported to Genoa, but it was still not buried. His remains were finally laid to rest in 1876, in a cemetery in Parma."

 

[ahammel]

My question is: Why did only Elgar and Liszt go to heaven?

Because the universe is run along very weird lines in Good Omens.

Elgar gets to go, I suspect, in order to set up the joke about "an eternity with Elgar". Pratchett and Gaiman are both English, and may be a bit overexposed to him due to national pride. Liszt just sounds like he was chosen to be weirdly incongruous, and perhaps for the irony of the composer of the Mephisto Waltzes being one of two composers in heaven. (Liszt was quite personally devout, though, so who knows).

 

[Kieran]

Mozart's music comes from heaven. We don't know whether Wolfie joined it or not up there, after his absurdly early death... :tiphat:

 

[Manxfeeder]

There are a lot of pre-1600's composers in heaven. Ockeghem should be there, Obrecht, and Victoria at least, with Hildegard. Definitely Claude Goudimel; he was an actual martyr. I'm too lazy to type the rest.

But if Anton Bruckner isn't there, I'm leading an expedition to get him. Assuming I'm there, of course. If not, make sure one of you leads the way, and when you pull him up, maybe I can hang on to his coattail.

 

[violadude]

So now that we know which composers went to heaven, I ask, which composers reached Nirvana?

 

[hpowders]

OP: The one's who don't try and cheat their publishers and the one's who don't deliberately attempt to screw up their brother, sister-in-law and nephew's lives.
The one's who bathe. The one's who don't leave music scores all over the floor.

Missa Solemnis INDEED!!

 

[KenOC]

Missa Solemnis INDEED!!

Now c'mon, you got the guy all wrong. I can explain all that! Well, some of it. :tiphat:

 

[hpowders]

Now c'mon, you got the guy all wrong. I can explain all that! Well, some of it. :tiphat:

He has had his day in court already I'm sure.

Liberace, a good boy, is playing a beautiful 2009 Bechstein. In his spare time, he watches The Sopranos on a 55 inch plasma TV with a fantastic all-purpose remote.

Beethoven is playing a small unrestored Walter fortepiano. In his rare minutes away from the keyboard, he is permitted to watch reruns of "I Love Lucifer" on a 13 inch black and white Dumont console with no remote.

Catch my drift?

 

[yushuisz]

I would say Bach as well.

 

[KenOC]

Beethoven is playing a small unrestored Walter fortepiano. In his rare minutes away from the keyboard, he is permitted to watch reruns of "I Love Lucifer" on a 13 inch black and white Dumont console with no remote.

Nah, St. Peter let him in on a waiver because he was a huge fan of the Serioso.

 

[brianvds]

Gliere's in heaven - he composed a harp concerto, after all.

But who knows. Perhaps composer reincarnate instead. If they were bad, they come back as worms or something. If they were good, they come back as software engineers, so they can make some money for a change.

 

[ahammel]

Gliere's in heaven - he composed a harp concerto, after all.

But who knows. Perhaps composer reincarnate instead. If they were bad, they come back as worms or something. If they were good, they come back as software engineers, so they can make some money for a change.

William Shakespeare's in my cat
He chases bits of fluff
John Milton's in my goldfish
But I never liked his stuff
I'm thinking that Franz Kafka
Really came back as a bug
And I hope Andrew Lloyd Webber
Will stay underneath my rug

 

[MoonlightSonata]

OP: The one's who don't try and cheat their publishers and the one's who don't deliberately attempt to screw up their brother, sister-in-law and nephew's lives.
The one's who bathe. The one's who don't leave music scores all over the floor.

Missa Solemnis INDEED!!

I think if Beethoven got to heaven he would have immediately lodged a complaint with God about his hearing.

 

[KenOC]

BTW Beethoven's concerns about his sister-in-law were quite warranted. She paraded her lover in front of her husband as he lay dying. And she was imprisoned for stealing jewelry and, worse, trying to blame a servant for the theft. Nevertheless, about 1824 when she was impoverished, Beethoven gave her quite a sum of money he could ill afford.

He was anxious to keep nephew Carl away from her. But of course he was probably an even worse guardian, something difficult for him to recognize. In the end, Carl served in the army, married, and named his only male child Ludwig van Beethoven.

 

[sharik]

Why did only Elgar and Liszt go to heaven?

why all of the sudden we should take the word of only one character from some unimporatant book on it?

 

[Überstürzter Neumann]

Here are some, at least.