There are many aspects of a composer's life and music that allow for our imagination to have some fun. If composers were Olympic athletes, which sport would they participate in based on their life and music? Some composers were known athletes, while some displayed Olympics-level athleticism on their instruments. For some, the depth of their music is an Olympic feat. Hosts James Jacobs, Nicole Lacroix, and John Banther share their musings!
James Jacobs
Johann Sebastian Bach: Athletics
Suggested games:
20 kilometer race walk
800 and 1500 meter runs
Marathon
"His feet seemed to fly across the pedals as if they were winged, and mighty sounds filled the church." - Constantin Bellermann, upon hearing Bach play in Kassel
“With his two feet, he could play things on the pedals that many not unskillful clavier players would find it bitter enough to have to play with five fingers.” - from Bach's obituary published in 1754
Bach's fame during his lifetime was chiefly as an organist. His compositions had their detractors and his employers found him willful, demanding, and, especially early in his career, sometimes belligerent and even AWOL. But everyone was in agreement that he was an unparallelled virtuoso of the organ, and he was particularly noted for his pedal technique.
It was evidently part of his training to go on long endurance walks. The longest and most famous of these was his 250+ mile walk from Arnstadt to Lübeck when he was 20 years old (this was one of his AWOL episodes) in order to hear and meet Dietrich Buxtehude, but that was not the first of his long journeys. Five years earlier he walked 180 miles from Ohrdruf to Lüneburg, and he made several journeys to towns 50-80 miles away to hear other organists (or sometimes just to check out the organs in other churches.) It's not hard to imagine that all this walking helped his prowess on the pedals, and that doing the 20 kilometer race walk wouldn't be any more challenging for him than the one he set for himself in the notorious pedal solo beginning at bar 13 of his Toccata, Adagio and Fugue BWV 564.
Nicole Lacroix
Les six –Beach Volleyball Team
Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre, known as “Les six” or “The Six” ...didn’t have much in common besides a gift for hanging out with other artists in cool Parisian bars like Le Boeuf sur le Toit. They showed their team spirit by collaborating on such projects as L’éventail de Jeanne, and Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, so I think they would have enjoyed cavorting on the sand as long as they could head for the café afterwards and sip an absinthe or two. They certainly look like a fun bunch, no?
John Banther
I think Joseph Bologne would be in fencing of course, but also (or instead because he won gold in fencing last time), he would compete in Men's air rifle because of his grand military experience.
Clara Schumann with all her finger strength as a star pianist competes in climbing!
Tchaikovsky walked obsessively for 2 hours every day, so I imagine he (also with his anxiety) would compete in race walking! He was already practicing for it 2 hours a day.
Beethoven would be in weightlifting! After his 9th I imagine he can just about lift anything. Also, with his rougher attitude, I can imagine him coming onto the weightlifting stage screaming something like "Oh friends! These are not the weights!"
Schubert competes in the marathon but doesn't finish :(
I was going to say Mozart would be a bowler in cricket (because of his skittles experience), but that isn't returning until 2028, so I would say gymnastics. He shows up as the star, doesn't plan his routine until the morning of, embarrasses the judges with an illegal move.
Stravinsky competes in the 100m sprint, as it sounds like he had to leave venues quickly on occasion!
Florence Price competes in canoeing. Thinking of the end of her 3rd symphony, sounds much like a tumultuous river and I remember the Olympic canoeing courses being kind of intense!
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