Why are composers called by their last names?

[pianojems]

I have always wondered that. I know the obvious answer would be to say that many names are the same and you would not know who we are talking about...on the other hand most composers have very unique names e.g. Ludwig, Wolfgang, Frederik. Imagine if all of us would be called by our last names that would be interesting. In Fact we all ( I know you do) forget and think that chopin, beethoven, and rachmaninov.. are last names. This is just an interesting thought that went through my head. I would love to see some comments and know what you think.
P.S. If you were all called by your last name, would you feel weird?

[pianonut]

good question!  was just watching an old movie today, and this guy tells a girl "please, promise never again to call me by my last name.  i have a multitude of first names to choose from." (his was robert thomas maximillian or something like that).  suppose this quote would also work for composers.

[nanabush]

Iunno probably in respect, ur not gonna say hey I played Frederick's etude yesterday, and o ya I played mephisto waltz by Franz.  You don't call them by their first name because their dead......and you don't know them personally, and also their last names are unique or wait... Do any of them at all have any relative living possibly?

[pianojems]

I just find it interesting that we don't really think about it

[pianojems]

Iunno probably in respect, ur not gonna say hey I played Frederick's etude yesterday, and o ya I played mephisto waltz by Franz.  You don't call them by their first name because their dead......and you don't know them personally, and also their last names are unique or wait... Do any of them at all have any relative living possibly?

Actually why not... in our pianist circle we all know who we would be talking about? also some composers are still alive and we still do that.

[nanabush]

Touché, forgot about modern composers gee I wonder why...

Ummmm lol I bet if you started calling composers by their first name, you'd go back to their last names within an hour because EVERYONE uses last names, it's like speaking french in an english town, well not really but you'd just get confused with everyone else using last names, and they'd get confused too... cuz lotsa ppl have same first names, but randomly no mainstream composers have same last name, well maybe a couple

[pianonut]

wofie, my dear wolfie.

[keys]

all of the sergie's would be confusing

[Barbosa-piano]

  If you take a look at their signatures, they usually abreviate the first name, and in some occasions the middle name. Probably for professional reasons, or comtemporary thinking.  Chopin and Rachmaninoff wrote it that way. Bach usually signed the full name or wrote down his mark. It is probably a matter of respect.    

[musik_man]

Franz
Liszt
Schubert

Johann
Bach
Strauss
Brahms

Richard
Strauss
Wagner

Gustav
Holst
Mahler

Sergei
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff

 

[klavierkonzerte]

don't you guys call each others by last names?
i thought every one does that
we call each others by last names, we ONLY use first names with CLOSE friends or famlie.

[dorfmouse]

Insert Quote
don't you guys call each others by last names?
i thought every one does that
we call each others by last names, we ONLY use first names with CLOSE friends or famlie.

Where do you come from, Klaierkonzerte? I was very surprised when I moved here to Germany and heard how formally people address each other, even work colleagues who've worked together for donkeys' years. I've been with my piano teacher for 3 years now, but it's still Herr and Frau ... I hate being called Frau... it makes me feel about a hundred! When I said I'd rather be called by my first name I think he thought I was making an improper suggestion

To revert to the original thread, here composers are much more likely to be referred to by their full name than is the case in the UK.

[apion]

Why are composers called by their last names?

Many composers have really cool last names that we just resonate with:

Mozart
Beethoven
Brahms
Chopin
Mendelssohn
Bartok
Stravinsky

[/b][/size]

These names are quite unique, and, like "MADONNA",  noone requires a first name to go along with the one-of-a-kind last name.  How many other Mozarts do you know?  Zero.  Same with Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, etc.

[mlsmithz]

good question!  was just watching an old movie today, and this guy tells a girl "please, promise never again to call me by my last name.  i have a multitude of first names to choose from." (his was robert thomas maximillian or something like that).  suppose this quote would also work for composers.

Sounds as though you're talking about "Rebecca"; Laurence Olivier's character says that line to Joan Fontaine's character after she keeps calling him "Mr. de Winter".  Anyway, while many composers have what seem exotic first names to the English-speaking world, if you think about it most luminaries from most of the arts and sciences are referred to by their last names since they tend to be more unique.  The first name is only invoked if either there are several equally prominent figures with that same surname or there is one more prominent figure with that surname but we're referring to someone else (such as J.C. Bach, Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn, or Clara Schumann - and there are probably examples where the less well-known composer is not related to or married to the more well-known one).  This goes for performers as well; don't we refer to Horowitz, Rubinstein, Gould, and Hamelin instead of Vladimir, Artur, Glenn, and Marc-Andre? (Or if we do use their first names, we use their surnames as well.) It goes for painters and sculptors in most cases (the most obvious exceptions being Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti, and Rembrandt van Rijn), and authors and playwrights (Shakespeare isn't usually called William unless one is poking fun), and scientists, and even political figures.  If their surnames aren't necessarily one of a kind (I've run across a few Schuberts over the years), the context usually makes it clear which one we mean.

[pianonut]

thanks for the help on remembering the details, mlsmithz.  i agree with the formal name approach (using last name only or first and last).  just joking around.  i named my children with their wedding invitations in mind.  (they could care less right now).  ivana joy alexandra, alexis anne macrina, john michael alexander.  i figured if they didn't like their first name, they could always use the second or third one.  wonder how many names you can get away with at the hospital?