Facebook page for Cui

[Lyle Neff]

Hello, all,

In case you're a member of Facebook (facebook.com), there is a "fan" page there for Cesar Cui. Just search for "Cesar Antonovich Cui" (without accent mark).

Please join the page if you're interested. In any case, you might like to listen to some of the non-commercial MP3s (mostly demos from MIDI arrangements) in the "Music Player" section.

(By the way, many other dead or living composers on Facebook have "fan" pages as well. )

[Lyle Neff]

I didn't realize until the other day that certain Facebook pages are accessible outside of Facebook.

The Cui page can be viewed here. The audio files are under "Boxes"; also, the "Notes" (under">>") explain the pieces on the Music Player and list some video performances available on the Web.

[allegroamabile]

I remain stunned at your appreciation for Cui. Every person I talked to about him have commented that his music is trash, terrible, boring, not worth listening to, and not sounding remotely Russian enough for him to be considered part of The Five. I don't intend to come off strong but why rave about Cui when there are Russian composers like Glazunov and the Taneyevs.

[Lyle Neff]

I have studied his music extensively -- especially the operas -- and found it worthy.

[Starrmark]

Cui poses an insuperable obstacle for anyone who speaks French.

MS

[Lyle Neff]

Cui poses an insuperable obstacle for anyone who speaks French.

MS

I'm not sure what this means.

Is his French bad?

[Starrmark]

Try mentioning his name to a Frenchman :~)

MS

[Lyle Neff]

Try mentioning his name to a Frenchman :~)

MS

Is it supposed to contain some sort of double-entendre?

In any case, what if one considers what is apparently the older version of the family name: "Queuille".

?

[Jean-Séb]

I am French and there is nothing special for us with the name "Cui", which is pronounced exactly as the common word "cuit" (= "cooked") and as in "cui-cui" (the onomatopeous word for the chirping of birds), or even closely as the QI (quotient intellectuel, = IQ, intelligence quotient). A very common and innocent sound.
In all these nouns, the letter "u" is pronounced with its very closed aperture sound, like the German "ü" and unlike the English "u".
I guess that if an English or American person pronounces that name, with the known difficulty to pronounce correctly our French "u", it will sound quite differently, and, in that case, it might sound very close to the French slang word "couilles" (balls, bollocks), which is probably what Starrmark thinks of.
But it does not happen if the word is properly pronounced.
Having said that, "Cui" is not frequent at all as a family name in French. My understanding is that the original name of the family was Queuille, a more common name, whose pronunciation is like in "cueille" (je cueille, I pick up), rhyming with "feuille" (leaf). I do not know when the spelling was changed to Cui. It might be when the family went to Russia, they had to transcribe their name into Russian, which is not easy as the sounds do not correspond exactly in the two languages, but they chose the transcription "???", which in Russian must sound "cue-ee" and is a not too bad approximation of the French sound. "Cui" might be a "retrotranscription" of "???".

[allegroamabile]

Well, everybody seems to harp on me for liking Josef Rheinberger immensely, so I guess I can empathize your liking for this composer.

[aldona]

I remain stunned at your appreciation for Cui.

I believe that we do not choose our favourite music...it chooses us.

(I have a theory that our favourite composers are those whose brains are "wired" in a similar way to our own, in regard to emotions, thought processes, personality, etc.)

aldona

[Melodia]

(I have a theory that our favourite composers are those whose brains are "wired" in a similar way to our own, in regard to emotions, thought processes, personality, etc.)

Eh, I dunno. I'm pretty sure Saint-Saens and Debussy were about as opposite as it gets, yet they both are two of my favorite composers.

[allegroamabile]

I believe that we do not choose our favourite music...it chooses us.

(I have a theory that our favourite composers are those whose brains are "wired" in a similar way to our own, in regard to emotions, thought processes, personality, etc.)

aldona

I would like to explore that more. I would like people to discuss how they are similar emotionally to the composers they admire. I can see this working for Brahms and I.

[Lyle Neff]

I remain stunned at your appreciation for Cui.

I believe that we do not choose our favourite music...it chooses us.

(I have a theory that our favourite composers are those whose brains are "wired" in a similar way to our own, in regard to emotions, thought processes, personality, etc.)

aldona

That must be why I composed this piece several years ago:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Esquisse_m%C3%A9lodique_%28Neff,_Lyle_K.%29