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Child composers whom I know to have been intimately familiar with the Bach WTC include: the Mendelssohns, Chopin, the Schumanns, and Liszt. (Probably people like Czerny or Alkan or whoever also fall into this category, but like... come on.)

Since this choral work features a German text, I'm going to knock out Chopin, and I find it highly unlikely that this sprightly little number would be Liszt.

My bucket: Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn.

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"Bach" + "prodigy" immediately signals Glenn Gould to me, but ... did he write choral music?

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Thanks for the shout-out, Will! Spoiler alert, I will be on again today, Monday 3/27. And if you missed Friday, there are a couple of bootlegs on YouTube until the iron fist of Sony Pictures makes them disappear.

I want to preemptively apologize for not answering the Sibelius question, the lone appearance of classical music in the episode. Of COURSE I knew it (any trivia- or crossword-adjacent person knows that "Finnish composer" == Sibelius, anyway*), but I was in the buzzer doldrums and unable to ring in first.

*Don't you come at me with your Rautavaara.

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I'm also throwing my hat into the Mendelssohn ring, as it's the first name that immediately popped in to my head with the clue. I am not at all familiar with any vocal music either of the Mendelssohns wrote, so I can't hope to identify the piece. I'm certain it's not Brahms. I'm less certain it's not a Schumann. My only real guess is a Mendelssohn.

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I'm old!!!!!!

Very honored to be part of this celebratory newsletter, sharing space with Ludwig's curls and the perfect overture.

True to form, as the NTT is not clarinet-based, I got nothing....though the clue rings familiar, I cannot place it.

Excited to watch Listener Tammy rock that signaling device.

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