Pachelbels Canon in D
I was force-fed music to a seriously high level at school (see "on the stage" QOTW to get a rough Idea) and had regular disagreements with the tweed-clad establishment that ran the Music School.

One of them spat "DOCTOR" at you if you called him "Mister", so I dug into his past. His Doctorate was based around the life and times of one of Mozart's lesser known daughters... Whoopty-Fucking Doo: he SURE owned that doctorate.

So. Time to take the pipe-smoking mincing mother-lover down a peg. He was to give a lecture on music on a parent's day, and asked for music students to research certain pieces for him. Pachelbel's Canon in D was the one that I was lumbered with.

My "Research" laboured around the ficticious point that Pachelbel was infact a woman, and had to assume the identity of a man in order to gain respect for her music.

Our "Doctor" whittered on about this infront of all the parents of the school's Musicians at good length with an air of smugness about him that was stunning.

It was the equivalent of the Pope telling the world that ... and it's a little known fact ... that it's ok for priests to bugger choir-boys, and that Jesus was a girl..

All parents sniggered at him for a long time afterwards.
( Humpty Dumpty was Pushed Is unaware of having any limits., Thu 28 Aug 2008, 9:58, 2 replies)

Unfortunately, there are quite a few musicologists like him around.
It's relatively easy to get a PhD in a subject if you are the world's own authority on it: no-one knows enough to challenge you.

Of course, this means overlooking the fact that perhaps the reason that no-one has done a PhD on e.g. Mozart's most obscure offspring, is because (a) it's a fucking boring subject so no-one wants to, and (b) chances are it was of no musical significance anyway. And then, because no-one is interested enough in the subject, you can't base a career on it, and have to go and do teaching instead (which it seems he was completely unsuited to). What a tool (I feel your pain).
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Thu 28 Aug 2008, 10:16, closed)

?
Is that really true??

Its a nice tune, that always makes me feel nervous. You can guess why.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Thu 28 Aug 2008, 10:17, closed)