Comp. Abbrev.
May 27th, 2009 Posted in classical music
Yo what up! I’ve been, like, slightly in absentia recently due to retrieving G from deep within the midsts and/or mists of graduation. Now she has been plonked back in this area code for good, for now. Hoorays all round. Good job.
Despite the near weekly gap in posts, there was some vigorous commenting on my dubious abbreviation of Tchaikovsky from last Thursday’s post, in which some of the regular commenting crew (thanks dudes) shared their abbreviations. So far we have:
- Prok
- Rach
- Shosty/Shost
- Tchaik
for the Russians. Extrapolating this, does anyone use Strav? Or, errrr, Khat? Or… RimsKors? (RiKo?)
I feel like the Russians get extra special abbreviation priveleges, because their names are so syllable-heavy. And unwieldy, at least for non Cyrillic mouths. The abbreviations are actually practical, since it saves about ten minutes everytime you type or say the shortened version. So far the only (potential) non-Russian name abbreviation has been Wolfy for Mozart, which is an affectionate shortening instead of a timesaver.
So, any more meandering around out there?
May 27th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
“Rimsky” seems to win the vote amongst the people I know.
I’ve written “Strav” as an abbreviation but I would always say his full name. And I think that’s an important distinction to make: written abbreviations vs verbal ones. So, as with Stravinsky, I will very often write “Beeth”, but I would always say Beethoven, and I might write “Mend” but I’d say Mendelssohn.
On the other hand, I’ll write and say “Rach” and “Tchaik”; I’d write “Shost” or “DSCH” and say “Shosty”; I’d consider saying “Prok”, but don’t actually do so.
My guess: we draw the line at three syllables, which is why I rarely hear people trying to abbreviate Stravinsky in speech, but hear “Rach” and “Shosty” all the time.
A new one for you: “Tak” for Georgian composer Otar Taktakishvili. (Incidentally, you might enjoy his music; there’s a Sonata for flute and piano that I like a lot.)
The Russians certainly do win as far as fantastic names go. I remember hearing that the best cure for insomnia was to begin reading a 19th-century Russian novel. Trying to follow all the names with the patronymics etc. would have you nodding with fatigue in no time!
May 27th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
“Khatch”, I think, so you get the full consonant cluster. Of course, some would spell it “Khach” anyway.
And I probably should have said “Russians and their neighbours”.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:25 am
For a non-Russian, there’s “LvB,” of course.
June 21st, 2009 at 6:46 am
I always abbreviate Shostakovich as Shos, Beethoven as BH or as B’hoven, and Saint-Saëns as SS. Although that last one is a bit of a dubious abbreviation, so I always make sure to only use it when the context is clear.