Rumors of my death (greatly exaggerated)

[vkioulaphides]

Browsing today, I was informed of my own passing by a German website:

http://www.akuma.de/victor-kioulaphides/artist,q33417,index.html

Shocked, I was almost ready to write myself a note of condolences.

1949 was in fact a wretched year in Greece, right after the horrors of the Civil War, and all that; no wonder I kicked the bucket under such dreadful circumstances. It is at least some consolation that I got to write some mandolin music before my fateful demise...

:))

Cheers,

Victor
(still on this side of the turf)

[abuteague]

Victor,
Were you really born in 1910?
I am glad to hear one can continue to enjoy the mandolin and even compose after decomposing.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear you are still around.

Best.

[Jim Garber]

Even better is the fact that you composed before you were born. I know you are extremely talented...

Quick Google translation says:

Victor Kioulaphides was a composer. Most of the works of Victor Kioulaphides are of the age 'Modern' (1910-1949 classified).

Now if they can just remove that large question mark from your head.

[vkioulaphides]

Indeed, I was born a good 19 years before my father was. Now, THAT's a talent that only (perhaps) P.D.Q. Bach can match. And, yes, that squiggly thing inside my skull has been giving me headaches all along.

The moral of the story: modernism will kill you!

Cheers,

Victor (unabashedly post-modern; alive and well, too)

[Roland Sturm]

Composer AND Time Traveller? Unimaginable talents on Mandolin Cafe

[vkioulaphides]

After lying about my age all along, it was a matter of time before the dirt came out :-/ Dang! I wonder how my wife will take it...

Cheers,

Victor

[Jim Garber]

I always thought of you as having one foot in three centuries... or something.

[JEStanek]

Victor,

As an undead music writer are you de-composing?

Jamie

[Gerry Cassidy]

Victor,

As an undead music writer are you de-composing?

Jamie

Ha! Now dat's funny right dere. I don' care wad anybody sez! :))

[Schlegel]

Next from Victor, a mandolin arrangement of Ich steh mit einem Fuss im Grabe?

[vkioulaphides]

Or perhaps a jazz parody, titled "O Death, Where Is Thy Swing?"

No matter what, it's GOT to be grounded in the classics. One of the reasons why modernism will kill you (or at least age you before your time) is that... it gets old so quickly. No wonder that VK dude didn't last much past his 39th year...

I have forwarded the above link to all my many German friends. If they read my email before going to church on Sunday, I hope they will include me in the liturgically appropriate manner.

For now, dinner-time. If Don Giovanni would have Il Commandatore over for a snack, I can't see why I shouldn't invite... myself. Besides —a major ego-booster— my wife tells me I am holding up very well for a 100-year-old ;-)

Cheers,

Victor

[brunello97]

So, I am game, V. You are inviting your 100 y.o. doppelganger over for dinner.....What do you serve? (Importantly, what wine goes with it?) What music is playing during? So, of course, a fervent discussion brews over the half-life of Post-Modernism, the wearisomeness of Neo-Modernism and whether we are finally, again, able to confront HISTORY with a sane and intelligent mind. Now, when you finally get down to some duetti, dopo cena. What will you play?

Mick

[vkioulaphides]

Interesting thoughts, all of them...


What do you serve? (Importantly, what wine goes with it?)
Dinner should be light; cold shrimp salad seems appropriate for centenarians. With a winking allusion to the Stone Guest (per Mozart / Da Ponte), the after-dinner dessert-wine should certainly be Commandaria, either from Rhodes or Cyprus.


What music is playing during?
Start with Frescobaldi, end with fox-trots.


So, of course, a fervent discussion brews over the half-life of Post-Modernism, the wearisomeness of Neo-Modernism and whether we are finally, again, able to confront HISTORY with a sane and intelligent mind.
I keep my friends by NOT bringing up such touchy subjects (except now, facetiously ;-) In the course of acquiring the social graces, we are taught to leave sex and politics out of civil discourse— religion is wisely added to the list of taboos. As for aesthetics, now... THAT's where the fur begins to fly! No, I'd rather not go there... (Grumpy, Old Men, and all that.)


Now, when you finally get down to some duetti, dopo cena. What will you play?
Fouchetti— presuming my DG plays the mandolin, as he should; post-Commanderia, Greek mandolinatas, of course ;-)

Cheers to you, too, Mick!

Victor

[Margriet]

[QUOTE=vkioulaphides;802855]Or perhaps a jazz parody, titled "O Death, Where Is Thy Swing?"

" O Grave, there is thy Victory..............

(et resurrexit, cum neo spiritu)

[vkioulaphides]

Yes, thank you, Margriet ;-) I feel quite resurrected, after a good night's sleep, a morning of practice (Britten's Noye's Fludd), and an afternoon kicking the soccer-ball around with my daughter, in the park :-)

Now, however, that I have been informed of my passing, I must make sure I file the new duet I am composing for Ali and Sebastiaan in my catalogue appropriately: Opus Posthumous, No. 1 (According to that website, of course, ALL the music I have ever written is decidedly posthumous, so I'll have to reconsider the numbering of my works.)

Cheers,

Victor

[Margriet]

[QUOTE=vkioulaphides;803143]
Now, however, that I have been informed of my passing, I must make sure I file the new duet I am composing for Ali and Sebastiaan in my catalogue appropriately: Opus Posthumous, No. 1 (According to that website, of course, ALL the music I have ever written is decidedly posthumous, so I'll have to reconsider the numbering of my works.)

Maybe you can number them back, "before" and "after", like B.C. and AD. You have really victoried the dead ! What about BV and AV (ave?)

[Margriet]

mistake ! ( english..... I mean Death ( instead of the dead, of course.)

(technical question: I tried to make a nice quote like you all do, but I do not succeed, even not with "advanced"....you have the quaote in a grey frame, I get only words and numbers.....)

[vkioulaphides]

Simple: please remember to preserve both [QUOTE] brackets, the one before the text you are quoting, AND the one after it. I admit that it took me, too, a good while to figure it out.

Cheers,

Victor

[Acquavella]

Victor,

I'm glad to hear that the rumours aren't true and that you are still with us. Are you sure this wasn't just a ploy to raise your royalities and popularity? lol. Also, can't wait to hear the new duet for Ali & Sebastiaan. Is this for a future duo album by them? Interesting!! Hoping to hear some more masterful compositions from you Victor.

Chris....

[vkioulaphides]

Are you sure this wasn't just a ploy to raise your royalities and popularity?

If only I had thought of that! Sure, that would have been a GREAT marketing ploy: quick, get your commission in quickly, before Dead Man Writing (mandolin music) really goes away for good ;-) I expect this to work wonders...

Thank you for your kind words, Chris. In fact, I feel remarkably alive and well. As regards the duo in question, these are the circumstances: next October, Alex and Het Consort are premiering my Sinfonia a pizzico (my largest-scale work for plucked orchestra so far) in Amsterdam; there will also be another performance (not necessarily with the same program) in Zwolle. Ali will be there as a featured guest artist, playing a major work as co-soloist with Sebastiaan, accompanied by Het Consort— I should not divulge details yet, and all this should be left for Alex to do. It's his thunder, and not to be stolen ;-)

So, the two soloists had the ~delightfully~ diabolical idea to ask me whether I would write a duet (unaccompanied, that is) for the two of them, also to be premiered on that august occasion. I gladly obliged, and will in fact deliver the score to them on June 1. More, anon, in a separate thread. The piece is more a showcase of the glorious sonority of two magnificent instruments, in the hands of two fantastic performers, than a display of the composer's mastery. I will humbly and happily "stay in the wings".

While there's always a good chance that I might expire of joy during said performance, I feel quite confident that I will live to attend it ;-)

Cheers,

Victor

[Acquavella]

Victor,

Sounds wonderfull. So...come on Alex....don't leave us hanging. Chime in at anytime now.

All sounds like a great project. Can't wait to hear it.

Chris.....

[John Bertotti]

He would know all about this but since he hasn't yet traveled back in time he doesn't know about it yet. BWahahhaha!

Does this give any sparks for a new composotion about your untimely death? Seems like ti could be an interesting piece! As always I am ready to buy it!

[vkioulaphides]

Does this give any sparks for a new composotion about your untimely death? Seems like ti could be an interesting piece! As always I am ready to buy it!

For that, I will have to consult my estate attorney ;-) As for the piece for Ali and Sebastiaan, it will remain exclusively theirs until the premiere. After that, it, too, will be circulated in the usual, non-commercial manner, between friends.

Cheers,

Victor

[emitfo]

I think it might be a violation of site rules for "dead" (even if greatly exaggerated "dead") time traveling people to post here.

As penance you must compose a whimsical piece of music that is exactly 1 minute 23 seconds in length and have it's debut performance attended by 1 knighted platypus, 2 homeless people (in lieu of 2 homeless 4 folks who are just really, really down on their luck may be substituted) and a gorgeous femme fatale who calls herself "Matilda", "Natsumi" or "83H4927". Immediately following the initial performance you must drink a chocolate malted milkshake which is held in your gloved right hand whilst wearing 2 socks on your left foot.

Oh yeah, and you have to put it all on youtube.
:grin:

[vkioulaphides]

I'm right on it! ;-)

Cheers,

Victor

[John Bertotti]

The choice of glove and sock color is tantamount to making this V production a master piece, choose your colors carefully.

[Giannis Tsoulogiannis]

Victor, is it true that you bought your embergher mandolin from Embergher personally?

[vkioulaphides]

Yes, it is. In fact, I ordered it from him when he was still a teenage apprentice in his father's carpentry-shop ;-)

Cheers,

Victor

P.S. Βαστιέμαι καλά για τα χρόνια μου...