Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner The Pronunciations Thread

Thank you, Schumann, no offense taken. You do actually have a good point. But remember, I speak with an accent all the time.....

Shostakovich: Shost-uh-KOE-vitch

Chopin: Show-pahn (with French 'n' sound -- just let your voice float over that 'n' sound, if that makes any sense)

Here you go:

http://www.math.nyu.edu/~wendlc/pronunciation/thebiglist.html

I started piano after coming to Japan, and thus have learned a lot of composers' names, as well as musical terms etc, first in Japanese (or with Japanese pronunciation) and then later tried to figure out what the English is. And to make it even more confusing, music-talk in Japanese is sprinkled with random German and Italian words (pronounced with Japanese rules) along with the Japanese words. I hate to think of trying to have a conversation in U.S. with other pianists. When we talk music, my mom laughs at me all the time as it is...

How do you pronounce Kysylyczyn?

Hi,
being Italian and knowing a bit of German I can provide you with the correct Italian and German pronounciation:

Scherzo = skertzo (where the e is like the e in "bEst" and the last o must be o like in "dOOr" not ou)
Richter = Richter (with the ch like in BaCH)
Bach = Bach (with the ch like in iCH, more like a k followed by an h like in "Have")
Appassionata = Appassionata (sorry no better way to write it down, just be careful with pp and ss, they must sound as double p and double s [means longer]. Another hint, all the a should be pronounced like the u in lUck not ae)
Chopin - Sho-pan
von Weber - fon vaeber
Liszt - List
Schubert - Shoo-Burt
Schumann - Shoo-man (use the same a like the one in AppAssionAtA)
Tchaikovsky - Chai-Couv-ski
Rachmaninov - Rack-man-in-off (again the same a)
Shostakovich - Shostakovic (same a as before and the last c sounds like ch in "CHoice")

I can add also:
piano = piano (the a is like the one in AppAssionAtA)
forte = forte (the r is a ringing r and the last e is like the e in "bEst")
fortissimo (the i is like the one in lIst and the last o like "dOOr")
minuetto (again same i, e and o)
allegro (you bet, same a, e and o)

Now you know the trick: in Italian
a is always like u in lUck
e is always like e in bEst
i is always like i in lIst
o is always like o in dOOR
u is always like o in cOOl

double letter should sound like double (longer) sounds of the single one.

Hope it helps

Very good, Sviatoslav, very good. Just a few minor corrections: The Rach... in Rachmaninov is pronounced like Bach, not Rack.... And Schubert is ScuBERT, not BURT. Like in Bertolucci.
The A in Italian is like U in LUCK????? I thought it was A like in Amore. Then again, non parlo italiano.

u in luck and a in amore are pronounced the same way, isn't it?

you are right about Rachmaninov and Shubert. I just left them as Rack-man-in-off and Shoo-Burt
because I frequently hear Americans pronounce ck like ch in German and burt is a u that resembles the u in "hurt".

If I recall correctly, he had his name legally changed to the French equivalent "Georges," which is a lot less difficult to pronounce. It's just the English pronunciation, except with a soft "G," and for the love of God, don't say the "s."

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sviatoslav:
[QB] u in luck and a in amore are pronounced the same way, isn't it?

Not here in Los Angeles. It' more like a in a in adorable.

how do you say "Richard Strauss"? i heard Richard is pronounced as "ri-card", is that the way to say it?

The "ich" in Richard is pronounced the same way as the German pronoun "ICH".

Per Sviatoslav:

What do you mean here? You're taking away the "r"? Sounds like you want "sket-so". I think it should be "scaret-so". You also said:

I've never heard anyone pronounce it this way. I hear the most musically intelligent pronounce it as "for-tay". As an aside, I can't think of any word at all that ends with the e-sound from "best". Are you "best"-happy? You're big on "best" aren't you? Just wondering.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rick:
[ I hear the most musically intelligent pronounce it as "for-tay".

Musical intelligence has nothing to do with pronunciation. Quite frankly, I wish I had more of the first and less of the latter.

So people, how do you pronounce Kysylyczyn?

You're right..
if I'm right.

Exactly like it's written

hmmm...heres my guess "K-eye-s-eye-l-eye-tchine"

When "y" is acting as a vowel, it usually makes an "eye" sound, right??

Well, this just confirms it. I am never talking about these things again, I will only address these topics in writing! Too dangerous otherwise.