"Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do but have fun..." A Space Capsule Fantasy...?

What a splendid question Hafwen.Exceptional as usual.

Well,here are my Top 5:

1)Antonio Vivaldi is my most loved composer.I wouldn't like to miss

him.He could give me best advice for my playing the violin.In that case I

could ask him so many questions to his biography and tell Miss Lim Lam whether he was a castrato or not ha ha.

2)Well if you hafwen wouldn't mind I would invite you to this space tour.

I think it would be very interesting to share our crazy fantasy imaginations.I would really much enjoy that.You also could share a lot

of time with our " Il Prete Rosso " instead of Handel.

3)Of course we do need a brilliant entertainer for all situations.

Therefore I take our wonderful Wolfie Mozart.And why we are in a spacefantasy,Wolfie would have a really High-Tech Keyboard with the

best artificial sound ever possible and integrated laptop with mobile internet and other extras.I only say:" Come on,rock me Amadeus" !!!

4)I also would very much appreciate to invite Del-icious for the tour.He

is one of a very few persons here on the forum who has an enormous

knowledge about music in total.I know that Del enjoys,beneath classical music,good food and wine and other cultural things,too.

It would be a great honor for me to invite him because I think that he would enjoy my last passenger in the space capsule,

too.

5)There can not only be musicians on board.Without having a quite good COOK on board the mood would just be half as good,as with one

on board.So I would like to take the very famous Austrian 3-Star Cook,

Johann Lafer on board too.He has,by the way,a very successful cooking show on german television,called " Lafer,Lichter,Lecker ".I

would suppose him to be able,like the great old french cooks,to make

a delicious meal from crap.Maybe you know about this saying.In former

times the french cooks often made mocking comments to the qualities

of the english cooks.They joked: "What is the difference between a french and an english cook?-Well thats easy-a french turns crap to good - but an english turns good to worse". - So far this saying.And why I am a cook,and now a hobby cook(I don't work as a cook),I think

that you can understand why I was saying ths 5th guest on board would be interesting to Del-icious(And for me too).

Oh,there's only the problem with the lots of pots and pans a cook uses because of the limited space we have.But what for do we have our crazy,creative " Wolfie Mozart ".He just makes a drumkit of it for music experiments.That solves the problem ha ha ha.

Ahh that was fun.Thanks a lot for the question.And by the way.My fantasy classical music series is coming up soon as I was promising a

week ago.So be curious and be surprised.Best wishes from today sunny medium warm Heidelberg/Germany.Cheers.

Stefan K.feat.Dr.Nirokay.

I agree with MissLimLam and Alberich. I wouldn't want everyone to be a musician. Some people with other passions could really spice up the conversation. But if I had to choose five musicians, they would be these.

1. Mozart - Who wouldn't choose him? He was the life of the party, making practical jokes and whatnot. Plus I'd love to see the genius at work. I'm with you on that one!

2. Bryn Terfel - He's definitely my favorite bass-baritone singer, if not my all-around favorite. I'd have him sing Le Veau D'or from Faust! :)

3. J.S. Bach - With his expertise on counterpoint and fugues, I would have a lot of questions for him. Lots of great conversations would be taking place on music theory with him there.

4. Alison Hagley - My favorite Susanna for Le Nozze, though after attempting to find out more about her, it appears she fell off the face of the earth. If not her, than Dessay or Fleming.

5. Sharon Bezaly - She's a flute player, and maybe she could give me a few tips.

As for non-musicians, I'd have a tough time choosing between Alexandre Dumas, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Gaston Leroux (he claims the story of the Phantom of the Opera is real, that would be an interesting conversation!) Homer, Edith Hamilton (She was a prolific writer of Greek mythology) , and Jane Austen.

And then for fantasy characters, I'd choose the Greek god Hermes, Robin Hood, Cardinal Richelieu, Edward Ferrars, and Elizabeth Bennet.

Sorry, I strayed from the original intent of the question, but I was just having too much fun!

Edit: Stefan K. invited people for Yahoo! Answers! Why didn't I think of that! Great idea, now for the impossible of task of choosing just five...

Hafwen, What a question. These are the type of scenarios I fantasize about while driving long distances.

Without revealing too much of my private fantasys and trying not to appear as a "Dirty Old Man" I would have to choose all young beautiful women. I cannot imagine living in cramped quarters for a long period of time with a bunch of men. It would be like flying to Europe economy class with Handel and his twin brother on either side of me.

Since the quarters are cramped and the airconditioner is marginal, clothes would be optional. All would be pianist and of course in the room just off the living quarters there would be a Steinway concert grand piano bolted to the floor that always stays in tune.

Valentina Lisitsa has a technique to die for. Would like to study the Chopin Etudes with her

Valentina Igoshina- discovered her on youtube and find her a very sensitive pianist.

Lisa de LaSalle- another youtube discovery I find to be a quite remarkable pianist.

Cecile Licard- A virtual tour de force

Avril Lavigne- I think she plays the piano.

All of the above I would enjoy talking with and listening to them play. What better way is there to pass the time and on those cold orbiting nights for warmth, just throw on another pianist.

How do you come up with all these questions?

Dang, you mean I can't bring my piano along? It'd be a giant floating fist. Sad. No Chopin either, because he couldn't survive without a piano :( Nevermind, I'll bring a small harp and my violin along.

Hmm...let's see.

1) My music history teacher! She's a witty lady, very intelligent, equally well-versed in both literature and music - and knows not only regular French, but also Mediaeval French and Provencal. Talk about obscure languages! Plus, she's a singer too. A very pure, sweet light lyric soprano, specialising in early music. With her around, we'd be entertained all day with new languages and exploring early vocal music. She can also bring her lute along. Yay!

2) Her husband. I know she wouldn't survive a year without him. He plays trombone and electric bass, though I'm not sure I want a trombone in the small capsule. Spare our eardrums... :S But he's a brilliant conversationist, so that'll keep us entertained.

3) Mozart. For his party nature and entertaining personality. And yes, he'd better write something for all of us to play/sing. If I recall correctly, he can also play violin right? So that means both my instruments can be used at the same time.

4) Schubert. He and Mozart would be yakking away in German and Austrian all day, but he could write beautiful music for us to play and sing! Ahhh Schubertiards.

5) Kiri Te Kanawa. She's my favourite soprano. Love her sunny, entertaining personality and her gorgeous voice. She loves teaching, so she can teach me how to sing. It would be nice to have her witty, warm personality around, and she could give us lots of health tips since she's quite the organic food and exercise perpetuator.

A mediaeval lute, a harp and a violin, plus 3 sopranos might not be the most common combination, but it'll do for the amount of space available. And I'm sure Mozart can write for any type of ensemble.

I wanted Handel too, but he would finish all our rations.

My first choice would John Cage; so I could pick a fight with him, beat him to a pulp, and then throw him out the nearest porthole.

I too am like "MissLimLam": I wouldn't want all my companions to be musicians. So my second and third choices would be a "pair": Nijinsky and Diaghilev(would love to see them really go at it, and see which would win out in this most unique kind of a situation:

Nijinsky: "No! I don't want to; I absolutely refuse".

Diaghilev: "My dear little man. You better hush up and do what I tell you, or---------------".

((Geezzz! I really seem to be in a terribly malicious mood, don't I; might be because it's now near 6:00 a.m., and haven't been able to get a wink of sleep - about to go completely "bananas" !!! Will try to tone it down a bit))

My fourth choice // Arturo Toscanini: would love to peer long and deeply into those dark, god-awfully frightening eyes, and see if he is/was really for real.

My last companion - no need to mention his name, everyone probably knows already - he and I, could talk endlessly about his operas(excuse me, "musicdramas")and what he truly thought/felt about his son Siegfried, and the Mad, King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

Alberich

What an interesting question (as usual!).

You know what Hafwen, I think I would go insane with only musicians around me! Serious musician are (in my experience) very dull people... unless they have other interests! Like art or literature... or anything BUT music! So that rules out nearly every one...... Damn! and unfortunately most of the musicians that I like are incredibly unfortunate looking...

I would love to take Handel too... but everyone else would starve. Then theres Bach... but hes too much of an amorous butterfly to be good company.

1. So that leaves my other favourite baroque composer Vivaldi. I cant imagine him being very interesting, but he would be the moderator. Also, without another red head, I would feel lonely!

2. PAULINE VIARDOT - The only interesting composer I can think of, she was an excellent artist, and also very educated in terms of literature. (Thanks to these things, I am sure we would get on famously!). Also, she was ugly, but in the words of a random proffesor, she has the type of ugliness that facinates, and is in a way beautiful. (This is the perfect kind of person for a portrait...)

3. Giovanni Antonini, the conductor of my favourite ensemble. I wonder how a sopranino recorder would sound like under zero-gravity. Does gravity affect how things sound?

4. Carlo Gesualdo... every group of people needs an insane one. Plus, he was a lutenist... and could teach me to play! and then, because he was a renaissance lutenist and I plan to play baroque lute, Vivaldi will step in and teach me to play in a baroque fashion.

5. Rossini, he could write wonderful music for me... who else writes for a coloratura contralto? (I am not a coloratura contralto but a mezzo... who loves to sing Rossinis contralto roles!)

EDIT for Stefan K feat. Dr. Nirokay...

but I am also taking Vivaldi, so I will ask him myself! ( I was going to say "see for myself", but then realised how inappropriate that sounds... I thought I should share that with you)

I'll answer this a little later- I promise! Should be very interesting, I need to think about this

edit

#1- Mr. Valley- certainly not famous, but he truly appreciates music, explains it well, and makes music fun for everyone. I can think of only one person I would rather have on my capsule.

#2- Mrs Meyer- that one person. My violin teacher who studied for most of her life with Josef Gingold. She knows what she is doing and is a great teacher and friend, I wouldn't get on that capsule without her!

Beethoven. You always need a pianist, and who better than he?

Aya Hirano. Sorry, she is like my celebrity crush right now (left field j-pop singer)

Freddie Mercury. He just rocks so hard. He would probably be fun to talk to as well.

Slash. Awesome guitarist, would come up with great pranks, and would help keep the boredom away.

Kanye West. Why, you may ask. Cause in every space situation, you need at least one person to likely die in some catastrophy, and I vote him to be it.

"This is ground control to major Tom".