A nickname is a sobriquet that is intended to highlight a certain characteristic that could be physical, intellectual, or even a distinctive feature of a person. Most of the time, nicknames are used in a pejorative way, but they can also highlight physical, intellectual ordistinctive features in a person.
In Classical Music, sobriquets have also been justified to highlight predominant characteristics in some pieces, oreven in the composers themselves.
One of the most famous examples is the sobriquet or nickname received by Antonio Vivaldi, “The Red Priest”, due to his reddish hair; another example is the sobriquet given to Ludwig van Beethoven, “The deaf from Bonn”, originated by, as it is widely known, his auditory disability, combined with the name of his hometown.
There is also the curious case, not so widely known, of “Jean” Sibelius, whose real name was Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, but he took the name Jean, for which he is known worldwide. His alias was “borrowed” as an acknowledgement and tribute to one of his relatives who passed away.
Not only composers received sobriquets or pseudonyms, usually, many of their pieces, besides being identified according to their catalogue number, were also widely known with a certain subtitle.
That is the case of a very famous piece, whose real nameis little known because, in Ilcimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione (in English: The Risks of Harmony and Invention), in its first four concerts belonging to the Op. 8, are the really famous Vivaldi’s concerts, traditionally known as “The Four Seasons”.
Another example of a famous piece is the Sonata for piano No. 14, Op.27, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Maybe the name itself is not ringing any bells, but if we talk about the famous “Moonlight Sonata”, you will immediately realize what we are talking about.
There are other pieces that are famous by their nicknames, and just to mention a few, we could refer to: The Third Symphony by Beethoven Op. 55 “Heroic”, and the Sonata for piano No. 8, Op. 13 “Pathetic”, by the same composer.
Traditionally known as “The Unfinished”, the Symphony No.8, D 759 by Franz Schubert, is another example of a piece that is best known by its sobriquet, instead of the original title. The piece is known under this name because it only has two movements instead of the usual four that was the habit back then.
Out of the fifteen symphonies by Dimitri Shostakovich, there are several with subtitles, but maybe none of those names has such a strong meaning as the Symphony“Leningrad”, under which the Seventhin C Major is known. This piece became the symbol of Russian heroism and resistance during the German invasion in World War II.
Known as “Of the Tremolos”,it is said that the Seventh Symphony by Anton Bruckner is so peculiar because its second movement was the one chosen to announce Adolf Hitler’s death in the German radio stations the day after it happened. Mahler’s Sixth, subtitled like “Tragic”, represents everything its own pseudonym stands for, a tragedy, the fight between life and death that is always going to be lost by the first one.
Without being nicknames, Eric Satie’s musichas really strange names that can be considered like monikers, because they do not really have a special meaning, for example the “Gymnopédies”, the “Gnossiennes” and the funniest: “Three pieces in the shape of a pear”.
It is said that this name responds to a suggestion made by the composer Claude Debussy, trying to make him change a little bit the "shape" of his music. Satie´s answer was this piece, pieces in the "shape" of a pear, feverish and filled with humor.
