I mean, it's not like I've ever made that mistake! ;)

Note the "right" that begins my previous post. I was, in fact, agreeing.

Ah, I interpreted that as sarcasm. My apologies.

I don't know. Seems too pedestrian. Kinda like Beethoven means "beet garden" in Dutch. Loses a little something. Beet Garden's Ninth? Nah!

Hey in english they are Joseph and Josephine Green. How cool is that.

"Or were you agreeing with me? Are we communicating at all?"

Note the "right" that begins my previous post. I was, in fact, agreeing.

Beethoven also wrote The Creatures of Prometheus ballet. I seriously doubt he believed in the Greek gods.

Well, exactly. My point was that two masses is a suspiciously small number compared to, say, Mozart, who was working on his eighteenth when he died. Or were you agreeing with me? Are we communicating at all?

Wikipedia reports two masses and an oratorio called Christ on the Mount of Olives, about which Ludwig commented that he would rather have used the words of Homer, Klopstock or Schiller.

Right. Beethoven also wrote The Creatures of Prometheus ballet. I seriously doubt he believed in the Greek gods.

(Most famous classical composers, including Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak and Berlioz, wrote their own interpretations of the Requiem; it was a popular topic in the days when most artistic work was underwritten either by wealthy nobility or by the church.)

I'll point out that Brahms was also quite the freethinker. (Dan Barker wrote this: http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2002/may02/barker.php ) Although it may expose me as something of a Philistine in the minds of some, I'm a lot crazier about Brahms than I am about Verdi. (I admit I'm not as familiar with Verdi's work.) I still remember the first time I heard his Alto Rhapsody. It was quite literally a spiritual experience. Sadly, it was being sung my Marian Anderson. I say "sadly" because I've never heard a rendition of it since that I felt could begin to compare.