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Talking of composing "in the style of", have you come across Peter Shickele, and his most famous incarnation, PDQ Bach (youngest and least known of the Bach offspring, speciality: plagiarism)?

Some of his music is genuinely funny, and It's not often you can say that about instrumental music!

http://www.schickele.com/

Hi Chris
I am laughing, truly. My husband thought Bach was the nearest thing to ------(as you like), and played a lot of his organ music, even transcribing the famous Toccata in D for one of our sons to play on the (classical) guitar. You may not think it would be so thrilling, but it is (or nearly so). I will look up the person you refer to, thanks.
Yes, it was the Spectator, thanks. I have 3 favourites from there. The first was Bernard Levin's response to writing the first line of a novel. This was a comment nota competition entry and supposedly made up by a student on the spur of the moment when asked what he'd been doing for 4 years and replied "writing a novel". "And how does it begin?"
"Mabel's naked body quivered as she awaited the descending fury of the lash".

Will post my effort later

My favorite P.D.Q. Bach piece is the O.K. Chorale.

Meanwhile, anyone like to tell us their favourite first or last sentence of a novel?
"Call me Ishmael" and "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" have been taken!

I suppose "Take my camel, dear" has been taken too.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again, from Rebecca.It is the only book I have ever stolen I borrowed from the English club when we lived in Assam and we had to leave rather hurridly so it has travel widely and came home with me.When I as a librarian we were asked to remove a lot of books from a house there were 230 library books rangeing from Barbara Cartland to Mein Kampf and stolen from all over England from the early 60s

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.


I don't recognise yours, aristo - where is it from?

The Towers of Trebizond.

Found it - "Towers of Trebizond". I think I have an inherited copy, but I've never read it.

Just listened to "The Short-tempered Clavier" and "Sonata abassonata". Excellent, laughing.

The winner of the competition was-
It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday , and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the Archbishop had come to see me
Anthony Burgess "Earthly Powers"

I like
I lingered round them under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heaths and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth
Closing lines of Wuthering Heights.