Not Necessarily The Moonlight Sonata

Most Americans my age or younger probably think of Dudley Moore (if we think of him at all) as the kindly, bumbling alcoholic from the Arthur movies. We may have a vague memory of him playing some piano in that role, but that's likely as far as the association goes.

And that's a great shame, because, in his heyday, Moore was one of the great musical comedians of the 20th century, and remains a legend in British comedy circles for his work with Peter Cook on the BBC in the late 1960s. He was also a gifted musician, interested in both classical and jazz, and even hosted a few serious documentaries on music in his later years.

One of my favorite of Moore's routines is from one of his earliest gigs, the transatlantic satirical smash hit, Beyond the Fringe, which sadly seems to be well out of circulation these days. This was an age when the basics of classical music were still common enough knowledge to be reasonable fodder for satire, and all manner of humorists, from Anna Russell to Victor Borge, were thriving on stage and screen. Moore's crowning achievement in this area is a 4-1/2 minute bit in which he doesn't say a word, just sits down at the keyboard, and creates an entire "Beethoven" sonata, complete with overwrought big finish. It still makes me laugh every time I hear it...



(Hat tip to former MN Orch CEO Tony Woodcock for first making me aware of this bit several years ago...)