Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2023 October 26

= October 26 =

Let's not overlook the possibility of genius
Anyone know the origin of this quote? Web search finds a Peanuts cartoon from Feb 5, 1968, but I think that is a reference to something that goes much further back. Thanks. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:0:0:0:D2BC (talk) 06:44, 26 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Henry Wadsworth Longfellow conveys the same idea as Snoopy in the cartoon linked above with his "Men of genius are often dull and inert in society." It might exist an even older adage linking laziness to geniality. Bumptump (talk) 09:55, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I think the phrase in this form stems from the genius mind of Snoopy, as channelled by Charles M. Schulz. --Lambiam 10:37, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, let's not overlook the possibility that Snoopy is the original genius here. I doubt that Schulz would copy a thought verbatim anyway. Bumptump (talk) 10:41, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * another copy of that strip, possibly more convenient —Tamfang (talk) 16:01, 26 October 2023 (UTC)

Mystery russian composer
The piece entitled Duma (reviere) by Modest Mussorgsky specifies that it was based on a theme by/from Vyaceslav Alekseevic Loginov

However i can find no information about this V.A Loginov much less about the work in which Mr. Mussorgsky took inspiration from.

I would appreciate any help on this matter

Thanks 2600:1700:3D74:F010:8CAF:4224:F96A:E415 (talk) 17:21, 26 October 2023 (UTC)


 * The name Vyacheslav Loginov seems to be quite common. Wikipedia has a Vyacheslav Loginov article (on a 21st-century politician, obviously a different person), and there are 10 profiles under the name on LinkedIn.  Adding "composer" as a search term doesn't seem to turn up relevant info beyond the Mussgorsky piece... AnonMoos (talk) 18:01, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * From Google snippet views of Russian books on Mussorgsky I glean that Vyacheslav Loginov was a friend of Mussorgsky and a musically gifted person who to a certain extent mastered the piano, but was not himself a composer. The theme in question was monophonic (одноголосный). --Lambiam 18:36, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you 2600:1700:3D74:F010:189A:9F7D:A2C2:4596 (talk) 07:26, 27 October 2023 (UTC)