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A musician oft rehearsed
Together with his part reversed
But he was not himself as such
A single word - two's much too much

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Hopefully this one will take more than 15 minutes to solve, unlike the last attempt... $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 4 '16 at 18:34
  • $\begingroup$ Is the last line a clue to do with the musician, or is it telling us that the answer is a single word? $\endgroup$ – Brent Hackers Jul 4 '16 at 22:59
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    $\begingroup$ The second line makes me think of crab canons. $\endgroup$ – Will Jul 4 '16 at 23:06
  • $\begingroup$ @BrentHackers a good question. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 4:58
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The single word may be:

Bachelor

A musician oft rehearsed

Bach - a very popular composer

Inspiration from Jonathan Allan

Together with his part reversed

His part is his 'role' & reversed is 'elor', which 'together with' 'Bach' makes 'Bachelor''


From OP - Bach composed pieces (e.g. J. S. Bach's The Musical Offering) in crab canon and can rehearsed with the parts reversed, as they are often the same. This in essence is a hint to reach Bach within the puzzle itself.

But he was not himself as such

Edit from OP's improvement

Bach was not a bachelor!

Original - Concatenating above gives bachelor

A single word - two's much too much

A bachelor is a single man ('single word' can be a 'word for single'). JS Bach was married twice, two wives being much too much to be a bachelor. Also 'two' (as in a twosome) is the antithesis of bachelordom.

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  • $\begingroup$ We have a winner, (and have +1d and will accept this). Bits of the clue can be used twice (for instance per the crab canon stuff, Bach can rehearsed with the parts reversed, as they are often the same) - this was a hint for 'Bach'. Bach was not a bachelor (third line). Further (last line) Bach had two wives, so was certainly not a bachelor. And of course, most relevantly, "Bachelor" is a single word, i.e. a word for being single. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 8:32
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    $\begingroup$ Very intricate and well composed puzzle - I added some updates from your response! (Feel free to edit too!.) $\endgroup$ – Tom Jul 5 '16 at 8:44
  • $\begingroup$ have done - you may need to accept it. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 8:48
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    $\begingroup$ Accepted edit and Bach is a really suitable choice for role reversal and counterpoint! $\endgroup$ – Tom Jul 5 '16 at 9:04
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I'll go for you being

(Johann Sebastian) Bach

It's a stretch though

The received pronunciation of Bach's name is, in IPA, bɑːk (the closest imitation of the German baχ)

He was not himself as such:
The received pronunciation could well be written out naively as "barc"

His part reversed:
"barc" reversed spells "crab", a single word

Two's much too much / together with:
A crab canon (two words) is an arrangement of two musical lines that are complementary and backward

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  • $\begingroup$ This is close, but not correct. Look again at the title. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 4:57
  • $\begingroup$ Close as in the reasoning is correct but the single word is not? $\endgroup$ – Jonathan Allan Jul 5 '16 at 5:03
  • $\begingroup$ The single word is not correct. Some part(s) of the reasoning is/are relevant to the answer. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 5:07
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A stretch probably but could this refer to the musician's

echo? Which is almost a noise "reversed"

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  • $\begingroup$ Incorrect I'm afraid. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 4:57
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Me

You are you, but your part reversed. But maybe it's

Mi, the syllable used in solfège

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm afraid not! $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 7:49
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I believe the one word is

ENO

that's a musician who's oft rehearsed by himself, because that's his counterpart reversed

ONE

Two's much too much to

ONE

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  • $\begingroup$ Very creative, but the intended answer is @Tom's answer above. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 14:12
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I'm going to reluctantly guess:

Duet

A musician oft rehearsed:

Rehearsing a duet.

Together with his part reversed:

The counter-melody or secondo is the bottom part of a duet.

But he was not himself as such:

He cannot be the duet alone.

A single word - two's much too much:

Two people are needed for a duet. I don't understand the 'too much' part though.

I'm not sure my answer is correct, but I thought I would make my best guess.

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  • $\begingroup$ Incorrect I'm afraid. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 4 '16 at 19:56
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Is it

SOLO

A musician oft rehearsed

Musicians often sing solo

Together with his part reversed

I'm not sure about this, but musicians sing the parts they have to in solo

A single word - two's much is too much

It is a single word and there can't be two solo

ANOTHER ANSWER

Is it

SONG

A musician oft rehearsed

Musicians often rehearse songs

Together with his part reversed

Musicians sing the parts they have to in a song

A single word - two's much is too much

It is a single word

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  • $\begingroup$ Neither of these is right, $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 7:49
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The single word is:

Silence

because:

reversing sounds cancels them.

Probably not what you are looking for, but it appeals to the geek in me.

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  • $\begingroup$ No that's not right I'm afraid. $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 5 '16 at 7:48
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I'm gonna go for the obvious

solo

Because

the riddle hints at a musician playing alone, hence solo. Pretty sure I'm wrong and something much more clever was intended, however.

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  • $\begingroup$ No, that is incorrect (or at least not what I intended). $\endgroup$ – abligh Jul 4 '16 at 19:46
  • $\begingroup$ That was my initial thought too. $\endgroup$ – flu Jul 5 '16 at 0:44

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