Excellent! I never knew this. I have never seen this expression written and I think if I heard it I assumed the speaker was saying "parting shot" as they are indeed synonymous. Just did a Google and got this from Xrefer:

Parthian shot

Now synonymous with parting shot, i.e. they both mean 'a remark or glance, etc., reserved for the moment of departure'. The use arose from a custom in Parthia, an ancient kingdom in W. Asia: Parthian horsemen would discharge their missiles into the ranks of the enemy while in real or pretended flight. The actual term Parthian shot (first recorded in 1902) and parting shot (1894) are comparatively recent, but the connection may just have escaped the attention of readers of earlier books that were 'read' for the Oxford English Dictionary.

And you are to be congratulated on knowing about Buxtehude's daughter < g >

For lurkers:

Buxtehude, a contemporary of Bach and Handel, was the famous organist in Lubeck.

"The elderly Buxtehude held a position that would have been attractive to younger musicians the likes of Bach. But the practice was that if, upon his death, a cantor left an unmarried daughter the new cantor must take her as wife, a custom responsible for Buxtehude's own marriage. In 1703 Handel and Mattheson had come to Lübeck, ostensibly for the Abendmusiken, but unofficially to check out Buxtehude's unmarried 30-year-old daughter. Bach may have prolonged his stay for a similar reason. Apparently he did not like what he saw, for he returned to Arnstadt and soon thereafter married his cousin Maria Barbara. Upon Buxtehude's death, two years later, his unhappy daughter remained unmarried. "

Basically, Bach walked to Lubeck, some 250 miles, saw her, and walked home. < g >

I never cease to be fascinated that computer geeks, at least Fox Geeks, are very often quite well-rounded geeks! < bg >


>>Charles
>>
>>Mounted Parthian archers were trained to continue firing arrows into the enemy while in real or feigned retreat, creating the obvious military advantage. "Parthian shot" has come to mean any "last words" or attacks fired by somebody who claims to be leaving the scene.
>>
>>As for your phrase: hmm, if the phrase is as I assume from your allusion to music, then it presumably refers to an unacceptable prerequisite or association as discovered by both Bach and Handel. Nice!
>>
>>This is getting like Trivial Pursuits!
>>
>>Regards
>>
>>JR

All the best,