“Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The universe of classical music is jam-packed with musical anecdotes. Frequently these short narratives delineate subtle stories that highlight specific traits of a classical composer or a performer. Often humorous, anecdotes of classical composers don’t simply provoke laughter but can reveal a more general and subtle truth. We find Sophia Corri escaping her inattentive husband in an empty harp case, Beethoven being thrown in jail for vagrancy, and Rossini and Pavarotti both cooking their favorite meals. Napoleon gave free reign to his infatuation with an opera singer, Bach was challenged to a duel, and Frederick the Great had not only a great passion for music but also for a handsome Lieutenant in the Royal Guard. A musical anecdote is part of the process of telling a story, but it means sharing an experience with someone and not simply supplying him or her with information. And don’t worry, embellishment, exaggeration or fictitious invention are all part of the process. Anecdotes of classical composers impart the sense of a lived experience, as they usually involve real people in recognizable places and locations. In fact, musical anecdotes exhibit a special kind of realism and an identifiable historical dimension. Check back with us for more insightful and delightful musical anecdotes.
Alexander Scriabin: Mysterium Acne is an annoying and often embarrassing skin disease that frequently plunges the teenage world into turmoil. If we can trust medical advice, one should never pick, gouge, pop, scratch or squeeze the infected skin as this
One of the famous stories of demonic possession cured by music was David playing his harp to sooth King Saul (I Samuel). Although this is taken in modern times as the first instance of music therapy for the treatment of
Trains provide a nice rhythmic basis for music – the old chuga-chuga sound of a steam train might be replaced now with the smooth humming of electrics, but we can find music where the train meets the tracks.
At the end of Part 1 of this article, the countertenor voice was in a sorry state. Gone were the days of the star castrati, Farinelli and Senesino; the changing philosophical landscape of the Enlightenment had allowed the female voice
The Devil is incarnate in music! Or so the medieval musicians believed as they worked to develop the basics of sound. Some pitches, when sounded together, just seemed to make an organ howl, hence they were known as wolf tones.
The statures of musicals and operas seem worlds apart – opera’s for the snobs, musicals are for the masses, right? This is, thankfully, becoming more and more of a hackneyed stereotype, untrue of the current situation. Opera companies are trying
From the very beginnings of human memory, witches, ghouls, ghosts and goblins have played a highly significant role in the formation and continuance of stories that have attempted an explanation of natural phenomena and inexplicable cultural conventions.
Doing research on many composers (well, actually, anything) often starts with a quick Google search, which inevitably leads to a quick scan of Wikipedia. Oh come on, don’t pretend you don’t do it… Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A ‘prolific and influential
