Unknown but entertaining facts from the life of great composers

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Great composers have left behind an invaluable legacy in the form of genius pieces of music. The lives of geniuses a priori cannot be boring and uninteresting. This review has collected some unknown but entertaining facts from the biographies of some composers.

Joseph Haydn

Once, being a renowned composer, Haydn saw a butcher on the threshold of his house. He asked the maestro to write a minuet for a wedding march in honor of his daughter. Haydn agreed and a day later gave the butcher the coveted minuet. A couple of days later, the composer heard loud music from the street, in which he hardly recognized his work. Opening the door, Haydn found on his doorstep a contented butcher, his daughter and husband, a crowd of itinerant musicians and a huge bull with gilded horns, which was presented as a gift to the composer. After that, the minuet in C major became known as the "Minuet of the Bull".

Franz Peter Schubert

The famous Austrian composer Franz Peter Schubert wrote his first serious symphony at the age of 17. In the next 15 years of his life, he created many brilliant works, but the press for some reason refused to publish them. From this, the composer lived more than modestly and desperately needed finances. Finally, at the age of 32, Schubert put on a concert of his works and collected 800 florins (his first serious fee). This money was enough for the composer to finally acquire a piano and pay off debts. After a couple of weeks, Schubert was again in need. In the same year, the great composer died, and the list of his property consisted of only a few costumes, a pair of boots, a mattress, pillows and blankets.

Johann Sebastian Bach

In the 18th century, performances by musicians and composers were incredibly popular at the royal courts. Thus, one day the French organist Louis Marchand arrived in Dresden and impressed the audience with his performance. At the same time, the king heard about the talented Johann Sebastian Bach. A musician from Weimar was invited to the royal court.

At the same time, Louis Marchand performed with a French aria, complemented by his virtuoso variations. After the end of the performance, the audience sarcastically invited Bach to the clavier. To everyone's shock, Bach performed exactly the composition of Marchand, moreover, that he had heard it for the first time in his life. When Bach plucked up the courage to invite Marchand to a creative competition in playing the organ, the Frenchman decided to immediately leave the country.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

In the last year of his life, Mozart was in desperate need of money, and the aggravated illness only exacerbated the situation. Once a stranger appeared on the threshold of his house and, on behalf of his master, ordered the composer to write a requiem. With all his passion, Mozart got down to business, but due to his deteriorating health, it seemed as if he was writing this requiem for himself. Some time later, the composer died.

The stranger who ordered the requiem from Mozart turned out to be Count Franz von Wiesgen zu Stuppach. He so wanted to be called a composer that he bought their works from musicians and passed them off as his own. The count also wanted to do with the work of Mozart, but this never happened. No less interesting is the biography of another great composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who continued to compose even when he was completely deaf.