“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.
In 1879, Brahms wrote to the librarian at the Gesesllschaft der Musikfreunde that he and the violinist Joseph Joachim were planning a tour to the extremes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Could he please send him, with the greatest urgency, some
On 31 May 1852, at the Philharmonic society of London, Joseph Joachim gave the first performance of his Fantasia on Scottish Airs. That concert also included Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, but the reviewer wasn’t impressed, “Herr Joachim’s playing of Mendelssohn’s concerto,
It’s not an exaggeration to declare that the Mason family decidedly and uniquely contributed to American music during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The patriarch Lowell Mason (1792-1872) was a significant composer of church music, including many original hymns.
The trouble is that what most people know about the composer Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) is about how he died, rather much about his music. And even the story about his death isn’t true.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was trained within a conservatory tradition that emphasized Western compositional techniques and expressions. As such, we would expect to find a multitude of intimate works for small ensembles. In reality, however, his published chamber output is
When Leopold Koželuch arrived in Vienna to follow his musical calling, he immediately understood that being a capable musician and composer was not enough to really get ahead.
When families migrate across linguistic borders, their names frequently undergo a number of significant changes. Just take the Stamitz family, an extended and highly active Bohemian group of musicians, as an example. The spelling of their family name in contemporary
We have a motet by the Dutch composer Ghiselin Danckerts (ca. 1510-1567) that has caused much puzzlement over the years. Originally published in 1535, but now lost, Danckerts’ motet Ave maris stella (Hail, star of the sea), was reprinted and
