Theft of the skull and "glass nonsense": 5 unexpected facts about great musicians

1. Franz Liszt sent bundles of dog hair to fans under the guise of his own hair

The Hungarian composer Ferenc (or, as it is correct to call him, Franz) Liszt was very popular and had many admirers. Yes, it's not just these days that pop stars have crazy fans.

Franz literally hauntedA. Walker. Franz Liszt: The virtuoso years, 1811‑1847 enthusiastic crowd after his performances. Every time he plucked a string on the piano, the fans tried to steal it to make themselves a bauble on their wrist. Fans fought over Liszt's handkerchiefs and gloves, and portraits of the composer were worn on brooches and cameos.

Women bombarded Franz with love messages with tearful requests to give his lock of hair as a keepsake.

The composer reasoned quite sensibly: if each exalted lady is given a strand of hair, then you can stay bald. And I decided to get a dog. When asked to send a lock, Liszt

shearedA. Walker. Franz Liszt: The virtuoso years, 1811‑1847 it from an unfortunate animal, put it in an envelope and sent it to another fan - and she kept this jewel like the apple of her eye.

2. Several of Mendelssohn's works actually belong to his sister Fanny

The name of the composer Mendelssohn became a household name thanks to his wedding march. In addition to him, Felix wrote five operas, more than a dozen symphonies, composed music for choirs and organs - in short, he was a fairly productive composer. But few people know that not all of Mendelssohn's works belong to him.

The composer had a sister, Fanny, who also composedR. Larry Todd. Mendelssohn and His World music. True, she was better known as a singer - even though she wrote a piano trio and quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, more than 125 piano pieces and about 250 songs.

Most of these works were not published during Fanny's lifetime. And those that were signed with the name of her brother. The fact is that in the 19th century, society was completely convinced that a woman had nothing to do in music - unless, of course, she singer. It was out of the question for a lady to become a composer - today you let them write music, and tomorrow they, what good, will wear trousers and demand equal rights!

Fanny and Felix's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, was also unshakableS. Hensel. The Mendelssohn Family 1729‑1847: From Letters and Journals in this matter.

Felix himself addressedS. Hensel. The Mendelssohn Family 1729‑1847: From Letters and Journals with her sister is softer than her father, but he also had a low opinion of her composing abilities: “As far as I know Fanny, I must say that she has neither an inclination nor a vocation for authorship. She's too feminine for that."

Under the work of his sister, he signed with her knowledge and consent - because music critics would never recognize the works of a woman. In particular, for a long time was consideredMendelssohn's sister finally has her own musical genius honored / The Telegraphthat the "Easter Sonata" for piano was written by Felix Mendelssohn, and only in 2010, musicologists, having studied the original manuscript, realized that it was composed by Fanny.

3. Joseph Haydn's skull stolen from his grave

Joseph Haydn is a famous Austrian composer, one of the founders of such musical genres as symphony and string quartet.

He created the melody with which they later composed the anthem for Germany. Was teacherJ. Webster, G. feder. The New Grove Haydn Beethoven. He wrote 104 symphonies, 52 sonatas, without counting works for harpsichord and clavichord, lived to be seventy-seven and died safely after a long illness in 1809 in Vienna. Just when the French army led by Napoleon entered the city.

The composer did not lose his presence of mind until the last moment. When a cannonball fell in the vicinity of his house, he reassured the servants: “Do not be afraid, my children, for where Haydn is, no harm can be!”

Due to the fact that Joseph died exactly at the beginning of the French occupation, he was buried in a simple coffin - there was no time to hold magnificent farewell ceremonies.

And only in 1820 the courtiers remindedJ. Webster, G. feder. The New Grove Haydn Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II, Haydn's old patron, that he was going to rebury his beloved composer at the family residence in Eisenstadt. The prince ordered the body to be exhumed... and was furious when it turned out that the head was missing from the coffin.

After much investigation found outJ. Webster, G. feder. The New Grove Haydnthat some Josef Rosenbaum and Johann Peter, fans of phrenology. It is now a refuted science that a person's intellectual abilities can be determined by the structure of the skull.

Peter bribed the gravedigger to hand over the head to him, and stated with pleasure that in Haydn's skull "the musical bump is fully developed."

The prince sent the police to search the houses of Rosenbaum and Peter, but Rosenbaum hid the skull in a straw mattress, and put his wife Teresa on top. Ta convincedJ. Webster, G. feder. The New Grove Haydn gendarmes that she has menstruationand the gentlemen did not search the bed. Rosenbaum slipped them someone else's skull, leaving Haydn's head with him.

The prince was satisfied with the skull he received and buried the idol with it, unaware that it actually belonged to a certain woman. Is it true revealedHaydn's Skull ls Returned / LIFE only in 1954, and the real skull of Haydn was found and placed in the tomb. The head of the nameless lady, which was already there, was not removed.

4. Lully accidentally killed himself with a conductor's cane

Composer Jean-Baptiste Lully famousJ. Anthony. The New Grove French Baroque Masters: Lully, Charpentier, Lalande, Couperin, Rameau connoisseurs of classical music as one of the leading representatives of the French Baroque. He was the favorite of Louis XIV (the one who is the “Sun King”), the creator of the French national opera and the author of a fair number of ballets. However, this fellow is also notable for its tragic fate.

It would seem that work composer and a conductor does not imply the possibility of physical injury - this is not carpentry or paragliding. But Lully was not so lucky.

You see, once Ludovic got sick - an anal fistula. And when he recovered, it was necessary to urgently glorify the Almighty, who sent down health to his deputy on French soil. And Lully wroteJ. Anthony. The New Grove French Baroque Masters: Lully, Charpentier, Lalande, Couperin, Rameau for the king a piece called Te Deum.

When the majesty got up from his bed, the composer immediately greeted him, standing at the head of the orchestra, which played a new melody for the monarch.

However, at the time of Lully, such a complex unit as a conductor's baton had not yet been invented, and a hefty club called a battuta was used instead. This is such a heavy massive cane made of metal or wood, with which the head of the musical ensemble beat the clock.

In general, Lully is so enthusiastic poundedJ. Anthony. The New Grove French Baroque Masters: Lully, Charpentier, Lalande, Couperin, Rameau with his battuta on the floor, that he pierced his big toe with it. The wound festered, and the composer died from gangrene.

He refused to amputate, because in addition to his musical activities, he was also a royal dancer and choreographer, and until the last he hoped that he would manage somehow. It didn't work out.

5. Tchaikovsky was afraid that his head would fall off

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a very modest and shy person with many oddities. So, to one of his acquaintances in a letter he confessedD. brown. Tchaikovsky: The Man and his Music that he is afraid of speaking in public.

In other letters he wroteA. Poznansky. Tchaikovsky Through Others' Eyes about himself: "mediocrity", "my vicious nature", "I'm vile" and "I'm ugly."

And when the German philophonist Julius Blok askedA. Poznansky. Tchaikovsky Through Others' Eyes Tchaikovsky to play something for recording, the composer refused with the words: “I am a bad pianist, and my voice is raspy. Why perpetuate it?"

But Tchaikovsky's shyness is the strongest appearedD. brown. Tchaikovsky: The Man and his Musicwhen he was conducting. He always held his head with his left hand, clutching his wand in his right. Why? Well, the composer always felt like she was about to jump off her shoulders. Sometimes he took hold of his beard to make sure his head was firmly in place.

Psychiatrists suggestD. brown. Tchaikovsky: The Man and his Musicthat the cause of Tchaikovsky's fears could be a form of the so-called glass illusion - a common mental disorder. People who suffer from it view their bodies as something incredibly fragile and capable of breaking at any moment.