# 10 Classical Composers With Extreme Eccentricities



## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Look at what I found today:

http://listverse.com/2013/12/27/10-classical-composers-with-secret-crazy-sides/

10. *Erik Satie*
Ate Only Food That Was White

9. *Carlo Gesualdo*
Witchcraft, Murder, and Masochism

8. *Alexander Scriabin*
Theosophy And Mysticism

7. *Harry Partch*
Hoboism And "Corporeality"

6.* Richard Wagner*
Cross-Dressing And Enemas

5. *Anton Bruckner*
Numeromania And A Love Of Skulls

4.* Peter Warlock*
Black Magic And Sadism

3. *Frantisek Kotzwara*
Auto-Erotic Asphyxiation

2.* Arnold Schoenberg*
Triskaidekaphobia

1. *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart*
Scatology And Cat Sounds

Comments:

* no. 7, 4, 3.. Who are them?!

* Wagner??! Really? Eww.. :lol:

Thoughts?

(ps: thought the list as balderdash)


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## Guest (Dec 29, 2013)

Well, thanks for sharing some balderdash with us.

So who made up "hoboism"? Sounds suspicious to me. (Or maybe it's just the opposite of domocilism.)

And do you know what "corporeality" refers to? The maker of this list had a vague idea, prolly picked up from a wiki article, but it's certainly not an example of "extreme eccentricity." Oh, wait. Hardly any of these things are that.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

2.) Arnie's triskaidekaphobia had him compelled to deliberately misspell _Moses und Aron_, the correct _Moses und Aaron_ having thirteen letters... but hey, contemplating thirteen would sure wreak havoc on your "what ifs" if your main thrust was being a twelve-tone composer.

10.) Satie only wore new clean white shirts, once -- constant consumer of the white shirt. Upon his death, his studio in Auteuil was found to have in it two upright pianos, one set upside down on the top of the other, both with the guts (harp) removed.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

peeyaj said:


> 9. *Carlo Gesualdo*
> Witchcraft, Murder, and Masochism


Ok, never thought I'd be defending Gesualdo's character, but I'm pretty sure Werner Herzog made up the bits about masochism and witchcraft.

Also: *why is triskadecaphobia 7 places higher than multiple murder?*


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Lord Berners









This picture should suffice, but he didn't have only a horse in his living room.
"Berners was notorious for his eccentricity,[2] dyeing pigeons at his house in Faringdon in vibrant colours and at one point having a giraffe as a pet and tea companion. His Rolls-Royce automobile contained a small clavichord keyboard which could be stored beneath the front seat. At his house he had a 100-foot viewing tower constructed, a notice at the entrance reading: "Members of the Public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk"."

this one is another picture of Lord Berners with guests and his horse for the tea
http://www.faringdon.org/uploads/1/4/7/6/14765418/4875065_orig.jpg?0

Nikolai Obukhov was a russian modernist composer inspired by Scriabin and who happened to be also a mystic. He used to autograph the score of masterpiece, the Book of life (I don't think it was never performed in its entirety, so there are not recordings of it I presume) with his blood. And he thought that he wasn't the composer of it but that he was simply transcribing the will of god.

Oh, I was forgetting of a strange story a friend of mine told me about Saint-saens. I don't know if it's true but he insisted that he read somewhere that Saint-Saens had the habit of... well, sticking a little mouse in his ***.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

(sorry under reconstruction)


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> As a side remark, the Prologue of the mentioned mysticist Obukhov work
> 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Obukhov, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Obouhov)
> 
> ...


It's not that, The book of life is a different work. Anyway The third and last testament (the piece in the video) is really a fascinating and even ominous work. Something between Messiaen, Scriabin and Sorabji. Very intense.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

^^^
(sorry, I began editing the post before seeing your comment)

This seems to be complicated stuff ... but at least according to this source, "Le Troisieme et Dernier Testament" is the prologue of the Gargantuan work called "The Livre de la Vie"/"The Book of Life"; this list of Obukhov´s oeuvre, apparently taken from the New Grove dictionary, says
"Le troisième et dernier testament (Victoire par l'amour: l'avant-propos du Livre de la vie) for five voices, two pianos, croix sonore, organ and orchestra (1946; also version for four and five voices, two pianos, optional bells and two-five instruments)"
(http://www.warszawska-jesien.art.pl/en/view/xml/wj2010/program/composers)

The Prologue has been perfomed in St.Petersburg in 2010 (Nov. 10th): 
http://www.philharmonia.spb.ru/eng/zkreng10-11.html)
and in Holland in 2005: http://www.culturekiosque.com/travel/item4309.html. Allegedly the whole work was performed there (or the programme says that it was planned to).

I have a recording conducted by Metzmacher of the "Prologue", apparently with some Austrian soloists, and one by De Leeuw, but it was long ago I heard them; probably one of them is the one on you-tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOTRsrk5rH8;

I don´t know this stuff has been commercially available. It would certainly be interesting to hear further parts of the work.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

peeyaj said:


> Look at what I found today:
> 
> http://listverse.com/2013/12/27/10-classical-composers-with-secret-crazy-sides/
> 
> ...


Craziest freakin thing i have read in ages:lol:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Alexander Mosolov, composer of "Iron Foundry", was a mean drunk and a hooligan. He was sent to the gulag for brawling and assaulting a waiter.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)




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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

^^^Looks like my dismissal hearing of my HS teaching license.


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## Guest (Dec 29, 2013)

I'm sampling a Harry Partch album now on iTunes. Interesting stuff. So far quite listenable with an enormous novelty element.









Sounds very beatnik.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> ^^^
> (sorry, I began editing the post before seeing your comment)
> 
> This seems to be complicated stuff ... but at least according to this source, "Le Troisieme et Dernier Testament" is the prologue of the Gargantuan work called "The Livre de la Vie"/"The Book of Life"; this list of Obukhov´s oeuvre, apparently taken from the New Grove dictionary, says
> ...


Definitely, I wish too that someone will record the integral work. 
Anyway thanks, I was probably wrong, the fact is that it seems that there are few and confusing informations and I thought that the third and last testament was a totally different piece.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Concerning number 5, Anton Bruckner: Weirdest thing one can read on the German language Wikipedia page is that he always wore diapers in public for fear of sudden, involuntary ejaculations.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

PetrB said:


> 2.) Arnie's triskaidekaphobia had him compelled to deliberately misspell _Moses und Aron_, the correct _Moses und Aaron_ having thirteen letters... but hey, contemplating thirteen would sure wreak havoc on your "what ifs" if your main thrust was being a twelve-tone composer.


He also numbered his measures 12, 12a, and 14 when writing a piece, and justified this eccentricity by his experience with the Violin Concerto, when he encountered difficulties right at the 13th measure...


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Andreas said:


> Concerning number 5, Anton Bruckner: Weirdest thing one can read on the German language Wikipedia page is that he always wore diapers in public for fear of sudden, involuntary ejaculations.


Oh my how bizarre...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ahammel said:


> Ok, never thought I'd be defending Gesualdo's character, but I'm pretty sure Werner Herzog made up the bits about masochism and witchcraft.
> 
> Also: *why is triskadecaphobia 7 places higher than multiple murder?*


There was a reasonable -- though heated -- reaction to a real situation involved with that murder.

Phobias are by definition wholly irrational, ergo more 'eccentric,' I guess 

Anyway, I guess that Bartok practiced piano and composed in the nude is not bizarre enough to make the list....


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Gesualdo kept a special servant to "beat him at stool," which seems mildly eccentric to me.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Anyway, I guess that Bartok practiced piano and composed in the nude is not bizarre enough to make the list....


Doesn't everybody?


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Hah! Well, if only one Russian got on that list, I guess they did pretty well for themselves, minus the alcoholism. :tiphat:

To be honest, I don't know of really any extreme "eccentricities" about the Russians, except Scriabin. Perhaps I got some more researching to do... 

ooh ooh! How about having a catalogue of music where you make the letter "I" not just represent composers whose names began with I, but have it also stand for "Insignificant"? Or having pet fish? Or or or...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Gesualdo kept a special servant to "beat him at stool," which seems mildly eccentric to me.


And those less wealthy who had not the remorse of having boiled over and murdered both wife and her lover when discovered in flagrante delecto in the couple's bed, or the funds available one of the nobility to hire servants?

Others, sans servants, just flagellated themselves -- it was a spiritual / neurotic vogue of the times.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Others, sans servants, just flagellated themselves -- it was a spiritual / neurotic vogue of the times.


Or, possibly, it was just to gain relief from constipation -- ?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

PetrB said:


> 2.) Arnie's triskaidekaphobia had him compelled to deliberately misspell _Moses und Aron_, the correct _Moses und Aaron_ having thirteen letters... but hey, contemplating thirteen would sure wreak havoc on your "what ifs" if your main thrust was being a twelve-tone composer.


He could have saved himself much trouble by simply conceiving of spaces as characters in their own right.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

brianvds said:


> He could have saved himself much trouble by simply conceiving of spaces as characters in their own right.


He also considered _Oses und Aarond_ and _Moses und Aaaron_, but Berg convinced him otherwise.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> To be honest, I don't know of really any extreme "eccentricities" about the Russians, except Scriabin. Perhaps I got some more researching to do...


If memory serves, Tchaikovsky constantly held onto his head with one hand, even while conducting, for fear that it may fall off. And then Borodin was an alcoholic - not sure if that counts as an eccentricity.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

peeyaj said:


> 9. *Carlo Gesualdo*
> Witchcraft, Murder, and Masochism
> 
> 8. *Alexander Scriabin*
> ...


My kinda guys. I'd buy each 'n um a cuppa coffee for an interesting chat.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

brianvds said:


> If memory serves, Tchaikovsky constantly held onto his head with one hand, even while conducting, for fear that it may fall off. And then Borodin was an alcoholic - not sure if that counts as an eccentricity.


Oh right! But I'm not sure Borodin is the alcoholic you imagine him to be. Sure, they all drink, but I think he was moderate with it. Mussorgsky was the one who was debilitatingly so.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Oh right! But I'm not sure Borodin is the alcoholic you imagine him to be. Sure, they all drink, but I think he was moderate with it. Mussorgsky was the one who was debilitatingly so.


My impression is that Mussorgsky, like Sibelius, had a real issue. Some other composers drank like fish, but it didn't seem to slow them down.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I didn't think Wagner was a cross-dresser - just that he had a fetish for silks.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

peeyaj said:


> 1. *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart*
> Scatology And Cat Sounds


I wouldn't put it that way. The Mozarts liked to joke about flatulence, constipation, regularity of bowel movement etc. but not scatology per se. Many folks do.


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## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

Just to say thanks. I laughed too much, and I had too search some of the words in google. To say it prudently, very illustrative.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Oh right! But I'm not sure Borodin is the alcoholic you imagine him to be. Sure, they all drink, but I think he was moderate with it. Mussorgsky was the one who was debilitatingly so.





KenOC said:


> My impression is that Mussorgsky, like Sibelius, had a real issue. Some other composers drank like fish, but it didn't seem to slow them down.


Aargh, yes, my mistake. The alcoholic was Mussorgsky. Borodin was merely an aldehydolic.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

DavidA said:


> I didn't think Wagner was a cross-dresser - just that he had a fetish for silks.


My impression was that the silk underwear thing was because of his erysipelas.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Mozart was no doubt listed because of the film Amadeus and the influence that has had, of course it doesn't mean the real Mozart was anything like the film Mozart. 

Beethoven could well have been more eccentric, though his eccentricities were probably caused by the onset of his deafness and the problems that caused for him.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Scriabin apperently also had nerve tics and was a hypochondriac. He was afraid of getting diseases and always put on gloves before touching money, for example. He'd spend a lot of time in front of the mirror, fixing his hair and mustache probably. He was small and frail and got pampered as a kid, being raised by grandma and aunts. He went to military cadet school but never had to take part in exercises. Instead he practised piano. 
The picture on that website is cool, he looks like a jolly fellow on that one.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

DeepR said:


> Scriabin apperently also had nerve tics and was a hypochondriac.


There are some awful accounts of his arguing with his composition teacher Arensky at the Moscow Conservatory. They hated each other so much that they almost never could be in the same room without arguing. What partially aggravated it was the fact they _both _had nervous disorder, and inclined to hot tempers. I would like to say Arensky was eccentric because he was, however there is not much proof that he was _overly _eccentric, as far gone as the other names mentioned on this thread. However, Arensky took the side of a victim, always accusing Scriabin of trying to fight against him and calling him downright conceited (which may have been true), and in the end Arensky did not let him pass with a degree from the Conservatory just for that reason, regardless of Scriabin's merit (Scriabin may have only gotten away with a piano degree). Taneyev, Scriabin's 2nd teacher, was a lot more lenient but also equally self-piteous because Scriabin (and Rachmaninoff for that matter) refused to do his homework for counterpoint and they ganged up on him continually. Oh the drama that happened in musical Russia... 

OOOOOH This was my 3333rd post!!!!


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## ScipioAfricanus (Jan 7, 2010)

Bruckner suffered from OCD. the onset of his anxiety came from the persecution and the maligning by the Brahms faction.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Messiaen suffered from synesthesia (ie, he would experience colors upon hearing certain harmonies). He was also obsessed with bird calls. It may be a stretch to call the bird call thing an "extreme eccintricity", but it is a little odd I guess.
Both of these eccintricities had a significant impact on his compositional style.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

SuperTonic said:


> Messiaen suffered from synesthesia[...]


He seemed to rather enjoy it, actually.

I don't think ornithology is all that eccentric a hobby, especially for a musician.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

I like how being a nomad, or enjoying dressing as the opposite gender are considered more extreme than murder. Shows where some people's priorities are huh?

Also to OP, how can you have never heard of Partch?


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

ScipioAfricanus said:


> Bruckner suffered from OCD. the onset of his anxiety came from the persecution and the maligning by the Brahms faction.


It seems he changed his works a lot and being a Virgo like him, in horoscope, i can tell we could be driven ''to hell and back'' by never satisfied torturing analytical mind...Not only in work but in personal life our ''conscience'' never sleeps


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Skryabin's behaviour was often little more than self-absorbed drama queen preciousness, really - on the other hand, Balakirev was a man whose behaviour seemed to become increasingly unfathomable as time went on.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> There are some awful accounts of his arguing with his composition teacher Arensky at the Moscow Conservatory. They hated each other so much that they almost never could be in the same room without arguing. What partially aggravated it was the fact they _both _had nervous disorder, and inclined to hot tempers. I would like to say Arensky was eccentric because he was, however there is not much proof that he was _overly _eccentric, as far gone as the other names mentioned on this thread. However, Arensky took the side of a victim, always accusing Scriabin of trying to fight against him and calling him downright conceited (which may have been true), and in the end Arensky did not let him pass with a degree from the Conservatory just for that reason, regardless of Scriabin's merit (Scriabin may have only gotten away with a piano degree). Taneyev, Scriabin's 2nd teacher, was a lot more lenient but also equally self-piteous because Scriabin (and Rachmaninoff for that matter) refused to do his homework for counterpoint and they ganged up on him continually. Oh the drama that happened in musical Russia...
> 
> OOOOOH This was my 3333rd post!!!!


Please forgive me for laughing at your anecdote. My goodness.
:lol:


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> Skryabin's behaviour was often little more than self-absorbed drama queen preciousness, really - on the other hand, Balakirev was a man whose behaviour seemed to become increasingly unfathomable as time went on.


Yeah, Balakirev went into religious mysticism during the 1870s and 1880s, seeking solace in the strictest sect of Russian Orthodoxy.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I didn't think Wagner was a cross-dresser - just that he had a fetish for silks.


Nahh, Wagner had a severe yet persistent skin condition throughout most of his adult life (erysipelas I believe). He had no choice but to wear light clothing (like silk). Of course, he was also vain and refused to look like a person of less importance (although his financial situation was anything but stable).


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