# classical trivia tidbits



## cmb (Dec 20, 2006)

Found on another site ( and cross-posted to Magle forum), but verification is absent, I thought they would be entertaining at the very least, and spark some chatter at the best.

Chopin, the composer, wore a beard on only the left half of his face. He claimed that when he performed at the piano, the other side of his face didn't matter since the audience saw only one side. 

At the age of two, Mozart could hear sounds and tell what pitch they were. There is a story that he heard a pig oink and yelled "G-sharp!" Someone duplicated the pitch on a piano, and discovered that it was indeed G-sharp.

Mozart started playing the piano at age three but not formally until age four. It was his choice. He started interfering with his sister's lessons so he could learn more. By age four he could learn a minuet within 30 minutes!


----------



## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

It was thought that Paganini had traded his soul in return for his violin-playing skills with the Devil.

"One critic even swore he had seen a small devil, perched on the fiddler's shoulder during a concert, helping him reach notes beyong the grasp of mere mortals."

Source: _Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music_


----------



## Mr Salek (Apr 11, 2006)

Paganini had to publish a letter from his mother to prove that he was indeed not the Devil.


----------



## ChamberNut (Jan 30, 2007)

During a performance, French Baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) accidentally hit his foot with his conducting staff. An infection resulted, and it ultimately killed him.


----------



## Mr Salek (Apr 11, 2006)

He was one of the first people to try conducting, and it was done to keep ballet dancers in time with a large stick of wood.


----------



## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Berlioz initially considered 700-800 singers for his Requiem, but then settled for around two-hundred. 

Source: Look at post #2.


----------



## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

Gammond on Mahler:

"It was suddenly realised that Mahler had not written ten big long boring symphonies…which you have to listen to carefully from beginning to end in order not to miss the themes but had, in fact, strung together hundreds of attractive little tunes. And it was possible to go into a coma for a lot of the symphony and still get involved when you came to again. It is possible to switch on the car radio at 9.30am in the depths of the country to…a Mahler symphony well into its stride and to arrive in town and find a parking place with it still going on in its forgetfully energetic way that suggests it might still be in progress at 5.30. ….."


----------



## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Tchaikovsky was in the fear that his head would fall off, especially when conducting an orchestra. So he used to conduct with one hand while holding his chin with the other, to support his head. 

Source: Look at post #2.


----------



## Josef Haydn (Mar 23, 2006)

Paganini as a child, in a an attmept to stretch further on the violin, cut the webbings of his left hand....psycho


----------



## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Josef Haydn said:


> Paganini as a child, in a an attmept to stretch further on the violin, cut the webbings of his left hand....psycho


Really? I'm starting to wonder whether that devil thing was a myth after all?

Now I really want to see a performance of his. Anyone got a time-machine?


----------



## Manuel (Feb 1, 2007)

On Puccini and Tosca

Puccini had a devotion for precision that could not be fought. For the Te Deum procession, he arranged for one of Ricordi's workers to be sent to Rome, where he stayed several months to find whatever material available on that subject in shops, libraries, museums, etc.; finally, he received from an old friar the precise drawing of the role of each participant, and a set of 18 handpainted tablets describing it.

For the opening of Act III, Puccini asked a priest to decipher the precise tone of the bells of Castel Sant'Angelo, and notably the tone of the large bell of St. Peter's basilica (it is a natural mi (E)) so he was able to perform at the Teatro Costanzi a sound that was precise as only a recording would have been.

*The tale of the bouncing Tosca: *This supposedly occurred at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and involved an American soprano. As Tosca, she was supposed to leap to her death from the walls of Castel Sant'Angelo. Usually, the actress lands on a mattress. But the stage workers had thoughtfully improved her safety by replacing the mattress with a trampoline: and so Tosca appeared two or three times from behind the wall. (Another version describes this as an act of revenge for troublesome behavior by the soprano.)

*The collective suicide after shooting the wrong principal:* Another delightful but probably apocryphal anecdote is this one, which allegedly happened at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco - to the same Bouncing Tosca from Chicago. The firing squad were played by supernumeraries who received last minute instruction to shoot the person they found onstage; and then to exit with the principals. When they got onstage, however, they discovered there were TWO people there instead of one. Not knowing which one to shoot, they wavered back and forth a bit as both principals said not to shoot them. They finally settled on Tosca, shot her, and looked bewildered when Mario keeled over dead. They also did not leave, since they were told to exit with the principals - and neither of the principals were exiting. Tosca did some gestures to shoo them away, but there onstage they stayed, until Spoletta came in with the soldiers. Then, when Tosca jumped from the parapet, they saw their chance to finally exit with at least one of the principals and jumped up after her, giving a Shakespearean greatness to the final tragedy.

Soprano Renata *Tebaldi,* considered by many to be one of the best Toscas ever, was famous for her melodramatic cries in the final scenes. Once, in Tokyo, she decided not to jump for the final suicide, but chose instead to exit by the quinte, walking among the astonished policemen as only a diva could.

*Famous baritone Tito Gobbi*, a very original Scarpia, recalled a prima, or premiere, with Maria Callas, another one of the greatest Toscas, in which he had to improvise to save the diva in Act II. While he was on the floor, having just been killed, he realised that Callas was walking around the stage unable to find her way out. She had severe myopia and while she could wear glasses during rehearsal, her eyes would not tolerate contact lenses. Gobbi tried to point out the exit discreetly, but started laughing so intensely that both his laughing and his pointing were seen by the audience. The morning after the newspapers raved about his memorable portrayal of Scarpia's death throes. In other performances, he was able to whisper directions to her so that she could make a satisfactory exit.

In 1964, at London's Royal Opera House, Tito Gobbi was again with Callas. As he recounts in "My Life", during a dress rehearsal of the duet in Act II, Callas moved close to the table, not realising that she was getting too close to the candles. Soon smoke could be seen coming from her wig. Gobbi pretended to attempt to embrace her, closing his hands over the fire in her hair. Not at first understanding what he was doing, Callas stared at him with a perplexed expression, so Gobbi extended his burnt hand very near to her face and then pointed to the candles. Callas interpolated her own "grazie, Tito."

Gobbi also paid tribute to the ferocity of Callas' acting in this role, noting that he was often afraid during their performances that she really would kill him in Act II. She very nearly did so, when the knife she was using failed to retract. Gobbi was cut, but not severely hurt, and with a cry of "My God!" went right on with his death scene.


----------



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

I think I may have to buy this Gobbi "My Life" book.


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Alexander said:


> I think I may have to buy this Gobbi "My Life" book.


Same here- I wonder what happened to my copy? Might've sold it to Blackwells when I was skint. There's a story about how he was presented with a costume that Victor Maurel wore in one of his creator roles (I think Iago) and as Gobbi took the ancient garment out of its box it crumbled away into dust. At the time I read that, the story seemed fraught with sad symbolism about the death of opera as a living art form; nowadays I wonder if Gobbi made it up as an excuse not to wear the costume, as it would take many punishing months in the gym to achieve Maurel's physique! :devil:


----------

