Archives: Anekdote

Fan hysteria isn’t new—it just changes the name on the poster. At one point the craze centered on the pianist Paderewski: people (especially women, according to the old telling) cried, clung, kissed, and generally lost all dignity. Sure, emotional playing can move emotional listeners. But a lot of the spectacle comes from imagination and social…

The French opera composer Grétry had a quick wit—and he liked using it. Traveling through Switzerland, he met a German baron who suggested they journey together. Grétry tried to make conversation: “Ah, sir, how delighted I am with—” “Sir,” interrupted the baron, “I never talk in a carriage.” Later, at an inn, Grétry tried again.…

Ole Bull’s favorite violin had lived more lives than most people. It was made by the old master Caspar di Salo. For about 150 years it sat safely in the museum at Innsbruck, placed there by a cardinal as a prime example of di Salo’s work. Then came 1809: French soldiers sacked the place. The…

Today we expect a composer to start with a great text and then “paint” it in sound. But in the early 1700s, many composers treated words as optional packaging. Counterpoint—music as mathematics—was the main event. The question wasn’t “does this match the poem?” but “is this good music?” Even Handel could be ruthless about it.…

Two of music history’s saddest images are the deaf Beethoven and the blind Handel. Beethoven lived for years unable to hear a single note—yet during that time he produced some of his mightiest works. At the first performance of his Ninth Symphony, he conducted. But he couldn’t hear the orchestra or chorus at all. When…

Franz Schubert’s early career came with a special kind of misery: being talented, broke, and ignored. In 1817 the Leipzig publishers Breitkopf & Härtel received from Vienna a manuscript setting of Goethe’s “Erl‑King,” signed “Franz Schubert.” They balked. As far as they knew, Franz Schubert lived in Dresden, held the respectable post of Royal church…

Some prima donna careers read like fiction—because the crowds treated them like royalty. Take Maria Malibran. On her last visit to Venice, her arrival looked less like a concert tour and more like a general returning from victory. As her gondola entered the Grand Canal, trumpets blared, bands roared, and huge crowds shouted her name.…

Here’s a theory that keeps showing up at dinner parties: wine and music seem weirdly connected. Look at the big wine countries—Germany, Italy, France—and you also get three of the biggest music factories in history. If you erased everything written outside those places, the world would still have most of what it calls “classical music.”…

Robert Schumann’s later mental illness didn’t appear out of nowhere. Before the darkest years, friends noticed moments of distraction that could be almost comical—if they weren’t so telling. One rehearsal is legendary. Schumann was conducting Bach’s *Passion* (the big opening chorus). The choir started strong, but Schumann’s beat grew smaller and smaller… until it stopped.…

Jenny Lind—“the Swedish Nightingale”—didn’t just have fans in America. She had *mania*. Admiring her was practically a social hobby. One night in Baltimore she received a big public serenade outside her hotel. She came out on the balcony to acknowledge the crowd, and the cheering went wild. In the middle of the commotion, Lind dropped…