10 Facts About Classical Composers That Will Blow Your Mind

Classical composers are often portrayed as serious geniuses, sitting in front of the piano, meticulously creating their masterpieces. Beyond their symphonies and sonatas, though, they were real people with quirks, phobias and strange principles that would make the kind of Netflix show you’d watch, barely breathing, until your morning alarm would bring you back to reality.

Here are ten surprising facts about classical composers that will change your opinion of them!

1. Beethoven was very messy

You think your office is a mess? Beethoven’s home was on a whole other level. His friends described his home as an absolute chaos, with half-finished dishes, unwashed plates and piles of papers strewn about. He was so absorbed in the composition that he barely noticed the chaos. But let’s face it: when you’re busy writing the Ninth Symphony, who has time to clean up?

2. Mozart’s letters were… strange to say the least

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a brilliant mind, but his sense of humor? Questionable. His letters to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart (not to be confused with his sister, Nannerl) were full of absurd jokes, including a rather off-color humor about… the bathroom. For lack of a better description, let’s just say it had a slightly brownish humor.

3. Tchaikovsky held his head while conducting

The composer of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake had a strange fear – he thought his head might fall off while conducting. To stop this imaginary catastrophe, he held his chin with one hand while waving his baton with the other. Fortunately, his head remained firmly on his shoulders and his music became legendary.

4. Bach was arrested for being too stubborn

Johann Sebastian Bach was never one to back down. When he tried to quit his job as a court musician in 1717, his employer, Duke Wilhelm Ernst, refused to let him go. Bach was so insistent that he wanted to resign that the duke threw him in jail for nearly a month. Just imagine what it would be like nowadays to end up in jail just for doing your job too well.

5. Stravinsky’s music was so daring that it sparked a revolt

When Igor Stravinsky premiered The Rite of Spring in 1913, audiences weren’t exactly prepared. The music was loud, the rhythms were shocking, and the choreography of the ballet was unlike anything seen before. The result? Chaos. People booed, fights broke out, and the performance almost turned into a full-scale riot. Who knew classical music could be so brutal?

6. Chopin hated performing concerts and preferred to play in the dark

Unlike the stars of today’s music scene, Frédéric Chopin disdained playing for large crowds. He was painfully shy and avoided large-scale concerts, preferring intimate gatherings. Sometimes he even played in total darkness, so as to avoid having to make contact with the audience.

7. Haydn’s skull was stolen from his grave

Joseph Haydn, one of the greatest composers of the classical era, literally never got to rest in peace. Shortly after his funeral, grave robbers stole his skull in the name of ‘science’, hoping to study the brain of a musical genius. Only in 1954, some 100 years later, was his skull finally reunited with his body.

8. Rachmaninoff’s hands were so big, he could play 12 keyboards at once

Serghei Rachmaninoff, known for his impressive piano compositions, seems to have had one major advantage: huge hands! His fingers could span a twelfth (12 piano keys), allowing him to play complex chords with ease. If you’ve ever tried to play his music and struggled more than normal, don’t feel bad! The problem may not have been related to your skills and talent.

9. Paganini was so good on the violin that people thought he had sold his soul

Niccolò Paganini’s violin playing was so peculiar that people even thought he had made a deal with the devil. His rapid finger playing and eerie stage presence fueled rumors that he was possessed. Some even claimed they saw a demon standing next to him while he sang. We don’t know if the rumors were true or not, but one thing is clear: Paganini had an almost supernatural talent.

10. Mahler was extremely afraid to write his ninth symphony

Gustav Mahler believed in the so-called ‘Curse of the Ninth’, a superstition that any composer who wrote his ninth symphony will die before finishing his tenth (like Beethoven and Bruckner). To cheat fate, he tried to call the Ninth Symphony something else. Unfortunately for him, the trick didn’t work, as he died before finishing his Tenth Symphony as he predicted.

The next time you listen to a classical work, think that behind every great piece of music is a person as complex, imperfect and curious as the rest of us.