Transcript Little Known Facts about Classical Composers

Little Known Facts about Classical
Composers
By Allie Ajamoughli
Little Known What?
We all know the famous
works of Bach and that
Beethoven went deaf, but
do you know the story
behind the violin Mozart
was given at the age of
five? Do you know what
Beethoven’s Fifth
Symphony really means?
These are the facts few
people come across…
Johann Sebastian Bach
1685-1750
How Many?
Bach was married twice
in his lifetime. Between
the two women he had a
total of 20 children.
Many grew up to be
composers like their
father, but are not well
known because the style
of music they composed
was, “out of style.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1756-1792
The Violin Experiment
At the age of five Mozart
was given a violin to play
with. When his father
found out about this new
toy, he told him to go
away and stop making
noise. Mozart still
managed to make music
the center of his life.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
1770-1827
Symphony No.5, Op.67
This classic composition
you are listening to now
is something rather
unique. The repeated
rhythm of “dun dun dun
dah” is actually the letter
“V” in Morse code. At
the time, Beethoven's
country, Germany, was at
war. Beethoven wanted
to communicate victory
through this song to
show his patriotism.
Musical Compositions and
Superstitions
The Curse
It was said that after a composer wrote their tenth
symphony he or she would be cursed and never live to
write another piece of music.
Of course composers tried to challenge this curse.
When one composer wrote his tenth symphony, he
entitled it his zero symphony to try and throw off the
curse. Afterwards, someone went up to him and asked
him why he chose such a name. He told them about
the curse and said it was really his tenth. The next day,
he dropped dead.
Farewell Symphony
Joseph Haydn was begging the king to let his musicians
have a break to visit their families. The king told him
that there were many future parties for them to
entertain. So, Hayden replied with a symphony named
the “Farewell Symphony.”
When the completed symphony was performed and as
each movement progressed, a musician would pack up
and leave until the end when there were none left to play.
The embarrassed king only saw the musicians after their
vacation.
Farewell!
Credits
Sara Ziemendorf.<http://csumc.wisc.edu/exhibit/Music
Tour/MusicImages/MusicNotesBack.jpg>
Bill Hagen21. December 2001. <http://www.ieee.org/
organizations/pubs/newsletters/sscs/apr99/beethovn.jpg4>
Daniel Urgen.12 May 2001. <http://www.syberberg.de/Syberberg3/
August/Schleef/dies_irae/Mozart/dies-irae-mozart.jpg .>
George Heary. 30 April 1998. <http://www.uml.edu/Dept/History/
ArtHistory/compart/images/art/BeethovenSym3.gif>
“Quiet Moments.” Symphony No. 94. Rondo Al. Turka.
Berceuse. CD-ROM. Canada: Direct Source, 2002.
“An Appreciation Music.” The Little. Symphony No.
40. Symphony No. 5. CD-ROM. New York: Sony
Music Entertainment, 2000