Interesting Facts about Composers Thread

[Jo498]

Too lazy to read the whole thread to se if it has been mentioned:

Bartok practiced the piano, and composed, in the nude (when at home, lol.)

Gulda performed several times publicly in the nude, probably except for his signature cap.

[Simula]

It has been rumored that the composer Arnold Schoenberg liked to eat pickled pig's feet while composing his scores.

[DaveF]

Gulda performed several times publicly in the nude, probably except for his signature cap.

Is this him?:



Oh, no, sorry - no cap.  Must be Bartók.

[Monsieur Croche]

Well - this isn't going to help then ...

Stravinsky narrowly missed writing the jingle for the launch of colour TV in Britain (on BBC 2).  Picasso was to do the animated logo, and had agreed on condition that his friend Stravinsky would write the music.  Sadly for TV history, Stravinsky died while the deal was still being struck.

The one almost was/ could've been Stravinsky work which never got composed was a harpsichord concerto commissioned / solicited by Wanda Landowska.  He had readily and enthusiastically agreed to write one, but his conducting schedule and other commission deadlines got in the way :-/

[The new erato]

So that's where Gershwin got the inspiration for "Funny Face"?

[Monsieur Croche]

It has been rumored that the composer Arnold Schoenberg liked to eat pickled pig's feet while composing his scores.

Whoa, that's far from Kosher!

[Monsieur Croche]

Gershwin and Schoenberg were tennis partners in LA.

https://www.youtube.com/v/16UmQ3tS82M

[Jo498]

Whoa, that's far from Kosher!

I doubt that Schoenberg ever ate kosher but he had converted to Lutheranism in 1898 and only re-converted? to Judaism in the 1930s (after the emigration), so one might safely assume that if he ate that stuff, he did so when he was a Lutheran.

As was probably mentioned already, Schoenberg was a decent painter and also designed a set of playing cards

http://www.schoenberg.at/index.php/de/onlineshop/product/68-arnold-schoenberg-playing-cards

[Christo]

Ralph Vaughan Williams was a grand nephew of none other than Charles Darwin on his mother's side !

Indeed the families often met and young Ralph sat on the knees of uncle Charles.

[vandermolen]

Shostakovich's last request in hospital was to be woken up to watch a football (soccer) match on TV.

[Monsieur Croche]

Gulda performed several times publicly in the nude, probably except for his signature cap.

I knew of this, but now that you mention that cap, I bet he did wear that, and whatever that pendant hanging on a chain thingy around his neck I've never seen him without, too. One could argue that with cap and one item of jewelry around his neck, he was not, technically, "nude." ;-)

Of course he was otherwise an astonishingly great musician, and the opposite of a flamboyant performer.

[Jo498]

Gulda was a colorful personality and sometimes also wore colorful garb but the one time I saw him perform (in 94 or 95) he was almost austere in appearance. Wearing that cap but in a dark color and some kind of "Nehru Jacket" or similar alternative but non-flamboyant suit.