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Quiz about Classical Composers Bizarre Deaths

Classical Composers' Bizarre Deaths Quiz

Bizarre but true deaths of the great composers.

A multiple-choice quiz by Frideswide. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
Frideswide

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
103,371

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
2005

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Henry Purcell's wife got so tired of him staying out late at night that one evening she instructed their servant to lock him out. The consequence was that: Hint

Purcell caught a cold and later died from it

Purcell was so angry he fought the servant and died

Purcell was attacked by thieves and was killed

Purcell was so distraught he killed himself

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Mahler was so worried he would die, like so many composers, whilst writing his ninth symphony, that he decided to call the work a 'song cycle' instead. Which of these was it? Hint

Songs of a Wayfarer

Das Lied von der Erde

Kindertotenlieder

Das Knaben Wunderhorn

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Question 3 of 10

3. How did Enrique Granados die in 1916? Hint

He died fighting in the First World War

He was on a ship that was torpedoed by a submarine

He died of pneumonia

He was bitten by a rabid dog

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Question 4 of 10

4. True or false, Lully died after stabbing himself in the foot with a conductor's baton?

True

False

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Question 5 of 10

5. Tchaikovsky committed suicide after a letter containing what piece of information was sent to the Tsar? Hint

He was a homosexual

He was an anti-Tsarist activist

He was having an affair with the Tsar's daughter

He had plagiarised his symphonies from other composers

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Question 6 of 10

6. Robert Schumann went mad towards the end of his life. How did he once try to commit suicide? Hint

Drinking poison

Throwing himself beneath a carriage

Jumping from a tall building

Jumping into the Rhine

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Question 7 of 10

7. In popular myth, which rival composer is thought to have killed Mozart? Hint

Sussmayr

Salieri

Eybler

Beethoven

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Question 8 of 10

8. How was the composer Alkan supposed to have died? Hint

By setting fire to himself whilst cooking

Of a bee sting

Reaching for a book and toppling a bookcase onto himself

Getting sucked away by the current whilst swimming

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Question 9 of 10

9. Chastelain de Coucy, a troubadour, died whilst on a pilgrimage to Palestine. He had his heart sent back to the woman he had had an affair with; what happened then? Hint

She had it pickled

Her husband cooked it and fed it to her

Her husband replaced it with a pig's heart

It was eaten by a fox during the journey

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Question 10 of 10

10. True or false: Anton von Webern died having been shot by a German soldier just after the end of World War II.

True

False

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Henry Purcell's wife got so tired of him staying out late at night that one evening she instructed their servant to lock him out. The consequence was that:

Answer: Purcell caught a cold and later died from it

Purcell lived from 1659 - 1695, and was the greatest English composer of the period.

2. Mahler was so worried he would die, like so many composers, whilst writing his ninth symphony, that he decided to call the work a 'song cycle' instead. Which of these was it?

Answer: Das Lied von der Erde

'Das Lied von der Erde' translates as 'The Song of the Earth'.

3. How did Enrique Granados die in 1916?

Answer: He was on a ship that was torpedoed by a submarine

Granados died returning from a trip to New York during the First World War.

4. True or false, Lully died after stabbing himself in the foot with a conductor's baton?

Answer: True

He stabbed himself in the foot with one of the heavy staffs used by conductors of the era, contracting a fatal case of gangrene.

5. Tchaikovsky committed suicide after a letter containing what piece of information was sent to the Tsar?

Answer: He was a homosexual

The revelation was so shameful that he decided to take his own life.

6. Robert Schumann went mad towards the end of his life. How did he once try to commit suicide?

Answer: Jumping into the Rhine

Schumann died in 1856, having earlier actually signed himself into a mental asylum.

7. In popular myth, which rival composer is thought to have killed Mozart?

Answer: Salieri

The notion that Salieri might have killed Mozart was spun out into a highly successful film, Peter Shaffer's 'Amadeus'.

8. How was the composer Alkan supposed to have died?

Answer: Reaching for a book and toppling a bookcase onto himself

This is something of a myth but Alkan is supposed to have been reaching for a copy of the Talmud when his bookcase crushed him. It appears he really died by having his umbrella stand fall on him, which is equally bizarre.

9. Chastelain de Coucy, a troubadour, died whilst on a pilgrimage to Palestine. He had his heart sent back to the woman he had had an affair with; what happened then?

Answer: Her husband cooked it and fed it to her

The woman died of shock and heartbreak soon afterwards.

10. True or false: Anton von Webern died having been shot by a German soldier just after the end of World War II.

Answer: False

Webern was shot by an American soldier, after breaking a curfew to leave his house and smoke.

Source: Author Frideswide

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