Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. This Italian composer was born on the 29th February. He had his first major success at the age of 21 with "Tancredi" and, 38 operas later, at the age of 37, virtually gave up his professional career. He had immense faith in his talent, saying "Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music."
2. This German composer wrote all his own texts in red, green, and black ink as he worked at his desk, wearing one of his two dozen silk and fur dressing-gowns. His work did not always find instant acclaim. Mark Twain joked that his "music is better than it sounds." Having started the famous theatre at Bayreuth, his body was returned there when he died and buried in the garden of his house.
3. At the age of 22 this Russian gave up studying law to take up music, becoming widely acclaimed as both a composer and conductor. Mentally unstable, he would conduct with his right hand whilst holding his chin with his left, so as to ensure that his head didn't roll off his shoulders! He was appointed an Honorary Doctor of Music at Cambridge University in 1893.
4. A child prodigy, this Polish composer was an accomplished pianist, giving his first public performance at the age of eight, and was still at school when his first work was published. He was of frail disposition, suffering from tuberculosis and rheumatism, and would take sugar lumps laced with opium, prompting Berlioz to observe "He was dying all his life."
5. Although Italian, this composer spoke and wrote in French. Following a dream of his mother's in which she was told by an angel that her son would become a famous violinist, his father taught him the mandolin at the age of five and the violin at seven. A year later he wrote his first sonata. He became as well known for his affairs as his music, and spent a week in prison following the rape and abduction of a pregnant prostitute.
6. This German composer turned down an honorary doctorate from England's Cambridge University, accepting one from Breslau University a year later, composing "The Academic Festival Overture" in recognition of the honour.
7. This multi-talented German composer was taught to play the piano at the age of seven in Paris by a Madame Bigot, and subsequently played for Queen Victoria, whose verdict was that he was "a wonderful genius .. so pleasing and amiable." He is probably most widely known for his "Wedding March" from the "Midsummer Night's Dream" overture.
8. Another child prodigy, this Hungarian composer and pianist was very religious, becoming a Franciscan Abbé in later life. Having eloped in his early twenties with the author 'Daniel Stern', he had three children, one of whom married Richard Wagner.
9. This Austrian had more than 600 compositions to his name, penning his first minuet at the age of six, and his first opera at 11. He worked very fast, mainly at night, and was often commissioned by royal or noble patrons. His last great (unfinished) work, the "Requiem Mass", sparked some controversy as to who actually paid for it; some suggested it may have been a jealous rival wishing to pass if off as his own.
10. Due to an accident to his right hand whilst using a finger-strengthening machine, this German was forced to concentrate on composing rather than playing. He took much of his inspiration from literature, one of his first songs was the "Fool's Song" in 'Twelfth Night'. However, following his marriage to Clara he turned more to orchestral composition.
Source: Author
fringe
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