Crazy Composer Stories Part 2

                                                        Robert Schumann
Robert suffered visions later in life, so much so that he was worried he would hurt his wife, Clara. He once imagined that a ghost dictated a "spirit theme" to him, and he used this theme in several of his works. He attempted suicide and was taken to an insane asylum, where he remained until his death in 1856. Modern speculation on the cause of his insanity and death include mercury poisoning, syphilis, and/or a tumour. (Or perhaps Liszt?)

                                                         Frederic Chopin
The Victorians had a preoccupation with being buried alive, and to combat this they invented a range of safegaurds : ropes that would ring a bell, breathing tubes, flags that could be raised. None of this was good enough for Chopin, who came up with a better solution: remove his heart so he couldn’t regain consciousness. He requested that his heart (which was preserved in what is believed to be cognac) be taken to Poland, while his body was buried in France. In 2008, there was controversy when medical experts wanted to test his heart to see if he died from cystic fibrosis, rather than the widely accepted diagnosis of tuberculosis. Ultimately, the heart remained where it was.

                                                     Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky was gay, or as he reportedly put it, afflicted with "curse buggermania"." But that didn't stop crazed fan Antonina Milyukova from confessing her love for him and saying if she couldn’t have him, she would kill herself. Instead of running in the other direction, and despite the fact that he was repulsed by Milyukova, the two were married. Not long later Tchaikovsky attempted suicide and then fled to live with his brother. When Antonina was told that Tchaikovsky wouldn't be returning, for some reason she didn't care anyway. Whatever.

                                                             Hans Rott
The name "Hans Rott" is not very well-known these days, even in classical circles, but back in his prime he was seen as a very promising musician. He had a bromance with fellow student Gustav Mahler, who said that "His innermost nature is so much akin to mine that he and I are like two fruits of the same tree." Unfortunately, Rott snapped when he played the first movement of his symphony for Brahms, who brutally rejected it. Rott later claimed that Brahms had filled a train with dynamite and he was taken to an asylum, where he died in 1884. Brahms was supposedly also pretty rude to Austrian composer Hugo Wolf and Mahler, which is not something you’d expect from a guy best-known for writing a lullaby.

                                                       Alexander Scriabin
Russian composer Alexander Scriabin once wrote "I am God" in his diary and believed that his apocalyptic piece,Mysterium, would bring about the end of the world and usher in a new age. Mysterium was supposed to be a sort of festival, engaging all the senses, and taking place in the Himalayas. There would be bells and perfumes, and ultimately, humanity would enter a new plane of existence where even gender would be abolished. Scriabin decided that this might be too much to throw at humanity without warning, so he created the "Prefatory Act," which was basically a less grand version of Mysterium. Unfortunately, Scriabin died

 

                                                           Glenn Gould
Canadian pianist Glenn Gould had a treasure trove of eccentricities. In his studio recordings, he would hum tunelessly along with the pieces he played, driving his recording engineers crazy. His mumblings can still be heard in the background of his recordings. He drove erratically and even went to court for it, later saying, "It’s true that I've driven through a number of red lights on occasion, but on the other hand, I've stopped at a lot of green ones but never gotten credit for it." As well, Gould used to sing to cows and about that, said, "Certainly, I've never encountered so attentive an audience before." Much like Beethoven, he was apparently once arrested after being mistaken for a vagrant while dressed in winter clothing in Florida. Some now argue that his immense talent and immense oddness may point to Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism.

Do you understand these crazy humans ...They certainly are not the cat's 'meow.' HeHe