Tchaikovsky
- Tchaikovsky wrote 'Pas de deux' as a bet. The famous piece from the Nutcracker was written with a main theme of a descending major scale. Tchaikovsky won the bet.
Wagner
- Wagner liked to wear pink silk underwear.
Brahms
- Brahms had a fear of sailing.
- Brahms was buried next to Beethoven and Schumann.
Antonio Salieri
- Salieri was Mozart's rival and also died on May 7 in 1825.
- Handel is believed to have written more notes than any other composer ever.
Handel
- Handel is believed to have written more notes than any other composer ever.
Mozart
- Mozart loved billiards and skittles. He was also a heavy drinker and loved toilet humor and bodily functions.
- Mozart was thought to have Tourette's syndrome due to his inappropriate words at times.
- Mozart learned how to speak 15 different languages in his lifetime.
- He wrote over 600 works, with 41 symphonies and 27 piano concertos.
- 'Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart' is an anagram for 'A Famous German Waltz God'.
- Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave.
Schumann
- Schumann attempted suicide and thereafter was sent to a mental institution.
Bach
- Bach had either 20 or 21 children.
- His mother and father died when he was 10 years old. He lived with his brother since.
- Beethoven learned music at the age of 4 and studied since.
- At the age of 16 he went to Vienna to meet Mozart where he had lessons from him.
- Beethoven lost his hearing at the age of 30.
- Beethoven's greatest symphonies were composed after his loss of hearing.
- Beethoven likes his coffee to be made with exactly 60 coffee beans.
- Beethoven's student and patron, Archduke Rudolph, had two major dedications and four canons.
- The European National Anthem is Beethoven's Ode to Joy and was adopted in 1972.
- Beethoven set aside Symphony No. 5 to work on the commissioned Symphony No. 4. Sym. No. 5 became one of Beethoven's most famous compositions.
