Think you know everything there is to know about music? Prepare to be blown away as we take a look at some of the most interesting, unbelievable facts about musicians and the music industry.
1. Classical music facts - piano tension....The tension of the 230-odd strings in a grand piano exert a combined force of 20 tonnes on the cast iron frame.
2. Schumann's fingers...Robert Schumann would often plunge his hands into the entrails of a slaughtered animal to heal his ailments.
3. Risotto...Rossini wrote the aria ‘Di tanti palpiti’ while waiting for some risotto in a Venice restaurant.
4.Violin...A single violin is made from over 70 individual pieces of wood.
5. Don Giovanni...According to his boasts, Don Giovanni seduced 1001 Spanish, 640 Italian, 231 German, 100 French, and 91 Turkish women.
6. Titanic...The London Symphony Orchestra was booked to travel on the Titanic's maiden voyage, but they changed boats at the last minute.
7. Leonard Warren...Baritone Leonard Warren died on stage at The Met in 1960 just as he had finished singing Verdi's 'Morir, Tremenda Cosi' ('To Die, a Momentous Thing').
8. Dogfish...Dogfish skin was often used in the 18th century to sand violins.
9. Nellie Melba...Soprano Dame Nellie Melba died from a skin infection after an unsuccessful facelift operation.
10. Yuri Gagarin...Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin sang a Shostakovich song, 'My Homeland Hears', over the radio on his first space mission.
11. Kidnap...Renaissance composer Orlando de Lassus was kidnapped many times as a boy because of his beautiful singing voice.
12. Expensive costume...The most expensive opera costume of all time was worn by Adelina Patti at Covent Garden in 1895. It was worth £15 million.
13. Chicken on cellist...During a performance of Boris Godunov at Sydney Opera House, a chicken fell off the stage and onto a cellist.
Weird Music History
Purple Rain
While shooting the movie purple rain the director Albert Magnoli needed one more song to provide the soundtrack for a mid-movie montage that touched on the themes of the film, so he asked Prince if he could write an additional song as all the other songs for the film had already been written. The next morning Prince came to the director with 2 fully written and produced songs for him to chose from. One of those songs was when doves cry.
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