Curated playlist
Oratorio composers
- Ludwig van BeethovenBeethoven was deaf when a singer turned him around to see applause. It happened at the premiere on the 7th of May 1824.
- Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway in 2023 after 13,981 performances.
- Johann Sebastian BachFor decades after he died, Bach was remembered as an organist, not a composer.
- Robert SchumannComposer Robert Schumann fought his own piano teacher in court for the right to marry the teacher's daughter.
- Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney traded a trumpet for a guitar and wrote his first song on it. His father had given him the trumpet.
- Edward ElgarA 1901 London concert crowd demanded a double encore for Elgar's first Pomp and Circumstance march.
- Felix MendelssohnAt 20, Felix Mendelssohn conducted Bach's St Matthew Passion in Berlin.
- George Frideric HandelA large coat button once saved George Frideric Handel from a sword. A friend lunged at him in 1704 during a quarrel.
- Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers Stanford could not persuade Cambridge's music society to admit women, so he started a rival choir.
- Joseph HaydnJoseph Haydn's skull was stolen after his burial and not reunited with his body until 1954.
- Josef MyslivečekComposer Josef Mysliveček lost his nose to a surgeon's mistake. Mozart wept when he met him in a Munich hospital.
- Johann Christian BachIn 1764, eight-year-old Mozart spent five months in London learning from Johann Christian Bach.