1. Who wrote “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”
It seems that the answer is obvious – the 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. But not everyone agrees with this statement. Music researchers doubt started to express at the end of the 20th century. Questions arose due to elements in the Toccata that were completely atypical for Bach. For example, there are parallel octaves, pedal fugue and, most importantly, the note C♯ (C-sharp), which at the time of the composer was rarely found on organ keyboards. Moreover, musicologists say that the melody sounds too modern for Bach, and suggest that it was written for another instrument – the violin.
The opposing camp claims that the Toccata is quite similar to the work of the young Bach, and the inconsistencies can be explained. For example, a composer might use parallel octaves to adapt to the characteristics of the organ model for which he was writing.
Disputes on this topic do not subside even now. For example, she is regularly lift on Talk Classical, an English-language forum dedicated to classical music. In the thread, users shared their opinion that they considered the author of “Toccata” to be the British conductor Leopold Stokowski. There are even crazier versions. For example, the authors included actor James Mason, who played Captain Nemo in the film “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” and an unknown person named Jovan Zebastian Wach.
In the 2000s “Toccata” studied even with the help of machine analysis. The conclusion there is also ambiguous: the work really stands out in Bach’s work, however, it is difficult to suggest a more likely author for the composition.
![Who wrote Toccata and Fugue in D Minor? Who wrote Toccata and Fugue in D Minor?](https://cdn.lifehacker.ru/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Kto-napisal-Tokkata-i-fuga-re-minor_1710249393-630x315.jpg)
2. Is Salieri to blame for Mozart’s death?
On November 20, 1791, the Austrian composer came down with a fever. His joints hurt badly, his arms and legs were swollen. 15 days later, Mozart died at the age of 35. Such a strange and sudden death immediately aroused suspicion in society and gave rise to many rumors. There were many versions, but there are a few that are particularly noteworthy.
The first is murder for love. There were rumors that Mozart had an affair with his student Maria Magdalena Hofdemel. Her husband Franz found out about this and decided take revenge. First, he found the composer and either poisoned or beat him. A day later, he slashed his pregnant wife with a razor and then killed himself. Maria survived and even gave birth to a son, whom some considered Mozart’s heir.
The second version is the elimination of a competitor. And she is perhaps the most famous. According to her, poison to Mozart sprinkled another Austrian composer, Salieri. The theory gained popularity in the 1820s. Salieri by that time had developed a mental disorder and was admitted to the hospital. He allegedly admitted his guilt himself, for example, he reported this to Beethoven in 1823. But this version does not pass the test of facts: Mozart and Salieri last saw each other in the summer of 1791, six months before the death of the former. There is no poison with such a delayed effect.
Nevertheless, the version of the dramatic confrontation between two musicians became so popular that it went far beyond the borders of Austria and became part of popular culture. For example, Pushkin took this theory as the basis for his play “Mozart and Salieri”. The debate went on for a long time, and in 1997 at the Milan Conservatory even passed historical trial. The result is that Salieri is innocent.
Natural causes are now considered the most plausible, albeit seemingly boring, version. Mozart never had a strong immune system; he suffered from smallpox, jaundice, pharyngitis, typhus, stomach disorders and quite a lot of other things. At the same time, he worked a lot and traveled often – all this also put a serious strain on the body. According to another theory, Mozart had an undiagnosed traumatic brain injury: when studying the composer’s skull in the 1990s found crack. He could have been injured during a fall, especially since in the last years of his life Mozart complained of headaches and dizziness.
3. Who is the author of the most mysterious song on the Internet?
Video “The most mysterious song on the Internet“(The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet) has over 7.3 million plays on YouTube. The title of the video is not the creative work of some alternative group and is not a hoax. Nobody really knows the authors of the track.
The history of this riddle started in 1984. Then a German teenager named Darius listened to the radio and recorded the songs he liked onto a cassette using a tape recorder. Among the easily identifiable tracks from bands like The Cure and XTC, there were also recordings by little-known authors. In 1985, Darius compiled a playlist of recordings that he could not identify, and when the opportunity arose, he digitized them. In 2007, the guy’s sister Lydia began posting excerpts of unidentified songs on forums. Other people also could not identify the authors of one of the new wave songs. Based on the first lines of the verse and chorus, the track began to be called “Like the Wind”, “Blind the Wind”, “Check It in, Check It Out”, “Take It in, Take It Out”. But that’s all.
A new chapter of history began in 2019. Then the song was posted on YouTube, but not by Darius or Lydia, but by the Brazilian Gabriel da Silva Vieira, who was captured by the mystery of the mysterious new wave. After some bloggers made a video about the history of the track, a discussion was created on Reddit. Enthusiasts even contacted the DJ of the Musik Für Junge Leute program on radio station NDR 1, which apparently played this song. They even received a tracklist, which didn’t help at all – “Like the Wind” wasn’t on it. As a result, despite all the efforts of the Internet community, the authors of the most mysterious track still remain unidentified. In addition, during the investigation, other songs without authorship were found; a term was coined for them on the Internet – Lostwave.
4. Did Tchaikovsky really predict his death?
The story of Tchaikovsky’s death is reminiscent of the situation with Mozart. The Russian composer died on November 6, 1893. And quite quickly: on November 1 he was healthy and full of strength. Versions of Tchaikovsky’s death also some: a reckless sip of raw water in the midst of a cholera epidemic, suicide, forced suicide, poisoning and, finally, a combination of factors. The composer was diagnosed with stomach problems, but he did not deny himself alcohol.
Whatever the real reason, there is a theory that Tchaikovsky felt death approaching. Just a few months before his death, he wrote Symphony No. 6, also known as the Pathetique Symphony. The premiere took place in October 1893. The theme of the work at the start was planned for the whole life – from birth to death, but in the end it was narrowed only to the final stage in a person’s journey. Whether the composer wanted to convey his premonition of his imminent death in this way is not known. Musicologists offer other interpretations of the meaning of “Pathetique,” for example, mourning for romanticism or even a prediction of the tragedies of the 20th century.
![Did Tchaikovsky really predict his death? Did Tchaikovsky really predict his death?](https://cdn.lifehacker.ru/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Kto-avtor-samoj-zagadochnoj-pesni-v-internete_1710249453-630x315.jpg)
5. Why Jean Sibelius burned Symphony No. 8
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Now one of the music editors for PCs, a music museum in Turku and an academy in Helsinki bear his name. An international competition for musicians under 30 is also named in his honor. It is held every 5 years, the next one will take place only in 2028. But right now young composers can make a name for themselves at the competition “Score” It is aimed at participants under 35 years of age.
Finland also has a national holiday – Jean Sibelius Day, also known as Music Day: it is celebrated on December 8, the composer’s birthday.
The musician was popular during his lifetime: concerts from his works were played in the UK and the USA. It was believed that the American conductor Sergei Koussevitzky handled the interpretation of the compositions best. In 1930, Sibelius promised him the right to premiere his then-unwritten Symphony No. 8. And this is where the fun begins. The composer planned to present the work at the beginning of 1931. Then the deadline was extended by another six months. Alas, by this time Sibelius did not have time to finish the work. The symphony was then awaited not only by Koussevitzky, but also by Basil Cameron, conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Society of Great Britain. Sibelius promised the latter the right to premiere in Europe. The dates were later postponed to the autumn of 1932, summer of 1933, and as a result the symphony never happened.
It is believed that the composer completed it around 1938. In 1947, Finnish conductor Nils-Erik Fugstedt saw it when he visited Sibelius’s house. However, no one heard the work: the composer burned the finished notes and all the sketches – some in the mid-1940s, the rest at the end of the decade. Why? It is not known exactly. The main version is that the work on the symphony, or rather the high expectations from it on the part of other representatives of the world of music, simply squeezed all the juice out of the author and seriously damaged his mental health.
The destruction of Symphony No. 8 became known after Sibelius’ death. However, during the cataloging of the composer’s legacy, it was still possible to find several miraculously surviving drafts, and in 2011 they were played at the Helsinki Philharmonic.