Beethoven and the candlesitcks

Beethoven once gave a performance of a new piano concerto in which he forgot he was the soloist and began to conduct instead.  At the first sforzando he threw out his arms so vehemently that he knocked both candlesticks off the piano.  The audience burst out laughing, which enraged Beethoven.  He made the orchestra start all over again.  To avoid a repetition of the accident, two boys from the chorus were recruited to stand holding the lights on either side of Beethoven.  Unfortunately, when it came to the sforzando, Beethoven again flung out his arms.  One of the boys, keeping a wary eye on the maestro, had seen what was  coming and managed to duck.  The other boy was not so lucky, and received Beethoven’s hand full in the mouth, which made him stagger and drop the candlestick.  The audiences laughter now so enraged Beethoven that he hit the keyboard with his fist and broke half a dozen piano strings!

Cited in Kelly, Henry & Foley John (1998) Classic FM Musical Anecdotes.  London: Hodder & Stoughton, p.200.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

,

Featured Content

Silence, slowness, clarity, reinvigorate
“No matter if you’re an artist, a desk jockey, or anything in between – give yourself permission to include regular (dare I say daily?) reinvigoration in your work ethic. Silence. Slowness. Clarity. The machine doesn’t work so well without them.” Kim Pensinger, from Living and Singing on Interest in the WTO Blog
Szymanowski on Ravel
The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski wrote of the French composer Maurice Ravel in 1925: Whether he writes a “Rapsodie espagnole”, “Mélodies grecques”, or the almost Viennese “La Valse”, he always remains one of the foremost fascinating representatives of the genius of his race.  He assembles all the fundamental elements of that most beautiful culture in […]
Lullaby
Title: Lullaby Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 recording     Related products:     – Lullaby (PDF score) SAMPLE:
I am Beethoven
An account of Beethoven being lost in his creative world: Thayer tells us of a conversation he had with a Professor Blasius Höfel, a teacher of fine arts at Weiner Neustadt, a little town near Vienna.  one evening, Höfel was in a tavern with some of his colleagues, the Commissioner of Police being a member […]
Rossini’s salad recipe
“Take the oil from Provence, English mustard, vinegar from France, a little ‘lemon, pepper, salt, beat and mix together; then add a few truffles, cut into thin slices. Truffles gives this dressing a sort of halo, made especially to fascinate a glutton. The Cardinal Secretary of State, who I met in recent days, gave me […]
Schumann on Chopin’s style
Chopin can hardly write anything now but that we feel like calling out in the seventh or eighth measure, “It is by him!” – Robert Schumann, 1838 P. Kildea, Chopin’s Piano, London, Allen Lane, 2018, p. 43.
The best of every man
“I have believed the best of every man. And find that to believe is enough to make a bad man show him at his best, or even a good man swings his lantern higher.” – William Yeats, Deirdre
Debussy on Metronome markings
You know what I think about metronome marks: they’re right for a single bar, like “roses, with a morning life”. Only there are “those” who don’t hear music and who take these marks as authority to hear it still less! But do what you please. — Debussy, Letter to Jacques Durand of 9 October 1915 […]
The soul and speech
“There is no real teacher who in practice does not believe in the existence of the soul, or in a magic that acts on it through speech.” Allan Bloom (1987) The closing of the American mind: How higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students.  New York: Simon Simon and Schuster, […]
Relationship with the muse
I need time to be idle in order to experience and romance my muse, Music, my lifelong partner. In some ways, when I think about the enforced thirty minute practice sessions and much-resented violin lessons during Friday recess which introduced us during my early childhood, our story feels a bit like the plot of a […]