10 Classical Composers Who Lived Like a Rock Star

Long before teenage girls screamed at Elvis or fainted at The Beatles, there was Franz Liszt. The Hungarian pianist toured Europe in the 1840s. He caused a phenomenon so unprecedented that poet Heinrich Heine coined the term Lisztomania for it. Women fainted in the aisles, tore his clothes off and collected his discarded gloves and broken piano strings as relics. Several essays appeared that attempted to explain what was going on. Some wondered aloud whether it was a contagious disease in the concert halls. Liszt played the game cleverly. He threw his h

The genius child prodigy who was already giving concerts at the age of five had a remarkable characteristic: he was fascinated by feces. Mozart's letters to family and friends are full of scatological humor. In a letter to his niece he wrote rhymes about buttocks and poop that give the average reader red cheeks. The entire Mozart family took part, including his mother. Scientists later tried to explain this behavior with psychiatric diagnoses such as Tourette's syndrome, but many modern researchers view it skeptically. The most likely explanation is that this kind of vulgar humor was common in the eighteenth century

Beethoven's outbursts of anger were so infamous that they were discussed throughout Vienna. He regularly threw objects at his servants, threw meals at waiters who did not help him quickly enough, and swept candles from the piano when a performance displeased him. Friends, students and landlords; no one was safe from his explosive temperament. Contemporaries wrote in letters that Beethoven had become insufferable and some wondered whether he was losing his mind. The composer constantly changed homes because landlords would rather see him go than come. His work environment often resembled a battlefield, with mountains of paper fresh

The Italian violinist Paganini was so phenomenal that onlookers believed he had sold his soul to the devil. At a concert in Vienna, someone even claimed to have seen the devil next to him. Absurd folk tales arose that he murdered women and used their intestines as violin strings, and that you could hear their souls sounding as he played. Paganini did little to debunk these rumors. With his emaciated face, pale skin and long black hair, he cultivated his mysterious appearance. However, behind the facade was a destructive life. He was an avid gambler who once had to quit his violin

Wagner was the archetype of the egomaniac genius. The composer saw himself as a prophet whose art would redeem humanity, and he expected absolute subjugation from those around him. His followers called him master and treated him as a deity. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, initially an admirer, would later deal harshly with him in his writings. Wagner's personal life was a series of scandals. He began a relationship with Cosima, the wife of his conductor Hans von Bülow, while that conductor was still performing Wagner's music. Cosima bore Wagner three children before officially divorcing ha

In 1590, the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo caught his wife Maria d'Avalos in bed with her lover. What followed was a brutal settlement. Gesualdo and several accomplices killed the adulterous couple in an extremely violent manner. Remarkably, he was never prosecuted. Such honor killings were more or less accepted under the nobility laws in that region at the time, and his influential family connections also helped. He later remarried, but his second wife soon accused him of abuse. Gesualdo fell into severe depression and, according to historical sources, sought relief in extreme sadomasochistic practice

In 1827, the young Berlioz saw the Irish actress Harriet Smithson perform in Paris. He was instantly obsessed. He bombarded her with French love letters, a language she did not speak, and rented an apartment opposite her home to observe her. Smithson initially ignored him completely. Berlioz incorporated his obsession into the Symphonie Fantastique, a musical story about an artist who overdoses on opium because of unrequited love. The musical theme of the beloved returns throughout the piece, transforming into a terrifying witch melody in the finale. The story took a remarkable turn

Schubert lived the classic bohemian life: often broke, creative and surrounded by a close group of friends. He had no permanent job or royal appointment and published relatively little during his lifetime. Yet he composed more than a thousand works in his short existence. He survived largely due to the generosity of friends who paid for his meals and lodging. His friends organized the so-called Schubertiades; living room gatherings where his music took center stage. Schubert also regularly sought out nightlife. Around 1822 he contracted syphilis, a disease that would seriously affect his health for the rest of his life

In 1704, nineteen-year-old Handel fought a duel with fellow composer Johann Mattheson. The reason was a banal argument about who could sit behind the harpsichord during an opera performance. Mattheson sang a role that evening and expected to take over again afterwards, but Handel refused to make way. The conflict moved from the stage to the street, watched by a cheering audience. Swords were drawn. Mattheson lunged at Handel's chest, but legend has it that the sword struck a large metal button on Handel's coat and broke. The shock immediately brought both men to their senses; she made up

Tchaikovsky's personal life was marked by secrecy. He was homosexual at a time when it was a criminal offense in Russia. To defuse rumors, in 1877 he decided to marry Antonina Miljukova, a former music student who sent him letters obsessively. The marriage turned out to be a complete fiasco. Tchaikovsky soon suffered a nervous breakdown due to the situation and fled abroad after a few weeks. Popular biographies report that he attempted suicide at the time by stepping into an icy river, although this has not been conclusively proven historically. He never saw his wife again, but beta