#ClassicalFactsWithoutWiki

Several major sites on the Internet went dark yesterday to protest SOPA. In addition to raising awareness about the issue, the darkening of Wikipedia also sparked an amusing -- if tightly focused -- hashtag subject on Twitter. Without Wikipedia to check facts, what misinformation might be spread about classical music? And so tweets with the hashtag #ClassicalFactsWithoutWiki flew fast and furious yesterday.

The tweets seem to have started from KUSC, with at least three announcers participating early on. But it soon spread, as you can see from the entries below. The first grouping are all the tweets (except mine) and the second grouping is just my own contributions.


I admit that for the average person, these won't seem like much. But if you're into classical music -- enjoy!

#ClassicalFactsWithoutWiki
(all of these tweets are in reverse chronological order)

dtwayfarer
After meeting Freud, Mahler replaced the Mater Gloriosa of his 8th Symphony with the better known Alma Mater.

Tim Senior
Tchaikovsky wrote his 1812 overture in the form of a cannon.

hayasa tanaka
Boccherini is the cheese, Bocconcini is the composer.

hayasa tanaka
Johann and Richard Strauss are related.

David Das
Ravel's Bolero actually an orchestration of Mussorgsky's 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

David Das Barber's
Essays for orchestra all written during after-school detention.

David Das
Copland found it devastatingly hard to get Lincoln to sit still for his portrait.

George Wallace
Arvo Pärt's brother Arlo wrote a 'Cantus in Memoriam Ristorante Alyesha'. Also more often than not got the girl.

Tim Senior
Post-minimalism was invented when Steve Reich's fax machine broke down.

Tim Senior
Johann Strauss couldn't count up to 4.

Brian Lauritzen
After lighting the fuse, most cellists choose to stand in front of Pachelbel's Canon.

George Wallace
Will Rogers loved opera, and the first draft of his catchphrase was: "I never mezzo soprano I didn't like."

Rich Ching
Filet du Regiment was a failed opera about a steak in the military.

George Wallace
The 12 tone system developed because Schoenberg had an extra, vestigial digit on each hand.

Rich Ching
The Ring Cycle has a happy ending.

Jennifer Grim
Pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck also wrote the opera, Hansel and Gretel!

Rich Ching
Don Giovanni was a character from The Godfather.

Rich Ching
Boheme was modeled after RENT.

Rich Ching
Puccini, Verdi, and Donizetti are kinds of pasta.

Rich Ching
Werther was named after the candy.

matthewlrigdon
Beethoven planned a 10th symphony, a prequel that would have been based on Schiller's "Ode to Smug Satisfaction"

Tim Senior
80% of Phillip Glass works have a missing repeat mark.Trombones can only be played by pathologists.

George Wallace A loophole in Viennese law allowed Pachelbel to purchase his famous Canon at a gun show w/out a background check.

Kevin Zhang
Boston's Greenhouse Apartments houses 80% of all resident botanists at the neighboring New England Conservatory

Gail Eichenthal
Mahler WOULD have finished his 10th Symph. but his cellphone rang.

Brian Lauritzen
John Cage wrote a completion for Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, but I bet you haven't heard it.

caroline davies
While touring Italy on a Vespa, Vaughn Williams wrote ' The Wasps'.

George Chambers
All of Finnissy's trademark piano pieces are written by drunkenly throwing himself onto the keyboard.

radiogirlok
Debussy's "Music is the silence between notes," intellectual property stolen by John Cage. Ah, 1942 clarified.

Brian Lauritzen
The score for John Cage's 4'33" is marked fortissimo.

weetles
Beethoven thought he'd get a small role in "Saturday Night Fever" so he let them rock a Fifth

Brian Lauritzen
Janitors at Disney Hall are only allowed to clean with magic brooms.

Brian Lauritzen
Orig sketches for Disney Hall included teacups for seats and "It's a Small World" playing on loop in the lobby.

Classical KUSC He was caught plagiarizing Bach works & decided to take the sting away by legally changing his name to Offenbach.

radiogirlok
Johann Helmich Roman laid the foundation of modern musical life in Sweden, creating ABBA. Drottningholmsmusiken

Chris Cresswell
John Cage wrote 4'33" late one night, after completely forgetting he had a commission due the next morning.

Betsy Kardos
"Amadeus" is a musical in which Mozart sues the British rock band Queen for plagiarism.

Betsy Kardos Mussorgsky wrote "Night on Bald Mountain" after a "Hangover"-type experience at a Hair Club for Men convention.

EddieLouise
As well as being a gifted violinist, the young Mozart was a tumbler in a circus act.

Rebecca Cweibel
The trombone was originally made from a bone found only in invisible cartoon elementary school teachers.

Classical KUSC
Leonard Bernstein ranks 3rd in appearances on The Match Game after Charles Nelson Reilly & Richard Dawson.

Rebecca Cweibel
It's called an "organ" because it requires donation of a bodily one to stay in tune and play in time

Isaac Schankler
Chuck Berry wrote "Johnny B. Goode" as a tribute to John Cage, which is why the song is 4 min. and 33 sec. long

tenor of illusions
Beethoven did not write any music for the guitar.

Chip Michael
Andrew Lloyd Webern, after establishing the second Viennese School, established the school for classical cats

Miss Music Nerd
The riot at the premiere of Le Sacre was actually sparked by a patron in the front row accepting a telegram

Alex Sramek
Clara Schumann was known to take out mafia contracts on unruly audience members.

LosAngelesElectric8
Cage's working title for 4'33" was "0.075833333333333333 hours."

Jay Harvey
When Sergei Prokofiev was a starving student, he wrote an opera called "The Love for Two Oranges"

ClassicalMPR
Vivaldi's lesser-known fifth season: Road Construction--Largo, non con moto.

Ronni Reich
Madame Butterfly is the sequel to Puccini's little-known early opera "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Noel Garwood
Queenies and Phil the Greeks jubilee barge used to belong to Rosie and Jim.

Classical KUSC
The 'Period Instrument' movement had its roots in Middle School, when there was limited availability to play.

Brian Lauritzen
Interestingly, Rudolph Kempe also had a very shiny nose.

ClassicalMPR
Composer Johann Heinichen changed the spelling of his name after inventing - and drinking too much - lager.

Classical KUSC
As of this date, no one has asked composer John Adams if he is related to the US President of the same name.

Gail Eichenthal
Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade was inspired by a fetching Whirling Dervish, the toast of Vienna in the 1820's

David Weininger
In honor of Bruckner's slow, winding symphonies, New York named a perpetually clogged expressway after him.

opus111
Mahleria is a fatal disease that sets in within two hours of listening to the Symphony of a Thousand.

Kelsey Walsh
A Cappella: just a couple-a people singing.

Brian Lauritzen
Olivier Messiaen wrote the music for Nintendo's Duck Hunt.

Alyssa Brode
puccini wrote the role of lauretta, originally a 10 year old girl, for jackie evancho.

Kelsey Walsh
Carlo Gesualdo was an Italian criminal hiding in a conservatory, masquerading as a composer of the avant guarde.

Matthew Guerrieri
Maurice Ravel once killed a man just to watch him die. The man was was Vincent D'Indy.

Alyssa Brode
schumann went insane from hearing lmfao's "party rock anthem" over and over in his head.

Classical KUSC
Mendelssohn named the Ge-Wand-Haus Orchestra because of his love for Olivander in the Harry Potter series.


Matthew Guerrieri
Lauritz Melchior was the inspiration for the popular cartoon character "Garfield."

Chip Michael
Gustav "Mahler" was originally a WWF wrestler before he began conducting

Carly Rose Gillis
Actually, Richard Wagner invented the internet.

opus111
Haydn Sikh was a popular game among Viennese children in the Classical era.

opus111
Howlin' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart grew up in the Mississippi Delta before moving to Detroit in 1948.

Eric Gewirtz
Like the Giants and Jets, the New York Philharmonic plays in New Jersey

Michael Hamad Wow: Claude Debussy was French Canadian??

Blue Derkin
Beethoven spent an afternoon in jail in San Dimas but got out in time to help Bill & Ted pass the history report

Geoffrey Burleson
Strauss' "Metamorphosen", based on Kafka's short story, was originally titled "Song of Samsa the Cockroach."

Classical KUSC
R.Schumann went crazy when Clara & Brahms would not let him join their reindeer games.

Brian Lauritzen Actually, Gershwin prefers to fly Delta.

klangfarben
The Guidonian Hand is to earthly music notation as the Greedonian Foot is to intergalactic thug semiotics

Geoffrey Burleson
If Schoenberg hadn't been a 12-toed mutant, he would have instead devised the 10-tone system.

Brian Lauritzen
Delius hated orange juice. Abe Christian Josquin Des Prez wrote the first polyphonic setting of the Mass Ordinary.

klangfarben
Arnold Schoenberg developed the 12 tone system 'cause it just makes sense when you have 12 toes.

Abe Christian
Astor Piazzolla: composer/performer wrote a tango based opera! Maria de Buenos Aires! Also a bandoneón virtuoso

Classical KUSC
Die Fledermaus is Strauss Jr's opera about an extreme sports loving Rodent.

Jackie P Verdi's
La Traviata: A three hour vocal lesson on how to sing through your end stage tuberculosis.

Brett Baldwin
Young Beethoven traveled forward in time to play the role of Jake on Two and a Half Men.

Abe Christian
Carmina Burana: Carl Orff. A collection of Medieval poems and songs set to a glorious homophonic orchestra.

Classical WQED-FM Bach sold used cars on the side.

USC Ice Hockey
#Beethoven was a #StBernard famed for his musical acuity and ability.

USC Ice Hockey
Rachmaninoff turned to music after retiring from the #KHL due to a career-ending lower-body injury.

Elise VDB
Schubert didn't finish his 8th Symphony because he had to save some material for the sequel

Smelsey McDonalds Bach's working title was "Gloria in-a Smelsey's Deo"

Gail Eichenthal
Fur Elise was Beethoven's touching homage to his favorite female teddy bear

Mirto Picchi
Messa di voce is when a singer really makes a messa things.

Elise VDB
Beethoven wrote Für Elise just for me

Classical KUSC
Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata was intended only to be played on the Piano of a Carpenter.

David Das
First draft of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini actually based on Heart and Soul.

Classical KUSC
A Contralto argues with all the other Altos over who's flat. // Zing!

David Das
Mr. Holland's Opus ghostwritten by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Elise VDB
La différence entre un violon et un alto: un demi-ton

David Das
John Cage's 4:33 written during a 4:33 smoke break from real composing

David Das
Original working title for West Side Story? Romeo and Juliet: Reloaded.

Classical KUSC
Copland's love for the suspension from a defunct W.V. Ford Motor Co. factory resulted in Appalachian Spring.

Elise VDB
Tuba players only need to know how to make two notes to play Carmen's overture

Elise VDB
Beethoven was so deaf he lived his whole life believing he was a paintor

Classical KUSC
Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah was about the casting of his favorite Hobbit in #LotR.

Brian Lauritzen
Ben Jonson wrote most of Verdi's operas.

Elise VDB
Catalani's "Ebben ne andro lontano" is his only good aria because he had Puccini's helping hand for it.

Geoffrey Burleson
Messiaen knew 158 different Elk calls, which he used as motivic material in his music.

Brian Lauritzen
Most professional violinists are just failed violists.

Brian Lauritzen
Ferde Grofé never visited the Grand Canyon.

Rodrigo Ruiz
The triangle (percussion) is shaped like 1 because the manufacturers figured it used less materials than a square

Robert Vijay Gupta
Brahms sent his C minor pno 4tet to publisher w picture of a man holding a pistol to his head.

Classical KUSC
Chausson died while training for the Tour De France.

Ben Horrigan
Beethoven completed nine symphonies; more than the rest of his litter put together.

Kris Rudin
The Ring Cycle was Wagner's attempt at retelling The Lord of the Rings

Grant
Beethoven's 'Erotica' symphony was originally commissioned as a filmscore for an early adult film

Geoffrey Burleson
Haydn, the "father of the symphony", wrote 104 of them, one for each of his children.

Nick Norton
Mozart had great financial success, with a never ending stream of patrons.

Brian Lauritzen
The Ring Cycle is mostly about Wagner working out his commitment issues.

Nick Norton
Adorno, as it turns out, was a master of Iyengar yoga

Out West Arts
Delibes at first rejected BA's commission for an ad jingle. He later relented when offered free upgrades for life

Nick Norton
Mozart also abstained from alcohol and sex for his whole life

Kelsey Walsh
Mozart loved the trumpet, said it was the most softly beautiful thing he'd ever heard

Doug P
Beethoven moonlighted as a stand-up comedian under the stage name Ludwig Van Beetroot......

Doug P
The Last Night of the Proms is free on a first come first served basis.

Classical KUSC
A Little Night Music was a tone poem fantasy based on Sondheim's musical of the same name.

Wimblebear
There's a bit in The Lark Ascending that Vaughan Williams based on the old folk tune "The Referee's a ******"

Doug P
The triangle player is the highest paid in an orchestra.......

Geoffrey Burleson
Bach wrote a heavily chromatic 20-voice fugue to symbolize his bewilderment in having had 20 children.

Classical KUSC
Dame Joan Sutherland played the bassoon......

Classical KUSC
Beethoven was born deaf, but slowly regained his hearing

Classical KUSC
A Countertenor is the Tenor who keeps a tally of the singers present.

Classical KUSC
The Flute is just a Lute with keys on it.

Classical KUSC
To this day, no one can correctly spell Aram Kacha--- Chata--- Khaki--- Khachaturian on the first attempt.

Daniel Bodeman
Handel was a huge Tebow fan. The original words for Hallelujah were TimTebowGo.

Classical KUSC
Stravinsky punched Queen Elizabeth I at the premiere of Le Sacre Du Printemps.

Brian Lauritzen
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks is a work that ends with a holiday-themed practical joke.

ClassicalKUSC
Johann Sebastian #Bach had 6.02×10^23 children.

And my own contributions to the meme:

The open strings of a ukelele are the M, D, H, and F strings.

It's only by coincidence that Eric Carmen & Barry Manilow came up with melodies resembling Rachmaninoff's.

Gilbert O. Sullivan is a direct descendent of Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert & Sullivan fame.

Arthur Bliss was not known for his intelligence. A common phrase in his day was " ignorance."
Marc Antoine Charpentier spent most of his life trying to write the bon motet.

A minor scale is one that has under thirteen notes.

Villa-Lobos kept his lycanthropy a secret -- even though his name translates as "House Wolves"

Roy Harris market-tested his compositions with focus groups. These were known as Harris Polls.

Englebert Humperdink always wanted to be a star in America. His great grandson would fulfill his dream.

Bugs Bunny had to play Stokowski in "Long-Haired Hare," as Leopold was still under contract to Disney.

Violists are the most respected and highly prized members of the orchestra.

Mozart faked his death to avoid creditors & assumed the identity of his "student" Franz Süssmayer in 1791

When "Das Rheingold" became a hit, Wagner was persuaded to write a sequel, then two more for the franchise.

The name of the crum horn is a derivation of its 16th century description - ye crummey horne.

Most medieval church music composers are anonymous, causing scholars to ask "Who was that Mass man?"

When two or more harps play in harmony, they create a harpsichord.

Beethoven wasn't really deaf. He faked it to avoid having to interact with stupid people (everyone but himself)