How did they die?
Anton Webern was shot by an American soldier who mistook his lit cigarette for a gun during what war?
What is World War II?
Which famous composer of works including "Ode to Joy" said this about Rossini-"he would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough"?
Who is Beethoven?
Which famous composer's father wrote a "Toy Symphony", featuring only children's instruments of the day (think early 1700s)?
Who is Mozart?
How long did it take Bach to write Little Fugue in G Minor?
Which ballet work by Stravinsky caused a riot at its premiere?
What is the "Rite of Spring"?
Ernest Chausson lost control of this vehicle and died upon crashing into the brick wall down the street from his house.
What is his bike?
On Rachmaninoff, this composer of the "Fanfare for the Common Man" said- "the prospect of having to sit through one of his extended symphonies or piano concertos tends quite frankly to depress me".
Who is Aaron Copland?
Ligeti wrote a "symphony" where 10 performers are each in charge of 10 of these time keeping devices. Performances can last hours, as the only musical device is the aforementioned time keeping device ticking down until it stops or runs out of batteries, whichever happens first.
What is a metronome?
How many decades did it take Beethoven to write his 9th symphony?
What is 3?
Satie yelled "What precision!" at an audience member during a concert. What was he complimenting?
What is a great punch to another audience member's face?
Maybe just a rumor, but Henry Purcell spent a chilly night outside after getting into an argument, which ended up leading to his death. Who locked him out?
Stravinsky on this composer of the "Four Seasons"- "he was greatly overrated...and a dull fellow".
Who is Antonio Vivaldi?
Opera composer Rossini wrote a famous duet named the "Cat Duet", where the only lyrics are two sopranos making this noise.
What is a meow?
How long from birth to publication did it take Mozart to write his first work?
What is five years?
At a premiere of another of Stravinsky's works, fellow composer Messaien's students interrupted the performance by using these devices used to control traffic in the audience?
What are police whistles?
Usually an issue with teenagers, this ailment lead to Alexander Scriabin's death in 1915.
What is acne?
Although he taught him the piano, Beethoven said about this composer: "I never learned anything from him".
Who is Haydn?
John Dowland wrote a lute duet to be played on only one lute. Since a lute is basically a guitar, how can two performers play one lute?
What is one sits on the other's lap?
According to him, it took Brahms this amount of time to write his 1st symphony (it would have been old enough to drink!)?
What is 21 years?
At a performance of Steve Reich's "Four Organs", a woman started banging her head against this part of the auditorium while screaming "please stop!"
What is the stage?
My favorite composer death: Jean Baptiste Lully was famous for conducting by slamming his cane on the ground to keep tempo. Which body part did he impale using this method that led to gangrene and ultimately death?
What is his own foot?
Hector Berlioz on the other H-name composer: "he is nothing more than a tub of pork and beer".
Who is Handel?
This soft sounding French composer, famous for Gymnopedie, wrote a piece that lasts for over 20 hours, where the same musical motif is performed and repeated exactly 840 times.
Who is Satie?
Mozart wrote his final 3 symphonies in how many weeks?
What is 6 weeks?
The New York Philharmonic, conducted at the time by Leonard Bernstein, didn't like the music they were given by 4'33" composer John Cage. They did this during the performance (allegedly).
What is they purposely played it wrong?