Scandalous Overtures

Professor Robert Greenberg uncovers the mystery of how classical music composer Franz Joseph Haydn lost his head and didn't get a funeral until more than a hundred years after his death.

Russian classical music composer Peter Tchaikovsky was gay and lived a double life, as Professor Robert Greenberg examines in this episode. His seeming death from cholera is uncovered to be a farce, and the truth is something much more scandalous.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was rumored to have written his own requiem, as catalogued in 1984's Amadeus, but Professor Robert Greenberg tells us the real story. The truth is, Mozart was not poisoned at all, and over one hundred separate diagnoses have been proposed to explain his death.

Ludwig van Beethoven was going deaf, but more than his hearing was at stake, as Professor Robert Greenberg uncovers in this episode. In October 1802, the 31 year old Beethoven seriously considered committing suicide after withdrawing from the world due to his increasing deafness.

Italian composer Carlo Gesualdo was one of the most innovative composers of the 16th century. As Professor Robert Greenberg tells us, he was also a serial murderer with a penchant for sexual extravagance, spousal abuse, and sadomasochism.

Professor Robert Greenberg tells the story of this great composer, who spent nearly a month in jail after losing his temper. For speaking his mind to Prince Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar and trying to resign from his position at court, the prince had Bach tossed in jail on November 6, 1717.