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. Haydn died shortly after midnight on May 31, 1809, and was initially buried on June 15. Vienna's new French leadership forbade any large gatherings, so Haydn couldn't receive the big funeral celebration that he had written he wanted in his will. Find out how he finally received his wish, 145 years after his death.

Russian classical music composer Peter Tchaikovsky was gay and lived a double life, as Prof. Robert Greenberg examines in this episode. A complex and troubled man, Tchaikovsky was so overly sensitive that he would weep at the slightest hint of criticism or conflict. He suffered from depression, and self medicated with massive doses of nicotine and alcohol. To deflect any rumor surrounding his sexuality, Tchaikovsky got married at age 37, but immediately became miserable as a husband. His seeming death from cholera is uncovered to be a farce, and the truth is revealed to be 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. It's been theorized that Antonio Salieri killed Mozart, with Salieri even claiming himself that he had poisoned him. However, Salieri was recovering from his own attempted suicide when he made his confession, and there is virtually no reliable evidence that Salieri actually killed Mozart. 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. From an early age, his father exploited him and his talents for monetary gain, leaving a young Beethoven physically and psychologically abused. Beethoven came to hate his father and, by extension, authority figures of every kind. Impatient and rude on his good days, and a full-tilt paranoid on his bad days, Beethoven was an emotional mess. 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. Carlo's first victim was his own brother, Luigi, who was first in line to inherit all of his family's lands and vast fortune before he mysteriously died in 1584. Gesualdo didn't admit to his brother's murder until his own death, 29 years later. When Carlos finally discovered that his wife had been having an affair for two years without his knowing, he stabbed her lover, Fabrizio Carafa, 27 times.

In late 1717, Johann Sebastian Bach spent nearly a month in jail, courtesy of his boss, Prince Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar. In 1708, Bach was hired as court organist for the city of Weimar. Six years later, Bach was appointed to concertmeister, the director of music at court, but did not like being subordinate to a kapellmeister that he didn't particularly respect. After speaking his mind to Prince Wilhelm and trying to resign from his position at court, the prince had Bach tossed in jail on November 6, 1717 for losing his temper.