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Did You Know . . . The Longest Symphony in the Standard Repertory Is Mahler’s Third?
It lasts about 100 minutes and is performed quite often, but it is far from the longest ever written.
Trivia
Did You Know . . . Tokyo Has Eight Full-Time, Full-Size, Fully Professional Orchestras?
That’s more than any other city in the world.
Did You Know . . . Brahms Was the Only Famous Composer in the 19th Century to Write a Full-length Double Concerto for Violin and Cello?
The vast majority of double violin and cello concertos have been written in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Did You Know . . . in Osaka you Can Hear Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Performed with 10,000 Voices?
Every December, while the western world rolls out an onslaught of ‘Nutcracker’ and ‘Messiah’ performances, Japan is awash in Beethoven’s Ninth.
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Did You Know There Is a Symphony Composed in the Strange Key of A-flat Minor (Seven Flats!)?
The Romanian composer Dimitrie Cuclin (1885–1978) also turned out what is possibly the longest symphony ever written.
Did You Know . . . Louis Spohr (1784–1859) Invented the Chin Rest?
And that's just the beginning. So highly regarded was Spohr across Europe that he was an honorary member of no fewer than 38 music societies. Quite a man, this Spohr!
Did You Know: Only a Single Well-Known Composer Has Written One or More Works for Duo, Trio, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Septet, Octet, and Nonet Configurations?
That composer is Louis Spohr (1784–1859)
Did You Know . . . Roman Totenberg Probably Had a Longer Career as a Teacher than any Other Musician in History?
Totenberg started giving violin lessons at the age of nine. Ninety-two years later, he was still teaching.
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Did You Know: “Smith” Is the Most Common Surname in English-Speaking Countries?
In the US alone, some 2.5 million people are Smiths. But can you name a single composer for strings with this name? How about Johnson? Brown?
Did You Know: Jascha Heifetz Logged More Than Two Million Travel Miles Before Taking a Sabbatical in 1947?
Over the course of those two million miles, Heifetz played for an estimated 100,000 hours.
Did You Know: Many Famous Composers Were Also Visual Artists
Some of them were quite good, like Mendelssohn, Schoenberg, Gershwin, and many others