Eccentric Pianist Glenn Gould on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould was born on this day in 1932. His Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is one of my favorite piano pieces ever. 

He was also quite eccentric: The piano had to be set at a certain height and would be raised on wooden blocks if necessary. A small rug would sometimes be required for his feet underneath the piano. He had to sit exactly fourteen inches above the floor, and would play concerts only while sitting on the old chair his father had made. He continued to use this chair even when the seat was completely worn through.

He was a hypochondriac and hated being touched. "He took many pills everyday to take care of health issues that he felt needed to be catered to; the medicines would clash with each other producing side effects that Gould would fight taking more medicines, in a vicious circle that only ended with his death." Source

He was a recluse and later in life would only communicate via letters and telephone. He was nocturnal, and was said to call his friends in the middle of the night and rant on for hours while they would fall asleep at the other end of the line.

He hated being cold so would always dress for winter. He was arrested once in Florida for dressing like that because he was suspected of being a vagrant. 

See also: The Science & Appreciation of Classical Music - 175 Books to Download

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English Soprano Sarah Brightman on This Day in History

This Day In History: English soprano Sarah Brightman was born on this day in 1960, and she has been my favorite singer since the 1990's. In 1985, Brightman recorded "Pie Jesu" which was a strong commercial success, despite the lyrics being in Latin. She gained fame starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" and her pinnacle role as Christine Daaé in "The Phantom of the Opera." After parting ways with Andrew Lloyd Webber, she established herself as a classical crossover artist, and would go on to sell 30 million records and 2 million DVDs, making her the world's best-selling soprano of all time. Sarah Brightman's 1996 duet with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time to Say Goodbye", topped charts all over Europe and became the highest and fastest selling single of all time in Germany, where it stayed at the top of the charts for 14 consecutive weeks and sold over 3 million copies. It subsequently became an international success selling 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. Sarah Brightman has over 180 gold and platinum sales awards in 38 different countries. In 2010 she was named by Billboard as the 5th most influential and best-selling classical artist of the 2000's decade in the US and has sold 6.5 million albums there. Brightman is the world's richest female classical performer with a fortune of £36m (about US$56m).