Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

An old proverb, dating perhaps to the demise of Richard III at Bosworth in 1485, tells us that the loss of a single horseshoe nail can trigger the fall of a Kingdom.

Chaos theorists tell us that a butterfly, flapping its wings in one way rather than another, can influence the movement of a hurricane across an ocean.

It may be, likewise, that an argument over the performance of a single troupe of comic actors helped create that great shift in … Continue Reading

Johannes Brahms

(7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897),
Starting with number 10 and also one of the hardest number on the list with a lot of competition from other famous composers like Tchaikovsky, Joseph Haydn and George Frederic Handel which were all very close on becoming number 10.

Most popular on the internet are his symphonies which he wrote 4 and off course his Hungarian dances which were also his most profitable compositions.

While being number 6 on most ‘famous … Continue Reading

Adelina Patti (19 February 1843 – 27 September 1919)

Who was Adelina Patti? She was one of the most successful sopranos in history. Born in Spain, but a subject of the King of the Two Sicilies, she was in her prime a pan-European figure.

Start the video below to listen to a recording of her voice.

The recording was made in Patti’s home in 1905, and is fascinating in part just because it represents an artifact from the early … Continue Reading