Composers GF Handel and Johann Matheson were very good friends. They had a big argument once and settled it with a sword fight. Music history could have been changed when Handel was stabbed, but Matheson's sword was stopped by a button on Handel's coat.

In about 1840, Clara Schumann became the first pianist to make a practice of playing from memory in public. Before her, it was considered an insult to the composer to play without the written music.

American jazz-piano great Jelly-Roll Morton (born Ferdinand La Menthe), had a gold front tooth into which a diamond was set.

Songs of whales are reported to rhyme. How can they tell?

Johann Nepomuk Maelzel was an inventor. His most famous invention is the metronome. Among his other inventions were a mechanical bugler who played flat and an automatic chess player that always lost.

George F. Handel composed his great “Messiah” in less than three weeks.

Franz Josef Haydn's compositions have more nicknames that those of any other composer in the history of music. It's no wonder when you realize that he wrote at least 22 symphonies in D major.

Wurlitzer introduced its first electric piano in 1955.

Mozart's full given name was Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. "Amadeus" is the Latin form of the name "Theophilus," which was his godfather's name. Both names mean "beloved of God." Mozart preferred the Latin name and became known as "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”

Willie Nelson only made $50 for his song "The Family Bible." He sold the rights early, and it made the people who bought those rights a lot of money.

Anselm Hettenbrenner, who was at Beethoven's bedside when he died, said that in his final moments, Beethoven roused himself from his coma to shake an angry fist at the heavens. There was a dramatic clap of thunder and a flash of lightning, and then the composer was dead.

The country with the oldest military band tradition is Turkey, whose band dates back to the 1500’s.

Hallet & Davis is the oldest U.S. brand of pianos in continuous production with the first piano created in 1835. The Pearl River Piano Group in China has produced the HD&C line since 2014.

"Chopsticks" was first published in Glasgow, Scotland in 1877. It was written as a piano exercise by Arthur de Lully. The title was the pen-name of a 16-year-old girl named Euphemia Allen.

Around 1940, John Cage developed what he called the "prepared piano." He put all sorts of different objects on the strings of the piano to change its sound. Some of the things he tried were pie plates, nails, bolts and screws, rubber weatherstripping, and pieces of paper.

People of Beethoven's time often paid composers to dedicate pieces of music to them.

The singing of hymns was introduced into Christian churches by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in 386 AD.

People in Mozart's time believed that regular bathing was unhealthy and used perfumes to cover up their body odors. One bath every six months or so was considered to be enough, so the stench in a crowded room must have been overwhelming!

The first complete mass by one composer was “Notre Dame Mass” composed by Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377).

While he was in college, Robert Schumann had a vision that was sadly prophetic: "The moon was shining on the water. I fell asleep and dreamt that I had drowned in the Rhine." Several years later, he went out for an evening walk and unsuccessfully tried to drown himself in that same river.

A story is told about Beethoven, a man not known for social grace. Because of his deafness, he found conversation difficult and humiliating. When he heard of the death of a friend’s son, Beethoven hurried to the house, overcome with grief. He had no words of comfort to offer, but he saw a piano in the room. For the next half hour he played the piano, pouring out his emotions in the most eloquent way he could. When he finished playing, he left. The friend later remarked that no one else’s visit had meant so much.

Trivia Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, the music trivia and "factoids" within Pianotes are true, but I can’t guarantee it.