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    We went back in time and offered this advice to the great composers

    Imagine going back in time and helping a composing legend to change the course of history. We've done just that...

    1. Great composers advice Holst

      1. Gustav Holst

      So Holst wasn't too keen about adding Pluto to The Planets suite when it was named the ninth planet in 1930. But what about the third rock from the sun?

    2. Great composers advice Pachelbel

      2. Johann Pachelbel

      It's just the same eight notes over and over and over...but when do you stop?

    3. Great composers advice Elgar

      3. Edward Elgar

      The Enigma Variations by Elgar are called that because there's an initial melody on which the variations are based. But nobody knows what it is.

    4. Great composers advice Bach

      4. J.S. Bach

      It's expensive to think about educating 20 children.

    5. Great composers advice Alkan

      5. Charles-Valentin Alkan

      Legend has it that the poor composer died after he reached for a copy of the Talmud from the top of a bookcase and it toppled over.

    6. Great composers advice MOzart

      6. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      In July 1791, a masked stranger called on Mozart to commission a Requiem. Also known as the Man in Grey, the Mysterious Messenger and the Gray Messenger, the caller is seen as hastening Mozart's early death in the film 'Amadeus'.

    7. Great composers advice Henry VIII

      7. King Henry VIII

      Alas, my love, you do me wrong...

    8. Great composers advice Bruckner

      8. Anton Bruckner

      Bruckner had a little trouble keeping things short.

    9. Great composers advice Lully

      9. Jean-Baptiste Lully

      Lully died from gangrene, having struck his foot with his long conducting staff during a performance of his Te Deum.

    10. Great composers advice Glass

      10. Philip Glass

      And again...

    11. Great composers advice Chausson

      11. Ernest Chausson

      Poor Chausson had a fatal meeting with a stone wall.

    12. Great composers advice Rachmaninov

      12. Sergei Rachmaninov

      Stravinsky reportedly described Rachmaninov as "six foot two inches of Russian gloom."

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