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11 texts from the great composers
What if the great composers had been able to text each other? What might they have said? Who would have used emojis and who would have insisted on always texting in caps? After a painstaking information-gathering exercise we've created this gallery getting as close as possible to how the great musicians of the past might have communicated via SMS.
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1. Mozart texts Salieri
How might rumours of a poisonous rivalry between these two composers have come about? Perhaps this is how…
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2. Handel's appetite shocks William Boyce
Even his old friend William Boyce is shocked by Handel's appetite.
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3. Mozart's dad
Because dads always text in caps. Fact.
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4. Beethoven tries to get in touch with Mozart
Poor Beethoven can't get an answer from Mozart
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5. Haydn and Prince Esterházy
The composer Haydn tries to persuade his patron to leave the summer palace is Eszterháza… where his text messages failed his Farewell Symphony (No.45 – in which players leave the stage one by one) succeeded: the Prince and his court returned to Eisenstadt the following day.
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6. Philip Glass texts John Adams
How a conversation might go between two of the biggest names in minimalism.
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7. J.S. Bach gets in touch with his idol Buxtehude
J.S. Bach was SUPER excited to hear his idol Dieterich Buxtehude perform
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8. Richard and Cosima Wagner
How a conversation between Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima might have gone…
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9. Robert Schumann expresses his… admiration for Chopin
Chopin is a little bemused by Schumann's use of emojis…
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10. Elgar and Vaughan Williams arrange to meet up
Elgar and Vaughan Williams set up a quick catch-up over a pint… or two
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11. John Cage
Of course.
