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Published: Friday, 17 January 2025 at 16:14 PM
When music kills: seven tales of musical curses and death wishes
Better known for its beauty and sophistication, classical music is not usually associated with danger. However, over the centuries, certain compositions have been linked to myths, superstitions, and even death. From eerie coincidences to psychological effects, these ‘deadly’ pieces have gained notoriety in cultural lore. Here are some of the most infamous examples:
Musical curses – gloomy Sundays and lethal Ninths
1. Gloomy Sunday, aka the ‘Hungarian Suicide Song’
Composer: Rezső Seress
The Legend: This melancholic song is alleged to have inspired a wave of suicides in Hungary and beyond. Dubbed the ‘Hungarian Suicide Song’, its haunting melody and despair-filled lyrics reportedly pushed listeners to the brink.
The Reality: While there’s no concrete evidence linking the song to suicides, the legends were certainly sensationalized in the media, amplifying ‘Gloomy Sunday’s somewhat eerie reputation.
2. The ‘Curse of the Ninth’
The Legend: Composers like Beethoven, Schubert, Dvořák, and Mahler are said to have died after completing their ninth symphony, leading to the belief that a “curse” haunted this milestone. Mahler famously tried to outwit the curse by calling his ninth symphonic work Das Lied von der Erde. However, it seemed that Death was alert to the game and it was all to no avail – Mahler passed away soon after completing his actual Ninth Symphony.
The Reality: Probably more coincidence rather than reality, but the superstition of the ‘Curse of the Ninth’ has perpetuated the myth that no composer can write beyond nine symphonies without tempting fate..
3. Allegri’s Miserere: Forbidden Music
The Legend: For over a century, the Vatican supposedly banned the public performance or transcription of Gregorio Allegri’s haunting choral masterpiece, Miserere Mei. It was said that anyone who attempted to reproduce the work outside the Sistine Chapel would face divine punishment.
The Reality: The so-called ban was more likely a method of preserving exclusivity rather than a true threat.
Fun fact: One of the many rumours told about Mozart is that, as a child prodigy, he famously transcribed the Miserere from memory after hearing it just once. The story, drawn from a letter written by Mozart’s father to his mother, goes that the 14-year-old Mozart, visiting Rome with his father, first heard the Miserere during the Wednesday service – and, later that same day, wrote it down entirely from memory.
4. Paganini’s ‘Deal with the Devil’
The Myth: The virtuosic violin playing of the composer and pianist Niccolò Paganini was so extraordinary that it gave rise to rumours that he had made a pact with the Devil in order to achieve his superhuman skills.
Paganini’s theatrical flair and gothically gaunt appearance only served to fuel these suspicions. Some even claimed to see the Devil’s figure accompanying Paganini during performances.
The Reality: Paganini’s genius was likely a combination of talent, practice, and a possible medical condition like Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue, which also affected Rachmaninov and John Tavener.
More musical curses: of devils and violins
5. The Haunted Violin of Giuseppe Tartini
The Myth: The Italian Baroque composer Giuseppe Tartini (1692-170) claimed that his famous ‘Devil’s Trill Sonata’ came to him in a dream where the Devil played a violin at the foot of his bed. The haunting melody became one of the most challenging works in the violin repertoire.
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The Reality: While Tartini’s tale may have been an embellishment, the music’s eerie and virtuosic nature lends credence to the legend.
6. Lully’s lethal Te Deum
This masterful choral work turned out to be the death of its composer. Literally.
The French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully served King Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’, for more than three decades. His position as court composer appeared impregnable until, early in 1687, Lully organised a special performance of his Te Deum to celebrate (and there are ironies here) the King’s recent recovery from surgery.
The performance was going smoothly, until Lully stabbed himself in the foot with the pointed staff he helped keep time with. He was advised by doctors to have the leg amputated. It seems that the prospect of never dancing again, though, was too much for the fleet-footed Lully, and he declined to be operated upon.
Gangrene duly set in and Lully died soon after. The would-be celebratory Te Deum has taken on a darker aura ever since, and Lully’s demise must be one of the most tragic composer deaths in the history of classical music.
7. Scriabin’s doomed final masterpiece
The Legend: Now here’s one where the piece’s ambitions match its evential destiny. The visionary Russian composer Alexander Scriabin conceived his hugely ambitious Mysterium as a week-long performance designed to bring about the end of the world.
A medieval miracle play, Mysterium was to be a packed, multi-sensory extravanganza of sound and visuals, complete with perfumes and pyrotechnics. And it would climax – or so Scriabin fervently believed – with the end of this human world as we know it and the birth of a new, ‘nobler’ human race.
Crazy stuff, huh? Well, it did bring about an ending of a sort. In a bittersweet irony, the piece was never completed due to the composer’s untimely death.
Scriabin himself believed in the transcendental power of music and sought to merge it with spiritual rituals. His death from an infection put a stop to what would undoubtedly have been one of history’s most audacious compositions.