If Blair\u2019s wayward musicianship had the potential to stop his political career in its tracks, governor Bill Clinton\u2019s image was probably by no means harmed when he played a saxophone solo on the Arsenio Hall Show <\/em>on US TV in 1992 \u2013 months later, he would be elected as the 42nd president of the United States. Blair and Clinton are just two of a number of world leaders in the course of history who have enjoyed not just listening to music, but actually playing it. Some have enjoyed showing off their skills in public; others have kept them largely to themselves. The competence levels, meanwhile, range from enthusiastic amateur to concert-hall pro.\u00a0<\/p> And so, in a year that has seen a veritable deluge of elections, from India to the United Kingdom and with the biggest of all about to take place in the US, it\u2019s time to look, in chronological order, at some of history\u2019s most musical monarchs, presidents and prime ministers\u2026<\/p> Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned, they say. Except that he clearly didn\u2019t, as violins didn\u2019t come onto the scene until some 15 centuries after the Great Fire of Rome in 64AD. But if notions of the notorious emperor wielding the bow are far-fetched, Nero did at least have some sort of musical inclination.<\/p> Coins from the era depict him playing the lyre<\/a><\/strong>, and his love of the instrument is also described in Cassius Dio\u2019s Roman History,<\/em> though in none-too-glowing terms. The emperor won every lyre-playing contest, notes the historian, but that was only because everyone else was barred from taking part, Worse, when he accompanied himself singing, he \u2018moved his whole audience to laughter and tears at once\u2019.<\/p> Cassius Dio even brings Nero\u2019s plucky endeavours into a speech by Boudicca who, leading a revolt hundreds of miles away in chilly Britain, tartly observes that the Romans \u2018are slaves to a lyre-player, and a poor one too\u2019.<\/p> In contrast to Nero, the flute<\/a><\/strong>-playing Frederick II (\u2018the Great\u2019) was well received by his audiences. Take, for instance, a description by Charles Burney of a performance in Potsdam in 1772. \u2018The concert began by a German flute concerto<\/a><\/strong> in which his majesty executed the solo parts with great precision\u2026,\u2019 reported the writer.\u00a0<\/p> \u2018I was much pleased, and even surprised with the neatness of his execution in the allegro<\/em>s<\/a><\/strong>, as well as by his expression and feeling in the adagio<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.\u2019 The Prussian king took his music seriously as both a player and a composer, surrounding himself with top talent such as fellow composer CPE Bach<\/a><\/strong>, flautist Johann Joachim Quantz and soprano<\/a><\/strong> Elisabeth Schmeling.<\/p> The latter later remembered that \u2018He did not blow\u2026 like a King, but very well; he had a strong full sound and much virtuosity.\u2019 His own father, however, was a little less charitable. When Frederick William I, \u2018the soldier king\u2019, described the young Fred as \u2018a flutist and a poet\u2019, it was not intended as a compliment\u2026<\/p> \u2018Nothing is more agreeable, and ornamental, than good music.\u2019 So wrote George Washington, and the first president of the US\u2019s thoughts were echoed by his fellow Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who described music as \u2018the favorite passion of my soul\u2019.<\/p> Jefferson, the third US president, would practise the violin<\/a><\/strong> and cello<\/a><\/strong> for up to three hours a day as a young man, and would regularly participate in concerts while up at college. Though the passing years saw this commitment decline, he continued to keep a collection of violins and often played with his wife Martha, a fine keyboard player, in duet.<\/p> History’s most musical politicians<\/h2>
Nero (Emperor of Rome, 54-68 AD): lyrist<\/strong><\/h3>
![\"Roman](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/11\/Untitled-design-2024-11-05T105811.931.jpg\")
Frederick the Great <\/em>(King of Prussia, 1740-86): flautist<\/strong>, composer<\/strong><\/h3>
Thomas Jefferson (US President, 1801-09): violinist, cellist<\/strong><\/h3>