Which dog-loving composer once said: “I have a theory that dogs lead such short lives because they take everything so much to heart”? Once during a rehearsal of the Brahms Piano Quintet at violinist Adolf Brodsky’s house in Leipzig, with Brahms himself in attendance, Marco burst into the room and sent the cellist’s music stand flying, much to Brahms’s amusement. Ethel Smyth’s Marco on the other hand was a massive St Bernard cross prone to unruly behaviour. In fact, over the course of his life, Elgar owned two dogs called Marco, both of them Spaniels. Which two English composers who owned dogs called Marco? Which animal-loving 20th century musician was once discovered singing themes from Mahler’s symphonies to an appreciative herd of cows?.Who was the composer and what was the Fugue? According to legend, a cat named Pulcinella once walked over a piano keyboard and inadvertently inspired a famous fugue.Which dog liked Beethoven so much that it followed him home? And who was the dog’s owner?.Name the 19th century dog-loving composer who at various times owned a King Charles Spaniel called Peps, a Labrador named Pohl and a Newfoundland dog named Russ?.As part of their legal settlement, the composer demanded the stockbroker’s dog Tommy be given to him as an ‘asset’. When an English stockbroker declared bankruptcy in 1882, he owed a famous composer more than 7,000 pounds Sterling.Which famous composer was photographed holding their favourite cat named Foxy?.When the cat-loving Maurice Ravel became the delighted godfather to a new litter of Siamese kittens, who did he name as the godmother?.Who was the composer and what was the waltz?
Cat person or dog person? Your relationship with your pets can say a lot about you as a person, and it’s no different with composers.