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Public Domain1 of 10
When we think about tough musicians, we think street-hardened rap stars, grizzled heavy metal veterans and tobacco-spitting country s-kickers. Classical composers and players usually fall a little lower on the list. But that stereotype isn't always true. In this feature, we'll spotlight ten classical musicians who were seriously badass.
Jehan Alain
French composer and organist Jehan Ariste Alain started his compositional career at the age of 18 and ranged from choral music to more song-oriented work. Unfortunately, his promising life was cut short in the chaos of World War I.
After joining the French army, he became a dispatch rider for the Eighth Motorized Division, undertaking daring missions across the countryside on his motorcycle. In 1940, he ran into a group of German soldiers on a reconnaissance run. Alone and outgunned, Alain managed to single-handedly kill 16 members of the opposing force before being overwhelmed. He was given the posthumous Croix de Guerre for bravery.
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Public Domain2 of 10
Alessandro Stradella
Music has powers over the fairer sex, and some badass classical artists have certainly used that power. Alessandro Stradella was a 17th century Italian composer who had a knack for sleeping with the wives of powerful men. In 1677, he was hired to tutor a mistress of a nobleman, but instead banged her and fled with her to Turin.
The spurned lover sent assassins after them, and they attacked him in the street, stabbed him multiple times and left him for dead. Amazingly, he survived, but Stradella wasn't going to let a few knife wounds slow him down. Just five years later he took up with somebody else's woman and another set of assassins were sent after him. This time, they made sure the job was finished.
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Public Domain3 of 10
Carlo Gesualdo
Late Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo is known today for two things: his gorgeous madrigals and his brutal murders. We'll skip over the madrigals for the purpose of this article. Gesualdo married his first cousin in 1586 but she started cheating on him just two years later.
He found out, caught them in the act and killed them both in flagrante delicto. He then dumped their mutilated bodies in front of his castle to show the world. His compositions after that were heavily influenced by the guilt he felt from his crime of passion.
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Public Domain4 of 10
George Butterworth
English composer George Butterworth's orchestral works weren't terribly dramatic - he wrote gentle, idyllic pieces influenced by British folk music and poetry. But when he joined the British army at the start of World War One, he cut short a promising career to die a hero.
In 1916 at the legendary Battle of the Somme, Butterworth's troops dug a trench and held it against the attacking Germans for hours despite overwhelming odds. During the struggle, Butterworth was shot through the head by a sniper and died. His body was lost in the fierce bombings that would ravage the area over the next two years and never recovered.
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Public Domain5 of 10
Toivo Kuula
The first composition student of the legendary Jean Sibelius, Finnish musician Toivo Kuula was known for his unique portrayal of his people's colorful nature. Kuula was very devoted to Finland, considering himself a staunch supporter of the Finnish Party that worked to bring the country out from under the shadow of the Swedes and Germans.
This wasn't an effete struggle fought in salons and courtrooms, though - Fennomen (as they were called) and Swedes battled it out in wild brawls in the streets, and Kuula gladly took part. In a riot on Walpurgisnacht, 1918, a bullet fired by a German partisan struck him and he died.
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Public Domain6 of 10
Richard Wagner
Composer of some of the most bombastically badass music ever put to paper, Richard Wagner was as intense in his public life as he was artistically. During his years in Dresden, Wagner got involved with the Socialist Left and soon started hanging out with anarchists and other anti-government sorts.
When the May Uprising struck, Wagner was on the front lines - not only did he pen scathing polemics inciting young people to riot, but he also turned his home into a chemistry lab to manufacture hand grenades, as well as serving as a lookout atop the Frauenkirche barricades.
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Public Domain7 of 10
Alberic Magnard
The son of a wealthy author and editor, the Paris-born Alberic Magnard could have lived a life of leisure. He chose the hard road, however, establishing his musical career as a composer without taking advantage of any of his family connections. He published 22 works in his lifetime that were well-received by his peers, but it was his final act that earned him a spot in French musical history.
When the Nazis drove into France to start World War I, Magnard sent his wife and child to safety from their countryside estate. He stayed behind to stem the tide, making a sniper encampment in the house and shooting German soldiers until they stormed the property and set the house on fire, killing him and destroying several of his unpublished works.
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Public Domain8 of 10
Enrique Granados
Spanish composer and pianist Enrique Granados wrote music that was uniquely inspired by his culture, including a famous suite based on the paintings of Francisco de Goya. He was also noted for his willingness to insert improvisational sections into his performances. But it's his ballsy death that earns him a spot on this list.
When returning to Spain from a tour of the United States, Granados found his trip rerouted through England. On the way, his boat was torpedoed by a German submarine. The composer had suffered from a crippling fear of drowning his entire life, but when he saw his wife Amparo struggling to stay afloat, Granados overcame his phobia in an instant and jumped bravely from his lifeboat to try to rescue her. Sadly, his attempt failed and they both drowned.
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Public Domain9 of 10
Dame Ethel Smythe
We often think of classical composers as too involved in their own art to pay attention to the world around them, but British composer Dame Ethel Smythe bucked that trend. Born to a military family, her parents were very opposed to her seeking a career in music. She defied them and went on to study under some of the era's greatest musical thinkers before creating a significant body of work.
Dame Ethel was also deeply committed to the women's suffrage movement, and when British politicians opposed voting rights for women, Smythe threw bricks through their windows. She was jailed for two months for her act of vandalism and while in prison conducted choirs through the barred window with her toothbrush as a baton.
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Hulton Archive/Getty Images10 of 10Next: The Most Infamous Rivalries in Music
Ralph Vaughan Williams
When your country calls, sometimes you need to heed it. Ralph Vaughan Williams had composed numerous symphonies and other pieces by the time World War I broke out in 1914. At the age of 41, Williams could have easily let younger men pay the toll, but instead he enlisted as a private in the British Army.
He served as a stretcher-bearer in France before being promoted to a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. The constant noise of shelling destroyed his hearing, rendering him nearly deaf, but his patriotism led him to sacrifice the most important sense of a musician to serve his country.
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