Here are 30 facts about classical music for a school project, a quiz, or the dinner table. Each one is short enough to copy onto a card, and each has a page on this site with the rest of the story.
Composers
1. Mozart wrote his first symphony at eight. Read Mozart facts for kids.
2. Beethoven kept composing after he lost his hearing. Read was Beethoven deaf?
3. Bach had 20 children. Read how many children did Bach have?
4. At 20, Bach walked more than 200 miles to hear a famous organist play.
5. Vivaldi was a priest with red hair. People called him the Red Priest. Read Vivaldi facts for kids.
6. Haydn wrote 106 symphonies. Read how many symphonies they wrote.
7. Schubert wrote more than 600 songs and died at 31.
8. Clara Schumann played her first big concert at nine and performed for more than 60 years. Read Clara Schumann for kids.
9. Chopin’s heart rests inside a church pillar in Warsaw. Read Chopin facts for kids.
10. Tchaikovsky had a celesta sent to Russia in secret, so that no other composer would use it first. Read Tchaikovsky facts for kids.
11. Dvořák loved trains. He walked to the station most days to watch the engines.
12. Holst wrote The Planets while he worked as a school music teacher. Read The Planets guide.
13. Hildegard of Bingen wrote songs almost 900 years ago, and people still sing them. Read Hildegard of Bingen for kids.
Pieces
14. In Haydn’s Farewell Symphony, the players walk off the stage one by one. Read the story.
15. In Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, a quiet tune is broken by one loud chord. Read the Surprise Symphony guide.
16. The 1812 Overture has real cannon fire written into the score. Read the 1812 Overture for kids.
17. In Boléro, a snare drum plays the same pattern more than 160 times. Read the Boléro guide.
18. Saint-Saëns wrote The Carnival of the Animals as a joke and did not want it played in public while he lived.
19. Rossini wrote The Barber of Seville in about three weeks. Read The Barber of Seville for kids.
20. One piece by Satie comes with a note that suggests playing it 840 times in a row. A team of pianists did it in 1963. It took more than 18 hours.
21. “The Typewriter,” by Leroy Anderson, uses a real typewriter as a solo instrument.
22. For about 250 years, people thought Bach wrote the Minuet in G. He did not. Read who wrote it.
Instruments
23. A piano has 88 keys and more than 200 strings. Read the piano for kids.
24. A concert harp has 47 strings. Every C string is red.
25. The piccolo is the highest instrument in the orchestra, and it is about a foot long. Read the piccolo for kids.
26. The saxophone is made of brass, and it is a woodwind. Read the saxophone for kids.
27. The whole orchestra tunes to one note from the oboe. Read the oboe for kids.
28. In Dvořák’s New World Symphony, the cymbals play one single note.
Far from home
29. Music by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart is on the golden records that left Earth aboard the Voyager spacecraft in 1977.
30. An astronaut took a recording of Dvořák’s New World Symphony on the first trip to land on the moon. Read the New World Symphony guide.
Three things people get wrong
“Beethoven was born deaf.” He was not. He heard well for the first half of his life.
“The Minute Waltz lasts one minute.” It does not. “Minute” here means tiny.
“Salieri poisoned Mozart.” He did not. Read how did Mozart die?
Things to do together
Fact cards. Write ten facts on cards. Draw a picture on the back of each.
True or false. Read a fact aloud, or change one detail. Your child calls “true” or “false.”
Fact of the day. Read one fact at breakfast, and play the piece it names.
Make a quiz. Turn ten facts into questions for a grandparent.
Find one more. Pick a composer, and look for a fact that is not on this list.
Print and play
Print a set of composer cards. Test what you know with the composer quiz. Read Beethoven facts for kids and Bach facts for kids.
More from this guide
This article is part of How to introduce kids to classical music.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.