Ten Unsolved Music's Great Mysteries
1. The great Baroque violinist Jean-Marie Leclair was brutally stabbed to death in a dangerous Parisian neighbourhood in 1764. But whodunnit? Was it his ex-wife, intent on financial gain? Or Leclair’s nephew, appropriately named Vial. Or could it have been the work of another musician envious of Leclair's brilliance? We may never find out. 2. Who was Beethoven’s ‘immortal beloved’? Beethoven was a bit of a failure when it came to romance, falling impractically in love with elegant, society women, including one he addressed as ‘immortal beloved’ in a famous love letter of July 1812. The recipient of the letter has been the subject of much speculation. The two candidates most favoured today are Antonie Brentano (pictured) - an Austrian patroness of the arts - and Countess Jozefina Brunszvik de Korompa, who received at least 15 love letters from Beethoven in which he swore his eternal devotion to her. 3. How did Tchaikovsky die? Tchaikovsky died ...