Classical music history is very often viewed (and rightly so) as dignified and serious – all powdered wigs, solemn portraits, and rather stuffy performance halls. But delve deeper and scratch the surface veneer, the past turns out to be far stranger than fiction. Behind some of the most revered composers in Western music are stories that sound like modern internet myths: fan hysteria bordering on mass delusion, obscene jokes set to immaculate counterpoint, creative breakdowns cured by hypnosis, murder plots abandoned at the last minute, and lifelong obsessions with things like trains and numerology. Remarkably, these stories aren’t apocryphal. In many cases, they’re documented in letters, memoirs, contemporary reports, and firsthand accounts. Here is one classical composer fact that sounds spurious, but is surprisingly true. Consider the prim and proper characterization of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who wrote a canon whose text is literally “lick me in the arse.” The canon: ‘Leck mich im Arsch.´ Mozart‘s scatological humour is well documented and authenticated. Historians have surmised that it was a party piece for a group of friends to sing together. The canon is harmonically correct, neatly constructed – and unapologetically vulgar. After Mozart’s death, when his remaining work was being catalogued and published, the publisher transformed the lyrics to “Let Us Be Glad!” The original text was rediscovered in 1991. Such stories are a great reminder that even history’s greatest geniuses maintained a playful, mischievous and very human spirit !