10 most difficult clas­si­cal music riddles

The oldest documented violin to have four strings, like the modern violin, is supposed to have been constructed in 1555 by Andrea Amati. Earlier instruments only had three strings and were called violetta. The violin immediately became very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility.

Frédéric Chopin disliked giving concerts - he was shy and hated crowds.

Glenn Herbert Gould (1932-1982) was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach's music.

Distinguished composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was writing letters. To the present day we discovered about 5 thousand of them.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos. Since the 19th-century Bach he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, but he did not compose a single piece of music for the piano

Beethoven was born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire. He moved to Vienna in his early 20s. His grandfather was of Flemish origin, thus "van" in his family name (not German "von").

The violin is the smallest and the highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, cello and doublebass.

A modern piano has 88 keys. This covers a wide range of seven octaves plus a minor third. Only one instrument spans more octaves: a pipe organ (up to ten).

The balalaika is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body and three strings. The instrument generally has a short sustain, necessitating rapid strumming or plucking when it is used to play melodies. Balalaikas are often used for Russian folk music and dancing.

The Gypsy Baron, the author of the composition is Johann Strauss (son). The others are by Ludwig van Beethoven.