Has anyone ever visited the grave of their favourite composer or musician?

If so what was the reason for going?

I couldn't resist posting the following, which most of have probably heard before anyhow....

When Beethoven passed away, he was buried in a churchyard.

A couple of days later, the town drunk was walking through the
cemetery and heard some strange noise coming from the area where
Beethoven was buried. Terrified, the drunk ran and got the priest
to come and listen to it. The priest bent close to the grave and
heard some faint, unrecognisable music coming from the grave.

Frightened, the priest ran and got the town magistrate.

When the magistrate arrived, he bent his ear to the grave,
listened for a moment, and said, "Ah, yes, that's Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony, being played backwards."

He listened a while longer, and said, "There's the Eighth
Symphony, and it's backwards, too. Most puzzling." So the
magistrate kept listening, "There's the Seventh... the Sixth...
the Fifth..."

Suddenly the realisation of what was happening dawned on the
magistrate. He stood up and announced to the crowd that had
gathered in the cemetery, "My fellow citizens, there's nothing to
worry about. It's just Beethoven decomposing."

Good one!

As for the original question.. I haven't, but I'm sure many would be curious to see what their fave composers graves are like

I have seen Ben Britten and Peter Pears graves in Aldeburgh churchyard, side by side (?).
Imogen Holst (daughter of Gustav) is just behind them. (My wife was conducted by Imogen in a Suffolk Youth Orchestra.)

I've been to Handel's grave in Westminster Abbey but only because I was visiting the Abbey. I would like to have visited Bartok's grave but I've never been in the right place at the right time (he used to be in New York, then they moved him to Budapest). And I would definitely like to visit the grave of Benjamin Britten (and you can even stay in the house where he grew up which is now a B and B).

This isn't a morbid subject at all. I like the idea of paying respects to people who have inspired me. For those who feel the same way as me, you can make a virtual trip to some famous graves. Bach's grave is my favourite because it is so plain and simple.

I'm sure I read an article once about some absolutely fantastic grave stones made for various (presumably musical) people. Things like ones in the shape of a grand piano or harp and so on.

Anyone know anything more specific?

Can we broaden it out from musicians seeing as it's in the cafe...



If ever I get to visit the Antarctic, I'd only go if I could call off at South Georgia on the way to visit Shackleton's grave. Why? Because his account of the Endurance expedition was the first book about the Antarctic I ever read, when I was about thirteen, and I've been fascinated by Antarctic exploration ever since. I've got a lot of memories and thoughts bound up with the various books I've read about Antarctic exploration over the years, and visiting Shackleton's grave would probably be a focus for reflection on all sorts of things.

I saw Chopin's, Poulenc's and Jim Morrison's in the same day. To be honest, it didn't interest me much but the other (non-musicians) in our little troop wanted to see them. I might go back one day and have a proper look.

Berlioz's is not too far from me either, but I've never been there.

En route to Bournemouth, we detoured via Ashmansworth, which is where Finzi lived. We found the church where he and Joy are buried, which has a Musicians' Memorial Window as well as the graves. Their house (Church Farm) is opposite, and we scrumped some apples from one of the trees, before sinking a fantastic pint in the village pub, which I understand has now closed.

I have a friend who once said he was better than Mozart while he was drunk, then his school happened to go to Austria, so he made the trip to go and apologise to Mozart's grave.