Fisher's HornpipeThe pianist and composer Thomas Wiggins possessed a phenomenal musical memory and was said to be able to perform some seven thousand piano compositions. His concerts nearly always featured a challenge in which a member of the audience was invited to the stage to play anything he liked, preferably an original work.
No matter what it was, Wiggins, who was also known for his odd grunting and contortions onstage, would play it right back, fumbles and all...
In addition, Wiggins was capable of extraordinary feats of musical dexterity. At an 1865 concert in Philadelphia, for example, he astonished the crowd by playing "Fisher's Hornpipe" in C major with his right hand and "Yankee Doodle" in D major with his left, even as he sang "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" in C-sharp major.
[Wiggins published several dozen works of his own, the most distinctive of which imitate the sounds of rainstorms, sewing machines, cannon fire, and locomotives. At his peak, he earned somewhere between fifty and a hundred thousand dollars a year — in eighteen-seventies money. He spent the early part of his life in slavery and the latter part essentially indentured, first to his former master, then to his master's son, and, finally, to his master's son's widow. During the Civil War, many of the proceeds of his concerts went to benefit the sick and the wounded of the Confederate Army.. he was buried at the Evergreens - in an unmarked grave.
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Wiggins, Thomas Greene ["Blind Tom"] (?- ) American blind (and possibly autistic) pianist and composer
[Sources: The New Yorker, July 15, 2002]More Thomas Wiggins anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Incredible Music Concerts Autism Idiot Savants
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