With fame comes rumors. When confronted with famous people of the past, either considered great as Abe Lincoln and as horrible as Stalin, there is always a “great story” behind them that becomes part of their legacy, no matter if the events in the story are true or twisted. Why do we create myths? What compels us to discuss people outside of our lives in such a way that determines their legacy, no matter who these people were in reality?
Feuds between successful musicians, like the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, are a popular source to mythologize and exaggerate. The feud between Mozart and Salieri was not the only well-known form of gossip, but the rivalry between opera singers Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi was also a famous scandal. During their 1951 South American tour, Callas made harsh comments about Tebaldi’s performance and voice (which was sweet and angelic) Renata Tebaldi "Poveri fiori" 1955. Miss Maria “accused [Tebaldi] of breaking an no-encore agreement” as well as “quoted in Time Magazine saying that comparing [her] to Tebaldi was like comparing champagne with Coca-Cola. Callas said she was misquoted”...but the press continued to dig into the matter of it, and thus ignited strains between the colleagues (The Voice of an Angel" -Renata Tebaldi). Another source written in honor of Maria Callas, puts a different perspective of the Callas and Tebaldi rivalry. This article claimed that, “Miss Tebaldi refused to attend Miss Callas’s performances, while Miss Callas went, with some ostentation” yet reporters “hinted that [Callas] did so in order to make Miss Tebaldi nervous”. After Renata’s opening performance of Adriana Lecouvreur, the singers hugged each other backstage (On This Day: Maria Callas, 53, Is Dead of Heart Attack in Paris). Whatever the truth was between these brilliant performers, the contrasting views of their feud are written in such a way as to take sides with either Callas or Tebaldi. On the report of Tebaldi, she played the role as the victim to the feud whereas in the Callas’ article, she appeared to be a supportive character to Miss Renata Tebaldi. These conflicting rumors reveal that the press enjoy mythologizing prominent figures because they want to create controversy between the supporters of the musicians. Doing so allows the gossip detectives to make money off of the story and exaggerate it in a way that drives the interest of the public. Unfortunately, such exaggerated reporting affects the reputation on these singers, putting them in both a negative and positive light. And often those reported behaviors often last throughout history in texts, articles and more. 
With myths, there is always the author. In modern day it is often “gossip” that is spread around for the benefit of the myth maker. For Mozart the main contributor to myths about him is Constanze. She utilized myths of her prodigal husband and his works to help keep her financially afloat after he passed so she could support her and her family. In modern day, gossiping about well known politicians, actors, or musicians is common and often affects their career. Just as Constanze used myth creating to her advantage, there are now social media pages that gossip over public figures. Perez Hilton is well known and considered the father of this internet trade. On his blog perezhilton.com he talks about celebraties (often musicians and actors) and either degrades them or promotes them. While he can be supportive of some, Such as his support for Selena Gomez in this article here, where he is praising her performance (which will undoubtedly create a rise in fans), he also can become very critical of artists, such as a famous one about the artist Kesha Rose (formally known as Ke$ha). I cannot link the post since it does contain NSFW content, but in 2013 Hilton released a slew of pornographic photos and videos that he claimed to be Kesha Rose’s photos. This resulted in a crash in her career due to the publicity this had and the loss of a long term relationship for her. Myths or “gossip” can be very influential, negatively or positively on people. Hilton writes for likes that lead to money, just as Constanze created myths to gain money off of his work. While they are in different situations, they both did these things for personal benefit.
In today’s modern technological era it becomes easier to spread misinformation amongst the masses, who then believe that falsehood is the truth and in doing so, intentionally or otherwise, creates a myth surrounding a composer or celebrity’s character. Often when people idolize famous people (actors, singers, composers, etc.), they generally believe those people to be “untouchable” or “unrelatable” to the extent in which they forget that those idolized stars are more like them than they think. In the eyes of many fans, a famous person is put on a pedestal, which puts them seemingly out of touch with the common person; they have a large sum of money that they can use at will, they may attend fancy dinner parties with fancy people of the same status, to which the fan feels as though they have nothing in common with their idol. But this in fact is not the case. Most of the time people view Mozart, for example, as a monolithic prodigy, or a composing machine too sophisticated and high brow to relate to anybody. Yet the letters he wrote and exchanged with his family and others show a side of him that many do not associate with him; his personality, his poor management of money, and his all too human characteristics. This aspect of humanity is lost all too often, and when that happens, the person of idolized fame ends up being almost fictitious, and in turn becomes a legend. Rumors spread to the point where many believe what is not true, and soon develop into modern myths.
Citations:
Don. “The Voice of an Angel”-Renata Tebaldi. 3 Aug. 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.diarci.com/2012/08/03/renata-tebaldi/
Ericson, Raymond. “Maria Callas, 53, Is Dead of Heart Attack in Paris.” 17 Sep. 1977. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1202.html
Onegin65. “Renata Tebaldi “Poveri fiori” 1955”. YouTube. 14 Aug. 2008. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/P2nyRkzBSfA
Contributors
Erika Query - Intro, 2nd body Paragraph, editing, videos, photos
Nick De Los Santos - 3rd Body Paragraph, editing, photos
Holly Winter - 1st Body Paragraph, photos, videos, editing
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