Who was the greatest musical talent of the 19th century? Perhaps a blind, autistic slave
This is a most amazing story. Odds are that you’ve never heard it. And once you hear it, you’ll question whether it’s true. But it is true. All of it. I’m not kidding.
In 1849, there was a boy was born into slavery in Columbus, GA. Not only was he born a slave, but he was also born completely blind. And autistic. Sounds like three strikes you’re out, end of story for this boy- right?
Well in most cases yes. But not this one. This boy was Thomas Wiggins (aka “Blind Tom” Wiggins). And he was born with a gift- an incredible musical gift. A gift that is, in fact, hard to comprehend.
Tom Wiggins possessed a talent so great that it would enable him to:
- compose his first song at the age of five (one of over a hundred that he composed throughout his life – here’s one of his songs: “The Battle of Manassas”, written when he was twelve years old);
- hear a new song only once, and then play it back on the piano perfectly (it was reported that he had memorized over 7,000 different songs and melodies);
- play one song right-handed on one piano, play a different song on another piano left-handed and sing a third song – all at the same time; nearly as incredible, he could also play songs with his back to the piano, his hands inverted (i.e. his left hand playing what his right hand just did);
- be the first African-American performer to play at the White House (for President Buchanan), at the age of 11;
- earn his owner (and post-emancipation, his custodian) up to $100,000 or more per year, (totaling over $750,000 in the course of his career – in late 19th century dollars!) performing in concert halls all over the US and Europe;
- inspired Mark Twain, a frequent attendee to Blind Tom’s concerts, to write:
He lorded it over the emotions of his audience like an autocrat. He swept them like a storm, with his battle-pieces; he lulled them to rest again with melodies as tender as those we hear in dreams; he gladdened them with others that rippled through the charmed air as happily and cheerily as the riot the linnets make in California woods; and now and then he threw in queer imitations of the tuning of discordant harps and fiddles, and the groaning and wheezing of bag-pipes, that sent the rapt silence into tempests of laughter.
Not only were his musical talents unmatched, and despite having a vocabulary that people estimated to be only 100 words, he possessed a memory so powerful, that according to a letter from an attendee to one of his concerts in Scotland,
…he [Tom] gives recitations in Greek Latin, German, French, as well as imitations of the Scotch bagpipe, the musical box, the hurdy-gurdy, the Scotch fiddler, the American stump orator comic speakers, and, in short, any sound he may hear.
This is one of several letters from all over the world that essentially say the same thing: that Tom Wiggins was the most amazing musician they had ever heard.
Tom Wiggins died in 1908 at the age of 59 in Hoboken, NJ. He was basically penniless at death, as his custodians and caretakers kept almost all that he earned. The New York Times’ obituary for him on June 15, 1908 stated:
Thomas Wiggins, the “Blind Tom” whose strange mastery of the piano without teaching or scientific knowledge of the instrument made thousands wonder…He was a very small boy when he discovered that for the loss of his sight and the blight upon his mind his Creator had endowed him with a gift so strange and yet so productive of happiness to him that he has, in a way, been a living subject for marvel during the last half century.
He should be a marvel for all-time.
If you are interested in learning more about Tom Wiggins, here are some useful resources:
- A timeline of his life
- His Wikipedia page
- His profile from AfriClassical.com, African Heritage in Classical Music
- NPR’s review of a play (“Hush”) about Tom Wiggins’ life
- A detailed description of Tom Wiggins’ life, from TwainQuotes.com, a very cool site devoted to Mark Twain’s life
- A tribute to Blind Tom Wiggins, at BlindTom.org.
- Search “Blind Tom” on the Library of Congress American Memory Site
- A great summary video of his life:
- “The Ballard of Blind Tom” (by Deirdre O’Connell) book on Amazon.com
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