On September 21, 1776 Captain Nathan Hale was hung for spying in what David McCullough called a "ill-planned and pathetically amateurish"^1 mission. Before he was hung he spoke some words that have become immortalized in American popular culture "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country"^2.

Here's where the sabotage part comes in. There's long been suspicion that Nathan Hale was part of a team of saboteurs who were sent to burn down New York. On the night of September 20-21 a fire started in the southern tip of New York. No warning bells rung because Washington had earlier ordered the bells in the city carted away to be recast into cannon. Fire brigades were formed, houses were pulled down in front of the fires to try to slow them down, but the flames were too fierce.

From Frederick Mackenzie a British officer who helped in fighting the fire:

It is almost impossible to conceive a scene of more horror and distress. The sick, the aged, women, and children, half naked, were seen going they knew not where, and taking refuge in houses which were at a distance from the fire, but from whence they were in several instances driven a second and even a third time…. The terror was increased by the horrid noise of the burning and falling houses, the pulling down of such wooden buildings as served to conduct the fire…the rattling of above 100 wagons, sent in from the army, and which were constantly employed in conveying to the common such goods and effects as could be saved. The confused voices of so many men, the shrieks and cries of the women and children.

About 1/4th of the city was burned, and during the fire a man with a fire brand in his hand was rumored to have been thrown into the flames by grenadiers. Another man who was caught cutting the rope handles of buckets was hung from the nearest lamppost by British sailors and then hung by his heels.

However, despite a round up of suspects afterwards it was never able to be proven that the fire was a deliberate act of sabotage. Sure it's awfully coincidental that a spy was captured right at the same time--but fire was also an ever present concern.

George Washington would later write this to Lund Washington "Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves."

1.) From McCullough's 1776

2.) Not many people know that these lines are a variation on some lines from the play Cato which was immensely popular in both England and America (in fact it was Washington's favorite play). So it's likely that at least some of the British officers and soldiers present for Hale's hanging would have recognized what he was saying.

How about this one: sabotaging a saboteur. Everyone is at least passingly familiar with Guy Fawkes, the Englishman who led a conspiracy to assassinate Parliament and the King in one fell swoop. He managed to salt away 1800 pounds of gunpowder in a confined space under Parliament, and was waiting for the moment to arrive when he was arrested, along with some co-conspirators. The gunpowder was removed, and Guy Fawkes sentenced to death.

Interestingly, the gunpowder wasn't discovered until authorities received an anonymous tip in the form of an unsigned note. Fawkes sabotage had been double crossed from within, one of the people in the circle of his conspiracy spilled the beans and in doing so foiled his plot. Fawkes was sabotaged by a saboteur operating within his own ranks. Otherwise it's a fair certainty he would have been successful.

Fawkes was sentenced to death by death by Bravehearting, which used to be known as being drawn and quartered, a ridiculously gruesome and painful way to die. Fawkes had no intention to take that lying down though. Upon being presented for the spectacle of his own long and painful dismemberment he slipped his guards grasp and committed suicide by jumping off the platform.

As his final act Fawkes managed to sabotage his own execution, after being convicted for his failed attempt to sabotage Parliament, an attempt that was itself sabotaged by an anonymous source. What a merry web the English weave!

Let's talk about pianistic sabotage.

In his early 20s, Beethoven (already a very good pianist) was trying to break into the musical scene in Vienna (not an easy thing to do, neither in his days nor ours). He was establishing his reputation as a fantastic improviser, piano virtuoso, and eventually as a composer, in the salons of the rich and powerful. As you can imagine, he was not the only one looking for fame and fortune and not everybody played nice.

There's a letter to Eleonore von Breuning in which Beethoven excuses himself for a difficult part in a set of variations he dedicated to her. He said:

I would never have written something like this, but I had already noticed that now and again there was someone in Vienna ["H(err) Ab(bé) G(elinek)"?] who, when I extemporized of an evening, would often write down many of my specialties the next day and would boast about them. Since I foresaw that such things soon would be published, I wanted to anticipate them.

There was also another reason, namely to embarrass the Klaviermeister from here, some of whom are my deadly enemies, and so I wanted to take my revenge in this fashion, because I knew that sometime they would be given the variations to play, and then these gentlemen would give a bad performance.

What exactly did he do? If you look at the score of said variations, you will see some tricky trills that appear in the last part of the coda (out of nowhere). The trills aren't difficult (unless you take things very literally and play the double one in the right hand), but having to play the theme at the same time with the same hand is a little tricky. Here's a recording, the tricky trills are found at about 9m54s. He wrote the same thing for both hands...

Yes, we can argue the violin can play along and cover you and things will sound nice. There's no need for that tricky part and can be easily avoided (by just playing the trill) with good musical results. Why did Beethoven write it that way? Because fuck you, that's why! If you want to play those, you either have the chops or have to invest quite some time on getting them right. If you just simplify that part, you no longer are the the virtuoso hot shot you say you are. Take that, wannabes!!

A note on the recording

The violin used was made around 1700, and given by Prince Lichnowsky to 30yo Beethoven as part of a set (quartet). Yep, his rich buddy gave him a set of expensive instruments and we can still listen to at least one of them. The fortepiano is a Graf (1840?) replica, and this kind of instrument would have been made close to 50 years after the variations were composed.

This recording is historically informed ;) ;)

Sources

T. Skowroneck - Beethoven the pianist

TL;DR

You gon play like a bitch, you gon die like a bitch... Don't mess with L. van B.