Anecdotes of Great Musicians
Willey Francis Gates
62 chapters · 10 h 56 min · English
Read by Kerry Adams, Sonia, Gillian Hendrie, BookBard, Matea Bracic, Michelle Footz and others
Music
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Three hundred anecdotes and biographical sketches of famous composers and performers.
I have attempted to cull from the mass of material that came to my notice such anecdotes as have two features, that of being characteristic of the person referred to, and that of possessing sufficient interest; and in this re-narration I have incorporated such bits of musical information, along biographical and historical lines, as came to mind at the time of writing, but letting this feature be secondary to the main idea of the work. Thus it is hoped that while my readers may find interesting anecdote, they may also incidentally find that which is of more permanent value.
No classification has been made in the body of the work, thus avoiding monotony in a consecutive reading. The indexes furnish ample references.
If these narrations awaken a more general interest in musical biography, one purpose of my labor will have been accomplished. - Summary by W. Francis Gates (from the Introduction)
Chapters
1 Introductory 3 min 2 The Gregorian Chant; The Bach Revival; Why We Should Sing; Glimpses of Cherubini; Discovering a Nightingale 14 min 3 Balfe's Strange Room Mate; Berlioz and Paganini; History Repeats Itself; The Greatest Musical Prodigy; A Test of Precocity 9 min 4 Irish Enthusiasm; Playing like "Zwei Gotts"; A Sudden Cure; Ole Bull at "Rouge-et-Noir"; Outspoken Admiration 10 min 5 Whims of Composers; Ole Bull as a Duelist; He Didn't Purchase; A Critical Composition; Keep in with the Accompanist 8 min 6 The Youthful Beethoven's Trick on a Singer; An Untalented Royal Pupil; Händel's Persuasiveness; Good English in Song; An Uncringing Reply 11 min 7 Southern Passion; Rather a Hard Opponent to Conquer; Catalani and Goethe; The Music but Not the Face; A Concert Preacher 10 min 8 Traveling in State; Tuning Up; Voice Against Trumpet; Beethoven's Kiss; Mendelssohn's Dislike of Meyerbeer 9 min 9 An Army, a Cow and a Prima Donna; A Musical Priest; Musical Criticism; High Art; A Boy's Memory 8 min 10 Slippers at a Premium; Artistic Aversion to Empty Honors; Music and Madness; Baton Waving. Lully Losing a Limb; Prima Donnas Come High 9 min 11 An Unorthodox Creed; The Devil's Trill; Unlucky Manuscripts; Forewarned is Forearmed; A Queen's Regard for her Music Teacher 11 min 12 An Earnest Student; A Witty Songstress; Moscheles' Blunder; Jealousy in the Family; Prejudice 8 min 13 Musical Gratitude; The Greater the Composer the Greater the Student; An Ignorant Tenor; Three Classes of Players; How to Secure a Successful Début 11 min 14 A Song for Forty; The Temple Organ; A Fiddler's Trick; Personal Appearance; Mozart's Acknowledgment 12 min 15 Operatic Sore Throat; Leoncavallo's Whimsical Opinion of his "Clowns"; How to Make a Singer Sing; Another Way; Rossini Hearing the Impossible 11 min 16 Manuscript for Kettles; A Patti Reception that She Didn't Receive; The Encore Fiend; Händel's Escape; A Hatful of Pearls 8 min 17 Mendelssohn Composing for Fun; The Right Kind of a Patron; An Episode in the Life of an Artist; Earning a Violin Easily; Schubert's Serenade 8 min 18 Malibran's Generosity; How Berlioz Fooled the Critics; Music Hath Charms; Wagner's Melodies and Chords; Disposing of an Audience 12 min 19 Playing on a Shoe; Händel's Successful Scheme; A Basso's Wit; Old Words to New Tunes; The Composer's Debt to Nature 9 min 20 Sontag's Revenge; A Second Napoleon; A Singer's Sense; Haydn's Noble English Pupil; Lablache and Tom Thumb 8 min 21 A Composer's Chagrin; The Friends, Mozart and Haydn; A Frightened Desdemona; Retentive Memories; Patti's Vanity 11 min 22 Clementi's Economy; Music at So Much per Note; Liszt's Precocity; Keeping at It; A Peculiar Genius 10 min 23 Shaking all Over; The "Ox" Minuet; Nilsson and the Shah of Persia; Modulations; An Eventful Career 12 min 24 Napoleon Outwitted by a Songstress; Stubborn Composers; Clerical Wit; A Patient Pupil; Field Fooled 11 min 25 Saving a Fiddle; Absent Minded; The Prima Donna of the Eighteenth Century; The "Harmonious Blacksmith"; The Ups and Downs of a Singer's Life 14 min 26 Some Liberal Musicians; How Paganini Secured his Favorite Fiddle; Liszt on Mendelssohn; Mara's Revenge; Chopin's Technic 12 min 27 Spohr as a Horn Player; Securing Music under Difficulties; In Bülow's Class-Room; Viotti's Tin Fiddle; Liszt's Playing and his Generosity 12 min 28 From Humble Origin to Wealth and Fame; Gallant Haydn; Rossini and the Italian School; Lives of Labor; A Great Quartet 14 min 29 Rec'd in Full of A/c; Wagner's Working Costume; Cherubini as a Revolutionary Fiddler; Conscientious Acting and Singing; The Peculiarities of Genius 12 min 30 Händel's Youth; A Violin for Eighteen Pence; Mendelssohn at Work; A Double Dose of Brahms; Unfailing Sight Reading an Impossibility 10 min 31 A Sharp Rejoinder; Two Kinds of Bills; Von Bülow as a Political Speaker; Lind's First Engagement; Beethoven's First Triumph 10 min 32 Händel's Duel; Paganini's Generous Deed; A Gentle Critic; Art Before Business; The "Dear Saxon" 8 min 33 Bülow's Bits; An Interrupted Concert; Coöperative Composition; An Absent-minded Conductor; Costly Admiration 9 min 34 Wine and Music; Schubert's "Erl-King"; Royal Honors to a Singer; The Deaf Beethoven; The History of a Violin 10 min 35 "Vorts" vs. Music; French Wit; Too Literal; Imagination a Factor in Hearing Music; Musical and Non-Musical Accent 11 min 36 Von Weber to a Bawling Choir; An Interrupted Opera; Beethoven Punished; Violin Collectors; Pot-boilers 8 min 37 Gounod's Faust; Madame Patti; An Even Distribution of Honors; Rapid Composition; Friends 12 min 38 Haydn's Reception by Prince Esterhazy; Proving Identity; A Great Thief; Von Bülow's Memory; Their Favorite Surroundings for Composition 14 min 39 A Kind Act; Public Criticism; Fun on the Stage; The Thirty-three Variations; A Deserved Chastisement 8 min 40 Il Trovatore; Music vs. Commerce; A Narrow Escape; A Pyrotechnic Violoncello; Misdirected and Repressed Talent 9 min 41 The Discovery of a Tenor; A Long Encore Number; "Englyshe Meetre"; "The Devil on Two Sticks"; Impositions on Musicians 14 min 42 The Hallelujah Chorus; Beethoven a la Cupid; Wagner and the Beggars; Vox Populi; What's in a Name 12 min 43 A Costly Fiddle; Bach's Great Works. How Enjoyed by Some; Peculiar English; Original Tapestry; The Manual Labor of Composition 8 min 44 A Burial Place Denied; Von Bülow's Peculiarities; Not at First Sight; Restoring an Organ; An Exciting Musical Duel 11 min 45 An Interrupted Strain; A Musical Tragedy; Beethoven's Gratitude; Choleric Händel; Music vs. Conversation 11 min 46 The World's Reward to Genius; An Obese Basso; Preserving Identity; A Great German Songstress; A Sight for the Boys 12 min 47 Paganini in Court Dress; A Gory Drumstick; Great Musical Memories; A Comical Revenge; Scherzo 12 min 48 But One Seat Left; A Compliment from Haydn; A Particular Prima Donna; Mendelssohn's Kindness; Campanini as a Soldier 7 min 49 To Make a Player Play; True Kindliness; Viotti's Independence; Not the Geese that Saved Rome; That Patti Kiss 15 min 50 Longevity of Musicians; Liszt as an Advertiser; Arrested for Treason; Rothschild's Music; The "Prison Josephs" 16 min 51 Schumann's Failure; Genius Discovered by Punishment; Richard Wagner and the Number "13"; A Little Trick of Paganini's; Liszt's Completion of the Beethoven Monument 11 min 52 Delayed Appreciation; Overfed Composers; Nasal; A Bold Pupil; Wagner's Activity 9 min 53 An Opera Sacrificed; An Erratic Prima Donna; When They Began; Sarcasm; A Prima Donna's Pets 11 min 54 Paganini's Method of Study; Goat Hair for Hero Worshipers; Stage Censorship; Fallible; A Dressing-room War 11 min 55 Aristocratic Patronage, Haydn's Farewell; The Hebrew in Music; The Story of Mozart's Requiem; Liszt's Reply to Louis Philippe; Jenny Lind's Generosity 13 min 56 Beethoven, Brain-owner; Schubert's Modesty; Our Musical Advancement; Honest Opinions; The Modern Tendency 9 min 57 Fugues and Chess; Fortunes in Fiddles; One Kind of Criticism; Musical Cooks; Artistic Pride 10 min 58 Beethoven's Friends; Prolific Composers; Music for the Eye; Schumann's Madness; Humor in Composition 15 min 59 Haydn's Last Appearance; The Heroic in Music; A Peculiar Visiting Card; Origin of the Name "Kreutzer Sonata"; Royal Musicians 16 min 60 A Charitable Trio; Beethoven's Forgetfulness; Rossini's Arrogance; To a Pauper's Grave 8 min 61 Notable Musical Antagonisms: Händel, Buononcini; Gluck, Piccinni; Cuzzoni, Bordoni; Sontag, Malibran; Liszt, Thalberg 14 min 62 The Financial Circumstances of the Great Composers 9 min
