Anecdotes of Great Musicians


Lu par LibriVox Volunteers

(4 étoiles; 1 critique)

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) (10 hr 55 min)

Chapitres

Introductory 3:21 Lu par Kerry Adams
The Gregorian Chant; The Bach Revival; Why We Should Sing; Glimpses of Cherubini; Discovering a Nightingale 14:27 Lu par Kerry Adams
Balfe's Strange Room Mate; Berlioz and Paganini; History Repeats Itself; The Greatest Musical Prodigy; A Test of Precocity 9:18 Lu par Sonia
Irish Enthusiasm; Playing like "Zwei Gotts"; A Sudden Cure; Ole Bull at "Rouge-et-Noir"; Outspoken Admiration 9:33 Lu par Sonia
Whims of Composers; Ole Bull as a Duelist; He Didn't Purchase; A Critical Composition; Keep in with the Accompanist 8:18 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
The Youthful Beethoven's Trick on a Singer; An Untalented Royal Pupil; Händel's Persuasiveness; Good English in Song; An Uncringing Reply 10:55 Lu par BookBard
Southern Passion; Rather a Hard Opponent to Conquer; Catalani and Goethe; The Music but Not the Face; A Concert Preacher 9:54 Lu par Matea Bracic
Traveling in State; Tuning Up; Voice Against Trumpet; Beethoven's Kiss; Mendelssohn's Dislike of Meyerbeer 8:40 Lu par Matea Bracic
An Army, a Cow and a Prima Donna; A Musical Priest; Musical Criticism; High Art; A Boy's Memory 7:40 Lu par Sonia
Slippers at a Premium; Artistic Aversion to Empty Honors; Music and Madness; Baton Waving. Lully Losing a Limb; Prima Donnas Come High 9:22 Lu par Sonia
An Unorthodox Creed; The Devil's Trill; Unlucky Manuscripts; Forewarned is Forearmed; A Queen's Regard for her Music Teacher 11:06 Lu par Sonia
An Earnest Student; A Witty Songstress; Moscheles' Blunder; Jealousy in the Family; Prejudice 7:33 Lu par Sonia
Musical Gratitude; The Greater the Composer the Greater the Student; An Ignorant Tenor; Three Classes of Players; How to Secure a Successful Début 11:14 Lu par BookBard
A Song for Forty; The Temple Organ; A Fiddler's Trick; Personal Appearance; Mozart's Acknowledgment 11:50 Lu par BookBard
Operatic Sore Throat; Leoncavallo's Whimsical Opinion of his "Clowns"; How to Make a Singer Sing; Another Way; Rossini Hearing the Impossible 10:55 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
Manuscript for Kettles; A Patti Reception that She Didn't Receive; The Encore Fiend; Händel's Escape; A Hatful of Pearls 7:30 Lu par Michelle Footz
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 8:20 Lu par De Anna Lee
Malibran's Generosity; How Berlioz Fooled the Critics; Music Hath Charms; Wagner's Melodies and Chords; Disposing of an Audience 11:59 Lu par De Anna Lee
Playing on a Shoe; Händel's Successful Scheme; A Basso's Wit; Old Words to New Tunes; The Composer's Debt to Nature 9:10 Lu par Rita Boutros
Sontag's Revenge; A Second Napoleon; A Singer's Sense; Haydn's Noble English Pupil; Lablache and Tom Thumb 7:58 Lu par Sonia
A Composer's Chagrin; The Friends, Mozart and Haydn; A Frightened Desdemona; Retentive Memories; Patti's Vanity 10:43 Lu par Ken Sheaffer
Clementi's Economy; Music at So Much per Note; Liszt's Precocity; Keeping at It; A Peculiar Genius 10:17 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
Shaking all Over; The "Ox" Minuet; Nilsson and the Shah of Persia; Modulations; An Eventful Career 11:32 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
Napoleon Outwitted by a Songstress; Stubborn Composers; Clerical Wit; A Patient Pupil; Field Fooled 11:13 Lu par JCzekaj
Saving a Fiddle; Absent Minded; The Prima Donna of the Eighteenth Century; The "Harmonious Blacksmith"; The Ups and Downs of a Singer's Life 13:32 Lu par jenno
Some Liberal Musicians; How Paganini Secured his Favorite Fiddle; Liszt on Mendelssohn; Mara's Revenge; Chopin's Technic 11:34 Lu par jenno
Spohr as a Horn Player; Securing Music under Difficulties; In Bülow's Class-Room; Viotti's Tin Fiddle; Liszt's Playing and his Generosity 11:33 Lu par jenno
From Humble Origin to Wealth and Fame; Gallant Haydn; Rossini and the Italian School; Lives of Labor; A Great Quartet 13:30 Lu par jenno
Rec'd in Full of A/c; Wagner's Working Costume; Cherubini as a Revolutionary Fiddler; Conscientious Acting and Singing; The Peculiarities of Genius 12:01 Lu par jenno
Händel's Youth; A Violin for Eighteen Pence; Mendelssohn at Work; A Double Dose of Brahms; Unfailing Sight Reading an Impossibility 9:31 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
A Sharp Rejoinder; Two Kinds of Bills; Von Bülow as a Political Speaker; Lind's First Engagement; Beethoven's First Triumph 10:16 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
Händel's Duel; Paganini's Generous Deed; A Gentle Critic; Art Before Business; The "Dear Saxon" 8:00 Lu par quartertone
Bülow's Bits; An Interrupted Concert; Coöperative Composition; An Absent-minded Conductor; Costly Admiration 8:44 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
Wine and Music; Schubert's "Erl-King"; Royal Honors to a Singer; The Deaf Beethoven; The History of a Violin 9:42 Lu par Rita Boutros
"Vorts" vs. Music; French Wit; Too Literal; Imagination a Factor in Hearing Music; Musical and Non-Musical Accent 10:59 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
Von Weber to a Bawling Choir; An Interrupted Opera; Beethoven Punished; Violin Collectors; Pot-boilers 8:17 Lu par Rita Boutros
Gounod's Faust; Madame Patti; An Even Distribution of Honors; Rapid Composition; Friends 11:40 Lu par valroth
Haydn's Reception by Prince Esterhazy; Proving Identity; A Great Thief; Von Bülow's Memory; Their Favorite Surroundings for Composition 13:53 Lu par valroth
A Kind Act; Public Criticism; Fun on the Stage; The Thirty-three Variations; A Deserved Chastisement 7:49 Lu par valroth
Il Trovatore; Music vs. Commerce; A Narrow Escape; A Pyrotechnic Violoncello; Misdirected and Repressed Talent 8:53 Lu par valroth
The Discovery of a Tenor; A Long Encore Number; "Englyshe Meetre"; "The Devil on Two Sticks"; Impositions on Musicians 13:43 Lu par Claudia Peri
The Hallelujah Chorus; Beethoven a la Cupid; Wagner and the Beggars; Vox Populi; What's in a Name 12:12 Lu par Claudia Peri
A Costly Fiddle; Bach's Great Works. How Enjoyed by Some; Peculiar English; Original Tapestry; The Manual Labor of Composition 7:50 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
A Burial Place Denied; Von Bülow's Peculiarities; Not at First Sight; Restoring an Organ; An Exciting Musical Duel 11:02 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
An Interrupted Strain; A Musical Tragedy; Beethoven's Gratitude; Choleric Händel; Music vs. Conversation 10:33 Lu par Rita Boutros
The World's Reward to Genius; An Obese Basso; Preserving Identity; A Great German Songstress; A Sight for the Boys 12:09 Lu par MarcThomsen
Paganini in Court Dress; A Gory Drumstick; Great Musical Memories; A Comical Revenge; Scherzo 12:27 Lu par Seraphina
But One Seat Left; A Compliment from Haydn; A Particular Prima Donna; Mendelssohn's Kindness; Campanini as a Soldier 7:22 Lu par quartertone
To Make a Player Play; True Kindliness; Viotti's Independence; Not the Geese that Saved Rome; That Patti Kiss 15:28 Lu par quartertone
Longevity of Musicians; Liszt as an Advertiser; Arrested for Treason; Rothschild's Music; The “Prison Josephs" 15:42 Lu par Larry Wilson
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 10:38 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
Delayed Appreciation; Overfed Composers; Nasal; A Bold Pupil; Wagner's Activity 9:14 Lu par Nick Donald
An Opera Sacrificed; An Erratic Prima Donna; When They Began; Sarcasm; A Prima Donna's Pets 10:34 Lu par valroth
Paganini's Method of Study; Goat Hair for Hero Worshipers; Stage Censorship; Fallible; A Dressing-room War 10:48 Lu par quartertone
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 13:16 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
Beethoven, Brain-owner; Schubert's Modesty; Our Musical Advancement; Honest Opinions; The Modern Tendency 9:13 Lu par Michelle Footz
Fugues and Chess; Fortunes in Fiddles; One Kind of Criticism; Musical Cooks; Artistic Pride 10:09 Lu par Michelle Footz
Beethoven's Friends; Prolific Composers; Music for the Eye; Schumann's Madness; Humor in Composition 14:51 Lu par valroth
Haydn's Last Appearance; The Heroic in Music; A Peculiar Visiting Card; Origin of the Name "Kreutzer Sonata"; Royal Musicians 15:34 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
A Charitable Trio; Beethoven's Forgetfulness; Rossini's Arrogance; To a Pauper's Grave 7:36 Lu par Gillian Hendrie
Notable Musical Antagonisms: Händel—Buononcini; Gluck—Piccinni; Cuzzoni—Bordoni; Sontag—Malibran; Liszt—Thalberg 13:33 Lu par Chuck Lavazzi
The Financial Circumstances of the Great Composers 9:19 Lu par quartertone

Critiques


(4 étoiles)

A few chapters and individual stories are repeated. Most of the readers are tolerably good. This collection was apparently originally produced in 1894.