Category: Anecdotes

  • A duet under the bed

    It was in the eventful year, then, of 1813—the year of “Il Figlio per Azzardo”, with its obbligato accompaniment for lamp-shades of “Tancredi” and of “L’Italiana in Algeri”—that Rossini was writing one morning in bed, when the duet on which he was engaged fell from his hands. “Nothing easier”, an ordinary composer would say, “than…

  • Imogen Cooper on a lesson with Alfred Brendel

    He was a wonderful teacher. He is extremely articulate and very demanding. He made no concessions to my age. In my first lesson, I was playing a Schubert piano sonata, and the first chord took 20 minutes. I played it again and again, and Brendel wandered around the room saying: “No, balance of sound wrong…

  • A typical recital in England in 1897

    John E. Borland described in a paper of June 1897: It was customary to commence with a Bach prelude and fugue (usually perverted from one intended for the organ), a Beethoven sonata (choice limited to four or five), some Chopin pieces (there were about twelve orthodox ones to select from), and a Liszt rhapsody. These…

  • A party piece

    Irish pianist and composer George Alexander Osburn (1806-93) was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and a director of the Philharmonic Society. One of his most popular compositions was La Pluie de Perles (The Shower of Pearls). At a fashionable party, at which he arrived very late, he was invited to play, and…

  • Rachmaninoff as a young student

    From 1882, nine-year-old Rachmaninoff moved to St Petersburg to study at the conservatoire. In the comfortable knowledge that, even if he did not practice, his efforts were more successful than those of his classmates, young Sergei grew lazier and lazier. In the end he did nothing at all, showed a marked preference for shirking his…

  • Satie’s day

    Satie wrote that “An artist must organise his life.” In 1913, he set said out a schedule in which he stated he would be inspired between 10:23 and 11:47am, and 3:12 to 4:10pm. The timetable allowed for daily house riding, and various other activities such as fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation, swimming, etc. The day…

  • Mahler’s bowing instructions

    Rachmaninoff played his Third Concerto in January 1909 in New York, conducted by Gustav Mahler. Rachmaninoff recalled the rehearsal: Suddenly, Mahler, who had conducted this passage a tempo, tapped his desk: “Stop!  Don’t pay any attention to the difficult bowing marked in your parts. … Play the passage like this,” and he indicated a different…

  • A lesson with Beethoven

    One fearful winter’s day in Vienna, in 1794, the snow standing deep and still falling fast, the traffic almost entirely suspended in the streets, Countess Teresa Brunswick, then a girl of fifteen, was waiting for Beethoven’s arrival, to give her her pianoforte lesson. Weather never stopped him; but when he appeared it was obvious that…

  • Borodin transposing

    Excerpts from Borodin’s Prince Igor were to be performed by the Free College of Music. Rimsky Korsakov recalled: At this epoch, Prince Igor advanced slowly, but advanced nevertheless. How many prayers I addressed to dear Borodine that he might finally decide to orchestrate a few numbers for the concert! His numerous occupations at the Medical…

  • An experiment in the colours of keys

    The relativity of all these key-colour associations was illustrated during a debate on the whole subject organised in London in 1886 by the Journal “Musical Opinion”. That section of the audience that maintained the definite existence of “key colour” by which it could aurally identify a key was submitted to a test, a well known…

  • Karajan and direction

    Seiji Ozawa recalls Karajan’s overarching concept of music: I really shouldn’t start comparing Karajan and Bernstein. I’m thinking of the word “direction” – the direction of the music. In Maestro Karajan’s case, he had it from birth – the ability to make long phrases. It was something he taught us, the ones who studied with…

  • Liszt on the piano

    In its span of seven octaves [the piano] embraces the range of an orchestra; the ten fingers of a single man suffice to render the harmonies produced by the combined forces of more than 100 concerted instruments. We make arpeggios like the harp, prolonged notes like wind instruments, staccatos, and a thousand other effects which…

  • Bernstein as a counterpoint student at Harvard

    The composer Harold Shapero, who lived a few doors away from Bernstein in Newton and was a year behind him at Harvard, also noted Bernstein’s cavalier approach to counterpoint studies. “Lenny didn’t come to class at all. I was a dutiful little student. I did my Palestrina stuff and I got an ‘A.’ . .…

  • “Didn’t you like it?”

    Leonard Bernstein and Mildred Spiegel attended the Boston Symphony Orchestra season in 1933. They sat, she remembers, in the second balcony “under one of the male Greek nude statues.” One evening, during a standing ovation for the orchestra’s music director, Serge Koussevitzky, Lenny “just sat there” clapping very softly. “What’s the matter,” I asked, “didn’t…

  • Hough and Schnabel on piano rolls

    I want to believe in piano rolls. The idea that we can insert an object into a present-day piano and hear long-dead pianists and composers perform again as if they were in the same room is a tantalisingly attractive prospect. It has a magical aura about it. But, I’m afraid, it’s a conjuring trick, or…

  • Satie on La Mer

    At the 1905 premiere of La Mer, one of whose movements is called “From Dawn to Midday on the Sea”, Debussy received the usual post-performance congratulations. Satie’s deflating comment was, “Ah, my dear friend, there’s one particular moment between half past ten and a quarter to eleven that I found especially stunning.” Levison, B. (2015).…

  • ‘Real’ instruments in popular music

    “We’re seeing a big evolution of production, of recording techniques, and of the actual sounds. Everything’s getting sampled and synthesized…. When we do have an acoustic instrument like a saxophone, it tends to get processed to where [it’s] almost unrecognizable.” Jeff Harrington, saxophonist. Cited in, Kelsey McKinney, “Where Did All the Saxophones Go?”,        https://getpocket.com/explore/item/where-did-all-the-saxophones-go?utm_source=pocket-app&utm_medium=share, accessed 29…

  • Brahm’s introduction in Vienna

    in 1862, Brahms called to see Julius Epstein, a professor at the Vienna Conservatory. “Joachim tells me – ha! – that you have written some really interesting music. Sent me your piano sonata in F minor to look over. Bring any new compositions with you?” he added, noticing Johanne’s portfolio. “I have two piano quartets…

  • Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy

    One of the most magical passages in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is the Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy. The featured instrument, the celeste, was a relatively new invention, having only been developed by a Parisian harmonium builder, Auguste Mustel, in 1886. The French word “céleste” translates to “heavenly”. Tchaikovsky first discovered the celeste while visiting Paris…

  • Arthur Rubinstein’s youthful practice habits

    Interviewer: So many children hate to take music lessons. Can you understand this? Rubinstein: Oh, yes, I was one of them. You see, music lessons mean always this horrible dictatorial attitude of the professors. They slap four fingers and aarh; they shout at you: “Can’t you learn that? You must practice scales!” I mean, it…

  • The Jankó Keyboard

    The Hungarian mathematician, Paul von Jankó developed an alternate layout to the traditional piano keyboard. In July 1888, upon seeing a performance in London by John Carlowitz Ames, The Musical Times reported: The clever idea, which suggested itself to the inventor as a means for overcoming the difficulty of stretching long intervals on the pianoforte…

  • A young Josef Hoffmann

    The Polish pianist, Josef Hoffmann may have been a child prodigy. Upon hearing him play, Anton Rubinstein, who typically disliked child prodigies said told his manager, “This prodigy I believe in. Hear him!” (1) Yet in 1908, The Daily Graphic looked back on having seen the young pianist: When Joseph Hoffmann was an infant prodigy,…

  • The mannerisms of Pachmann

    The Russian pianist, Vladimir von Pachmann was known for his funny mannerisms: Everyone knows that the Russian pianist has funny ways of his own, which the public tolerate for the pleasure he affords them as an artist. On this occasion, we read, he remarked, first of all, “Too few people; I cannot play. This is…

  • Paderewski, the dandy

    Overheard in a New York street car:— Average Young Man (to neighbour): “Everything they say about Paderewski is true. He’s a perfect genius. Why, he played fourteen pieces and did not once look at the programme. Yet he played straight ahead and never once forgot what piece was to come next. I tell you the…

  • Stravinsky and Charlie Parker

    There is a story that Igor Stravinsky went to the New York jazz club Birdland one evening in 1951. Whispers went round that the great composer was in the house. When Charlie Parker came on with his quintet, he didn’t acknowledge Stravinsky in person, but seamlessly quoted The Firebird in his first number, the furiously…

  • Horowitz’s stringent requirements

    When Vladimir Horowitz performed in Japan: …. a kitchen had to be built in his suite because he insists that all his meals – fish or chicken only – be taken there. The electrical wiring ran afoul of Tokyo fire laws, requiring new wallpaper and a special floor. Several critics suggested in a music journal…

  • Horowitz’s practice regime

    The piano technician, Franz Mohr, observed: Horowitz was consistent in all that he did. His rehearsal was always on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., his performance was on Sunday. And I always had plenty of time to prepare his piano for the concert. Of course Horowitz would have never stolen my preparation time in order to…

  • Vladimir Horowitz on encores

    ”You see,” he said, ”I have a very substantial program, and after a substantial program, you can’t play a substantial encore. You play a little … ” at this, he strummed the air with his fingers, tinkling an imaginary piano. ”It is,” he said, ”anticlimactic.” Clyde Haberman, “3,500 Japanese Applaud Horowtiz for 14 Minutes”, The…

  • Matheson and Handel’s duel

    Two flamboyant young musickers leave the town of Lübeck as soon as can be. For they have learned that the successful candidate must marry the daughter of the man in whose shoes they would fain have trodden the pedals. One look at the daughter was enough. She was not fair to see, and her years…

  • Handel’s dinner for three

    Handel certainly liked to eat: A story is told of him that he once ordered up enough dinner for three. Noting that the servant dawdled about, Handel demanded why; the servant answered that he was waiting for the company to come, whereupon Handel stormed, in his famous broken English, “Den print up der tinner prestissimo.…

  • A lock of Beethoven’s hair

    Once a devoted admirer, wife of a Vienna pianist, longed for a lock of the composer’s outrageously unkempt hair, and asked a friend to get her one. At his suggestion, Beethoven, who was a practical joker of boorish capabilities, sent her a tuft from the chin of a goat. The trick was discovered, and the…

  • Claudio Arrau in Newcastle

    While the Century Theatre in Broadmeadow (Australia) primarily operated as a cinema, it was also hosted concerts, including by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On one occasion, Claudio Arrau performed in the theatre, as recalled by Harry Armstrong: With only a few minutes to go before the famous pianist was scheduled to commence his performance, which…

  • The art of playing the triangle

    George Plimpton, a writer and sportsman, asked if he could play in the New York Philharmonic for a month to write about the workings of an orchestra.  Leonard Bernstein assigned him to the percussion section.  The principal percussionist, Walter Rosenberg, recalled his experience: During rehearsals I would lean over and point to where we were…

  • Composing in the bath

    Gustav Mahler recalled: After an illness, Bruckner was ordered by his doctor to take a daily hip-bath.  Loath to waste time, he would take music paper and compose while in the tub.  While absorbed in his work one day, the mother of Rudolf Kryzanowski, one of his pupils, knocked at the door.  “Come in!” called…

  • A courteous conductor

    Brucker was invited by Hans Richter to conduct one of his symphonies with the Vienna Society of Friends of Music. At the rehearsal he stood on the conductor’s platform, stick in hand, with a beatific smile on his face. The orchestra were all ready to begin, but he would not lift his stick to give…

  • A dog with musical taste

    “Anton Bruckner had a chubby, fat pug dog named Mops,” Fritz Kreisler, a former pupil of Bruckner’s once recalled. “He would leave us with Mops munching our sandwiches while he himself hastened off to luncheon. We decided we’d play a joke on our teacher which would flatter him. So while the Meister was away, we’d…

  • It’s the page turner’s fault

    Several years ago, Mr. Kalichstein hired a young music student who kept reaching across the score to turn pages from the bottom right corner, in the process obscuring several measures of the concerto. “Take it from the top!” the frustrated Mr. Kalichstein finally hissed; reflexively, the page turner flipped the score back to the beginning.…

  • There’s one way to get him to play

    People often begged him to play a little air on the violin, but he refused great lords and his fellow de-bauchers alike.  The only person who succeeded in making him play was the Marshal de Grammont.  He had a footman called La Lande who later became one of the best violinists in Europe.  After a…

  • Waste not, want not

    While attending school in Lüneberg, J. S. Bach used to travel to Hamburg (50km away) to hear the organist of the Catharinekirche: J. A. Reincken.  Marpurg describes how Bach, returning almost penniless to Lüneberg, once rested outside an inn; how someone threw two herring heads out on the rubbish heap; how Bach – a Thuringian, to…

  • Widmann on Brahms

    Widmann, a Swiss poet, describes Brahms’ performing at the piano: The broad leonine chest, the Herculean shoulders, the mighty head which the player sometimes threw back with an energetic jerk, the pensive, handsome brow that seemed to radiate an inner illumination, and the Germanic eyes which scintillated with a wondrous fire between their fair lashes…

  • A Cantata for Dogs

    Between 1911 and 1914, Nicolas Medtner stayed at Khlebnikovo, a house on the Osipov estate in the village of Trakhaneyevo. There were visits by the family, brothers Karl and Alexander and sister Sofiya, with their children. Karl’s daughter Vera brought her dachshund with her and would join her uncle Kolya [Nicolas] and Flix [Nicolas’ fox…

  • Brahms’ reaction to Wagner’s Music

    Brahms attended a Wagner concert in Vienna: All through the concert Johannes sat in stony silence. At the close, when everyone was applauding vigorously, he still made no move or comment.  Finally his companion – beside himself with enthusiasm – cried: “What music! Wasn’t it marvellous?” The composer raised his eyebrows a little.  Then he…

  • Dividing the concert takings

    In 1866 Brahms and the violinist Joachim gave a concert tour through Switzerland.  One of their concerts was in Aarau. After the program, Brahms and Joachim went to a tavern, where they opened several bottles of the best vintage Swiss wine, including the popular vin mousseux of Lausanne.  Brahms felt decidedly genial. “How did we…

  • The London Proms in the 1930s

    A recollection of the London Proms in 1936: The behavior of the Promenaders was more genteel in those days … there wasn’t the same degree of shouting as now.  During the famous hornpipe in Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs people tapped with their umbrellas and sticks, rather than stamping.  As the applause went…

  • This music is too hard

    In 1862 Brahms went to Vienna: Although he been in Vienna only a few weeks, Brahms was already making a name for himself.  After the first performance of  his First Serenade, Hanslick wrote more favorably, calling the work “one of the most charming of modern compositions.” A few months later, the leading Viennese orchestra played…

  • Comfort in the score of Saul

    In 1862 Brahms left Hamburg for Vienna. Brahms was not at all sure that he would remain long in Vienna; but he must have had some premonition that his Hamburg life was nearly over.  He found it hard to say goodbye to his old father and mother; though this time he could leave secure in…

  • The tone of the piano at the turn of the nineteenth century

    In 1796, the piano maker Johann Andreas Streicher sent Beethoven one of his pianos as a gift.  Beethoven's reply sheds some interesting light on the tone of the piano at this time: There is no doubt that so far as the manner of playing is concerned, the pianoforte is still the least studied and developed…

  • A subtle way of changing the tempo

    Brahms was rehearsing his F minor piano quintet. But when they reached the Andante, the strings played too fast to suit Brahms. This had happened once before in an early rehearsal of the same work, and the composer had discovered a tactful way of handling the situation.  Instead of criticizing, he called: "Just a moment,…

  • How to get an audience

    Johannes Brahms and the violinist Eduard Remenyi had been concertizing to great success in Cello and Lüneberg.  By this time the two musicians were so elated over their success that they decided to try a concert in the city of Hildesheim entirely on their own.  They had no one there to herald their coming, write…

  • After music from a bridge, why not a tower?

    To mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson river in New York, composer Joseph Bertolozzi sampled sounds of percussively hitting various parts of the bridge.  He now has his sights set on using the Eiffel Tower.  Wakin, Daniel, ""After Music from a Bridge, Why Not A Tower?"", Arts Beat, 8 July…

  • Dreaming of Figaro

    By 1790, Haydn has become dissatisfied with life at Eszterhaza.  On 9th February he wrote: Well! I sit in my wilderness; forsaken, like some poor orphan, almost without human society; melancholy, dwelling on the memory of past glorious days.  Yes; past, alas! And who can tell when these happy hours may return?  Those charming meetings?…

  • It must be resolved

    Bach, a master of harmony and counterpoint, would not settle for imperfect sounds, no matter where he was.  Johann Reichardt recalled: Johann Sebastian Bach once came into a large company while a musical amateur was sitting and improvising at a harpsichord.  The moment the latter became aware of the presence of the great master, he…

  • A little help with a fugue

    Rachmaninoff had a little help with a fugue exam at the Moscow Conservatory in 1891: By mistake the examinations of Rachmaninoff in both piano and fugue were scheduled for the same day and hour, so his fugue examination was transferred to the following day, when he was to be examined alone, the rest of the…

  • Artificial by nature

    Burnett James describes how in the 1920s Ravel was preoccupied with decorating "Le Belvédère" [his house] and in laying out the garden with many small exotic plants and miniature Japanese trees. To see that house and garden today is to experience a feeling of direct contact with Ravel. He deliberately made it an accurate reflection…

  • Some curious devices

    In the late nineteenth-century, some quite curious mechanical inventions were created to deal with the body with relation to pianists and conductors.    The following is an account of a presentation by T. L. Southgate on The Physiology of Pianoforte Piano. The paper presented was written by W. Macdonald Smith.  This account appeared in the…

  • Gramophone: no substitute for live performance

    British conductor Thomas Beecham was not too impressed with early recording technology (the gramophone): It was put to him that for people who lived in remote districts, far from orchestral concerts, the gramophone was an alternative: "It is no alternative to this," he said, waving his arm towards the hall, where the orchestra was waiting…

  • You can’t own the tuning

    This account of a bizarre law suite on May 6 at Bow St. against the Associated Board of Musical Examinations appeared in the English journal The Musical Times (June 1932).  The board was accused of obtaining money under false pretences: Mr. Lennox Atkins, F.R.C.O., asked on behalf of the Equal Temperament Committee for a process…

  • The price of an encore

    At a concert in London in December 1911, Rachmaninoff was received to great acclaim: perhaps a little too much from the orchestra's view point, who wanted to play the rest of their program: The London Philharmonic Concert given on November 7, provided an object lesson in this study of the relation of applause to encores. …

  • Examination findings

    Some curious answers for the Society of Arts published in the Musical Times (English Journal), July 1888: The Examiner’s report on the papers worked by the candidates in the recent Theoretical Examinations of the Society of Arts shows some very curious facts. … Mistakes in spelling have not been accredited with loss to to the…

  • A bewitched recording

    Early phonograph recordings were a little rough.  In 1889, pianist Hans von Bülow was asked to play into a phonograph in America: After playing upon a pianoforte, from which issued sounds compared to the soft and dreamy gurgle of a brook, the far-off sighign of the night wind and the roar of the cataract, he…

  • George and Ira Gershwin preview Porgy and Bess

    The stage director of the first Porgy and Bess production recalls hearing the score in Gerswhin's New York apartment: They both blissfully closed their eyes before they continued with the lovely "Summertime" song.  George played with the most beatific smile on his face.  He seemed to float on the waves of his own music with…

  • What Cage couldn’t stand

    “John Cage once said he couldn’t abide the Dominant Seventh, and the saxophone.” Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999.  Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.65.

  • To fool, or be fooled, by a name

    One of Tchaikovsky’s favorite anecdotes resulted from his nearly losing the sketches for the Little Russian on the way back to Moscow. To persuade a recalcitrant postmaster to hitch the horses to the coach in which he and his brother Modest had been travelling, Tchaikovsky presented himself as “Prince Volkonsky, gentleman of the Emperor’s bedchamber.”…

  • Conditions stipulated for the Imperial Court Chapel

    The Imperial Chapel Choir was founded in Vienna in 1498 and performed exclusively for the court.  Composers that worked with the choir included Musicians like Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Joseph Fux, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner.  Schubert was a chorister.  After the dissolution of the…

  • A mystery instrument created

    Mozart’s Magic Flute uses a glass harmonica or keyed glockenspiel to represent a set of magic bells. “Mozart’s original score for the 1791 opera The Magic Flute called for a glass harmonica or keyed glockenspiel to represent a set of magic bells. The instruments were obscure even in Mozart’s day but more than 200 years after his…

  • The ghost of Paganini

    The Belgian violinist Eugène Yasÿe frightened Busoni by playing the Bach Chaconne and Paganini Caprices on a kit violin in the darkened passages of a hotel.  ”It was like the ghost of Paganini, purposely exaggerating all the worst mannerisms of the typical virtuoso, and Busoni could never forget the sight of Ysaÿe’s vast bulk and…

  • As good as Paderewsky

    “At the end of a dinner he was attending by a lady in Liege, Ysaÿe was asked to listen to a young violinist. Although he felt tired and was longing to go back home he could not but accept his hostess’s request. The young man played several pieces from his repertoire. Then, after a long…

  • Borge on Borodin

    "My favorite Russian composer is Borodin, mainly because he had the shortest name. Except for Cui, who was just showing off. […] Cui wrote an opera called A Feast in Time of Plague. Shows you what kind of guy HE was." (Victor Borge, My Favorite Intermissions, New York, 1971, p133)  

  • Beethoven and food

    When he [Beethoven] came to Vienna, he knew nothing at all of the fine art of cooking.  He cared little about good food, his favorite dish being a mess of macaroni with plenty of cheese on top.  He liked, too, the simplest kind of stew, and fish from the Danube.  Ignaz Seyfried reported that Beethoven…

  • Sight singing with Handel

    When Handel travelled through Chester, on his way to Ireland, this year, 1741 (to give the first performance of Messiah), I was at the Public School in that city and very well remember seeing him [Handel] smoke a pipe, over a dish of coffee, at the Exchange Coffee House; for being extremely curious to see…

  • Just a few variations

    Tchaikovsky was an enthusiastic student at the St. Petersberg Conservatoire.  Anton Rubinstein asked Tchaikvosky to write a series of contrapuntal variations on a given theme.  "I expected that he would present me with about a dozen.  But Tchaikovsky turned up the next class day with more than two hundred!" Cited in: Hanson, Lawrence and Elisabeth…

  • Teddy Bear’s Picnic

    American composer John Bratton wrote the music for “Teddy Bear’s Picnic” in 1907. It was first published by M. Witmark & Sons as a piano work titled “The Teddy Bears Picnic. Characteristic Two Step”. Irishman Jimmy Kennedy added the lyrics in 1932. Dance Band leader Henry Hall hosted a radio program on the BBC which…

  • Early music discovered on carving

    A craftsman replicating large medallions has discovered medieval Scottish notation of instrumental music.  The notation is sequences of 0s, Is and IIs. Barnaby Brown, a specialist in early Scottish music, notated that, “This discovery is potentially of great significance to our understanding of medieval and Renaissance instrumental music – the normally ‘unwritten’ practice of the elite court…

  • Loyalty to a lead

    John Sublett (stage name, John Bubbles) was a tap dancer unable to read music.  He was chosen by Gershwin to perform the role of Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess.  However…. Rehearsing as Sporting Life, John Bubbles was a special problem.  He was so laid back as to be often absent when needed.  At one…

  • Gershwin’s playing (and sense of humour)

    The composer Burton Lane describes George Gershwin’s playing: You could feel the electricity going through the room when he played.  He could transpose into any key with the greatest of ease.  He had total command of what he was doing.  Musical surprises, unusual changes of keys.  He was one of the few composers who had…

  • What about me?

    Songwriter Johnny Green recalled Gershwin bragging about his achievements after a concert, eventually to stop and say: “That’s enough about me.  Now what did you think about how I played?” Cited in: Greenberg, Rodney (2008) George Gershwin.  New York: Phaidon Press, p.46.

  • Gershwin’s romantic side

    Rodney Greenberg describes a side of George Gershwin’s “romantic side”: He wrote a little waltz-song, which he would sing and play to his current dating partner.  It was, in effect, what his friend Kitty Carlisle (who later married playwright Moss Hart) described as his “mating call”, because he left a blank space in the lyrics…

  • Gershwin conducting

    Isaac Goldberg described Gershwin’s enthusiasm when conducting: He conducted not just with his baton, but with his cigar, his shoulders, his hips, his eyes and whatnot.  Nothing but a sense of propriety keeps him from leaping over the footlights and getting right into the show himself. Cited in: Greenberg, Rodney (2008) George Gershwin.  New York: Phaidon…

  • Gershwin: the life at the party

    Gershwin was often the life of a party, entertaining on the piano.  He said: “The trouble is, when I don’t play at a party I don’t have a good time.” Cited in: Greenberg, Rodney (2008) George Gershwin.  New York: Phaidon Press, p.47.

  • George Gershwin at the piano

    The theatre director Rouben Mamoulian describes Gershwin’s playing: George at the piano was George happy … like a sorcerer celebrating his Sabbath.  He would draw out a lovely melody like a golden thread, then juggle it, twist it and toss it around mischievously, weave it into unexpected intricate patterns, and hurl it into a cascade…

  • Rachmaninoff scares me

    Cyril Smith recounts Rachmaninoff’s stage presence: Those who were fortunate enough to hear him play will almost certainly remember this very tall, melancholy figure, with his graying hair in a crew cut and his deeply-lined face set in a somber expression, walking unwillingly to the piano as though he hated the very sight of  it. …

  • A noisy neighbour

    The Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was evicted from his lodgings on several occasions on account of the noise which accompanied his endeavors. Eventually he stopped composing at the piano, using it only to test certain harmonic combinations. This practice proved adequate until his work was interrupted one day by the arrival of a policeman: “You…

  • Not up to form, because …

    Harvey Sach’s comments on pianist Author Rubinstein at age 13: …it is clear that Arthur’s practising began to deteriorate when he was about fourteen years old.  He would mechanically play through one-handed exercises and use his free hand to feed himself chocolates or cherries, while he read a book that he had propped up on…

  • Tchaikovsky as a teacher

    Tchaikovsky disliked teaching at the best of times, but he particularly didn’t enjoy teaching female students, most of whom, in this period of history, were of an amateur status: Although it is a dreary business to have been forced to explain to my young men’s classes for eleven consecutive years what a triad consists of,…

  • Puccini’s hangout

    Puccini was a very sociable man, quote often putting this before his composing.  Even when he was working hard, he maintained an active social life: With the opening of the 1894-1895 season not far way, Puccini began steady work on La Bohème in Torre.  But he also needed a place to relax, so his “second…

  • It’s my apartment and I’ll play if I want to

    Prokofiev and his family moved into a small top floor-apartments in Paris.  Prokofiev spent much time practicing a revised version of his second piano concerto (which was to be premiered 8 May 1924).  The apartment manager demanded that Prokofiev cease playing.  His wife Lina recalled Prokofiev’s response: All right then, you don’t want to hear…

  • Brahm’s first meeting with Schumann

    He [Brahms] sat down and began the sonata which had so impressed Joachim [a violinist].  As he played, a swift change transformed [Robert] Schumann’s impassive features.  The Master listened with growing interest, then suddenly sprang to his feet. “Please”, he cried.  “Will you wait just a moment? Clara -” He hurried to the door and…

  • Rachmaninoff the examiner

    In 1900, Rachmaninoff worked at the Yekaterininsky Girls’ Institute.  One of his students recalled her experience of examination day: The lessens after luncheon seem an eternity – the examination is to begin at 4.I straighten the front bow of my apron, gather my music together, and run to the music room.  The students to be…

  • Liszt meets Beethoven

    I was about eleven years old when my respected teacher Czerny took me to see Beethoven.  Already a long time before, he had told Beethoven about me and asked him to give me a hearing some day.  However, Beethoven had such an aversion to infant prodigies that he persistently refused to see me.  At last…

  • Beethoven’s shutters

    Beethoven moved often, and his landlords were not always keen to have him back. While he was working on the Ninth Symphony in 1923, Beethoven couldn’t stand his present lodgings in Hetzendorf, as the landlord, Baron Pronay, constantly bowed to him when they met.He sought lodgings where he had previously stayed in Baden.  The landlord…

  • Too much pedal

    Johannes Brahms could be incredibly rude, even to his friends. While playing a Beethoven sonata with a cellist friend one day, he applied his piano’s pedals with more enthusiasm than the friend had hoped. “Softer,” he pleaded, “I can’t hear my cello.” “You are lucky,” Brahms replied. “I can.” Source: N. Slonimsky, Book of Musical…

  • Beethoven and the candlesitcks

    Beethoven once gave a performance of a new piano concerto in which he forgot he was the soloist and began to conduct instead.  At the first sforzando he threw out his arms so vehemently that he knocked both candlesticks off the piano.  The audience burst out laughing, which enraged Beethoven.  He made the orchestra start…

  • A simple request

    Humorists Ilf and Petrov described a concert by Rachmaninoff In New York (November 1935): The night we went to hear him he appeared tall, bent, and thin, with a long sad face, his hair closely clipped; he sat down at the piano, separated the folds of his old-fashioned back swallowtail, adjusted one of his cuffs…

  • A motorboat experience

    Rachmaninoff was a great lover of motorboating and used to go out every day.  He always steered himself.  Often he went out alone.  This hobby of his nearly proved fatal during that stay of ours.  About an hour before dinner he said: “I think I shall go for a spin on the lake.” He got…

  • A mushroom anyone?

    …everybody was possessed by the Russian passion for gathering mushrooms.  Rivalries ran high, mushrooms were counted and compared, their beauty was discussed.  Rachmaninoff was an early riser and often went alone for a walk in the woods.  He used to return contented and start teasing (he was a great teaser).  One day he badgered us…

  • Tchaikovsky and mushroom collecting

    Like so many Russians, he was a madly keen collector of mushrooms and could indulge his passion freely at Klin; the woods and fields around his house were filled with them.  However, as anyone will know who has taken to the sport, there are mushroom collectors and mushroom collectors; some have the eye for it,…

  • A carriage of flowers for Tchaikovsky

    Tchaikovsky’s favourite flower was lilies of the valley.  The local musical society at Tiflis was extremely enthusiastic to have the presence of Tchaikovsky at a gala concert of his works at the Opera House: Ippolitov-Ivanov had thought of everything, even finding out by devious means what his favourite flower was.  This flower did not grow…

  • Tchaikovsky and the village children

    Tchaikovsky lived in a village Maidanovo.  When Tchaikovsky would go for works, he would also be hailed by groups of village children.  As Sofya Nikolayevna recalled: “They had discovered the times he went out and, as he always liked to gave them something, sweets or a coin, they used to lie in wait for him.”…

  • Cure for the common chord

    He [John Holmes] entered my room around midnight and said, “‘Eureka!’ shouted Arnold Schoenberg. ‘I’ve found the cure for the common chord.’” Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999.  Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.104.

  • To be a good player

    Bach was once complemented on his organ playing: “There is nothing remarkable about it.  All one has to do is hit the right notes at the right time, and the instrument plays itself.” Quoted by Johann Friedrich Köhler, Leipzig, after 1776.  Hans-Joachim Schulze, ed. Dokumente zum Nachwirken Johann Sebastian Bachs, 1750-1800. Bach-Dokumente, III. 1972, no.…

  • Bunking down in the Philharmonic

    Cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, after running into some problems with his accommodation, was spending a cold November day in the Tiergarten, Berlin, in 1923. Throughout the course of the day, he was approached by Paul Bose to play Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. It began to rain. In Moscow it probably is snowing now, I thought absently, making…

  • Pierrot Lunairre

    A performance of Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire was given by Artur Schnabel (piano), Boris Kroyt (violin), Gregor Piatigorsky (cello), Paul Bose (flute), Marie Gutheil-Schoder (speaker), conducted by Fritz Stiedry. Gregor Piatigorsky was amused at the need for a conductor, given the size of the ensemble: The half-spoken, half-sung voice indicated in the score was partly filled…

  • Stokowski playing Bach on the organ

    Stewart Warkov, assistant manager of the Symphony of The Air in 1961 described Stokowski playing Bach on the organ: Stokowski played Bach on the organ for me, each time one of the great pieces he had arranged. The sound, the phrasing, and the registration, the ritards and the accelerandos, gave me the impression of hearing…

  • A very specific error indeed

    The following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: The newspaper critics Bülow continued to despise because of their self-importance, and he lost no opportunity to expose their musical ignorance.  On one occasion, Bülow, at a public rehearsal in the Philharmonie, remarked upon a printing error in the second horn part of the…

  • Don’t wish me luck

    “From here on out, I declare that no one ever wish me again to ‘break a leg’”. Joyce DiDonato, American mezzo soprano, shortly after having broken a leg on stage in a production of The Barber of Serville at the Royal Opera House. DiDonato insisted on continuing the performance in a wheel chair. Source: Kirkup,…

  • Here’s a pencil … and an eraser

    ‘The following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: Young composers whom Bülow decided to feature in the concerts were encouraged to present themselves at the rehearsals, and even to direct the orchestra themselves, whenever it was deemed to be helpful.  We can only admire the resourcefulness of the budding symphonist who, in…

  • Where to curse the orchestra

    The following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: Bülow’s close relationship with his Berlin audience was not achieved without some stress and strain along the way.  At a Philharmonic concert in January 1892, a half-dozen latecomers, who had been held up at the cloakroom during the intermission, made a noisy entrance in…

  • Szymanowski’s dogs

    The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski was brought up in  very musical environment: he had a dogs named “Scherzo” and “Crotchet”. Source: Palmer, Christopher (1983) Szymanowski.  London: BBC, p. 9.

  • Baroque they are not

    Between 1910 and 1938 the Austrian violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler produced some arrangements of works by Boccherini, Martini, Couperin, Vivaldi and Porpora. They were positively achieved by the crticis.  In 1935, Kreisler revealed that there were not arrangements at all, but in fact works which he had written from scratch.  Suddenly critic’s attitudes to the…

  • Who needs four strings anyway?

    In his work Le Streghe (The Witches), the virtuoso violinist Paganini would use scissors to reduce the number of strings on his violin throughout the piece, until he would be left playing the work on just the G string. Source: Haylock, Julian, “Nicolo Paganini”, Classic FM, December 2009, p. 41.

  • Ravel’s fashion sense

    Ravel was always particular about his sense of fashion.  As Léon-Paul Fargue recalled: Even when he was wasted by illness, Ravel never appeared unkept even among his closest friends.  All his life he kept the perfect, discriminating taste which led him to match his braces to his blue or pink silk shirts, much to the…

  • First class regardless

    The composer Karol Szymanowski was born into a landowning class family.  Even, later in life, when short for money, he always retained the mindset of this class: At one time in Vienna, Szymanowski discovered that he did not have enough money to travel to Cracow, so some friends of him lent him the required sum.…

  • People must hear me

    “I cannot tell you how much I love to play for people. Would you believe it – sometimes when I sit down to practice and there is no one else in the room, I have to stifle an impulse to ring for the elevator man and offer him money to come in and hear me.”…

  • Just as we checked the tuning …

    In 1853, Brahms went on a tour of German cities with the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi.  In the town of Celle, they were scheduled to play Beethoven’s Sonata in c minor (op. 30, no. 2): but it was found that the piano in the hall was tuned a half tone too low.  Reményi refused to…

  • Sibelius’ punch recipe

    “Punch recipe (for Satu’s christening party) 1 l water + sugar + jam + brandy or spirit. Add 2 bottles of wine when everything is completely cold. Add a few drops of Bergamot oil in a lump of sugar, which must be melted in the water. (N.B. All mineral waters make the punch black.” Jean…

  • Rossini’s salad recipe

    “Take the oil from Provence, English mustard, vinegar from France, a little ‘lemon, pepper, salt, beat and mix together; then add a few truffles, cut into thin slices. Truffles gives this dressing a sort of halo, made especially to fascinate a glutton. The Cardinal Secretary of State, who I met in recent days, gave me…

  • Rossini and food

    “After doing nothing, I know no more delightful occupation of eating, eat properly, I mean. The appetite is for the stomach what love is for the heart. The stomach is the choirmaster who governs and operates a large orchestra of the passions. An empty stomach is the bassoon or flute in which discontent grumbles or…

  • Brahms’ stingy side

    Musicologist Richard Leonard describes a stingy side to Brahms’s personality: It is true that at times he was generous, giving away large sums to persons in need, and often imposing a strict secrecy; but about his own affairs he was as congenitally stingy as a peasant.  He bought only the cheapest clothes, wore the same…

  • Two hands or one

    American pianist Seymour Lipkin, a student of Rudolf Serkin recalled a performance of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata Back in the 1970s I gave a recital at Curtis at Mr. Serkin’s invitation.  I was playing the Hammerklavier in those years.  Why, in my right mind … I should never have … but I did.  There, sitting in…

  • Out of practice

    “All I have left is a long nose and a fourth finger out of practice.” Chopin, in Scotland, unable to visit his friend Julian in London because of ill health. Cited in: Zaluski, Iweo & Pamela (1993) The Scottish Autumn of Frederick Chopin. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, p.23.

  • A $1.2 million piano

    “Spotlights dance down on 216 jewels of lead crystal, set in dazzling diamond patterns into the piano’s black lid, sides, legs, fallboard and bench. Each jewel features several hundred to several thousand intricately cut, ground and polished pieces of crystal — nearly a half-million in all.” Glass artist Jon Kuhn has collobarated with Bosendorfer to…

  • Rachmaninoff’s concert routine

    Reporters described Sergei Rachmaninoff on a concert tour (c. 1940): His punctuality is a legend.  If a reporter asks for two minutes of his time, two minutes and no more are given.  Consequently he arrives at a concert hall on the dot of 8 and goes on the stage precisely at 8:30.  If the concert…

  • Bacharach’s teachers

    Burt Bacharach was a student of Darius Milhaud, Bohusalv Martinu, and Henry Cowell. Bacharach’s hits included Magic Moments, Walk on by, The Look of Love, and Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head.

  • Improvising a fugue

    On 1 May 1747, Bach met Friedrich II, King of Prussia, in the Potsdam city palace (where chamber music was usually played from 7-9pm daily).  Johann Forkel recalled: in 1802 The king used to have every evening a private concert, in which he himself generally performed some concertos on the flute.  One evening, just as…

  • Streisland’s instinct

    [Barbara Streisand’s] early voice training amounted to one lesson with a voice teacher. At that session Ms. Streisand sang “A Sleepin’ Bee,” the Harold Arlen song that she performed in her first television appearance, on “The Jack Paar Show” in 1961, just before turning 19. During the lesson Ms. Streisand got as far as the…

  • Growing up in a bell tower

    Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů was born and spent most of his childhood in a church tower in Polička, on the borders of Bohemia and Moravia.  Martinů recalled that the panoramic view encapsulated “the vast and boundless space I am always searching for in my music.” Source: Calum MacDonald, “Bohuslav Martinů”, BBC Music, August 2009, p.44.

  • Brian Wilson to complete Gershwin songs

    In a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras, one the 1960s mastermind of “Good Vibrations,” the other the Jazz Age creator of “Rhapsody in Blue,” former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937.…

  • Ravel and food

    Ravel was touring America, in 1928, but was having some interesting experiences with food. One on occasion: The Mason & Hamlin Company not only provided a piano for Ravel’s use at his hotel, and another for his tour, but also sent him a piano-tuner capable of acting as a courier, interpreter, and general assistant.  This…

  • Gershwin and Ravel

    Ravel, touring America in 1928, was approached by George Gershwin for composition lessons.  Ravel refused, stating “you would only lose your own spontaneity and end up by writing bad Ravel!” Cited in:  James, Burnett (1983) Ravel: His Life and Times.  New York: Midas Books, p.120

  • Mozart’s Pranks

    Mozart’s sense of mischief is evident in his behaviour at a performance of The Magic Flute.  Thisis from a letter to his wife Oct 8 & 9 1791: … (1) had a box [in the theatre] this evening and applauded everything vigorously; but He, that Know-it-all, proved to be a real Bavarian; I couldn’t stay…

  • A little poem by Mozart

    Dearest Stroll! good old troll! you sit in your hole drunk as a Mole! – But you’re touched in your soul by music’s sweet flow. – Mozart, in a letter to Anton Stoll Cited in: Spaethling, Robert (2000) Mozart’s Letters; Mozart’s Life.  London: Faber and Faber, p.438.

  • Concentrate on the performance

    Daniel Saidenberg ws the first cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.  He recalled: Stoki’s ability to exert disciplines was occasionally matched by a sense of humor.  After a concert at which I had played the Saint-Saëns A-minor Concerto, one of my buddies said, “Watch your step, Danny.  All through the second movement,…

  • The silent bass clarinet

    During a rehearsal of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony: Stokowski had inserted a gratuitous part for bass clarinet. “It so happens,” wrote O’Connell, “that the player of this instrument was a quite temperamental gentleman as well as a composer, and when he saw Stokowski’s addition to Schubert’s score, he was possessed by fury.”  When he expressed his…

  • Learn my name

    Stokowski’s ability to inspire musicians was sometimes balanced by the ability to turn them off.  Saidenberg altered me to a remarkable violinist who quit the Philadelphia Orchestra and went on to become America’s greatest authority on constitutional law.  “Raoul Berger was a wonderful violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra.  One day at rehearsal, Stoki stopped the…

  • Stokowski’s rehearsal

    Raoul Berger (who eventually had a fall out with the conductor Stokowski and left The Philahrmonic Orchestra) described Stokowski’s rehearsal process: In rehearsal Stoki was given to the methods of a marine drill-sergeant, brutal and insulting.  In those days he was accustomed to make sweeping changes every season, so that those who were dependent on…

  • I am Beethoven

    An account of Beethoven being lost in his creative world: Thayer tells us of a conversation he had with a Professor Blasius Höfel, a teacher of fine arts at Weiner Neustadt, a little town near Vienna.  one evening, Höfel was in a tavern with some of his colleagues, the Commissioner of Police being a member…

  • Beethoven in 1821

    In his book, A Tour in Germany, and some of the Southern Provinces of the Austrian Empire, in 1820, 1821, 1822, published in Edinburgh in 1824, Sir John Russell describes Beethoven in 1821: The neglect of his person which he exhibits gives him a somewhat wild appearance.  His features are strong and prominent; his eye…

  • Stokowski’s orders

    A letter from the conductor Leopold Stokowski to Sylvan Levin gives an insight into his sense of humour: Caro Maestro Illustre, Now that you have not a thing to do!!!!! Do you think you would have time to do me a favor and time the whole of Parsifal without cuts?  I suggest you do this…

  • Mozart the philosopher

    On February 19 1786 Mozart attended a masked ball disguised as an Indian philosopher. He distributed pamplets with riddles. One of the riddles was: If you are poor but clever, arm yourself with patience, and work hard. If you do not become rich, you will at least remain clever. – If you are an ass…

  • Rehearsal conditions must be suitable

    Strengthened by his initial triumph and by daily evidences of the ever-mounting appreciation and support of the Philadelphia’s new claim to artistic fame, Stokowski tried once again to convince the board that first-class musical results were impossible unless the orchestra rehearsed exactly where they performed.  The men engrossed in the financial problems of balancing budgets…

  • Handel on Purcell

    An account by R. L. Stevens (1775): When Handel was blind, and attending a performance of the Oratorio Jephtha, Mr [William] Savage, my master, who sat next to him said, “This movement, sir, reminds of me of some of old Purcell’s music.” “G got te teffel”, said Handel, “if Purcell had lived, he would have…

  • Handel’s speedy method

    Morrell gave Handel the words of Cleopatra’s air “Convey me to some peaceful shore” in Alexander Balus, he cried out “Damn your Iambics!”. Morell offered to change them to trochees and went into the next room to do so, only to find about three minutes later that Handel had set them as they stood.” Dean,…

  • Climbing Mount Fuji with a cello in hand

    “In 2007 Italian cellist Mario Brunello climbed to the summit of Mount Fuji and played selections from Bach’s cello suites, declaring that “Bach’s music comes closest to the absolute and to perfection.” Source: Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. p.6.

  • Schubert’s progress

    Schubert’s report card in in the Music of the Court Chapel Choir-Boys in the I. & R. Seminary, 1st term, 1809: Name Morals Studies Singing Pianoforte Violin Remarks Schubert Franz v. good good v. good good v. good A musical talent Report card for the Scholars of the First Grammar Class at the University Preparatory…

  • The human voice

    O, how wonderful is the human voice! It is indeed the organ of the soul! The intellect of man sits enthroned visibly upon his forehead and in his eye; and the heart of man is written uponhis countenance. But the soul reveals itself in the voice only; as God revealed himself to the prophet of…

  • Oysters and champaign before a concert

    “Sibelius and his wife Aino were in Gothenburg for a concert, the composer disappeared shortly before he was due to conduct.  Aino found him, immaculately dressed in his white tie and tails, drinking champagne and eating oysters at a nearby cafe.  Returning with him to the venue, she thought her husband was fine until he…

  • How piano wires have changed throughout history

    While piano wire has changed over the centuries from iron to steel of varying qualities, researchers were surprised to find that the sound produced by the instruments’ wires has remained largely unchanged. “I thought as the wire evolved — as the tension evolved — harmonicity would also change over time,” Purdue University physics professor Nicholas…

  • Prokofiev is evicted

    Sergey Prokofiev was once evicted from his apartment for playing the same chord 218 times.  A tally was kept by the downstairs tenant. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning.  Sydney: Random House, p.69.

  • Prokofiev is evicted

    Sergey Prokofiev was once evicted from his apartment for playing the same chord 218 times.  A tally was kept by the downstairs tenant. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning.  Sydney: Random House, p.69.

  • Prokofiev is evicted

    Sergey Prokofiev was once evicted from his apartment for playing the same chord 218 times.  A tally was kept by the downstairs tenant. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning.  Sydney: Random House, p.69.

  • Bruckner the count

    Anton Bruckner developed a condition call numeromania that compelled him to count everything – cathedral gables, stars, leaves on the trees; even the number of bars in his lengthy symphonies. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning.  Sydney: Random House, p.70.

  • How not to get an audience

    Satie’s ballet Relâche (1924) had trouble pulling a crowd: the title translates as “this performances is cancelled”. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning.  Sydney: Random House, p.70.

  • Shaw on the cello

    In the nineteenth century, the cello was regarded as an important solo instrument.  George Bernard Shaw wrote in 1890 “I am not fond of the violoncello: ordinarily I had as soon hear a bee buzzing in a stone jug.” Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites.  Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 71.

  • Musicians in Dresden in 1720s

    ”There was rivalry among the musicians in Dresden in the 1720s.  Daniel Heartz describes some incidents: Silvius Weiss, the famous lutenist, saw his livelihood threatened when he was attacked by a French violinist named Petit, who attempted to bite off the top joint of his right thumb.  On 13 August 1722 Veracini jumped to the…

  • Maiky’s recording of Bach’s cello suites

    “The Latvian cellist Mischa Maisky recorded the Bach’s cello suites “at a small guest house he converted into a studio and called Sarabande, he had a fence built around it with all the notes of the fifth sarabande crafted on the metalwork.  He gleefully points out that the studio’s address is 720, his Montagnana cello…

  • Bach’s wedding

    Johann Sebastian Bach married Anna Magdelena, 3rd December 1721. They married at home, by command of the Prince of Saxe-Weissenfels. It was Bach’s second marriage. Bach purchased a 264 quarts (about 250 litres) of wine, worth 84 thalers and 16 groschen (about one fifth of his annual salary). Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites.  Crows…

  • Violoncello piccolo

    A violoncello piccolo is a violin-sized instrument tuned like a cello.  It is held horizontally, slung from a from a strap over the shoulder lika guitar.  Some of Bach’s cantatas specifically written for this instrument.  It is possible that Bach wrote the cello suites for the instruments (no instrument was specified on the manuscripts). Source:…

  • Bach’s preferred instrument

    Johann Sebastian Bach’s preferred to play the viola when conducting an orchestra. Source: Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites.  Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 216.

  • Beethoven’s piano

    Franz Liszt owned Beethoven’s Broadwood piano.

  • Beethoven in code

    The first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony are the morse code for the letter V.

  • Schumann as a student

    Schumann studied with Dorn, the conductor at the civic theatre. Dorn recalled: Having completed exercises in figured-bass realization, chorale harmonization, and canon, teacher and student moved on to double counterpoint. Intrigued by the mysteries of this discipline, and reluctant to tear himself away from his desk, Schumann once requested that his lesson take place in…

  • Hoyt Curtain’s compositional process

    Hoyt Curtin (1922-2000) was the primary composer for the Hanna Barbara studios. Popular theme songs he composed include The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Johnny Quest, Superfriends, Josie and the Pussycats, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and The Smurfs.  Of these, his favourite was The Flintsones, “I guess because it is a kick to hear musicians…

  • Hammerstein’s card games

    Music theatre writer Oscar Hammerstein loved to play games.  His nephew recalls: There’s a family story about his game-playing. I can’t vouch for its authenticity, but it rings true. He was playing a very informal game of bridge with two of his collaborators, the composers Jerome Kern and Sigmund Romberg, and someone else one afternoon.…

  • Tin Pan Alley

    Tin Pan Alley refers to the concentration of music publishers in New York City, West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.  It started around 1885 and lasted till the depression in the 1930s.  It’s title comes from the the sound of all the cheap, tinny pianos playing, being likened to the beating of  tin…

  • Beethoven’s contest

    In 1800, an improvisation contest occured between Beethoven and the pianist Daniel Steibelt. It was agreed that Prince Lobkowitz would sponsor Steibelt and Prince Lichnowsky sponsor Beethoven, the improvisation contest to take place in Lobkowitz’s palace. As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own…

  • Schumann chasing a girl

    Schumann once attended a masquerade during the carnival of 1830, in company with his friend Rosen, for the purpose of paying some attention to a pretty but otherwise insignificant girl.He knew that she would be present at the ball, and, as a pretext for approaching her, put a poem in his pocket.Fortune favored him: he…

  • Richter on Bach

    “It does no harm to listen to Bach from time to time, even if only from a hygienic standpoint.” – Sviatoslav Richter, pianist Monsaingeon, Bruno (2001). Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations. Princeton University Press, p.196. Cited at: Wikipedia

  • Brahms’ birthday

    After Robert Schumann was admitted to a mental assuming in 1854, Johannes Brahms stayed with Robert’s wife, Clara Schumann to support herself and her eight children. Although Robert’s sad condition was always present in the minds of those who loved him, there was occasional happy times at the Schumann’s home in Düsseldorf.   On the…

  • Brahms’ ladies choir

    Brahms formed a Ladies Choir of about fifty singers: “Fix oder Nix” was the motto he coined for them – “Bang up or nothing”; and he promised to write all the music they could sing if they would meet regularly, and always on time.  He even drew up a set of humorous rules.  “Avertimento” it…

  • Brahms at the tavern

    When Brahms was young, he had to play in rowdy taverns to help support his family. Dance music was what the people in the taverns wanted, and Hannes would sometimes relieve the monotony by improvising variations on the popular waltzes of the day.  But what finally made his work endurable was the discovery that while…

  • Sondheim’s pass times

    Sondheim is a lover of games, and collects antique ones (many were destroyed in a fire that swept through the lower floors of the house in 1995). He has a passion for murder mysteries, puzzles (he once spent 18 months devising cryptic crosswords for New York magazine), word play and anagrams. His own name, he…

  • Sondheim on audiences

    “I do think audiences become more sophisticated. You try something out on them and they say, “Ugh”. You try it a second time and they say, “Oh”. You try it a third time and they say, “Ooh”. You try it a fourth time and they say, “Oh, that’s awfully old hat.”’ He laughs. ‘That’s the…

  • Theme from The Office

    The theme to the comedy series The Office is based on the 1967 song “Handbags and Gladrags” (written by Mike d’Abo). It was arranged by Big George in 2000.

  • Accustomed to being ignored

    Josef von Spaun recalled the following incident involving Franz Schubert at a concert. Schubert had just accompanied Baron Schönstein, at the house of Karolina Maria Kinsky (Princess, née Baroness Kerpen) when everyone loudly acclaimed Schönstein for his performance while taking no notice of the composer who had accompanied him, the princess sought to make amends…

  • The development of concert life in London

    The public concert, as an institution, dates from England from the Restoration period [from the 1660s]; previously music, unless ecclesiastical or dramatic in character, had been essentially the art of a small circle.  The largess of aristocratic patronage and the profits of publication were the composers’ rewards.  But with the middle of the seventeenth century…

  • Tchaikovsky at Cambridge

    In 1893, Tchaikovsky was awarded an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University. Charles Villiers Stanford was involved organising the occasion. He recalled: “In the spring of 1892 we set on foot the organization of the movement to celebrate the Jubilee of the University Musical Society in 1893. The first step taken was the invitation of Verdi…

  • Stanford on Tchaikovsky

    “Tchaikovsky reminded me, in more ways than one, of his countryman Tourgéniew, whom I once met at Madame Viardot’s. He had none of the Northern roughness, was as polished as a Frenchman in his manner, and had something of the Italian in his temperament… For all the belief which he had in himself, he was…

  • Beethoven and the spider

    Xaver Schydner von Wartensee, in the early days of meeting Beethoven, was curious about a tale he had heard about Beethoven and a spider. Before Schnyder had become acquainted with the immortal Master, he had read the well-known anecdote according to which, when Beethoven was practising the violin in his garret, a spider lowered itself…

  • Beethoven’s handwriting

    Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee (1786-1868) was a composer who wanted lessons with Beethoven.  Beethoven would only look at his compositions. Schnyder often dined in the Mehlgrube, because he knew that Beethoven often went there at the same time in the evening. One lovely spring night Schnyder, on entering the restaurant, saw his friend Beethoven…

  • A Beethoven fan

    In an interview with Beethoven scholar K. E. L. Nohl, Schubert’s friend, Moritz von Schwind revealed that Schubert sold his books so that he could get tickets to the third version of Beethoven’s opera, Fidelio. Ferdinand Luib In an interview with Ferdinand Luib, Anselm Hüttenbrenner stated that Schubert’s favourite works were Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Mass…

  • Brahms’ pranks

    Hannes was not always solemn – far from it!  He could be as full of fun and wild pranks as any boy.  With Christian he worked out a scheme which they both found hugely entertaining.  They would knock at the door of a house where, perhaps a century before, some illustrious citizen of Hamburg had…

  • Brahms’ harmonic exercise

    It was during the summer of 1858 that Brahms met Agathe von Seibold.  He had gone to visit Ise Grimm at Göttingenm the university town where Joachim spent his holidays.  Ise had recently married, and his home was a meeting place for the younger musicians. I have invited some people in this evening,” he told…

  • The state of opera: 1720s

    In 1720 in Italy, opera was largely dictated by the egos of the singers, rather than considering the text, or the composer: The satirical writer Marcello wrote that the opera composer will hurry or slow down the pace of an aria, according to the caprice of the singers, and will conceal the displeasure which their…

  • A matter of tempo

    Bruno Walter, Friedrich Buxbaum, and Arnold Rosé were to perform Erich Korngold’s Piano Trio in D in 1910. Korngold was only 13 at the time. These three great musicians were to remain Korngold’s devoted friends and admirers, and they frequently performed his subsequent works. Previous to this performance, Bruno Walter had known of the boy’s…

  • Beethoven’s duet

    Beethoven was premiering his piano duet, March (op. 45) with duet partner Ferdinand Ries.  When a young count spoke loudly to a lady friend in the room next door, Beethoven jumped up and shouted “I will not play for such swine.” Source: Arganbright, Nancy (2007) “The Piano Duet: A medium for Today”, The American Music…

  • A play for dogs

    “Satie said, ‘I want to make a play for dogs, and I [already] have the staging planned. The curtain rises to reveal a bone.’ Poor dogs! After all, it’s their first play. Later one will present more difficult shows to them, but one will always return to the bone.” – Jean Cocteau, playwright Cited in:…

  • Debussy’s recreational activities

    Often at the end of the day Gaby [Debussy’s lover] would discover that they had a little money left over and then they would go out to a café, or circus, or to watch a billiards match. Debussy was very fond of the game. At the circus he loved the clowns and was as excited…

  • Haydn’s audition

    Karl Georg Reutter II was appointed choirmaster at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in 1738.  The following year he went on tour to recruit choristers.  In the town of Hainburg, Joseph Haydn (at stage seven years of age) auditioned.  The contemporary biography Guiseppe Carpani recalled: Reutter gave him a tune to sing at sight. The…

  • How to win over an orchestra

    Haydn was in London in 1791 when he performed in a concert led by Johann Salomon (a violinist/composer).   Salomon played the first violin and led the orchestra, and Haydn sat at the harpsichord, keeping the band together by an occasional chord or two, as the practice then was. Great composers have not always been…

  • Water music

    A common theme in the music of French composers at pre world war I was water.  Debussy wrote En bateau (On the Boat), Sirenes (Sirens), Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the Water), Voiles (Sails), and La Cathedrale engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral).  Ravel wrote Jeux d’Eau (The Water Fountain), and Ondine. So striking a peculiarity of…

  • Music with no boundaries

    Music can imply the infinite if enough things depart from the norm far enough. Strange “abnormal” events can lead to the feeling that anything can happen, and you have a music with no boundaries. – Morton Feldman, American composer Cited in Tom Johnson, Remembrance, September 1987. Accessed 13 May 2013.

  • Autumn Leaves

    Pianist Roger Williams on his hit recording of Autumn Leaves (which was recorded three days after signing his contract with Kapp records): “I said, ‘You mean ‘Falling Leaves’? I didn’t even know the title,” Mr. Williams told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. “I stayed up Friday and then Saturday night working on an arrangement.”…

  • Beethoven’s letter

    A letter written by composer Ludwig van Beethoven has emerged in Germany after being left in a will. In the six-page document of Beethoven’s scrawled corrections, he complains about his illness and a lack of money. Experts were already aware of the 1823 letter’s existence, but say it is of historic value. BBC News, 11…

  • Elgar’s football team

    Elgar loved his football, particularly the Wolverhampton team.  His friend Dorebella recalled the first match he attended at Wolverhampton: It all delighted him. The dense crowd flowing down the road like a river; the roar of welcome as the rival teams came on to the ground; the shouts of men calling to their player friends…

  • A musical use for trash

    Favio Chávez, a technician at a Paraguayan landfill site, formed the the Cateura Orchestra of Recycled Instruments: an orchestra comprising of the children of landfill works. The orchestra was designed to encourage musical education in an low socio-economic area. A violin would hold more value than a landfill worker’s house. However, by creating instruments out…

  • Musical taste in England in 1925

    A general perspective of musical taste in Britain in the 1920s can be seen in the letters to radio broadcasters. In 1926, the B.B.C. (at that time, the British Broadcasting Company) (1) compiled correspondence to the company. In the week ending December 4, of the 7600 letters received, 302 were critical: 125 condemned dance music…

  • The advantages of having a manager

    Vaughan Williams had asked Holst about his experience of having an agent. Holst, who was at Harvard University at the time, replied: I’m very glad I’ve made use of Duncan McKenzie (OUP) as an agent. He has been really helpful and I hope you’ll at least consider using him. The alternative would be to print…

  • That’s a wrap

    Electronic music composer Jeff Bryant never imagined that learning to knit would be part of his graduate coursework at California Institute of the Arts. But when his interface design instructor challenged him to build a non-boring MIDI controller device last fall, Bryant found an unlikely musical ally: red yarn. By weaving conductive thread into the…

  • Instrumental stereotypes

    Insider jokes are not just for White House Correspondents’ Assn. Dinners or ESPN kibitzers or Academy Awards emcees. They also crop up in discussions about symphony orchestra musicians — a society unto itself. There are jibes and even sober-minded studies that characterize personality types according to the instruments they play. Who are the string players?…

  • The Brainy Baboon

    “There once was a brainy baboon who always breathed down a bassoon for he said, It appears that in billions of years I shall certainly hit on a tune.” -Ezra Pound – American poet, musician and critic Cited at: QuotationsBook  

  • Mozart’s piano returns to his home

    “The piano that Mozart used for the last 10 years of his life and which he used to compose much of his music was returned to his former home in Vienna for a performance of his music. ‘A big, positive shock was how good the instrument is,’ said Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov after the concert…

  • A concise rehearsal

    Hans Knappertsbusch (1888-1965) was a German conductor. However, he had a dislike of rehearsals. Karajan recalled: One time he was going over Tchaikovsky’s Fifth with the Vienna Philharmonic. He came to the second movement, with the horn solo, and said, “Let’s start.” He did a few bars, stopped, and said, “See you this evening. You…

  • The origin of the interval

    Plays in the Jacobean period (16th century England) were divided into acts to enable the theatre company to manage the candles. Source: Martin White, University of Bristol. “Shakespeare by Candlelight”, The Times, Cited in The Australian, 30 November 2012.

  • Elgar’s distractions

    In a radio interview in 1937, Edward Elgar’s violinist friend William H. Reed described Elgar’s “distractions” while composing the violin concerto: I can never play the last movement without seeing the River Wye flowing past the meadow at Hereford where Sir Edward and I used to practise throwing a boomerang in our “off-time” between working…

  • Frank Churchill in production meetings

    After joining the Disney studios in 1930, Frank Churchill composed music for animated shorts and feature films. His output includes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, and The Three Little Pigs (featuing “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf). Animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston recalled in Disney Animation: Walt [Disney] used to claim…

  • The first soundtrack: Snow White

    The first soundtrack to be commercially released was Disney’s 1938 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The songs were written by Frank Churchill (music) and Lary Morey (lyrics). The score was written by Churchill and Leigh Harline, with some additional music by Paul Smith. Although Churchill and Morey originally wrote 25 songs for the…

  • Beethoven distracted

    A student of Beethoven’s, Ferdinand Ries, went on a walk with his teacher in the country: Beethoven muttered and howled the whole time, without emitting any definite notes.  When I asked him what he was doing he answered, “A theme for the last allegro of the sonata [the Appassionata] has occurred to me.”  When we…

  • The personality of George Gershwin

    Isaac Goldberg, a friend of George Gershwin, described the composer’s personality: HE was as simple, as unaffected, as modest, and as charming a youth as one could desire to meet. There was nothing about him that was forbidding. He wore his unprecedented celebrity as lightly as if it were a cane – that cane which…

  • Debussy’s reception in England

    In 1908-9, Claude Debussy made two appearances conducting his own works in England.  The Musical Times reported on the occasions. The report on the first concert: Nothing could have been heartier than the applause which greeted M. Claude Debussy as he stepped on to the platform at Queen’s Hall on February 1.  The warmth of…

  • A note about Chopin

    The following appeared in the Musical Times in 1913: An amusing story, for the truth of which we can vouch, comes to us from Toronto. An organist had drawn up the order of a Sunday service, and it was in type ready for printing, when the death of an important personage made a change necessary.…

  • Practising at every opportunity

    The conductor Stokowski was co-conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.  He was rehearsing his own orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.  The orchestra, however, was used to playing Ravel’s exuberant orchestration. Charles O’Connell recalled: “In the midst of the rehearsal, one of the second violinists busied himself practising the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, which…

  • Puccini’s rain machine

    Puccini custom built a villa in the seaside resort of Viareggio. Here, Puccini had a “rain machine that sprinkled water from the trees, beneath which he would stand with an open umbrella, cooling himself from the summer heat. Source: Wilson, Conrad (2008) Giacomo Puccini. London: Phaidon Press, p.205.

  • Brahms’ post-concert adventure

    Brahms was invited to the family of one of his students, Fräulein von Meyensbug, in Detmol : The Meysenbug ladies proved very prim and conventional. Brahms was ill at ease. He was so afraid of shocking his aristocratic hostesses that he hardly knew what to say or how to behave. Their young nephew Carl, however,…

  • Stokowski on contemporary music

    Leopold Stokowski was a champion of contemporary music. He conducted music without judgement, believing judgement to be the public’s job. During the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra’s 1915-16 season,he programmed orchestral suites from Stravinsky’s Firebird and Petrushka, Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy, and Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie No. 1. “This last, very cerebral work, although not…

  • Mozart’s daily schedule

    “…at 6 o’clock in the morning I’m already done with my hair; at 7 I’m fully dressed; – then I compose until 9 o’clock; from 9 to 1 o’clock I give lessons. – Then I Eat, unless I’m invited by someone who doesn’t eat lunch until 2 or 3 o’clock as, for instance, today and…

  • Mozart improvising

    In 1777, Mozart was having lunch with his uncle at the Holy Cross Convent in Ausburg. Mozart played a sinfoni and Vanhall’s Violin Concerto in B. In the evening, at supper, he performed his Strasbourg concerto, a keyboard prelude and his Fischer Variations (K179). It was suggested to the deacon of the Holy Cross Conen,…

  • What a difference an audience makes

    Mozart was in Paris in 1778. He visited the duchess of Chabot, Elisabeth-Louise de la Rochefoucauld, wife of Louis-Antoine-Auguste de Rohan. Mozart described the visit in a letter to his father: A week went by without any reply, but she had informed me to see her in a week’s time, so kept my word and…

  • In the event of a lack of singers

    In a letter to his friend Abbé Joseph Bullinger, Mozart jokes about the musical environment in Salsburg. One of his subjects is the search for an additional final principle singer. “I can hardly believe it!” he wrote “A female singer!? When we have so many already! – and all of them first rate…” (1). Mozart…

  • Stokowski and singers

    Leopold Stokowski was staging a concert version of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Natalie Bodanya, one of the finest singers at Curtis at the time, refused to audition, noting how “impersonal and impossible Stokowski was. Stokowski had filled all the roles, with the exception of that the Princess. “Is it possible” Stokowski asked Sylvan [Sylvan Lenin, a…

  • Word of mouth encore

    Leopold Stokowski gave the Philadelphia premiere of Ravel’s Bolero as an “encore” at a Friday afternoon concert. The newspaper critics had all left the hall, and so once again word of mouth had to prove its effacy, for at the Saturday night concert, after the last number, the audience applauded with unusual fervour and would…

  • Dress regulations for Handel’s Messiah

    In the eighteenth century, hooped skirts were a popular choice of ladies dress attire as they enabled a dramatic entrance, and also flattered the figure when pregnant. They did take up considerable space though. For the performance of the Messiah Handel instructed the ladies to come without hooped skirts, and gentlemen without their swords. The…

  • Advice to opera performers

    In the early 18th century, the standard of Italian opera performances had become somewhat questionable. In 1720, The satirical writer Marcello offered some advice to those involved in opera performance: [The opera performer] will hurry or slow down the pace of an aria, according to the caprice of the singers, and will conceal the displeasure…

  • Mozart’s magic ring

    When Mozart was in Naples, he so impressed his audience that they suspected “musical sorcery”. They ordered him to play without wearing his ring, the apparent source of his “magic”. Source: Marek, George (1969) Beethoven: Biography of a Genius. London: William Kimber, p.20.

  • Origins of the name Beethoven

    The Beethoven family tree can be traced back to the mid 13th century. The name appears in chronicles of Flemish cities, in parts of northern France, in Mechlin and Antwerp. Two possible theories of the origins of the name are: – van (the) Hof (Beet-Garden) – grower of Beets – after the Belgium town of Betouwe (“be”…

  • Beethoven as a boy

    In his Beethoven: Biography of a Genius, Marek provides an insight into Beethoven as a boy: The boy was looking out of the window, his head cradled in his hands.  His mien was serious, his glance rigid. Cäcilia Fischer came along the courtyard and saw him. “How are you, Ludwig?” she shouted up to him. …

  • Beethoven’s prank

    Beethoven was a musician for the Electoral court and chapel in Bonn. Franz Wegeler, a friend of of Beethoven’s, recounted an incident where the young Beethoven was to accompany a singer, Ferdinand Heller, in a church service. Heller prided himself on being able to sing in tune, no matter how complicated the accompaniment. Beethoven asked Heller if he…

  • A new overture – fast

    Beethoven’s revised version of Fidelio was due to be premiered on the 23rd May 1814. Beethoven had planned to write a new overture for the performance. He was still yet to complete it before the final rehearsal on the 22nd May. The night before, he was dining out with his physician (Dr. Bertolini). After dinner, he took a menu,…

  • Page turning for Beethoven

    Ignaz Xaver Seyfried was asked to turn pages for Beethoven in a performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto (5 April 1803). He recalled: In the playing of the concerto movements he asked me to turn the pages for him; but – heaven help me! – that was easier said than done. I saw almost nothing…

  • Beethoven conducting

    On 5 April 1803 Beethoven conducted an concert of his own works: the First and Second Symphonies; The Third Piano Concerto, and his oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. It is likely that the he directed the piano concerto (which he played) from the piano. Ignaz von Seyfried gave an account of Beethoven’s conducting…

  • Anecdotes

    QUICK LINKS Composers Instruments Interesting facts Performers and performances Personalities of the musicians See also: QUOTES COMPOSERS Quick links INTERESTING FACTS Quick links INSTRUMENTS Quick links PERFORMERS AND PERFORMANCES Quick links PERSONALITIES OF THE MUSICIANS Quick links

  • One way to get a doctorate

    Robert Schumann aspired to be awarded a doctorate degree. On January 31 1840, Robert Schumann asked a friend to appeal to the University of Jena to give him an honorary degree, or set him a degree to pass, on the grounds of: “My sphere of action as an editor on a high-class paper, which has…

  • Not just a one hit wonder … but there was an audience favorite

    Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp minor proved very popular with the public. At times, it was programmed “by request” (1), and if not was freqently expected as an encore. In 1922, Rachmaninoff performed in the Queens Hall (London). A critic in the Musical Times described the event: It was clear that the bulk of those who filled Queen’s Hall…

  • A replacement conductor

    The following appeared in the Musical Times, August 1890: We read that “a Saxon engineer has invented an automatic machine, the object of which is to save conductors the physical part of their duties. By pressing a button the apparatus, which is provided with an arm holding a conducting-stick, can be made to beat with the…

  • Conducting gloves

    The practice of wearing white gloves whilst conducting was common in the nineteenth century. The Musical times reported in July 1884 that: “A German conductor,” we are told, “in order that the public may be more deeply impressed with the feeling of grief intended to be produced by the Funeral March in Beethoven’s ‘Eroica Symphony,’ wears…

  • A monkey on his shoulder

    Cellist Walter Joachim spend some time in Calcutta, India. He recalled: “I bought a monkey with which to amuse myself. We played. He was sitting on my shoulders for hours when I was practising.” Joachim practised at least one or two movements of a Bach suite. “I started my day usually with Bach or a…

  • Paper and matches for maintenance

    When Spanish cellist Pablo Casals was in his seventies, he retired from the concert stage and lived in Prades, Southern France. Casals began each day by playing from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier on the piano (1), then heading out for a walk with his German shepherd, cocking an ear for birdsong and saluting the snow-capped peak…

  • Warmed pianos

    There was soon to be no excuse for not practising in the chill of the winter. This excerpt is from The Musical Times, April 1869: WARMED PIANOS (G. Price’s Patent) – These Instruments invite playing in Winter, when the coldness of the keys of all others makes it unnecessarily uncomfortable, if not painful, to many,…

  • The piano as furniture

    In the ninteenth century, the piano was not only regarded as a musical instrument but as a part of the decor a room. An article in The Musical Times in February 1893 describes some possible applications: Placed near a bay window, it shuts in the cosiest lovers’ next imaginable. Soft-cushioned window seats that have room…

  • The art of whistling

    In mid-nineteenth century England, whistling was a common source of entertainment and as part of the general reception to a piece of music. An article in March 1854 in The Musical Times reported: We were sorry to hear the vile practice of whistling again carried on to some extent at the concert; were the well-meaning…

  • A little ahead … or a little behind

    Samuel Sebastian Wesley received great reviews for his conding at Gloucester’s annual Three Choir Festivals in 1865. An critic in The Musical Times wrote in the October issue: We have said nothing of the orchestra during these performances, for in truth the perfect manner in which the whole of the instrumental portions of the works…