Anecdotes of Great Musicians
Author(s): Willey Francis Gates
Genre(s): Music
Narrators: Kerry Adams, Sonia, Gillian Hendrie, BookBard, Matea Bracic, Michelle Footz, De Anna Lee, Rita Boutros, Ken Sheaffer, Chuck Lavazzi, JCzekaj, Jenno, Quartertone, Valroth, Claudia Peri, MarcThomsen, Seraphina, Larry Wilson, Nick Donald
Number of Chapters: 62
Length: 10 hours and 55 minutes
Language: English
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)
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The Gregorian Chant; The Bach Revival; Why We Should Sing; Glimpses of Cherubini; Discovering a Nightingale (Kerry Adams)
Balfe's Strange Room Mate; Berlioz and Paganini; History Repeats Itself; The Greatest Musical Prodigy; A Test of Precocity (Sonia)
Irish Enthusiasm; Playing like "Zwei Gotts"; A Sudden Cure; Ole Bull at "Rouge-et-Noir"; Outspoken Admiration (Sonia)
Whims of Composers; Ole Bull as a Duelist; He Didn't Purchase; A Critical Composition; Keep in with the Accompanist (Gillian Hendrie)
The Youthful Beethoven's Trick on a Singer; An Untalented Royal Pupil; Händel's Persuasiveness; Good English in Song; An Uncringing Reply (BookBard)
Southern Passion; Rather a Hard Opponent to Conquer; Catalani and Goethe; The Music but Not the Face; A Concert Preacher (Matea Bracic)
Traveling in State; Tuning Up; Voice Against Trumpet; Beethoven's Kiss; Mendelssohn's Dislike of Meyerbeer (Matea Bracic)
An Army, a Cow and a Prima Donna; A Musical Priest; Musical Criticism; High Art; A Boy's Memory (Sonia)
Slippers at a Premium; Artistic Aversion to Empty Honors; Music and Madness; Baton Waving. Lully Losing a Limb; Prima Donnas Come High (Sonia)
An Unorthodox Creed; The Devil's Trill; Unlucky Manuscripts; Forewarned is Forearmed; A Queen's Regard for her Music Teacher (Sonia)
An Earnest Student; A Witty Songstress; Moscheles' Blunder; Jealousy in the Family; Prejudice (Sonia)
Musical Gratitude; The Greater the Composer the Greater the Student; An Ignorant Tenor; Three Classes of Players; How to Secure a Successful Début (BookBard)
A Song for Forty; The Temple Organ; A Fiddler's Trick; Personal Appearance; Mozart's Acknowledgment (BookBard)
Operatic Sore Throat; Leoncavallo's Whimsical Opinion of his "Clowns"; How to Make a Singer Sing; Another Way; Rossini Hearing the Impossible (Gillian Hendrie)
Manuscript for Kettles; A Patti Reception that She Didn't Receive; The Encore Fiend; Händel's Escape; A Hatful of Pearls (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 (De Anna Lee)
Malibran's Generosity; How Berlioz Fooled the Critics; Music Hath Charms; Wagner's Melodies and Chords; Disposing of an Audience (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 (Rita Boutros)
Sontag's Revenge; A Second Napoleon; A Singer's Sense; Haydn's Noble English Pupil; Lablache and Tom Thumb (Sonia)
A Composer's Chagrin; The Friends, Mozart and Haydn; A Frightened Desdemona; Retentive Memories; Patti's Vanity (Ken Sheaffer)
Clementi's Economy; Music at So Much per Note; Liszt's Precocity; Keeping at It; A Peculiar Genius (Chuck Lavazzi)
Shaking all Over; The "Ox" Minuet; Nilsson and the Shah of Persia; Modulations; An Eventful Career (Chuck Lavazzi)
Napoleon Outwitted by a Songstress; Stubborn Composers; Clerical Wit; A Patient Pupil; Field Fooled (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 (jenno)
Some Liberal Musicians; How Paganini Secured his Favorite Fiddle; Liszt on Mendelssohn; Mara's Revenge; Chopin's Technic (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 (jenno)
From Humble Origin to Wealth and Fame; Gallant Haydn; Rossini and the Italian School; Lives of Labor; A Great Quartet (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 (jenno)
Händel's Youth; A Violin for Eighteen Pence; Mendelssohn at Work; A Double Dose of Brahms; Unfailing Sight Reading an Impossibility (Gillian Hendrie)
A Sharp Rejoinder; Two Kinds of Bills; Von Bülow as a Political Speaker; Lind's First Engagement; Beethoven's First Triumph (Chuck Lavazzi)
Händel's Duel; Paganini's Generous Deed; A Gentle Critic; Art Before Business; The "Dear Saxon" (quartertone)
Bülow's Bits; An Interrupted Concert; Coöperative Composition; An Absent-minded Conductor; Costly Admiration (Chuck Lavazzi)
Wine and Music; Schubert's "Erl-King"; Royal Honors to a Singer; The Deaf Beethoven; The History of a Violin (Rita Boutros)
"Vorts" vs. Music; French Wit; Too Literal; Imagination a Factor in Hearing Music; Musical and Non-Musical Accent (Gillian Hendrie)
Von Weber to a Bawling Choir; An Interrupted Opera; Beethoven Punished; Violin Collectors; Pot-boilers (Rita Boutros)
Haydn's Reception by Prince Esterhazy; Proving Identity; A Great Thief; Von Bülow's Memory; Their Favorite Surroundings for Composition (valroth)
A Kind Act; Public Criticism; Fun on the Stage; The Thirty-three Variations; A Deserved Chastisement (valroth)
Il Trovatore; Music vs. Commerce; A Narrow Escape; A Pyrotechnic Violoncello; Misdirected and Repressed Talent (valroth)
The Discovery of a Tenor; A Long Encore Number; "Englyshe Meetre"; "The Devil on Two Sticks"; Impositions on Musicians (Claudia Peri)
The Hallelujah Chorus; Beethoven a la Cupid; Wagner and the Beggars; Vox Populi; What's in a Name (Claudia Peri)
A Costly Fiddle; Bach's Great Works. How Enjoyed by Some; Peculiar English; Original Tapestry; The Manual Labor of Composition (Chuck Lavazzi)
A Burial Place Denied; Von Bülow's Peculiarities; Not at First Sight; Restoring an Organ; An Exciting Musical Duel (Chuck Lavazzi)
An Interrupted Strain; A Musical Tragedy; Beethoven's Gratitude; Choleric Händel; Music vs. Conversation (Rita Boutros)
The World's Reward to Genius; An Obese Basso; Preserving Identity; A Great German Songstress; A Sight for the Boys (MarcThomsen)
Paganini in Court Dress; A Gory Drumstick; Great Musical Memories; A Comical Revenge; Scherzo (Seraphina)
But One Seat Left; A Compliment from Haydn; A Particular Prima Donna; Mendelssohn's Kindness; Campanini as a Soldier (quartertone)
To Make a Player Play; True Kindliness; Viotti's Independence; Not the Geese that Saved Rome; That Patti Kiss (quartertone)
Longevity of Musicians; Liszt as an Advertiser; Arrested for Treason; Rothschild's Music; The “Prison Josephs" (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 (Gillian Hendrie)
An Opera Sacrificed; An Erratic Prima Donna; When They Began; Sarcasm; A Prima Donna's Pets (valroth)
Paganini's Method of Study; Goat Hair for Hero Worshipers; Stage Censorship; Fallible; A Dressing-room War (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 (Gillian Hendrie)
Beethoven, Brain-owner; Schubert's Modesty; Our Musical Advancement; Honest Opinions; The Modern Tendency (Michelle Footz)
Fugues and Chess; Fortunes in Fiddles; One Kind of Criticism; Musical Cooks; Artistic Pride (Michelle Footz)
Beethoven's Friends; Prolific Composers; Music for the Eye; Schumann's Madness; Humor in Composition (valroth)
Haydn's Last Appearance; The Heroic in Music; A Peculiar Visiting Card; Origin of the Name "Kreutzer Sonata"; Royal Musicians (Gillian Hendrie)
A Charitable Trio; Beethoven's Forgetfulness; Rossini's Arrogance; To a Pauper's Grave (Gillian Hendrie)
The audiobook Anecdotes of Great Musicians falls under the genres of Music. It is written by Willey Francis Gates.