Reprising this amusing anecdote from Tchaikovsky, by Anthony Holden. Tchaikovsky was traveling from St. Petersburg to Tiflis “via the scenic route, aboard a steamship down the Volga. Concealing his identity from the other passengers, he agreed one evening to accompany an amateur soprano in a romance by Tchaikovsky, only to be told by the singer […]
Could Tchaikovsky play Tchaikovsky? Read More »
One more thing to thank the Enlightenment for. I’m reading a biography of Rossini. Gioachino was born into a musical family in February 1792 (two months after the death of Mozart), but his family always struggled financially. In the music world of the 1700s, the castrati had reached the height of their popularity due to
Rossini and the end of the castrati Read More »
Reprising this amusing jibe at the great conductor Herbert von Karajan, whose perfectionism and sometimes-authoritarian leadership style could cause enmity. “St. Peter calls upon Freud and tells him that God is evidently in need of psychiatric help. ‘I should be glad to help, but tell me, what seem to be His symptoms?’ asked Freud. ‘God
Humor: Herbert von Karajan and God Read More »
The great Callas, according to biographer Richard Levine: Maria’s impressive willpower and focus enabled her to develop into the artist we think of when we think of Callas, but at the time her fellow students were hardly charmed by her chilly single-mindedness. One of them later said that ‘her earnestness was oppressive.’ Maria knew, however,
Creative geniuses as selfish — Maria Callas version Read More »
From Richard Osborne’s biography Herbert von Karajan, on an event in war-torn Vienna as it was struggling back to life after a cold winter in the last stage of World War Two: “Then the Russians arrived. For three weeks in April 1945, Russian soldiery ran amok in and orgy of pillage and rape, before Stalin
Music-loving Soviets in Vienna, 1945 Read More »
(Reprising this post on my favorite biography.) I finished Anthony Holden’s Tchaikovsky (Random House, 1995), an outstandingly well-written account of the great composer’s life. Here is an indication of the young Pyotr’s aptitude for music: “Tchaikovsky’s parents entertained a Polish pianist of their acquaintance, who naturally gave an evening concert for the thin line of
Anthony Holden’s Tchaikovsky Read More »
Reprising this awesome quotation from Romain Rolland on Beethoven’s response to his great obstacles: The hammer is not all: the anvil also is necessary. Had destiny descended only upon some weakling, or on an imitation great man, and bent his back under this burden, there would have been no tragedy in it, only an everyday
Romain Rolland on Beethoven’s response to his deafness and depression Read More »
Reprising this Dmitri Shostakovich story of Alexander Glazunov‘s astounding musical memory. Glazunov was one of Shostakovich’s teachers in St. Petersburg, and by all accounts his ability to retain and recapitulate music was perfect. Here’s the practical joke played upon a visiting composer, Sergei Taneyev: “Taneyev had come to Petersburg from Moscow to show his new
A prodigious practical joke in music Read More »