Archives: Anekdote

Hans von Bülow had a reputation for being even harder on pupils than Liszt. In Liszt’s classes, people sometimes cried—but his charm could soften the sting of criticism. With Bülow, the fear was purer. He taught in large groups. Students would sit and wait while Bülow called someone up without warning. The chosen player would…

Louis Spohr—famous as a violinist and composer—was also quick-witted and resourceful. In his autobiography he tells a story from 1808, when Napoleon hosted a dazzling gathering of sovereigns at Erfurt. As part of the festivities, tragedies were brought from Paris with the actor Talma. Spohr and some pupils walked from Gotha to Erfurt just to…

The Bach name became so synonymous with music that one old saying claimed there were “two hundred and forty‑seven musicians called Bach,” more than fifty of them distinguished. In some German towns, “the Bachs” simply meant “the town musicians.” And when people said “Bach,” they meant one person in particular: Johann Sebastian. After losing his…

The singer Madame Mara had a husband with a serious drinking problem. She was the one who kept the household afloat, and for years she quietly endured his behavior. Eventually it reached the king’s ears. Wanting to punish the husband, the king removed him from his post as cellist in the royal orchestra and “promoted”…

When Chopin arrived, piano playing entered a new era. He wrote for the keyboard with a focus and refinement that made the orchestra feel almost incidental. But that new musical language demanded a different kind of technique—one that the previous “school” hadn’t fully developed. Even the admired virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles admitted, after hearing Chopin, that…

This story is “reported to have come from Franz Liszt,” and it’s best taken cum grano salis—especially the sharper digs. Still, it gives a revealing snapshot of how Liszt liked to narrate musical rivalries. Liszt claimed that Mendelssohn once drew a cartoon of the devil playing the G‑minor concerto with five hammers on each hand.…

Great musicians have often been generous to a fault—sometimes downright spendthrift. Two famous examples were Franz Liszt, the superstar pianist, and Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” both known for giving away huge sums. One story about Mozart captures the spirit. A beggar pestered him for money; Mozart had none in his pocket, so he quickly…

By seventeen, Niccolò Paganini was already living on applause—and spending it just as fast. Once he broke free of his father’s strict control, he plunged into the nightlife of the time, especially gambling. More than once he lost the earnings of several concerts in a single night, and he even had to pawn his violin…

Italo Campanini’s career didn’t start with velvet curtains. It started with a forge. After Garibaldi’s war, the boy—only fourteen when he joined the army—returned home to Parma and spent two years in his father’s blacksmith shop. Someone noticed his voice and arranged lessons in the evenings, after twelve hours of labor. Campanini didn’t even read…

Prima donnas have a reputation for drama, but the 18th century seems to have treated excess as a sport. One of the most famously capricious sopranos of the era was Gabriella. When the Viceroy hosted a grand dinner in Palermo and invited her as a guest of honor, she simply stayed in bed reading. A…