ECU Libraries Catalog

The book of musical anecdotes / [compiled by] Norman Lebrecht.

Other author/creatorLebrecht, Norman, 1948- compiler.
Format Book and Print
EditionFirst American edition
New York : Free Press, 1985.
Descriptionxvii, 382 pages ; 24 cm
Subject(s)
Contents Arne, Thomas Augustine -- Auber, Daniel -- Bach, Johann Christian -- Bach, Johann Sebastian -- Balakirev, Mily -- Balfe, Michael William -- Bartók, Béla -- Beecham, Sir Thomas -- Beethoven, Ludwig van -- Bellini, Vincenzo -- Bennett, Sir William Sterndale -- Berg, Alban -- Berlioz, Hector -- Bernstein, Leonard -- Bizet, Georges -- Boccherini, Luigi -- Boito, Arrigo -- Borodin, Alexander -- Boulez, Pierre -- Brahms, Johannes -- Britten, Benjamin -- Bruch, Max -- Bruckner, Anton -- Bull, Ole -- Bülow, Hans von -- Burney, Charles -- Busoni, Ferruccio -- Caffarelli -- Cage, John -- Callas, Maria -- Caruso, Enrico -- Casals, Pau (Pablo) -- Chaliapin, Feodor -- Chastelain de Coucy -- Cherubini, Luigi -- Chopin, Frédéric -- Cimarosa, Domenico -- Clementi, Muzio -- Copland, Aaron -- Corelli, Arcangelo -- Couperin, François -- Czerny, Karl -- d'Albert, Eugen -- Debussy, Claude -- Delibes, Léo -- Delius, Frederick -- de Reszke, Jean -- Donizetti, Gaetano -- Dvořák, Antonin -- Edison, Thomas Alva -- Elgar, Sir Edward -- Farinelli -- Fauré, Gabriel -- Field, John -- Foster, Stephen Collins -- Franck, César -- Frederick the Great -- Furtwängler, Wilhelm -- Gay, John -- Gershwin, George -- Gesualdo, Don Carlo -- Gilbert, Sir William Schwenk -- Glazunov, Alexander -- Glinka, Mikhail -- Gluck, Christoph Willibald von -- Godowsky, Leopold -- Gottschalk, Louis Moreau -- Gounod, Charles (François) -- Grainger, Percy (Aldridge) -- Granados, Enrique -- Grétry, André -- Grieg, Edvard -- Guido of Arezzo -- Halévy, Jacques Fromental -- Handel, George Frideric -- Hanslick, Eduard -- Haydn, Franz Joseph -- Heifetz, Jascha -- Henze, Hans Werner -- Herschel, Sir William -- Hindemith, Paul -- Horowitz, Vladimir -- Humperdinck, Engelbert -- Ives, Charles -- Janáček, Leos -- Joachim, Joseph -- Josquin des Près -- Jullien, Louis Antoine -- Karajan, Herbert von -- Korngold, Erich Wolfgang -- Křenek, Ernst -- Lassus, Roland de -- Lanner, Joseph -- Lehár, Franz -- Leoncavallo, Ruggero -- Leschetizky, Theodor -- Ligeti, György -- Lind, Jenny -- Liszt, Franz -- Lully, Jean-Baptiste -- Luther, Martin -- Machaut, Guillaume de -- Mahler, Gustav -- Malibran, María -- Marais, Marin -- Mascagni, Pietro -- Massenet, Jules -- Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix -- Melba, Dame Nellie -- Messiaen, Olivier -- Meyerbeer, Giacomo -- Monteverdi, Claudio -- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus -- Mussorgsky, Modeste -- Nielsen, Carl -- Nikisch, Artur -- Nordica, Lillian -- Offenbach, Jacques -- Paderewski, Ignacy Jan -- Paganini, Niccolò -- Paisiello, Giovanni -- Patti, Adelina -- Philidor, François André -- Porpora, Nicola -- Prokofiev, Sergei -- Puccini, Giacomo -- Purcell, Henry -- Quantz, Johann Joachim -- Rachmaninov, Sergei -- Rameau, Jean-Philippe -- Ravel, Maurice -- Reger, Max -- Richter, Hans -- Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay -- Rossini, Gioacchino -- Rostropovich, Mstislav -- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques -- Rubinstein, Anton -- Ruggles, Carl -- Saint-Saëns, Camille -- Salieri, Antonio -- Sammartini, Giovanni Battista -- Sarasate, Pablo de -- Satie, Erik -- Schnabel, Artur -- Schoenberg, Arnold -- Schröder-Devrient, Wilhelmine -- Schubert, Franz -- Schumann, Clara -- Schumann, Robert -- Schütz, Heinrich -- Schweitzer, Albert -- Scriabin, Alexander -- Segovia, Andrés -- Shostakovich, Dmitri -- Sibelius, Jean -- Smyth, Dame Ethel Mary -- Sousa, John Philip -- Spohr, Ludwig -- Spontini, Gaspare -- Stockhausen, Karlheinz -- Stokowski, Leopold -- Stradella, Alessandro -- Strauss, Johann I -- Strauss, Johann II -- Strauss, Richard -- Stravinsky, Igor -- Sullivan, Sir Arthur -- Szell, Georg -- Tartini, Giuseppe -- Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich -- Telemann, Georg Philipp -- Thalberg, Sigísmond -- Thomas, Theodore -- Toscanini, Arturo -- Varèse, Edgar -- Vaughan Williams, Ralph -- Verdi, Giuseppe -- Vieuxtemps, Henri -- Viotti, Giovanni Battista -- Vivaldi, Antonio -- Wagner, Richard -- Weber, Carl Maria von -- Webern, Anton von -- Wieniawski, Henri -- Wolf, Hugo -- Ysaÿe, Eugène.
Abstract This book comprises anecdotes that reveal the all-too-human side of the great composers and performers. There are stories of appetites (Handel eating dinner for three), embarrassments (Brahms falling asleep as Liszt plays), oddities (Bruckner's dog being trained to howl at Wagner), and devotions (a lovely admirer disrobing in tribute to Puccini). There are memorable accounts of Stravinsky telling Proust how much he hates Beethoven, of Tchaikovsky's first bewildering telephone call, of Dvorak's strange love of pigeons, and of Verdi's intricate maneuvering to keep the now-famous melody of "La donna e mobile" top secret. There is also wonderful trivia (Beethoven loved to eat bread soup made with ten raw eggs), along with eccentric strategies (Verdi, disturbed by the sound of street organs playing arias from his operas, hired them all for a season and kept them locked in a room). There are examples of musicians' generosity (Haydn called Mozart the greatest composer known to me, either in person or by name), and scathing dismissal ("Have you heard any Stockhausen?" the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was asked. "No," he replied, "but I believe I have trodden in some"). Collected from thousands of books, articles, and unpublished manuscripts (with historical sources provided in extensive notes), these anecdotes appear in their original form, throwing fresh light on familiar figures in the musical hall of fame. For browsing, reading, research and amusement, this book is a grand entertainment for concert-goers, record-buyers, operamanes, gossips and music lovers everywhere.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 335-366) and index.
LCCN 85016809
ISBN0029187109

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML65 .B673 1985 ✔ Available Place Hold