Book of Musical Anecdotes

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Donizetti, when asked which of his own operas he thought the best, replied: ''How can I say which? A father always has a preference for a crippled child, and I have so many.''Leonard Bernstein once said to the composer Ned Rorem: ''The trouble with you and me, Ned, is that we want everyone in the world to personally love us, and of course that's impossible: you just can't meet everyone in the world.''George Gershwin was forever seeking lessons from anyone he felt might improve his technical skills---from Ravel, Stravinsky and many others. In Hollywood he became a friend and tennis partner of Schoenberg's and duly asked the older composer to accept him as a pupil. Schoenberg refused. ''I would only make you a bad Schoenberg,'' he said, ''and you're such a good Gershwin already.''Someone sitting next to Berlioz in the theater, noticing him sobbing during one of Beethoven's symphonies, said kindly, ''You seem to be greatly affected, monsieur. Had you not better retire for a while?'' ''Are you under the impression,'' snapped Berlioz in reply, ''that I am here to enjoy myself?''

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Pages: 384, Edition: 1, Paperback, Free Press