Bad NoteRossini was famed for his short temper. While conducting a rehearsal one day, he was dismayed to hear a squealing noise emanating from a player's horn. "What's that?" he fumed. "It's - I, I, ah..." the man stammered, and was quickly interrupted: "Ah, is it? Then pack up your horn and go home," Rossini snapped, before adding, "I'll join you later." The player in question? Rossini's own father.
On the other hand, though his first clarinetist made numerous mistakes while rehearsing one of his early operas in Rome, Rossini never reproached him. The man's identity? He was the barber who habitually shaved Rossini after each rehearsal!
Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio (1792-1868) Italian opera composer [noted for such
works as
Tancredi (1823),
The Italian Girl in Algiers (1813),
The Barber of Seville (1816),
The Thieving Magpie (1817), and William Tell (1829)]
[Sources: N. Slonimsky, Slonimsky's Book of Musical Anecdotes]More Gioacchino Rossini anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Classical Music Conducting Rehearsals Fathers Rudeness Strictness Contempt Shaving Exceptions Temper Tantrums Comparisons
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