Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/201

Rh his opinion of them. First came the "Anvil Chorus." "What do you think of that?" asked the composer.

"Trash!" laconically answered the critic.

Verdi chuckled to himself and said, "Now look at this, and this, and this," at the same time showing other numbers.

"Rubbish!" came the answer.

Verdi showed his delight at these answers to such a degree that his friend demanded to know what he meant by such conduct, when the master replied:—

"My dear friend, I have been composing a popular opera. In it I resolved to please everybody save the great critics and classicists like you. Had I pleased them I should have pleased no one else. What you say assures me of success. In three months Il Trovatore will be sung, and roared, and whistled, and barrel-organed all over Italy.

And such proved to be the case.  

We seldom hear of professional musicians leaving the field of music for that of commerce; or, in this country, of combining commercial business with the profession of music. There can be no serious objection urged to such a combination, however. When one is used to seeing the sign, "John Smith, Teacher of Music and Mender of Kettles," it loses its oddity, and surely no one can object if John teaches his music properly and does not punch another hole in his kettles for each one he mends.

The commercial and the professional instincts are not necessarily opposed to each other, but frequently where one is well developed the other lies dormant. The reason is that it takes years of apprenticeship to develop either, and that which is first developed generally remains the ruling passion.

Mozart had a pupil who, in spite of the greatness of