Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/52

40 ; both were of slender build, and they were accustomed to dress the hair in the same fashion.

The aversion held by Mendelssohn for Meyerbeer's music extended somewhat to Meyerbeer himself; and great was Mendelssohn's disgust if some one of his friends teased him on his resemblance to the detested composer. On one occasion, in Paris, after having been subject to some good-natured jokes about the similarity of his personal appearance to that of Meyerbeer, the composer of "St. Paul" and "Elijah" rushed off to the barber and had his hair clipped short to dispel the likeness. This, of course, only made him subject to a fresh lot of jokes on the hated resemblance.  

It is not often that an army does the bidding of a prima donna, but a story comes to us from the siege of Hamburg, many years ago, which intimates as much. It is said that during the bombardment of this city the opera continued as usual, and the beleagured officers and soldiers took great pleasure in hearing Madame Fodor, the prima donna of the occasion. Now all great singers have some favorite stimulant, from beer down to beefsteak, without which they think they cannot make a success of their singing. Madam Fodor's favorite beverage happened to be fresh milk, a very harmless drink, to be sure, but one not so easily obtainable when a town is in a state of siege and the last cow has been slaughtered for food.

Learning that their favorite was thus deprived of her customary beverage, the officers determined at all hazards to supply the deficiency, and the soldiers made a gallant sortie from out the city walls and, capturing—not the enemy, but a cow, returned in triumph. The cow was escorted by the officers to the theater and publicly presented to the fair songstress. It was then installed in a property room on the stage, and from that time on