Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/78

66 

True genius is not averse to taking a hint from whatever quarter it may come. An ordinary person may occasionally give a very gifted one a valuable point.

In Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro" one of the characters is a stuttering judge. Mozart desired Kelly, who was singing that part, to stutter all through the opera save in one number, a sextet, a favorite number with the composer. In that he feared to spoil the music. But Kelly protested that he should stutter in that piece also and thus preserve the unity of the character throughout. He apologized for presuming to set his judgment against Mozart's, but declared he would sing it that way or not at all. Finally, Mozart gave in. Kelly sang it as he promised, and the result was a tumult of applause, the Emperor himself crying "Bravo, bravo!"

Mozart rushed on the stage, and taking Kelly by the hand, said: "Young man, I feel obliged to you, and acknowledge you were right and I wrong."

This amende honorable was worthy of the true gentleman Mozart always showed himself to be.  

Opera singers have the name of being capricious people. While, on the whole, they undoubtedly average up about the same as the rest of humanity in this regard, that still leaves a margin for a good deal of caprice and unaccountable ideas.

Impossible colds and suspicious illness on the part of his singers are some of the most perplexing features an operatic manager encounters. The following incident gives a fair example of one kind of "operatic cold."

Ronconi and his wife were singing in the same troupe, and when the lady was irritated by being cast to sing