Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 67
67.—LEONCAVALLO'S WHIMSICAL OPINION CONCERNING HIS "CLOWNS."
Composers are not always keen to tell stories at their own expense or at that of their compositions, but the following related by Leoncavallo, the prominent young composer of the modern Italian school, he deemed too good to keep, though at the time it put him in the light of a first-class plagiarist.
Being one day in the town of Forli, he heard that his opera "Paggliacci," that work which has given him so much fame, was to be produced, and he decided to hear it incognito. That the rising young composer was in town, was not generally known.
At the opera his seat was beside a bright-eyed and enthusiastic young lady, who, when she saw the composer did not join in the general applause, but remained quiet, turned to him with the question:—
"Why do you not applaud? Does it not suit you?"
The composer, much amused, replied: "No, on the contrary, it displeases me. It is the work of a mere beginner, not to call him anything worse."
"Then you are ignorant of music," she said.
"Oh, no," replied the composer.
Then he proceeded to enlighten her on the subject, proving the music worthless and entirely without originality.
"See," said he, "this motive is ," and he hummed lightly a short melody; "this aria is stolen from Bizet, and that is from Beethoven." In short, he tore the whole opera into pieces.
His neighbor sat in silence, but with an air of pity on her countenance. At the close, she turned to him and said: "Is what you have said to me your honest opinion?"
"Entirely so," was the reply.
"Good," said she, and with a malicious gleam in her eyes left the theater.
Next morning, glancing over the paper, his eye fell upon the heading, "Leoncavallo on his 'Paggliacci;'" and reading further, was somewhat startled to find the conversation of the evening before fully reported and accredited to the proper source. He had, unfortunately, played his little joke on a lady reporter, who had proved too smart for him.
Leoncavallo swore off from making disparaging remarks concerning his own works to vivacious young ladies, no matter how handsome or how enthusiastic they might be.