<br>"His music used to be original. Now it's aboriginal." ~ Sir Ernest Newman about Igor Stravinsky
<br>"If he'd been making shellcases during the war it might have been better for music." Ravel, about Saint-Saens
<br>"He has an enormously wide repertory. He can conduct anything, provided it's by Beethoven, Brahms or Wagner. He tried Debussy's 'La Mer' once. It came out as 'Das Merde'. Cleveland Orchestra musician on conductor George Szell
<br>A critic mentioned to MET Opera director Rudolph Bing, that George Szell is his own worst enemy. "Not while I'm alive". said Bing
<br>"After I die, I shall return to earth as a gatekeeper of a bordello and I won't let any of you enter." Toscanini once said to the members of his NBC Symphony.
<br>"We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be good enough to keep in touch now and then." Sir Thomas Beecham to an orchestra member.
<br>"Jack Benny played Mendelssohn last night. Mendelssohn lost." Benny's friend, violinist Isaac Stern
<br>The famous German conductor Hans Von Bulow was at odds with two musicians in his orchestra. One named Schultz the other Schmidt. When told that Schmidt had died, Bulow responded with "Und Schultz?".
<br>"Her voice sounded like an eagle being goosed". ~ Ralph Novak on Yoko Ono.
<br>"Parsifal is the kind of opera that starts at six o'clock and after it has been running for three hours, you check your watch and it says 6:20." ~ David Randolph
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