BULOW’S CAUSTIC WIT

Shannon News, 30 May 1924, Page 4

BULOW’S CAUSTIC WIT

Hans von Billow, a great pianist aud even greater conductor, was famed for , his caustic wit. A budding - pianist had repeatedly bothered him for an audition, which was at last in sheer desperation granted. After hearing the tyro play, Bulow ecstatically extended his arms and exclaimed: “Liszt- 1 have heard, Rubenstein 1 have heard; but never have 1 seen any pianist, perspire so freely as you.” To Bulow belongs the credit of saying that a "tenor was not a. voice, but a disease,” and perhaps a still more striking example of his mordant irony is his definition of musical critics, who he declared "know everything and do nothing.” Hans von Bulow was the first husband of the autocratic Cosima Wagner, wife of Richard Wagner, a well-known and .remarkable figure in Bayrench in the days before the war. At tile famous Villa Waltnfried she held a miniature court, td which many European royalties came to pay homage, and an invitation to one -of her Wednesday receptions was accounted a privilege and considered a command.