Here is one of the most enjoyable and illuminating books ever published for the music lover, a feast of delightful anecdotes that reveal the all-too-human side of the great composers and performers.
There are stories of appetites (Handel eating dinner for three), embarrassments (Brahms falling asleep as Liszt plays), oddities (Bruckner's dog being trained to howl at Wagner), and devotions (a lovely admirer disrobing in tribute to Puccini). There are memorable accounts of Stravinsky telling Proust how much he hates Beethoven, of Tchaikovsky's first bewildering telephone call, of Dvorak's strange love of pigeons, and of Verdi's intricate maneuvering to keep the now-famous melody of "La donna è mobile" top secret.
There is also wonderful trivia (Beethoven loved to cat "bread soup" made with ten raw eggs), along with eccentric strategies (Verdi, disturbed by the sound of street organs playing arias from his operas, hired them all for a season and kept them locked in a room). There are examples of musicians munificent generosity (Haydn called Mozart "the greatest composer known to me, either in person or by name"), and scathing dismissal ("Have you heard any Stockhausen?" the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was asked. "No," he replied, "but I believe I have trodden in some").
Collected from thousands of books, articles, and unpublished manuscripts (with historical sources provided in extensive notes), these anecdotes appear in their original form, throwing fresh light on familiar figures in the musical hall of fame. For browsing, reading, research and amusement, this book is a grand entertainment for concert-goers, record-buyers, operamanes, gossips and music lovers everywhere.

本书为爱乐者而作，充满了乐趣与启迪，堪称趣闻轶事的盛宴，同时揭示了伟大的作曲家和演奏家最人化的一面。
这里有大胃王（亨德尔吃三人份的晚餐），有尴尬场景（勃拉姆斯在李斯特演奏时睡着了），有咄咄怪事（布鲁克纳的狗儿被训练成能够对瓦格纳的音乐嚎叫），也有爱的奉献（一位仰慕者不惜为普契尼宽衣解带）。这里也有值得记忆的片断，比如斯特拉文斯基告诉普鲁斯特自己如何厌恶贝多芬，柴可夫斯基的第一通迷糊电话，德沃夏克对于鸽子的奇特迷恋，威尔第绞尽脑汁把“女人善变”的旋律变成最高机密。
这里还有绝妙的日常琐事（贝多芬喜欢喝十个生蛋做的“面包汤”），古怪的策略（威尔第觉得街头的管风琴整日演奏他的歌剧中的咏叹调十分恼人，便租下了所有的管风琴锁在房间里），音乐家的慷慨大度（海顿称莫扎特“是我认识的最伟大的作曲家，不管是通过本人还是名字”），以及冷嘲热讽（有人问托马斯?比彻姆爵士：“您听过施托克豪森的音乐吗？”“没有，”他回答，“但我可能踩过一些。”）
这些逸事来自于成百上千的书籍、文章、未刊发的手稿（附录中提供了材料的来源），保存了原有的叙述方式，为那些音乐厅中广为人知的形象增加了新鲜的光彩。不论是对音乐厅常客、唱片买家、歌剧迷、八卦爱好者还是一般爱乐者，不论你的目的是浏览、细读、研究或娱乐，阅读本书都是一种绝妙的享受。