OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 156

156.—BÜLOW BITS.
The biographer of von Bülow will find no trouble in securing anecdotes characteristic of this whimsical player and conductor, for the peculiar things he did were legion. His criticisms, while often severe, were certainly to the point and were stated without hesitation or reserve. Especially cutting were his remarks about singers. He had a great antipathy to the majority of tenor singers. One especially did he dislike, and speaking of his singing, said, "Do you call that singing? I call it a disease."
While conducting a rehearsal of "Lohengrin" at Hanover he became enraged at the singer's rendition of a certain passage and, throwing his baton at him cried, "You don't sing like a "Knight of the Swan," but like a knight of the swine!"
A caller once noticed as the principal picture in his apartments that of the leader of the ballet. On his friend's expressing surprise, Bülow said, "Yes, she is the only woman of the artists on the stage who does not distress me by bad singing."
When this eccentric pianist met any one to whom for any reason he took a dislike, he would turn and hasten away in an opposite direction. Once in Copenhagen an ​accomplished player of the 'cello who was the unfortunate possessor of a very large nose was presented to him. Bülow gazed at him an instant, then, without returning the player's salutation, exclaimed, "That nose is impossible!" and fled away.
In America we sometimes hear the phrase "put a head on him," but the German idiom for the same phraseological gem is to "give one a nose." When Bülow was leading the Meiningen orchestra, on one occasion the duke wished a certain piece played. The conductor through some whim declined. The duke insisted. The next day Bülow appeared at rehearsal with an enormous false nose on his face. At the close of the first piece, he said to the orchestra, "Gentlemen, you will wish to know where I got this nose? I will tell you. His Highness gave it to me yesterday."
These are some of the whimsicalities of greatness; greatness viewed from its comical side. Viewed as an interpreter of the great masters from Beethoven to Wagner, on piano or orchestra Bülow was one of the very elect. A man of prodigious memory, of wide learning, of an all-conquering technic, he was a universal genius who concentrated his abilities upon music, yet to whom music was but one department of learning. At this writing there is no one that may take up his fallen mantle.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 158

158.—COÖPERATIVE COMPOSITION.
In 1837 a certain charitably disposed Princess hit on a novel way to gather in money for the homeless Italian patriots then in Paris. Her plan was to bring into the musical market a composition which should be the combined work of six of the greatest pianists then before the world.
The theme that was chosen was a duet from Bellini's "I Puritani," and the composers who took part in this composite composition were Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, Herz, Czerny, and Chopin—a brilliant array. From the number of composers this work was called the "Hexameron." Each one wrote a variation on the given theme and Liszt furnished the introduction and finale.
This was not the first time that Liszt had taken part in such composition. In 1823 Diabelli, the Vienna music publisher, issued a series of fifty variations on a waltz theme, by fifty prominent composers of the time. Among them were Czerny, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, ​Kreutzer, and Schubert. The twenty-fourth variation was by Franz Liszt, then eleven years old; and despite his youth, his variation is on a par with those of the older and more celebrated composers. This is the only one of Liszt's earlier compositions that has been preserved.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Bärlapp

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bärlapp | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Bärlapp, m., ‘club-moss’; orig. sense ‘bear's paw’; comp. the Lat.-Gr. term lycopodium formed from it; allied to OHG. lappo, lit. ‘palm of the hand.’
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Bärme

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bärme | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Bärme, f., ‘yeast,’ borrowed from the equiv. LG. barme, m., which corresponds to AS. beorma and E. barm. Lat. fermentum (if it does not belong to formus, Gr. θερμός, ‘warm’) is perhaps akin to it. Teut. b, Lat. f, are Aryan bh.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Böttcher

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Böttcher | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Böttcher, m., ‘cooper,’ name of the agent, from the following word.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Bär

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bär | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Bär (1.), m., ‘(paving) beetle,’ from MidHG. bęrn, ‘to strike, beat,’ whence also MidHG. bęr, f., ‘blow, stroke.’ OHG. bęrjan, Goth. *barjan, agrees by the permutation of consonants with Lat. ferio, ‘I strike,’ as well as OBulg. borją, ‘I fight’ (OIc. berjask, ‘to fight’); it is based on the root bher, ‘to strike.’
Bär (2.), m., ‘bear.’ The Lat. name of the animal (ursus) descends from the pre-Aryan period, just as Gr. ἄρκτος and Ind. ṛkša-s (ursus for *urcsus). It is remarkable that the Teutons have abandoned this old Aryan term for ‘bear’ (ṛksós, Teut. orhsa-s), since they have retained other names of animals. In MidHG. we have bër, OHG. bëro, AS. bëra, E. bear, björn, ‘bear’ (Goth. *baíra). The Teut. beron- is a subst. form based upon an Aryan adj. bhero-, equiv. to Lith. bėras, ‘brown’ (Lat. furvus?), from the root of which, bher and ModHG. Biber, braun, may also be derived; in using the adj. as a subst. the Aryan ṛksos is understood. Note that Braun is the name of the bear in the OG. animal fables.
Bär (3.), m., ‘brood-boar,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. bêr, m., which, with OSax. bêr-swîn, AS. bâr, E. boar, points to Goth. *baira-.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Böhnhase

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Böhnhase | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Böhnhase, m., ‘bungler, clumsy ​workman,’ first found in ModHG.; generally asserted to be a popular corruption of Gr. βάναυσος, which means ‘artisan;’ but it is inexplicable how the Gr. word found its way into popular speech. It is more probably of real German origin, although the primary meaning cannot be got at; we must begin with the fact that the word is native to LG., and is chiefly used in Tailors' Guilds. We must probably regard hase as a LG. form for Hose (see Aberglaube, Adebar). Böhn is generally considered to be a LG. word for Bühne, ‘garret’; hence Böhnhase is perhaps ‘one who makes breeches in the garret, petty tailor’ (opposed to one whose workroom is on the first floor).
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Börde

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Börde | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Börde, f. (the Börde of Soest), ‘fertile plain, plain bordering on a river’; from LG. börde, MidLG. gebörde, ‘department,’ prop. ‘propriety,’ corresponding in form to OHG. giburida.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Böller

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Böller | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Böller, m., ‘small mortar (for throwing shells),’ ModHG. only, a deriv. of the MidHG. boln, ‘to throw,’ mentioned under the preceding word; comp. late MidHG. boler, ‘catapult.’
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Börse

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Börse | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Börse, f., from MidHG. burse, ‘purse, small bag,’ also ‘a number of persons living together,’ OHG. burissa, ‘pocket.’ Comp. Du. beurs; of Rom. origin (Fr. bourse, Ital. borsa); the Rom. class is derived finally from Gr. βύρσα, ‘hide.’ This word supplanted an OTeut. term which shows a similar development of meaning — OIc. pungr, ‘leather bottle, scrotum, purse,’ Goth. puggs, OHG. scazpfung, ‘purse.’
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Bösewicht

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bösewicht | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Bösewicht, m., ‘villain, scamp,’ from MidHG. bœsewiht, OHG. bôsiwiht. See Wicht.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Büchse

| Expand abbreviations An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Büchse | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ Büchse, f., ‘box, pot, jar, rifle,’ from MidHG. bühse, ‘box, magic-box, firelock’; OHG. buhsa, from *buhsja, from Gr. πυξίς, ‘a box of boxwood (πύξος), medicine-box.’ The Gr. medical art was in vogue in the Middle Ages among all civilised nations, consequently some Gr. medical terms found their way into German. See Arzt, Pflaster. Comp. AS. and E. box, Ital. bossolo, Fr. bossette, ‘box.’
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schnöde

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schnöde. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schnöde, adj, ‘worthless, base, vile, insolent,’ from Middle High German snœde, adjective, ‘contemptible, poor, pitiable, trifling, bad, arrogant, ruthless’; in Middle High German the passive sense preponderates, so too in Luther. From the 17th century the modern active signification ‘contemptuous’ appears. Old High German *snôdi is not recorded; compare Dutch snood, ‘base, malicious’; Old Icelandic snauðr, ‘poor, needy,’ sneyða, ‘to rob,’ Anglo-Saxon besnyþian, ‘to rob.’ Akin to Old Icelandic snoðenn, ‘thin-haired’; this meaning also belongs to Middle High German snœde, which is therefore identical in form with Middle High German besnoten, Modern High German (dialectic) beschnotten, ‘close, sparing.’ The pre-Teutonic root snaut. snū̆t, appearing in these cognates, probably meant originally ‘needy’; it is scarcely connected perhaps with Middle High German and Old High German snûden (see schneuzen), ‘to mock, scorn.’
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schraffieren

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schraffieren. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schraffieren, verb, ‘to hatch (drawings),’ Modern High German only, formed from the equivalent Dutch schrafferen (Italian sgraffiare).
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schnüffeln

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schnüffeln. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schnüffeln, verb, ‘to sniff, smell,’ Modern High German only, formed from Low German and Dutch snuffelen, ‘to smell,’ allied to Dutch snuf, ‘scenting’; compare English to snuff, sniff, to snivel (also the substantive snivel, Anglo-Saxon snofl); see the following word.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schon

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schon. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schon, adverb, ‘already, even,’ from Middle High German schôn, schône, adverb, from schœne, adjective, ‘beautiful'; the Modern High German sense occurs very seldom in Middle High German, and is entirely unknown to the courtly poets; Middle High German schône, Old High German scôno, ‘in a handsome manner,’ are formed without the mutation of schön; compare fast from fest.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schreien

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schreien. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schreien, see Schrei.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schreiten

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schreiten. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schreiten, verb, ‘to step, stride, stalk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German schrîten, Old High German scrîtan, Middle High German also ‘to leap into the saddle.’ Compare Old Saxon skrîðan, skrîdan, ‘to stride, go’ (ti-scrîdan, ‘to dissolve’), Dutch schrijden, ‘to stride,’ Anglo-Saxon scrîðan, ‘to stride, go, wander’ (whence English to stride is allied?), Old Icelandic skrîða, ‘to crawl, glide.’ The signification of the Old Teutonic verbal root skrìþ (skrī̆d), Aryan skrī̆t, was at first general (perhaps ‘to move slowly’), in contrast to the special sense in Modern High German.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schofel

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schofel. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schofel, adjective, ‘paltry,’ Modern High German only, formed from Hebrew schâfêl, ‘low.’
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schonen

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schonen. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schonen, verb, ‘to take care (of), spare, economise,’ from early Middle High German schônen, ‘to treat indulgently, spare'; compare Dutch schoonen; a derivative of the adjective schön. Old Icelandic skaunn,, masculine, ‘shield,’ is not allied.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schrappen

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schrappen. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schrappen, verb, ‘to scrape,’ Modern High German only, from Low German schrappen, an intensive form of Dutch schrapen, schrabben, ‘to scratch,’ Middle English scrapien (schrapien), English to scrape, Old Icelandic skrapa. From the Low German cognates Old French escraper, ‘to scratch off,’ is derived. See further under schröpfen and schrubben.
# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schreiben

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry schreiben. | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
​ schreiben, verb, ‘to write,’ from the equivalent Middle High German schrîben, Old High German scrîban; corresponding to the equivalent Dutch schrijven, Old Saxon scrîƀan, Old Frisian skríva. Also with a remarkably divergent meaning, Anglo-Saxon scrîfan, ‘to inflict a punishment, impose penance, receive confession,’ English to shrive, Anglo-Saxon scrift, English shrift, so too Old Frisian scrîva, ‘to inflict a punishment,’ Old Icelandic skript, ‘confession, punishment,’ skripta, ‘to confess, cause to confess, punish.’ In the latter cognates there appears at all events a genuine Teutonic verbal root, skrī̆b, ‘to inflict a punishment,’ which was transferred by Christianity to ecclesiastical affairs; with this root Old Saxon biscrîƀan, ‘to concern oneself about,’ is also probably connected. On the adoption of Roman characters, and the introduction of the art of writing (in contrast to the earlier Runic system; see reißen, Buch, and Rune), Latin scrîbere was now combined with this genuine Teutonic verb, and in the South of Germany entirely supplanted the meaning of the old scrîban; compare Brief and Tinte. In Upper German especially, scrîban, ‘to write,’ took firm root, as might have been expected; in English the Anglo-Saxon verb wrîtan (English to write), originally used of scratching runes, was retained.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 268

268.—THE STORY OF MOZART'S REQUIEM.
Not long before Mozart died he was visited by a tall and dignified stranger, who said he came from a person who did not want his name to be known, but who wished that Mozart should compose a requiem for the soul of a friend recently lost, and whose memory he was desirous of commemorating by this solemn service. Mozart undertook the task, and engaged to have it completed in a month. They arranged the price that was to be paid for the composition, and the stranger paid Mozart a hundred ducats in advance.
Mozart was at that time in ill health, and was affected frequently with a deep melancholy. The mystery of this visit seemed to produce a profound effect on his mind, and he brooded over it for some time, and then set to work earnestly at composition. So intense was the ardor of his application that he was taken with fainting spells, and was finally obliged to suspend his work. "I am writing this requiem for myself," he said one day to his wife; "it will serve for my own funeral service."
At the end of the month the stranger appeared and asked for his requiem.
"I have found it impossible," said Mozart, "to keep my word; the work has interested me more than I expected, and I have extended it beyond my first design. I shall require another month to finish it." The mysterious stranger made no objection, but, saying that ​Mozart should be compensated for his extra work, he laid down fifty ducats on the table and departed, promising to return at the end of another month. Mozart sent a servant to follow his visitor and, if possible, to find out who he was, but the servant lost sight of him.
More than ever persuaded that his visitor was a messenger from the other world sent to warn him that his end was approaching, Mozart applied himself with fresh zeal to the requiem, and, in spite of his exhaustion of body and mind, he completed it before the end of the month.
At the appointed day the stranger came for the work and received it, but the composer's work on earth was finished.
Later investigation proved that the visitor was the servant of a certain nobleman, who wished in this manner to obtain a composition which he could pass off as his own work, written by himself, and dedicated to his wife's memory; and for many years the fraud remained undiscovered.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 269

269.—LISZT'S REPLY TO LOUIS PHILIPPE.
In Liszt's essay on "The Position of an Artist in France," he scored King Louis Philippe and his administration quite severely on their niggardly appropriations for music. Ever after that he avoided meeting the king and declined to play at the Tuileries. But some time afterward he came face to face with His Majesty at an exhibition, and the king engaged him in conversation. Liszt could not escape, but only answered with a bow and "Yes, Sire."
"Do you remember," said the king at last, "that you played at my house when you were but a boy and I Duke of Orleans? Much has changed since then."
"Yes," Liszt burst forth, "but not for the better."
The result of this reply was that when the roll of ​names for the cross of the Legion of Honor was sent to the king, he drew his pen through the name of Franz Liszt.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 27

27.—RATHER A HARD OPPONENT TO CONQUER.
It is not always safe to deride one whose abilities seem to be less than our own. This lesson was painfully learned by a young violinist of Berlin at an evening party, to which he had been invited. He played several pieces, not with great applause, however. Afterwards another young man was invited to play, but his playing was worse than that of his predecessor; in fact his style and execution were wretched. So our young professor again came forward and showed his superior abilities in a very pretentious way, as if to utterly crush the strange musician. But when it again became the stranger's turn to play, his performance was given with such expression and brilliancy of execution as to utterly vanquish the young upstart, who disappeared and was seen no more that evening. He had been contending with Paganini.
# Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 263

263.—STAGE CENSORSHIP.
It seems strange that at this age of the world a composer should have to ask the police what characters and incidents he may use in the plot of his opera. Yet within a short time the Italian, Leoncavallo, in putting his "I Medici" on the stage in Vienna, has had to make serious alterations in the text at the "suggestion" of the censor of that city. He had to change a scene in the last act because two priests are there depicted as murderers of Giuliano Medici. The composer, unwilling to have his work forbidden, replaced the priests by two young courtiers. Also the Credo sung in Latin in a church scene was given with German words, and each time the name of the Pope had to be uttered during the course of the piece a nobleman's name was to be substituted.
This reads like the days in 1847, when republican sentiment was rampant in Italy, and the supervision of what was given to the public in print or on the stage was very strict. When, at that time, Verdi brought out "I Masnadieri," Schiller's great tragedy of "The Robbers" arranged to a string of Italian melodies, he was obliged to cut and slash his libretto in all directions at the bidding of the police authorities for fear there would ​be allowed to remain in the work some reference to liberty or republicanism.
The "Masked Ball" was not at first permitted a representation because it dealt with the assassination of King Gustavus III, of Sweden; so Verdi offered to turn his king into a duke; but finally, to give satisfaction, he metamorphosed the monarch into the "Governor of Massachusetts" and allowed him to be killed in sedate old Boston! The tenor, Mario, was to appear in this first presentation, and when he came to don the sombre garb of the Puritan governor, he decidedly objected to its lack of color and ornamentation. So Verdi obligingly allowed the sober Puritan to strut the stage in Spanish mantle, high boots, spurs, and a helmet with waving plume!
Rossini's "William Tell" has also come under the ban of governmental displeasure in monarchical Europe. At various times the libretto has undergone change for political reasons.
At the Royal Opera, Berlin, in 1830, for example, the title "William Tell" was altered to "Andreas Hofer," the hero of the Tyrolese insurrection against the French and Bavarians, who was shot at Mantua in 1810; while the tyrant Gessler was, of course, replaced by a French general. In Russia the piece was some sixty years ago rechristened "Charles the Bold," and instead of William Tell another hero was invented, called Rodolphe Doppelguggel.