On Jun 1, 2009, at 9:15 AM, <chriswi...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Composer/organist Max Reger had the best response to a bad review when > he wrote to his reviewer: "I am sitting in the smallest room of my > house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be > behind me."
Reger was actually paraphrasing Voltaire: Dear Sir, I am seated in the smallest room in the house. Your letter is before me. Soon it will be behind me. Reger was hardly capable of such pithiness." Nonetheless, this is the only famous thing Reger ever wrote, far outstripping any of his music. It even conveyed a bit of immortality on Rudolf Louis, the critic, without actually disputing anything he said. Quick show of hands: can anyone remember ever hearing Reger's Sinfonietta, which was the work Louis had panned? Let's not all speak up at once... -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
