Reprising this amusing anecdote from Tchaikovsky, by Anthony Holden.
Tchaikovsky was traveling from St. Petersburg to Tiflis “via the scenic route, aboard a steamship down the Volga. Concealing his identity from the other passengers, he agreed one evening to accompany an amateur soprano in a romance by Tchaikovsky, only to be told by the singer that he had no feeling for the piece. ‘Allow me to know how this song should be sung,’ she publicly chided her unknown pianist. ‘I went through it with my teacher, who was taught how to perform it by Tchaikovsky himself.’ He bowed respectfully” (p. 264).
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