[Ads-l] Gioachino Rossini's quotation about the music of Richard Wagner - now on QI website

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The Quote Investigator website now has an entry about the quip
attributed to the composer Gioachino Rossini:

Wagner Has Some Beautiful Moments But Terrible Quarter-Hours
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/08/19/wagner/

I was able to push back the date to 1861 although this early instance
was aimed at a tenor named Signor Tamberlik and not Wagner.

[ref] 1861 April 20, The Illustrated Times: Weekly Newspaper, Volume
12, Opera and Concerts, Quote Page 257, Published at the Office,
Catherine Street, Strand, London. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=qD1NAAAAcAAJ&q=fichus#v=snippet&

{Begin excerpt]
. . . Signor Tamberlik, sings more tremulously this year than ever. He
would always seem admirable if we never heard him in anything but the
"Otello" duet, where his quivering voice suggests naturally enough the
emotion of jealous rage. In other operas he has, according to a French
expression, his "beaux moments," but he has also his "fichus quarts
d'heure."
[End excerpt]

Garson

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