Rossini's Lesson to an Organ Grinder

1874

The London Echo should have thought that it would be as easy to teach a cow to dance a minuet as to give an organ grinder any idea of time.

It appears, however, that the composer Rossini was of a different opinion. It is said that when he lived in the Chaussee d'Antin, he came one day upon a man playing "Di Tanti Palpiti" on a hurdy-gurdy. The performer was astonished to hear a voice from the crowd suddenly exclaim, "Faster, faster!" "How faster?" says the organ man. "Turn the handle quicker; it is allegro." "But, sir, I don't know——" "Like this; so—so, and Rossini rushed upon the organ and ground out the tune to the proper time. "Thank you, sir," said the man; "I shall remember the lesson;" and in fact on the next day he was heard in the same place playing "Di Tanti Palpiti" as he had been taught. "Bravo, bravo, bravo!" exclaimed Rossini from a window, and dropped a louis d'or at the man's feet. The Echo scarcely knows whether to admire most the condescension of the composer or the docility of the grinder.