1897. Within this book, the reader will find three hundred anecdotes and biographical sketches of famous composers and performers. The author attempted to cull from the mass of material that came to notice such anecdotes that have two features; that being characteristic of the person referred to, and that of possessing sufficient interest; and in this re-narration, the author incorporated such bits of musical information, along biographical and historical lines, as came to mind at the time of writing, but allowed this feature to be secondary to the main idea of the work. It is hoped the reader may find interesting anecdotes, they may also incidentally find that which is of more permanent value.