Fisher Renée B.
„Musical Prodigies: Masters at an Early Age, by Renee B. Fisher (Association, $7.95). Some, like Mozart and Mendelssohn, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald, Toscanini and Szell, Menuhin and Liszt, are world-famous; some, like Pierino Gamba and the ex-slave “Blind Tom,” are hardly remembered; most, like Lorin Maazel, Ruggiero Ricci, Andre Watts and Ruth Slenczynska, settled down, after a brief period of notoriety to solid careers as adult performing artistse. Whatever their ultimate fates, there is something both amazing and poignant in the stories of these people who became distinguished performers or composers while they were still children. Besides brief biographies and plenty of anecdotes, this study has chapters on the roles of heredity and environment, and on personality traits of prodigies.“
