Orpheus At Eighty

New York: Random House. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1958. First Edition. Hardcover. 372 pages; New York: Very Good+ in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1958. First Edition; First Printing. Autograph; 372 pages; Publisher's binding: beige cloth, spine lettered in gilt on a black panel, top edges stained dark green. Pictorial dust jacket, not price-clipped, minor edge and corner wear, more so to the top of the spine, a scratch without loss at the center of the rear panel. First edition, first printing (so stated on verso of title page) . A biography of Giuseppe Verdi by the noted journalist and writer Vincent Sheean [1899-1975]. While music and particularly opera formed a lifelong passion for Sheean, he is best known today for his 1935 book 'Personal History' -- purchased for the movies, in which form it became the source for the 1940 film production "Foreign Correspondent, " directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The book had previous won one of the inaugural National Book Awards. With the ownership signature Paul Hume on the front free-endpaper; the publication date "April 15" written lightly in pencil at the top of the front flap of the dust jacket, and a pencil note referring to a passage on page 339, which Hume has marked with a light red pencil line in the margin. [The passage concerns the contrast between the way the public received the initial performances of Verdi's 'Otello' at La Scala, clamoring for repetitions of certain passages including the Credo and the Ave Maria -- as opposed to the reverent silence which which modern audiences react to all of the miraculous 'Otello. ' Hume's red pencil mark in the margin is in the form of an exclamation mark. From the music reference library of the late Paul Hume, longtime musical editor of the Washington 'Post. ' Hume [1915-2001] earned a degree from the University of Chicago, and, in addition to his multi-decade career in musical journalism, served as as professor of music at Georgetown University (1950-1977) , as adjunct professor of music at Yale University (1975-1983) , and also hosted long-running classical music programs at WGMS-FM radio in Washington, D. C. He is best known for his substantial and influential term at the Washington 'Post" -- 1946-1982, for which he won numerous awards including a Peabody; Hume also wrote several books. Despite all this, during a couple of days fairly early in his tenure at the 'Post, ' Paul Hume became the most famous music critic in America. He achieved this unsought status by publishing a review of a recital December 5, 1950 at Washington's Constitution Hall, writing that the singer possessed "a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality. She is extremely attractive on the stage. Yet . . . There are few moments during her recital when one can relax and feel confident that she will make her goal, which is the end of the song... She is flat a good deal of the time . . . She cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish . . . She communicates almost nothing of the music she presents ..." All in a night's work for a working music critic -- unless the subject of a review is the only child of a President of the United States. Such was the case for Paul Hume in 1950. The President was not at all pleased to read Paul Hume's review in the 'Post. ' He took two sheets of White House stationery and wrote (in longhand) an emotional and un-Presidential letter to the critic. One key phrase stands out: "Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!" Margaret Truman initially told reporters "I am absolutely positive my father wouldn't use language like that... "In the first place ... My father wouldn't have time to write a letter . . . Mr. Hume is a very fine critic. He has a right to write as he pleases..." Cautiously, Hume and the Managing Editor of the 'Post' sought confirmation from the White House that the letter, signed only with the initials "H. S. T. " had indeed been written and sent b; Music and Performing Arts, Most Recent Listing, Most Recent Listing .