Abstract
AB: Evidently my mother was innately musical, and sang Polish and Jewish songs to me. My father had accumulated some phonograph records when he was at Princeton in engineering (very unusual, I understand, for a Jew to have been at Princeton, class of 1906). I recall in particular the excerpts from the Messiah and Rigoletto. As a matter of fact, La donna e mobile was one of the first tunes I played by ear. Of course, when it came to someone getting piano lessons, it was natural in our milieu that my older sister should be chosen, and I would stand by and watch. I guess one might say it was sibling rivalry that provided early musical impetus for me. I'd be much annoyed that she'd learn her lesson so inadequately (her strength was in graphic art), and I would learn it for her. Somehow or other, when it came time for me to have lessons, I was very bored with the teacher.
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