… a musical monster … ear-flaying horror.

—Richard Würst, reviewing Francesca da Rimini

… decidedly too Russian …

—Eduard Hanslick, Neue Freie Presse, Vienna, 1876

… the lack of nobleness, the barbarous side by which, according to ethnographs and diplomats, even the most polished Russian at times betrays himself.

—Musical Review, New York, 1880

… transfers us to a brutal and wretched jollity of a Russian holiday. We see plainly the savage vulgar faces, we hear curses, we smell vodka.

—Eduard Hanslick (again), Neue Freie Presse, Vienna, 1881

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References:

• “40% of annual revenue”
• “musical monster”
• “too Russian”
• “lack of nobleness”
• “wretched jollity”