Madame Schuman Heink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernestine_Schumann-Heink) was born in poverty. She began singing in public from the age of 15. One day, when she went to audition with the director of the Vienna Court Opera, he insulted her very badly, refused to conduct her audition and told her to give up the idea of singing and buy a sewing machine and stitch clothes instead.



A few years later, music critics in Europe and the United States hailed her as "the world's outstanding contralto."



I quote this paragraph from a passage in her obituary, which is published with permission in Napolean Hill's best selling motivational classic "Think and Grow Rich."







Early in her career, Mme. Schuman-Heink visited the director of the Vienna Court Opera, to have him test her voice. But, he did not test it. After taking one look at the awkward and poorly dressed girl, he exclaimed, none too gently, "With such a face, and with no personality at all, how can you ever expect to succeed in opera? My good child, give up the idea. Buy a sewing machine, and go to work. YOU CAN NEVER BE A SINGER."



Never is a long time! The director of the Vienna Court Opera knew much about the technique of singing. He knew little about the power of desire, when it assumes the proportion of an obsession. If he had known more of that power, he would not have made the mistake of condemning genius without giving it an opportunity.





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