Peter Harzem wrote:

>Does anyone know of any successful composer or performer who was
>undisciplined and shiftless?

Sigh.  One of my musical heroes, Puccini, seems to have been a person
with not a few less than admirable qualities.  Still, it's difficult
to define "undisciplined and shiftless." I guess you have to ignore the
unfaithfulness to his wife, the obvious self-centeredness, and so forth.
Maybe the most prominent example was his duplicity around the libretto of
Tosca.  He convinced a rival -- who had the rights to it -- that it was not
viable.  The rival renounced his rights to it.  The very next day Puccini
took it for himself.  To our greater benefit, of course.  I'm not rock
solid on the details, here; Listers, help me out please.  "Undisciplined
and shiftless?" Maybe amoral and unethical.

Mitch Friedfeld