On This Special Day, How Motherly Advice Can Help Shape History...

As this day is Mother's Day, I thought that I might share this vignette with you:
The time -early  20th century.
The place - Western Europe.
The situation - two young men forming and establishing their budding reputations  in piano recitals and concerts as they moved westward.
Both happened to be situated quite near one another, although never meeting during this period.
One was  Vladimir Horowitz, captivating his audiences by way of his lionizing  his repertoire.
The other was a South American, who at one time  experienced a  conviction that he was a descendant of Beethoven. His mother happened to accompany him during this period, and on one occasion remarked that Horowitz was performing, and she would like to hear him. And so she went on to the recital, leaving her son behind to practice for his next recital.
When she returned, she approached her son, and said the following:
"practice more. He plays better than you."
Evidently  her golden advice registered. The young man's name - Claudio Arrau.
Arrau himself speaks about this incident in an interview done a few years before his death.
And so, it seems of worth to heed Mom's advice...