Ysaÿe and Kubelik were great performers, of course, but I wasn’t very interested in them then. But the Odessa music lovers went wild over any visiting celebrity. Swarthy and handsome, Kubelik drove the audience crazy, especially the women, as he played one fiendishly difficult piece after another. The local ladies threw diamond rings down at the stage, I saw it myself! They would close the curtain immediately afterwards . . . and a servant probably picked up the rings. Then the curtains opened again and Kubelik would continue the concert as if nothing had happened.