I recently came across a fun song by Gino Paoli called “La Gatta,” or “The Cat.” Perhaps more  interesting than the song itself (even given my love of cats) is the story behind it. It seems that  when first recorded it received very little attention, selling only 119 copies in three months.  Following this unpopular debut however, word of mouth led to the song becoming extremely  popular, selling more than one hundred thousand copies in one week. 

Paoli describes the song as being autobiographical, reflecting his simple life in a small apartment  in the port city of Genoa. He said the cat represented "all my hopes, my romanticism, my desire  to look up in the air, to look at the sky". He would later adapt the song and turn it into an  illustrated book for children. 

On another front, the great composer Gioachino Rossini wrote almost forty operas, in addition  to songs, as well as piano and chamber music. Still one of the things for which he might be  best remembered is his sense of humor.  

He was sometimes known as “The Messiah of Joy” and considered an excellent  conversationalist who, upon retiring at the age of 37, continued to enjoy life, while leaving behind  not only brilliant comic operas, but also a legacy of witty anecdotes, until his death at age 76. 

One of his most memorable quotes also provides insight into his sense of humor. Asked if he  ever cried, he said: “I have only cried four times in my life: at the failure of my first opera, when  I first heard Paganini play, on the death of my mother, and once when a turkey stuffed with  truffles fell overboard on a boating trip.” 

This same wonderful sense of humor, although showing up in many of his operas, can perhaps  be seen most effectively in his wonderful “Duetto buffo di due gatti” or “Duet for Two Cats” 

In the case of Paoli’s song and Rossini’s duet, The Lightbulb Moment for me comes with  realizing that however serious music and its commercialization is meant to be, one must never  feel removed from the element of having fun. Paoli wrote a song about memories that were dear  to his heart and a cat he came to love. Rossini used his enormous talent to create an improbable duet for two cats designed more to make an audience laugh than to be a serious work of  composition, even borrowing melodies from one of his most serious operas, Otello.  

There will always be enough time and energy both needed and spent on the demands of a  career, especially one in classical music. As an artist you will always give that time, because to  do otherwise takes you away from your true sense of purpose. 

However, never be so serious that you also don’t take some time to laugh at—and to—yourself, and in the process enjoy the fun of pursuing a profession that is, above all, meant to bring you  joy.