Thanks, michaelr.

Re-reading earlier Quasthoff interviews,
some things get an emotional response from me
which must have been glossed over the first time.

An envious colleague made a point
of insulting Quasthoff when he was,
I gather, in a competition as a younger singer.
Quasthoff placed ahead of this artist.
And the other artist had the [expletive deleted]
to say, to Quasthoff's face, that the latter had something said artist didn't have --
a "Krüppelbonus."

I think that's what it looks like --
a "cripple-bonus."

Quasthoff, always self-deprecating and reliably plain-spoken,
allows that he managed not to lose his temper.
Whew.