A conductor for the ages?
Crikey, I would have loved to live contemporaneously with B, in Vienna, just to bear witness to some of these things. Many moments are profound times in the history of music. Then there are these;
"Beethoven was playing a new concerto of his (own composition) but already, at the first tutti, forgetting that he was the soloist, he jumped up and began to conduct in his own fashion. At the first sforzando he threw out his arms so wide that he kocked over both the lamps from the music stand of the piano. The audience laughed, and Beethoven was so beside himself that he made the orchestra stop and start over. Seyfried, worried that this would happen again at the same place, took the precaution of having two choir boys stand next to Beethoven holding the lamps in their hands. One of them innocently stepped forward to follow the music from the piano part. But when the fatal sforzando burst forth, the poor boy received such a sharp slap from Beethoven's right hand that he dropped the lamp on the floor. The other, more wary boy, who had anxiously been following Beethoven's movements succeeded in avoiding the blow by ducking in time. If the audience had laughed the first time, they now indulged in a truly Bacchanalian riot. Beethoven broke out in such a fury that when he struck the first chord of the solo he broke 6 strings. Every effort of the music lovers to restore calm and attention was completely unavailing for some time; thus the first allegro of the concerto was completely lost to the audience."
Louis Spohr "Autobiography"
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Regards,
Gurn
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That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
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"Beethoven was playing a new concerto of his (own composition) but already, at the first tutti, forgetting that he was the soloist, he jumped up and began to conduct in his own fashion. At the first sforzando he threw out his arms so wide that he kocked over both the lamps from the music stand of the piano. The audience laughed, and Beethoven was so beside himself that he made the orchestra stop and start over. Seyfried, worried that this would happen again at the same place, took the precaution of having two choir boys stand next to Beethoven holding the lamps in their hands. One of them innocently stepped forward to follow the music from the piano part. But when the fatal sforzando burst forth, the poor boy received such a sharp slap from Beethoven's right hand that he dropped the lamp on the floor. The other, more wary boy, who had anxiously been following Beethoven's movements succeeded in avoiding the blow by ducking in time. If the audience had laughed the first time, they now indulged in a truly Bacchanalian riot. Beethoven broke out in such a fury that when he struck the first chord of the solo he broke 6 strings. Every effort of the music lovers to restore calm and attention was completely unavailing for some time; thus the first allegro of the concerto was completely lost to the audience."
Louis Spohr "Autobiography"
------------------
Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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