Off Topic: last-minute stand-ins
I'm working on tomorrow's Top 10 dining destinations for large groups, as well as my introduction to our group-dining guest consultant.
In the meantime, I am moving the off-topic conversation about last-minute stand-ins and substitutions up here.
Here's a trivia question to get us started:
One of the most memorable last-minute substitutions in the annals of American culture happened on the night of November 14, 1943. Who was the sub?
answer : Leonard Bernstein, filling in for the ailing Bruno Walter
Comments
It looks like this was already answered in the other posting, though I have known the story of Leonard Bernstein's debut for years. The way I have heard it told, he was either badly hung over or actually drunk at the time.
Ah ... youth!
I think it's a tie!
Posted by: Returning Ecclesiastical Exile | October 11, 2010 11:25 AM
Speaking of...
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2010/10/remembering_20th_anniversary_o.html#more
Posted by: M&M | October 14, 2010 10:31 AM
Do conductors really do anything? I always suspected that they don't.
Posted by: Circus Monkey | October 14, 2010 10:50 AM
Circus Monkey: yes, they do--think of them as a cross between a giant metronome keeping time, and a director forming the nuances of the musical work, much like a theatrical director does for a play or movie. Listen to two performances of the same work directed by two distinctly different conductors. They can be as different as two movies of the same story/script handled by different directors.
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | October 14, 2010 11:48 AM
Thank you, ADMIV. I'm just a monkey. But orchestra noise make monkey ears hurt.
Posted by: Monkey Circus | October 14, 2010 12:15 PM
The music can vary depending on the size of the baton and who's wielding it.
Posted by: Andante grazioso | October 14, 2010 1:51 PM