Fun_People Archive
30 Mar
Beethoven's Ninth (and the Basses)

Date: Sat, 30 Mar 96 13:05:01 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Beethoven's Ninth (and the Basses)

Forwarded-by: mis@seiden.com
Forwarded-by: ral@msbit.com (Robert A. Lerche)
Forwarded-by: Marshall Caldwell <caldwell@apple.com>
Forwarded-by: Tracey Lewis <Tracey.Lewis@Corp.Sun.COM>
Forwarded-by: bfuss@acuson.com
____________________________________________________________________


 A number of years ago, the Seattle Symphony was doing Beethoven's Ninth
under the baton of Milton Katims...

 At this point, you must understand two things:
 (1) There's a long segment in this symphony where the bass violins don't
have a thing to do.  Not a single note for page after page.
 (2) There used to be a tavern called Dez's 400 right across the street from
the Seattle Opera House, rather favored by local musicians.

 It had been decided that during this performance, after the bass players
had played their parts in the opening of the Ninth, they were to quietly
lay down their instruments and leave the stage rather than sit on their
stools looking and feeling dumb for twenty minutes.

 Well, once they got backstage, someone suggested that they trot across the
street and quaff a few brews.  After they had downed the first couple
rounds, one said, "Shouldn't we be getting back? It'd be awfully
embarrassing if we were late."

 Another, presumably the one who suggested this excursion in the first
place, replied, "Oh, I anticipated we could use a little more time, so I
tied a string around the last pages of the conductor's score.  When he gets
down to there, Milton's going to have to slow the tempo way down while he
waves the baton with one hand and fumbles with the string with the other."

 So they had another round and finally returned to the Opera House, a little
tipsy by now.  However, as they came back on stage, one look at their
conductor's face told them they were in serious trouble.

 Katims was furious! And why not? After all...

 It was the bottom of the Ninth, the score was tied, and the basses were
loaded.

© 1996 Peter Langston