An Excerpt From

Pierre Monteux, Maître

By John Canarina
Foreword by Sir Neville Marriner

Murmurs of discontent could be heard soon after the start of the piece, that high-pitched, strained, and torturous bassoon solo. (Stravinsky once said that if he had known how easy that solo would become for bassoonists, every ten years he would have raised it half a step.) Soon catcalls and other imprecations were heard along with the voices of those trying to quell the disturbance, each side fueling the other. It was a case of the elegant inhabitants of the stalls and the boxes versus the more enthusiastic crowd in the balconies. Shouts were heard of "À bas les greus du 16ème!" ("Down with the bitches of the sixteenth district!" — the wealthy and fashionable area of Paris.) Punches were thrown, and cards were exchanged so that duels could be fought the next day. Complete mayhem reigned.

Through all this turmoil Monteux continued to conduct the orchestra, even though at times he could not hear the music at all. Stravinsky later recalled:

I was sitting in the fourth or fifth row on the right and the image of Monteux's back is more vivid in my mind today than the picture of the stage. He stood there apparently impervious and as nerveless as a crocodile. It is still almost incredible to me that he actually brought the orchestra through to the end.