People think of the strangest things in a crisis. When Mrs. T and I were getting ready to carry my mother to our rental car in order to rush her to the emergency room last Wednesday, I said to myself, Whenever you have to do something in a hurry, make yourself slow down. All at once I found myself recalling two of Richard Strauss’ “Golden Rules for the Album of a Young Conductor”:
• “You should not perspire when conducting. Only the audience should get warm.”
• “When you think you have reached the limits of prestissimo, take the tempo half as fast. (Mozart conductors, please note!)”
That’s good advice, whatever the circumstances.
* * *
Wilhelm Furtwängler leads the Vienna Philharmonic in a 1950 performance of Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks:
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog