"At the historic premiere by Joachim of Brahms's Violin Concerto on New Year's Day, 1879, Brahms, who was to conduct, appeared at the last minute before his ill-humored Leipzig audience, his attire in disarray. The effect of the indecorous informality of his gray street trousers was, in the course of the performance, to be outdone by the unfolding spectacle of those same trousers slipping beyond the point where the most supportive spectators could prolong their suspension of disbelief. Brahms had forgotten to fasten them. The Concerto ended before the anticipated sartorial denouement, but the scandalized Leipzigers had been utterly distracted and there is no record that they were so much impressed by the newly offered composition as by its autor's narrow escape from the consequences of his personal neglect.
Such stories make charming but pertinent and illustrative digressions. And even better, they humanize the subject in a way that is positive as long as one believes that the fact of Orpheus, with or without suspenders, is more vital than the myth of Orpheus preserved in marble, with or without the obligatory fig leaf."
© Yehudi Menuhin
Preface to the Facsimile Edition of J. Brahms's Violin Concerto op. 77 (1979)
[link]
Such stories make charming but pertinent and illustrative digressions. And even better, they humanize the subject in a way that is positive as long as one believes that the fact of Orpheus, with or without suspenders, is more vital than the myth of Orpheus preserved in marble, with or without the obligatory fig leaf."
© Yehudi Menuhin
Preface to the Facsimile Edition of J. Brahms's Violin Concerto op. 77 (1979)
[link]
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