Do you ever wonder what the hell conductors are doing?

[Mozart]

If a conductor had a seizure in the middle of an opera, would anybody realize it?

[Bonehelm]

If a conductor had a seizure in the middle of an opera, would anybody realize it?

I'm more worried about the old men on the podium coughing involuntarily (especially for smokers) in the middle of a quite section.

[Renfield]

If a conductor had a seizure in the middle of an opera, would anybody realize it?

To my knowledge, this has happened plenty of times.

And one of the most interesting was when Toscanini had a minor(?) stroke during a concert, only to reel a bit, then go on conducting!

Bernstein also had some difficulties finishing his very last concert, leaning at the podium to steady himself at some point: he died shortly after that. Not to mention those conductors who actually did die on the podium, like Mottl and Keilberth (both on the same part of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde), or Giuseppe Sinopoli, to name a few.

In other words, since it's happened plenty of times already, I think someone would notice, yeah.

[Mozart]

That should serve as a lesson to all of us. Wagner's music kills.

[Brian]

At a concert recently I suddenly realized how amazing it was that none of the performers ever sneeze. If I were conducting, or playing the clarinet or tuba or something, I would start sneezing copiously at highly inopportune times.

[Bonehelm]

At a concert recently I suddenly realized how amazing it was that none of the performers ever sneeze. If I were conducting, or playing the clarinet or tuba or something, I would start sneezing copiously at highly inopportune times.

Yeah I know...I've never seen a live performance where the conductor (or any of the performers) coughing or sneezing or farting...it's as though they all became robots when playing music..

[gmstudio]

Yeah I know...I've never seen a live performance where the conductor (or any of the performers) coughing or sneezing or farting...it's as though they all became robots when playing music..

Oh believe me...there's farting. 

[Renfield]

Oh believe me...there's farting. 

Personal experience? O_o

[Mozart]

Oh believe me...there's farting. 

People need to fart...why id it considered rude? Sometimes you can't hold it in....

[Renfield]

People need to fart...why id it considered rude? Sometimes you can't hold it in....

Yes, but... o_O


(Notice how the eyes bulge the other way, now: symmetry, and all that. )

[gmstudio]

Personal experience? O_o

Before I was a conductor, I was a tuba player.

[jochanaan]

Stravinsky had a non-fatal stroke while conducting his Symphony in C.  He tells how people told him later that he didn't conduct the chords at the first movement's end and only began the second movement after "an unconscionable pause."

I had not heard of the circumstances of Sinopoli's death.  Apparently it isn't just Wagner that kills; Sinopoli was conducting Verdi, according to Wikipedia.  The famous baritone, Leonard Warren, also died onstage during a Verdi opera, La Forza del Destino. And Dmitri Mitropolous was rehearsing Mahler's Third Symphony.

For some reason I very seldom have to cough, sneeze, yawn, belch or do other rude bodily functions when I'm playing.  I would guess that my whole physical being is focused enough on the music that it has no energy left over for these normal body functions.  High adrenaline, probably.

[Renfield]

High adrenaline, probably.

Yep, that makes sense.

And interesting tid-bit, that one about Stravinksky...

[Drasko]

I had not heard of the circumstances of Sinopoli's death.  Apparently it isn't just Wagner that kills; Sinopoli was conducting Verdi, according to Wikipedia. 

Aida's Act III duet and finale were just concluding at the Deutsche Oper Berlin when everyone in the house heard a thud from the orchestra pit and the conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli, dropped from sight.

Shouts rang out from the pit. From the stage apron, mute singers broke character and peered down. The audience arose in a body, bewildered. The house lights came up, and a house spokesman announced a temporary interruption of the performance, asking the audience to wait in the foyer for a further announcement — which, when it came, asked everyone please to go home. The fire department's life-saving ambulance squad soon also appeared and rushed Sinopoli to the nearest hospital, where all efforts proved futile and finally they could do no more than pronounce him dead — at only 54.

The following evening, Berlin's Deutsche Staatsoper observed a minute of silence during its performance of Fidelio, the Vienna State Opera preceded its performance of Verdi's Don Carlo with Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music, and conductor Kent Nagano dedicated his concert with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and violinist Hilary Hahn to Sinopoli's memory. After intense consultations the day after Sinopoli's death, Deutsche Oper participants decided Sinopoli would have wanted them not to cancel the second of the scheduled two performances he would have conducted. Marcello Viotti took over the baton, and what had become a memorial evening closed with Alessandra Marc singing "Im Abendrot" from Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs.

[greg]

oh, this might be a related question.

what happens if...... say, a flute player all of a sudden becomes ill and can't at all play at a concert? Or maybe just any other non-string player? I'm sure they don't just cancel a concert, don't they have other people that work on the music, too?

[jochanaan]

oh, this might be a related question.

what happens if...... say, a flute player all of a sudden becomes ill and can't at all play at a concert? Or maybe just any other non-string player? I'm sure they don't just cancel a concert, don't they have other people that work on the music, too?

For top-tier orchestras there are always extra players they can call.  Community orchestras may try to call in other players, but as often as not they simply play the performance without the part.  If it's the principal player who's sick, usually the second/asst. principal plays the solos.

[Iago]

Question: Do you ever wonder what the hell conductors are doing?

Answer: Certainly.

But even more frequently, the conductor himself doesn't know what the hell he's doing.
With his head buried in the score and "following" instead of "leading", most conductors only care if they look good from behind while doing their "thing".

[Catison]

most conductors only care if they look good from behind while doing their "thing".

Like who?

[jochanaan]

Like who?

You rose to the bait, Brett!

[BachQ]

Q: Do you ever wonder what the hell conductors are doing?

A: No.