Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 144
144.—A DOUBLE DOSE OF BRAHMS.
Von Bülow was a remarkable orchestral conductor; remarkably proficient and remarkably self-willed. There was one city in which he generally received hearty, or at least loud applause, whatever he chose to have his orchestra play. It came about in this way: On one of his concert programmes he had a long and abstruse Brahms symphony. Now Brahms is not a writer to be easily understood or generally enjoyed, and in this case, what applause there was, came from gratitude that the end of the lengthy work had been reached, rather than from appreciation of the work itself. Not satisfied with this half-hearted applause, Bülow turned to the audience and said:—
"What, do you not like it? I will teach you to!" and ordered a repetition of the whole work. Succeeding audiences applauded Brahms' symphonies out of sheer self-defense, if for no other reason.