Word: maestro
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...personal gift," said San Juan's Archbishop Luis Aponte Martinez. "What else could I or the church offer you that could be of any value?" In response, two threads of tears appeared on the cheeks of Cellist Pablo Casals, celebrating his 90th birthday. After the service, the maestro returned with his 30-year-old wife Marta and a small group of friends to his seaside villa, where he opened hundreds of gifts and cables from all over the world. Casals' birthday festival in San Juan lasted two days, ending with a commemoratory concert, a formal party...
...section. When that happens, egos get bruised. Says a woman who is a first cellist: "How do I tell an older man that he consistently comes in early on bar 24?" The majority of conductors avoid such problems by refusing to promote women to the first desk; one noted maestro once told a string player that she played better than any of his men, but alas, "your pants are too short...
Young Upstart. As a child in Graz, Austria, Böhm tagged after the town band to play make-believe maestro. At the insistence of his father, he entered law school, but often cut classes to serve as substitute conductor and pianist at the Graz Opera. At 25, he took a few hours off from rehearsals to pick up his law degree, then rushed back to conduct a performance of The Flying Dutchman...
...effect, he is a subconductor, able, and often compelled, to rescue the maestro when he misses an entrance or loses his place. Ravel was such a notoriously bad conductor that soloists who were condemned to play under his baton sometimes made a secret pact to take all their cues from the concertmaster. Says Leinsdorf: "If you have a good concertmaster, you don't have to move your left arm so much...
...orchestra. The suavity and elegance of Nadien's playing, for example, have already given his string section a correspondingly new tone. Beyond that, the concertmaster helps decide promotions, auditions, prospective new players, and acts as a father confessor as well as a liaison between the men and the maestro. Barbirolli says that the Italian appellation for concertmaster, violino di spalla, is more apropos: "His is the shoulder that the conductor leans...