Page 24 - The Gluckman Occasional Number Four

Word of his triumphant appearance at the podium in Austria
spread far and wide, leading to invitations from orchestras in the
United States and Europe to act as guest conductor. Arturo
accepted them all, and very quickly established himself as the
brightest young star in the cosmos of conducting. After several
months of exhausting travel and rave reviews, he was offered the
position of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. He took
the post and settled into a comfortable routine: by day he studied
scores assiduously; and at night the wealthy and cultured paid court
to him at post-concert receptions and balls. His reputation was
made.
Then, one evening, something
terrible happened. It was in the
middle of the slow movement of
Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
Arturo, enraptured by the exotic
harmonies and lush tonalities of
the music, lost his place in the
score. The musicians played on,
their familiarity with the famous
composition carrying them
forward past their maestro’s
moment of confusion. Arturo flailed while his mind raced through
the tangle of chords and notations he had committed to memory.