nergy. The maintenance of vivacious times is an impossibility to them.
Whatever may be the degree of quickness indicated at the head of a piece
confided to their conducting, little by little they slacken its pace,
until the rhythm is reduced to a certain medium slowness, that seems to
harmonize with the speed at which their blood flows, and the general
feebleness of their organization.

It must in truth be added, that old men are not the only ones with whom
composers run this risk. There are men in the prime of life, of a
lymphatic temperament, whose blood seems to circulate _moderato_. If
they have to conduct an allegro assai, they gradually slacken it to
_moderato_; if, on the contrary, it is a largo or an andante sostenuto,
provided the piece is prolonged, they will, by dint of progressive
animation, attain a _moderato_ long before the end. The _moderato_ is
their natural pace, and they recur to it as infallibly as would a
pendulum after having been a moment hurried or slackened in its
oscillations.

These people are the born enemies of all characteristic music, and the
greatest destroyers of style. May Fate preserve the orchestral conductor
from their co-operation.

Once, in a large town (which I will not name), there was to be performed
behind the scenes a very simple chorus, written in 6/8, allegretto. The
aid of the chorus-master became necessary. He was an old man.

The time in which this chorus was to be taken having been first agreed
upon by the orchestra, our Nestor followed it pretty decently during the
first few bars; but, soon after, the slackening became such that there
was no continuing without rendering the piece perfectly ridiculous. It
was recommenced twice, thrice, four times; a full half-hour was occupied
in ever-increasingly vexatious efforts, but always with the same result.
The preservation of allegretto time was absolutely impossible to the
worthy man. At last the orchestral conductor, out of all patience, came
and begged him not to conduct at all; he had hit upon an expedient:--He
caused the chorus-singers to simulate a march-movement, raising each
foot alternately, without moving on. This movement, being in exactly
the same time as the dual rhythm of the 6/8 in a bar, allegretto, the
chorus-singers, who were no longer hindered by their director, at once
performed the piece as though they had sung marching; with no less unity
than regularity, and without slackening the time.

I acknowledge