Arturo Toscanini legend

[snopes]

Comment: This was included on a slide for a lecture in my cognitive
psychology class-did it really happen?

Arturo Toscanini, the conductor of the NBC Orchestra could easily remember
all the parts of about 250 symphonies and 100 operas. One night a bassoon
player came to him because one of the keys on the bassoon was damaged.
Toscanini said, "Don't worry. You don't need that key tonight!" (In other
words he knew the music so well that he immediately knew that the bassoon
player did not need that key).

[musicgeek]

There a few versions of this out there; all the ones I've seen mention Toscanini specifically although the woodwind instrument in question varies. Most have the key being "the low (note name) key," which makes the legend somewhat plausible -- it's a note at the extreme lower register of the instrument, which would be unusual enough in orchestral writing that its inclusion in a score would be noteworthy.

[snopes]

The way the legend is worded in the OP, it doesn't require Toscanini (or whoever) to carry detailed knowledge of hundreds of orchestral pieces in his head -- presumably the conductor and orchestra would have been rehearsing the piece they were about to play, so the score should have been relatively fresh in the conductor's mind. In fact, it's kind of puzzling that the bassoon player wouldn't have recognized that he wouldn't be needing the key himself, unless it was the first play-through of piece new to the orchestra.

- snopes

[Floater]

Originally Posted by snopes

In fact, it's kind of puzzling that the bassoon player wouldn't have recognized that he wouldn't be needing the key himself, unless it was the first play-through of piece new to the orchestra.

Even if that was the case he should have played it through a couple of times before the first rehearsal.

[Kizhe]

Hi everyone!

This story appeared in Fritz Spiegl's book "Musical Blunders"; he says it must be apocryphal. Wind instruments just don't work that way; you break a key, and you need to get it fixed before you can play anything. Keys on a wind instrument are NOT like keys on a piano. Given the amount of musical training a conductor must have, I don't think it's likely a conductor would have such a gross ignorance of how wind instruments work. (And given the amount of ego that I've heard Toscanini had, he wouldn't have wanted a story like this - anyone who's played a wind instrument would know his reply was daft - being perpetuated).

So it makes sense the bassoon player would have said "I can't play!" had it happened. Not only does he know his part... he knows the working of his instrument!

(In the Fritz Spiegl book the story is told as something that happened to a clarinet player... and also as something that happened to a double bass player whose lowest string broke - and couldn't find ANYONE with a replacement string for some reason.)

I've read this one, too, I think it must have been on an opera mailing list somewhere. The story as I know it involves a string instrument, though, possibly a double bass. That'd render matters more plausible.

[Floater]

Originally Posted by Blue Byrd

I've read this one, too, I think it must have been on an opera mailing list somewhere. The story as I know it involves a string instrument, though, possibly a double bass. That'd render matters more plausible.

No it doesn't. It's perfectly possible to play a woodwind instrument with a defect key among the lower tones (depending, of course, on what melody you are playing) and less possible on a brass instrument, unless you only have to play in a pentatonic scale. If told about a string instrument the story is just not applicable.

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by Floater

No it doesn't. It's perfectly possible to play a woodwind instrument with a defect key among the lower tones (depending, of course, on what melody you are playing) and less possible on a brass instrument, unless you only have to play in a pentatonic scale. If told about a string instrument the story is just not applicable.

Itzhak Perlman did it, didn't he?

[mouse goddess]

Nobody's going to make the obvious joke about how terrible bassoon players are anyway, broken key or not??

(never liked the sound of double reeds, myself)

[Floater]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

Itzhak Perlman did it, didn't he?

I did write tones, not bones, didn't I?