May I now defend Messager's orchestration of the Chopin. Apart from the fact that Désormière - excellent in my music - conducted it like a military march, one has to take into account the present complement of strings at the Opéra: disastrous whenever the woodwinds are playing in threes. In the pit on 8 August there were precisely ten first violins, seven second violins, six violas, six cellos and five double-basses. I know there were the holidays to contend with, but as the desks left empty by prisioners or Jews have never been filled, the music has seriously suffered. All the same, Boléro was not all that bad.