But to return to the concert, I also conducted Wagner's Tannhauser Overture, and I remember with pleasure that Mr. Hughes, a member of the Covent Garden Orchestra, and the acknowledged best player living of the "ophicleide," paid me the great compliment of saying he had never heard it better performed. I can well remember the first performance in England of this overture at a New Philharmonic Concert on May 1st, 1854: I was playing in the orchestra. It is usually stated that it was first given at an Old Philharmonic Concert in 1855 under Richard Wagner's direction, which is incorrect.