The latter days of the dirty old Conservatoire were also those of my residence in Vienna, where I contracted a close friendship with Hellmesberger the elder […] It was at his particular request that I took to " dropping in" upon the afternoon orchestral "practices" of the Conservatoire pupils, which took place twice or thrice a week under his personal direction. No musician could fail to be deeply interested by these exercises, in which the foremost rank was assigned to sight-reading.