The day when, by request of Prince Albert, he [Richard Wagner] conducted his Overture to Tanhäuser at the Hanover Square Rooms, I had to run a frightful chorus rehearsal at the same time for the New Philharmonic concert that I was to conduct two days later. They were doing the choruses from the first four parts of Roméo and it was so extraordinarily execrable that in spite of Dr. Wilde, who found the whole thing well sung, I ought to have put an end to the horror by suppressing the singing entirely. Despite some actual absences in the orchestra, the first two parts of Roméo went well. In fact the “ Fête” was given with such verve that for the first time since the symphony was written it was encored with a great Hurrah! by all the vast audience of Exeter Hall. There were plenty of slips in the Scherzo. << less