The singers today were only marking, singing at half-voice, the orchestra played abominably although they were indignant when I shouted at them. The basses and cellos were not there at all, and Annenkov thought it would be a good idea to replace them with temporary substitutes who had not the slightest idea about Aida. They played so many wrong notes that I sent them packing and asked Tvordovsky to play their parts on the piano. In short, nothing of any value was achieved today; it merely served to demoralize.