The Odd Philistine

Not all our small audience is well disposed to listen in silence to an entire concert. Frau Von Tin-Ears was tapping her large plump foot in the front row while I was playing a difficult cadenza. As if that were not bad enough, during the slow movement when it was meant to be molto espressivo, I could hear her snoring like a barrel organ on a still summer night and so I paused and waited for the shuddering to stop, at which point someone at the back cried ‘Brava,’ and our small audience began to clap so that Tin Ears awoke and eventually I was able to finish off the cadenza and play the final rondo without further incident. N.