A Double Dose of Brahms

Hans von Bülow was a brilliant orchestral conductor—and famously stubborn. In one city he could count on loud applause almost no matter what he programmed.

Once he put a long, dense Brahms symphony on the bill. Brahms isn’t always easy listening, and that night the applause mostly sounded like relief that the marathon was over, not deep appreciation.

Bülow didn’t accept that. He turned to the audience and snapped, “What—don’t you like it? I’ll teach you to!” Then he ordered the entire symphony to be played again.

After that, people in that city learned to applaud Brahms symphonies with enthusiasm—if only as a matter of self‑defense.