But Beethoven had a flop on his hands when he premiered the violin concerto. The audience clearly thought it was too long - maybe they were accustomed to chatting through the music, in time-honoured tradition? - and by the end of the first movement it was apparent that the performance was going down badly.
Maybe that was because the performers hadn't seen all of the sheet music in advance of the performance? Beethoven had made a rush job of it, and even the soloist was having to sight-read from Ludwig's scrawly score. But clearly he didn't want to send them away unhappy. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/pr ... n-concerto
The premiere at the Vienna opera house was not a success. The concerto was not ready until the last moment – two days before, apparently – and Clement had largely to sight-read it. Living up to his reputation for showing off, between the first and second movements he entertained the audience by playing music of his own on the violin upside down. Perhaps he realized that the concerto itself was not going down well.
Understatement of the century, I suspect. What larks!
BJ