Spohr on Beethoven as a Conductor - 1913

In these days of the "virtuoso conductor," when such masters of the baton as Richter, Nikisch, Mahler, and a score of others have proved that a great symphony orchestra can be successfully conducted with dignity and even with grace, it is interesting to find that no less a musician than Beethoven was guilty of methods which would seem to make such conductors as the late "Pat" Gilmore, or the modern Creatore models of self-composed dignity. Yet the following account given by Ludwig Spohr (himself a pioneer conductor) in Dr. Spark's Musical Memories, shows how completely Beethoven yielded to his emotions while conducting, and indeed at all times:

"Upon my arrival in Vienna, I immediately paid a visit to Beethoven. I did not find him at home, and therefore left my card...At length I met him at the restaurant where I was in the habit of going with my wife every day at the dinner hour. He was very chatty, which much surprised the company, as he was generally taciturn and sat gazing listlessly before him. His rough and even repulsive manners at that time arose partly from his deafness and partly from his unfounded fear of poverty. His manner of conducting an orchestra was something extraordinary. He accustomed himself to give the signs of expression to the band by all manner of eccentric motions of his body. So often as the sforzando occurred, he tore his arms, which he had previously crossed upon his breast, with great vehemence asunder. At a piano passage he bent himself down, and the lower the softer he wished to have it. Then, when crescendo came, he raised himself again by degrees; and upon the commencement of the forte sprang bolt upright! To increase the forte yet more, he would sometimes also join in with a shout to the orchestra, without being aware of it."