The Night the Composer Sat Among the Cellos

Midway through rehearsal at Carnegie Hall, the musicians expected the composer to stay on the podium. He had written every note — the thunder of the timpani in the third movement, the aching oboe solo that audiences would later call heartbreaking. Every measure bore his fingerprint. But that evening, he did something no one anticipated. He stepped down from the podium, borrowed a folding chair from a stagehand, and sat among the cellos.…