Little love was lost between the rival composers Hector Berlioz and Maria Cherubini. In his memoirs, Berlioz recalled attending a certain performance of his Requiem:
"There are perhaps, one thousand bars in my Requiem. Precisely in the one bar where the conductor's direction is absolutely indispensable, [Francois Antoine] Habeneck put down his baton, quietly took out his snuffbox, and proceeded to take a pinch of snuff. I always had my eye on him, and instantly turned rapidly on one heel, and springing forward before him, I stretched out my arm and marked out the four great beats of the new tempo. The orchestra followed me, and everything went off in order. I conducted the piece to the end, and the effect which I had longed for was produced. When, at the final words of the chorus, Habeneck saw that the Tuba Mirum was saved, he said, 'God! I was in a cold sweat. Without you we would have been lost.
"'I know,' I replied looking at him straight in the eye. I did not say another word. Had he done it on purpose?... Could it be possible that Cherubini's friends actually plotted and attempted such rascality? I don't wish to believe it. But I cannot doubt it. God forgive me if I am doing the man an injustice!'"
George Osborne, who had attended the same performance, later confronted Berlioz; Habeneck had in fact neither set down his baton not taken a pinch of snuff. Why had he fabricated this story. According to Osborne, Berlioz burst out laughing and explained that the story simply seemed too good to be lost!
[Charles Hall?, who had sat next to Berlioz, later supported his original claim.]
Sources
Berlioz, Memoirs; Charles Villiers Stanford, Diary
