To remind himself that the basses usually required an extra cue towards the end of the symphony, the conductor would fasten a piece of string around the page of the score before the bass cue.
During a portion of Beethovan's Ninth Symphony in which there are no bass violin parts, one of the bassists passes a bottle of scotch around.
As the basses grew more and more inebriated, two of them fell asleep. The conductor grew quite nervous (he was very concerned about the pitch) because it was the bottom of the ninth; the score was tied and there were two out with the basses loaded.
Author unknown.
