Mark Ehlert wrote:

>The version of the story I read is that he was conducting with his nose
>in the manuscript and didn't realize the performance had finished.

That's the way I've heard it, too.  If the story is true, the fact that the
orchestra finished before him does cast a bit of doubt on the idea that he
favored very fast tempi ;-).

Best,
Peter, who can't help also thinking of Chico Marx "beating" the band to
the finish