Rob Baldwin wrote:

>Are there other memorable conducting incidents anyone knows of? Wasn't
>there an (in)famous conductor who was so obnoxiously dictatorial to his
>orchestra that some of the members took him out back after a rehearsal or
>performance and beat him up?

Well, I can offer the following, tongue firmly in cheek:

 [From the program notes of the Sixth Semi-Annual Biology Fine Arts
Festival, Stanford University, 1997].

   Contrasts was written by Bartok while recovering from an especially
   bad bout of syphilis that left him half deaf (fortunately only from
   the waist down).  The piece is in three movements (of which we perform
   the first two movements, in reverse order).  Benny Goodman, who
   commissioned this work, was having an affair with Bartok's wife.
   Unbeknownst to Goodman, Bartok found out and punished Goodman with
   an inhumanly difficult clarinet part.  The violin part, premiered by
   J.Szigeti, is nearly as difficult - punishment by Bartok for Szigeti's
   role in setting up the elicit affair.  At the premiere, Bartok was
   at the keybord and laughed audibly through the whole performance.
   Later, Goodman and Szigeti beat the stuffing out of Bartok in the
   alleyway behind the concert hall.  Thus was born one of the most
   complicated and evocative pieces of the trio literature.

Ruben