French conductor (1875-1964)
Pierre Monteux (4 April 1875 – 1 July 1964, in Paris, France) was a conductor who directed over 100 orchestras around the world. He began his career in Paris in music-hall, chamber music and as the principal viola of the Colonne Orchestra. He was in turn principal conductor of the Ballets Russes, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor he premiered several important works, and left a major legacy of recordings.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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I decided then and there that the symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms were the only music for me, not the music of this crazy Russian. … My one desire was to flee that room and find a quiet corner in which to rest my aching head. Then Diaghilev turned to me and with a smile said, "This is a masterpiece, Monteux, which will completely revolutionize music and make you famous, because you are going to conduct it." And, of course, I did.
Debussy was behind me when we played L'après-midi d'un faune because he did not want anything in his score to be changed on account of the dancing. And when we came to a forte, he said 'Monteux, that is a forte, play forte'. He did not want anything shimmering. And he wanted everything exactly in time.