(Amadeus). Pierre Monteux became famous at the age of 38 for conducting the riotous world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris on May 29, 1913. The composer, fearing bodily harm, escaped through a backstage window, while the imperturbable conductor persisted, forever to be identified with the event. He would also conduct the first concert performance and one of the first two recordings of Stravinsky's masterpiece, the other one conducted by Stravinsky himself. Though French by birth, the distinctively portly man with the walrus mustache resisted being typecast as a French...