Beethoven's Ninth Synphony & unexplained absences

The symphony orchestra was performing Beethoven's Ninth Synphony. In
the piece, there's a long passage, about 20 minutes, during which the
bass violinists have nothing to do.

Rather than sit around that whole time looking stupid, some of the
bassists decided to sneak offstage and go to the tavern next door for
a quick one.

After slamming several beers in quick succession, one of them looked
at his watch and said, "Hey! We need to get back!"

"No need to panic," said a fellow bassist. "I thought we might need
some extra time, so I tied the last few pages of the conductor's
score together with string. It'll take him a few minutes to get it
untangled."

A few moments later they staggered back to the concert hall and took
their places in the orchestra. About this time, a member of the
audience noticed the conductor seemed a bit edgy and said as much to
her companion.

"Well, of course," said her companion. "Don't you see? It's the
bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, and the bassists are loaded.