about midnight
Then she confessed that the Emperor 's sufferings and melancholy mood had induced her to subject them to the discomforts of the trip to Ratisbon . His Majesty was ignorant of their presence , but she anticipated the most favourable result upon her royal brother , who so warmly loved and keenly appreciated music , if he could hear unexpectedly the finest melodies , sometimes inspiring , sometimes cheering in tone . Her inquiry whether his Majesty 's orchestra and her own boys would be able to give a performance that evening was eagerly answered in the affirmative by Maestro Gombert , the conductor of the orchestra , and Benedictus Appenzelder , conductor of the boy choir , who was in her personal service . She expressed her pleasure in the knowledge , and then proposed to surprise the Emperor at the principal meal , about midnight , with Jacob Hobrecht 's Missa Graecorum , whose magnificent profundity his Majesty especially admired . Gombert forced himself to keep silence , but the significant smile on his delicate , beardless lips betrayed what he thought of this selection . The conductor of the boy choir was franker . He slightly shook his ponderous head , whose long , gray hair was parted in the middle , and then honestly admitted , in his deep tones , that the Missa Graecorum seemed to him too majestic and gloomy for this purpose .