Justin Davidson is amused by the New York Times’s breathless tone in describing the supposed physical deterioration of James Levine. “A few musicians in the Met orchestra have noticed that, halfway through a six-hour performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre, the workaholic maestro was liable to exhibit symptoms of fatigue. If so, he is still showing the strain less than one 37-year-old critic with nothing more arduous to do than sit and listen. Suddenly, we are all vicarious hypochondriacs, listening to Levine’s performances for signs of his decline.”