Snoring at the Symphony

Dear Miss Manners,

My husband and I attend the symphony Friday night -- it's only our second year here in Cincinnati -- and it was wonderful, mostly. I say mostly because seated nearby was an older gentleman who attended the concert by himself. The seats on either side of him were empty. After Deep Woods, he fell asleep! He had was breathing heavily for a while, but during some of the piano solos, he snored -- loudly. Clearly this bothered everyone around, and in particular the woman in front of him, who was visibly agitated. When it became clear that nothing was going to wake him, I reached across the empty chair and touched his arm. He seemed confused, but woke up. It was clear that he was disturbing a lot of people, and I thought, if it were me, I would hope someone would have woken me up. Is there some sort of actual symphony-etiquitte for dealing with this?? (He stayed awake through the Pastoral, thank goodness).

Catherine

Dear Catherine,

Generally, if the offender is a close relative, it's acceptable to give him (or her) a strong jab in the ribs. Given that you did not know the gentleman, I think that lightly touching his arm was appropriate. If it were me, I would absolutely want to know I was disturbing people around me. There's nothing that ruins a heavenly pianissimo more than a big snort.

Miss Manners asks, what do you think?