What conductor did -- accepted responsibility?
I believe the answer is:
faced the music
'what conductor did' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'accepted responsibility?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'accepted' could be 'faced' and 'faced' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for faced the music that I've seen before include "Accepted the consequences" , "Confronted the unpleasant consequences of one's actions" , "Carried the can" .)