Word: aix
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...only halfheartedly. A worldly-wise French bureaucrat remarked that the Premier thought "it might not be a bad idea to have Grandval's head on the negotiation table." Shocked into action by the bloodletting, the Premier had summoned more than a hundred Moroccan notables to a conference at Aix-les-Bains and was now eagerly searching for an acceptable political solution...
...strode Orpheus, a fine, sturdy figure of a man, wearing a beige and green costume, and carrying a gilded lyre. In the orchestra the noble trombones swelled to the point where Orpheus would sing of his decision to seek Eurydice in Hades. Four thousand guests at France's Aix-les-Bains music festival, including Italy's ex-King Umberto and ex-Queen Marie José, leaned forward. The hero was about to make his impassioned plea: "Give her back to me, you powers of Hell!" Instead, the audience heard his hoarse shout in Italian-accented French:"I refuse...
There was no more opera that night in Aix-les-Bains. Later, the festival management issued an angry statement: the performance at which Baritone Valdengo balked was a retake for television kinescope, for which the rest of the company had readily agreed to perform free. Moreover, it was Monsieur Valdengo's fault in the first place: he did not know his part (he had pinned a copy of his score to his lyre), and had improvised to the point of making the retake necessary...
That night, the stillness of mountain-cradled Aix-les-Bains was shattered. It was Baritone Valdengo, running through the streets. "Help! Police! They are taking the wheels off my car!" he yelled. "They are trying to keep me from leaving town!" At that point, ex-Queen Marie José leaned from her hotel window and scornfully called: "Silenzio! Silenzio, maestrino!"* Valdengo left town without another word-and without interference...
...Aix-en-Provence, France, already a center for painters, added music...