Word: bing
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...Rudolf Bing, general manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, is not given to discussing his dreams, but it has been whispered that he is haunted by a recurring nightmare. In the dream he is Prince Paris, lost atop a papier-mâché Mount Ida on the Met's stage. He is surrounded by three goddesses who insist that he choose the fairest of them by handing her an apple (Golden Delicious, supplied by Sherry's Restaurant). The goddesses, of course, are the three reigning sopranos who, season after season, vie for favor...
...choice is harrowing. In the dream, Bing hems and haws, but a decision must be made. The three divas' pet dogs advance on him. Zinka's spitz, Nickie, growls; Maria's poodle, Toy, nips at his ankles; and Renata's poodle, New, crouches to jump. "Choose, choose, choose!" sing the divas, to some nightmare melody that sounds like Alban Berg played backwards...
...Bing wakes up, screaming...
Waking or sleeping, diplomatic Rudi Bing would rather stage the whole Ring Cycle with a company of midgets than publicize a preference among his three dazzling prima donnas. For sheer beauty of voice, the prize might go to Milanov, who at 52 still offers many a superb performance. For excitement, versatility and dramatic power, the apple would easily go to Maria Callas. But for sustained excellence of singing, it would go to Renata Tebaldi...
...three personalities are as different as their vocal specialties. If the award of Bing's dream were ever to take place, Soprano Milanov, a buxom, outgoing, hearty woman, would probably take a bite out of the apple. Soprano Callas would coolly accept it as her due and have it mounted in diamonds. Soprano Tebaldi, if she followed form, would place it on her dressing table amid her collection of toy animals. On the surface, at least, Renata Tebaldi is that rarest of phenomena in the posturing, wigged-and-powdered world of grand opera-a soprano without apparent temper, temperament...