Word: metropolitane
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...some point lost in the mists of metropolitan folklore, Parisians began to use André as a flood meter. When the Seine is low his feet are high above the water level, but, as the river rises, it covers him bit by bit. When his feet get wet, it is bad. When his knees get wet. it is serious. When his thighs get wet, it is dangerous. When his belt gets wet, Paris begins to be flooded. In 1910 André was nearly drowned: the water was up to his neck...
...operagoers, who know when to clap and when not to, were scandalized. Most indignant of all were the 50-odd members of the Metropolitan's claque, whose carefully timed outbursts were swamped in the generally undisciplined enthusiasm...
...staff of skilled lieutenants, it is composed of ham-handed waiters, barbers and ex-musicians who stand at strategically dispersed positions at the back of the audience and, at a signal from their leaders, loose a barrage of claps and bravos. The claque is paid by the Metropolitan's singers, who provide free admission and pay from $5 for a mild flurry of handclapping to $25 for a deafening furor. The late Enrico Caruso, a liberal patron, never sang without the help of a claque. In the days of Impresario Giulio Gatti- Casazza, the chief...
Though it is often deplored by unrealistic opera-lovers, the claque is almost as indispensable to a great opera house like the Metropolitan as a well-trained chorus or orchestra. For the paid applauders know precisely when to do their stuff-and thus set the audience a well-mannered example. When a booming aria comes to a thrilling finish, and is then succeeded by a delicate orchestral postscript or a bit of crucial drama, a well-trained claque can hold the audience in check until the proper moment, then lead it into a crescendo of enthusiasm...
...Newcomers. Last week both claque and audience found several things worth applauding. One was the singing of the great Italian bass, Ezio Pinza; as Mephistopheles and as Don Giovanni, he proved again that he is the Metropolitan's brightest star. Another was the expert conducting of Hungarian-born George Szell, who, since the departure of Sir Thomas Beecham and Bruno Walter, is the Met's finest maestro. During the opening week six young U.S. singers made their first Metropolitan appearances. Of them, the likeliest future headliners seemed...