Word: wagnerism
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...Richard Wagner conceived his Ring des Nibelungen as combining voice, orchestra, acting and settings into a perfect expressive unity, a "total artwork." That phrase could very nearly describe Austrian-born Herbert von Karajan. At 59, Von Karajan not only is the world's foremost conductor but concerns himself with every aspect of his epic productions, including direction, stage design, lighting. Head of the Berlin Philharmonic, director of the Easter and summer festivals at Salzburg, Von Karajan last week added the Metropolitan Opera to his realm by conducting and staging Die Walküre, first item in a new Ring...
...perform Falstaff merely requires a stageful of virtuosi, a Wagner-sized orchestra and a brilliant conductor. The Opera Company of Boston, after a triumphant tour of the nation, has brought all these requirements back to Boston. Sarah Caldwell, the Company's director, has engineered the whole thing. The massive Madame Caldwell, dressed like an acolyte at a black mass, conducts with bare fists. What is more, she conducted the opera three nights in a row, which is roughly equivalent to taking on Muhamed Ali in a match and two returns. She had absolute control over her orchestra and managed...
...tended to generalize. "We don't need more plans in this city," Stokes declared at one point. "What we need is action." Actually, he was already on record with his own specifics. To an all-white meeting of policemen, Stokes declared his intention of firing Police Chief Richard Wagner as his first order of business. To a Negro club he promised: "We're going to enforce the law so that it hurts. I don't want any riots in my town." He came up with a plan to economize by selling an obsolescent municipal power plant...
Since then, the group has not only formed new partnerships to take over other banks, but it has also reached into other businesses. Group leaders include Thomas H. Wagner, 51, a successful auto-parts manufacturer, Frederick C. Matthaei Jr., 42, son of the founder of American Metal Products Co., George B. Kilborne, 37, a Yale classmate of Parsons', and George W. Miller, 43, whom the group tapped to become president of Commonwealth after its takeover. Their acquisitions include banks in Lansing, Royal Oak, Kalamazoo and Coopersville, as well as office buildings in Detroit and Ann Arbor and interests...
Well, damn if they aren't right, in a way. There's something to be said for assembling one hundred fifty young men in white tie on a single stage and letting loose their combined vocal chords. The sound of so titanic a Mannerchor would have sent Wagner writhing in ecstasy...