How I opted for Latin America rather than Eastern Europe

show details 8:17 AM (1 minute ago)

Weiser, and sometimes not so Weiser Imo:

My brand of Rassenreinung, very similar to the one you suggested, was implicitly accomplished long ago.  Which means that, with the exception perhaps of occasional early Schwarzkopfs, the rest turn out to be moot.  Especially Karajan.  I confess to having deliberately acquired one (no, actually two (2)  Karajans because I consider them unsurpassed.  Both are operas:  Falstaff and Trovatore.  I have both on LPs.  And I must confess that Falstaff retains a particularly poignant memory for me.

Many years ago, when the UP management had decided, with my eager consent, to transfer me from Washington to Belgrad (Beograd), I came down with a (mild) case of hepatitis.  I was so diagnosed by a Dr. Isadore Lattman, a famous radiologist, friend of Heifetz and Kapell.  He knew I lived alone and counseled me to promptly check in at a hospital.  

"Not so long as I have Latin American friends in this town,"  was my cocky reply.  And it was not misplaced.

During one whole month there a daily procession passed through my never-locked front door at 1900 T Street (2nd floor) bearing the legendary Latin American viandas which might be roughly translated into 'portable hot plates'.  In a memoir I am writing I attribute this experience to my decision to remain the UP's 'Latinamericanist' rather than become its bureau chief for Eastern Europe.  And, frankly, I've never regretted the decision.

Dixit

'Latty's well-tgrained eye 'diagnosed' my ailment as I was about to walk into Rudy Serkin's dressing room at Constitution Hall  in the midst of  a rehearsal of a Mozart (Beethoven?) concerto with that execrable conductor Howard Mitchell.  

told Lenny '*es geht auch so!*'?  Well, listen to this:

*After the **Anschluss **of March 1938, Hitler scheduled a plebiscite to
confirm the takeover and took a campaign tour through smaller Austrian
cities and towns.  Many Austrian artists spoke in his favor.  "Say a big YES
to our Fuhrer's action," urged the conductor Karl Boehm......*

The Big Fart!