Again the war moved on and I happened to be in Vienna... illegally downtown looking for the Statopernhaus when I heard an orchestra obviously rehearsing, and so I slithered into the basement of the bombed-out building and saw and heard the Vienna Philharmonic of the day, conducted by Von Karajan, with a young soprano who was as thin as a rake as if she had been on a no food diet for some time... but the voice was unbelievable. At the end I must have applauded as I was 'invited' to leave by two Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alikes. It was two years later, back in the UK, that I heard that voice again... it was the great Dame Elisabeth Schwartskopf! To hear her sing the soprano for Beethoven's Ninth Choral, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler at Bayreuth is an experience ALL schoolchildren should have today. << less