Wagner devotees abroad take their opera seriously and in large doses. Performances at Bayreuth (home of the late great Richard where are held world-famed festivals) begin at 4 o'clock,† last long into the evening. Intermissions are of an hour's duration wherein listeners may refresh themselves with a schnitzel and a grosses dunkeles. But the music is given complete. There is no slicing for comfort or convenience.
Average U. S. operagoers want their music, like their sermons, short. To them it matters little when conductors freely snip great passages. Only critics and a...
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