Conductor Karl Boehm of the touring Vienna State Opera was hot, tired and in no mood to audition the unknown young American bass-baritone who waited for him. Nevertheless, after rehearsal on a June day in Brussels, he called for the young hopeful. In the audition he made what seemed last week to be the operatic find of the year.
In four months, tall, boyish-looking George London, 29, had become the rage of Vienna. Ever since he had first loosed his wide-ranged voice as Amonasro in A'ida, it seemed he could do no wrong. He had sung his first Mephistopheles in Faust, his...
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