Richard Wagner had a low opinion of Italian music (in Die Meistersinger, Hans Sachs stirringly denounces "Latin vapours and flummery"), but approved of Italian music lovers when they cheered his own work. Last week the Italians were cheering again, having staged what may well be one of the finest Wagner productions of the decade.
The opera: Tristan und Isolde. The occasion: Florence's Maggio Musicale. In charge: eccentric, peripatetic Conductor Artur Rodzinski (born a Pole in Yugoslavia, he is a longtime U.S. citizen, now lives in Italy). Among leading singers: Swedish Soprano Birgit Nilsson as Isolde, Cleveland's Mezzo-Soprano Grace Hoffman as Brangane, German...
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