Music: Deep Breath

Tenor Lauritz Melchior, who gets well paid for opening his mouth very wide, keeps a careful record of the occasions on which he opens his mouth. By consulting his notebook, the great Dane can point to 209 Tristans, 171 Walküres, 143 Tannhäusers, 125 Siegfrieds, 101 Götterdämmerungs and Lohengrins, say when & where he sang them and how much he got paid. Says he: "I have done a quarter of a million dollars worth of Tristans since 1930. Also 3,340 English pounds, 3,200 reichsmarks, 332,000 francs, and 4,000 Danish kroner worth." At $1,000 a...

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