Music: Operatic Cold War

When Contralto Margarete Klose sang in Jenufa at Berlin's Municipal Opera, she performed excellently. But along with the applause came a shrill of whistles and a thicket of catcalls. It had just been announced that Singer Klose, like Baritone Josef Hermann before her, was switching over to Berlin's State Opera under a three-year contract. On top of the reaction of Municipal Opera's fans, its famed director, Carl Ebert, 67, himself snapped an angry farewell. Its gist: his artists should not only be good singers but good citizens. Once they have gone, Klose and Hermann will not be allowed to sing again...

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