People, Oct. 4, 1971

For 22 years Sir Rudolf Bing has ruled New York's Metropolitan Opera with an iron fist, influencing people but making few friends by imposing rigid discipline on his staff and summarily firing such stars as Baritone Robert Merrill and Maria Callas. Austrian by birth, British and American by achievement, Bing was given the highest accolade of his career last June when the British government made him Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. But in New York, familiarity had bred discontent. All the more surprising when Sir Rudolf—who will retire at the end of this season—walked onstage at the...

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