Klarinet Archive - Posting 000354.txt from 1998/10

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Werner Klemperer
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 12:18:13 -0400

K. Wolman wrote:

<<<Do the Klemperers count? Werner, son of Otto, and famous as Col. Klink,
once appeared in The Abduction From the Seraglio in the speaking role of
Selim Pasha.>>>

When I was in college (when mastodons roamed the earth) the WWU orchestra
had a pops series. "Maestro" Barton Frank programmed Peter & the Wolf, with
none other than Werner Klemperer to narrate. Somehow, the right to conduct
the overture to Die Meistersinger also crept into his contract.

Needless to say, the younger Klemperer was a hideous conductor. The fact
that he apparently could not read music was a clue. This didn't matter that
much, though, as he insisted on conducting the gig from memory--with a style
very much like a drum major. Unmistakably Col. Klink.

With Dan Leeson's post re Wagner in mind, the whole episode now has an
additional layer of irony.

kjf

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