And the Banned Played On

Anthony Tommasini, “James Levine, Former Met Opera Maestro,  is Dead at 77”
(NY Times, March 17, 2021)

Obituary notices brought us sad news of the passing of an eminent American musician.
James Levine was a great conductor.  Unfortunately, he met his own Götterdämmerung.  By then it was over, even before the fat lady sang. Wherever the Valkyries roam, it’s high
time for Wagner to go home–and take Brunnhilde with him.   Next year in Bayreuth won’t
do: no more foreign Tanglewoods, please. Give the orchestra their cue, Lieber Maestro:
Requiem for a frustrated Don Giovanni, alone in his eagle’s nest–bedeviled by fate, and,
as the brass ring plays no quarter cycles, virtually tone-deaf to every progressive chord.

John Thomas
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