Up for auction "Opera Impresario" Rudolf Bing Hand Signed Book Page.
ES-9335E
Sir
Rudolf Bing, KBE (January
9, 1902 – September 2, 1997) was an Austrian-born opera impresario who worked in Germany, the United Kingdom and
the United States, most notably being General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1950 to 1972. He was naturalized as a
British subject in 1946 and was knighted in 1971. Born Rudolf Franz Joseph Bing in Vienna, Austria-Hungary to a well-to-do Jewish family
(his father was an industrialist). Bing was an apprentice to a bookseller at
the prestigious Viennese shop of Gilhofer & Ranschburg before moving on to
Hugo Heller, who also ran a theatrical and concert agency. He then
studied music and art history at the University of Vienna. In
1927, he went to Berlin, Germany, and subsequently served as general manager of opera
houses in that city and in Darmstadt. While in Berlin he married a Russian ballerina, but
in 1934, with the rise of Nazi Germany, the Bings moved to the United Kingdom where in 1946, he became a naturalised
British subject.[1] There he helped to found the Glyndebourne Festival
Opera. After the war in 1947, he co-founded and was the first
director of the Edinburgh International
Festival in Scotland. In 1949 he moved to the United States, and became General Manager of the Metropolitan
Opera the following year, a post he held for 22 years. During the 1960s, he
supervised the move of the old Metropolitan on Broadway and 39th Street, to its
new quarters in Lincoln Center and
presided over one of the most prominent eras of the Met. It was summed up in
1990 by James Oestreich in The New York Times as follows: Wielding
his powerful position at the Metropolitan Opera with intense personal charisma
over two decades, Sir Rudolf Bing ruled much of the operatic universe in
autocratic fashion, nurturing young artists and cutting superstars down to size
with equal enthusiasm. He oversaw the abandonment in 1966 of the stately but
somewhat dilapidated old Metropolitan Opera House [which he then had razed] and
the construction of a grand monument to his regime, the building the company
now occupies, which dominates Lincoln Center. His conservative musical and
dramatic bent, preference for Italian opera and concern for theatrical values
yielded an identifiable artistic legacy. During Bing's tenure the
Met's artist roster became integrated for the first time. Marian Anderson became the first African American to sing a leading role in 1955. She was
soon followed by Robert McFerrin, Gloria Davy, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Leontyne Price, George Shirley, Grace Bumbry, Shirley Verrett, Reri Grist, and many others. He was noted for his preference
for European singers and an apparent lack of interest in some leading American
performers. Beverly Sills had to
wait until after Bing's retirement to make her Met debut in 1975, although Bing
later said that not using Sills earlier was a mistake.[3] He fostered the careers of many American
artists. Roberta Peters, Leontyne Price, Anna Moffo, Sherrill Milnes, and Jess Thomas are just a few that flourished during his
time. Bing is also remembered for his stormy relationship with the era's most
famous soprano, Maria Callas. After hiring
her for the Met with a debut as Norma on opening night in 1956, he famously canceled
her contract in 1958 when they could not come to terms regarding the roles she
would sing. Bing invited Callas to return to the Met for two performances
of Tosca in 1965, the year that turned out to be her final
season in opera. After
leaving the Met, Bing wrote two books of memoirs, 5000 Nights at the
Opera (1972) and A Knight at the Opera (1981).