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In Munich, on that same weekend, we had to turn down two further Bavarian State Opera productions -- Un Ballo in Maschera, with Ramon Vargas (alternating as the doomed King Gustav with Dennis O'Neill); a promising production of Die Verkaufte Braut (Smetana's The Bartered Bride); as well as a concert of the Munchner Symphoniker under Mathias Förster (Mendelssohn, Grieg and Dvorák's G major Symphony); and several very attractive chamber concerts and recitals.

Together with the strikingly beautiful Schloss Nymphenburg, the Munich Residenz was the castle and palace of the Dukes and Kings of the Wittelsbach family, who ruled Bavaria from 1255 to 1918. Built around seven courtyards, it displays the treasures, the styles and the grandeur of five centuries.

In 1944 the complex was almost entirely destroyed, but most of the movable art treasures were saved. Following the war it was restored and reconstructed. Were it not for photographs, the visitor today to this wonderful palace would be entirely unaware of the horror of destruction of that terrible time.

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