Night of Discord

For the venerable Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the times are sour as a cracked bassoon.

When the orchestra was scheduled to play in Lisbon last year, 500 Nazi "music lovers" applied for Portuguese visas in order to attend the concert in person. Portugal, suspecting the Nazis' lust for music, refused.

Later Turkey canceled a concert, having heard that several of the musicians, including two violinists and a flutist, were Gestapo members.

London learned last week that when the Philharmonic recently appeared in Nantes, France no one went to hear it. By 10 o'clock the Nazis had rounded up a small crowd, but the program ended almost as soon as it began, in a chorus of yowls and boos.

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