C, her boyfriend R and I checked into Pension Suzanne, right next to the Vienna State Opera. The owner was a bit peeved, seeing as we'd been held up in traffic for hours around Frankfurt. We did phone to warn her, but she was in no way mollified. The B&B was, as in later visits to Vienna, full of elderly American Jewish ladies on heritage tours of their parents' (or grandparents') city. The language over breakfast was Brooklyn and Bronx Yiddish, interspersed with English words when more convenient.
The three of us headed off to the Raimund Theater, where the auditions were being held. C bade us farewell and went to warm her voice up, R and I went off for a coffee. Returning about two hours later, I spotted a face in the crowd outside I found vaguely familiar. It was C..., the singer I met at the wedding reception in London after I'd re-emerged from my encounter with Elsa. She hadn't been to Turkey after all, as she'd landed a job in Cats in Hamburg, singing one of the lead roles. She introduced me to her fiancé and insisted I should come up, see the show, spend some time with them. Having friends in Koblenz who were die-hard fans of the show, I knew I'd have no difficulty in finding a bit of company for the trip. I promised to keep in touch about it and put her number in a safe place.
C came out later, having been asked to sing most of the role for the panel. It seemed to have gone extremely well but she was a little too coy about telling us much about it. I didn't know why, but was able to guess. R was due to go back to Koblenz the following day, leaving C and me alone in Vienna together, at least for another 48 hours. I knew she'd come clean in that time so didn't press the point until R was safely on the train.
Sure enough, C and the conductor of Phantom had fallen for each other. She'd always had this thing for men in positions of authority and had often remarked to me how it bothered her that R didn't seem to have any ambition beyond being Assistant Stage Director. Now, it was the real thing. She fancied Mr. Number One, and he fancied her. No matter that he was married with two children, but that's another story. She met up with him each day before we left, though these meetings were, she insisted, purely professional.
We also took a trip out to Otto Edelmann's house on the outskirts of Vienna. One of his sons, Peter, had been a soloist in Koblenz and Otto had always exhorted his son's friends to come and visit should they find themselves in his city. C knew Otto well, so over we went. Such a charming and delightful man! I knew he was famous but didn't realise to quite what degree. He showed me his Golden Discs, photos with Karajan etc. A lovely afternoon, all in all. I've just been given one of his Bayreuth recordings from 1951 in which he sings Hans Sachs.
Before the Koblenz season finished, C got her call from Vienna: the role was hers. She busied herself with preparations, I prepared to leave town for good, but not before making that trip to Hamburg with my friend Stefan. I spoke to C... and everything was fine. We were to go up just as soon as the season finished.
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