The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1948-01-15
MANY OPERAS AND PLAYS


certs and plays are presented night
ly to the crestfallen Viennese. With
the exception of one summer month
invariably there are two operas, sew
eral major concerts, several operet-
tas and about a dozen plays present
ed every evening.
The opera has made an amazing
comeback and is without doubt right
at the top in Europe. The settings
and costuming in spite of shortages
are very cleverly and beautifully
worked out.
Certainly a much higher percent
age of the common people" attend
operas and concerts here than in
America because of the quantity of
fered and the fact that prices are
comparatively not so high. If one
were to look at this side of Viennese
| life, one would include that life in
defeated Europe is not so bad; but
actually it is matter of "whistling
in the dark"
COOP Music
The great amount of good music
being offered today in Vienna is not
so surprising when one looks at its
musical history. Such great COM
posers as Mozart, Haydn, Johann
Strauss and Anton Bruckner were
born in Austria--and many other
great composers studied and lived
here. The beautiful environs, the
blend of the East-and-West all
seem to go together to produce an
environment from which music flows
out in liquid spontaniety.
To talk of contemporary Vienna
without discussing the enigmatical
Russians would be a gross oversight
or dodging of the issue-at least
an important issue. However, to
make any great congratulations would
be presumptious, as is often the
case in discussing any race or peo-
pie.
However, those of us who live in
Vienna are among the few Ameri
cans today who can at least see
what a Russian looks like. As
matter of fact seeing" the Rus
slams is just about the extent of
ones relationship. The Russian SOL
diers and civilians fear contact with
foreigners-not because of an in
herent fear, but because Of fear of
the consequences from their super
iors.
Some Americans who can speak
Russian and have sought to meet the
Russians have discovered many times
later that their erstwhile friends dis
appeared after several meetings.
Thus to wish a life of exile on a
friend is a deterrent to such rela-
tionships. Those who have had such
friends point out that they are very
unhappy over their "bird-cage" ex-
istence, and that they long for as
sociation with foreigners.
However, the common Underlined
soldier probably has neither the OPP
portunity nor the desire to meet
foreigners. A year ago incidents"
reported about Russian soldiers were
much more frequent than now. One
heard of daylight holdups, apartment
holdups, people being forced to un-
dress on the streets as the soldier
took their clothes, etc. ..-. .s
Pistol BACKS ORDERS
Probably for the sake of public
relations orders from high up have
stopped this type of thing. Russian
army justice of an officer whipping
out his pistol and shooting the of
Tending soldier Immediately in the
head-make their orders quite effect
i've.
By and large one would observe
that the Russians are not popular
in Vienna. The Viennese as yet
have not orgotten how in the first
days of the fall of Vienna the Rus
slams looted, raped and sacked the
city quite thoroughly. However, the
play for the working man and the
general slyness of the Russian policy
might have a greater effect with the
people than one would realize
have met several people here
who have told me about interesting
contacts they have had with Rus
slams. The one man, Dr. Onkel
Robert, an 80-year-old self-styled
missionary and one-man relief team
of Arabian heritage, tells how he
has distributed thousands of New
Testaments to the Russian soldiers,
and how they have received them
eagerly.
Upon one occasion he was taken
to a higher authority, and abso-
lutely refused to be cowed by them
but rather without hesitancy simply
offered him a testament. This little
old man showing no fear and doing
such a simple act completely took
the hardened Russian off his feet
This was a new approach for him
A Baptist clergyman tells how he
put Russian Testaments on sale in
a public bath frequented by Rus
slams, and also in a bookstore. He
reported that the Bibles were taken
with such great eagerness by them