RICHARD TAUBER

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21242, 12 October 1940, Page 13 (Supplement)

RICHARD TAUBER

BECO3IES BRITISH CITIZEN SINGING FOR VICTORY An outstanding musical event in war-time London was the concert given at the Queen’s Hall recently, on behalf of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, by Richard Tauber, the famous Austrian singer who has adopted English nationality. For the first time in England, Tauber conducted, as well as sang.

In the last war, he sang in Germany, the profession of music being a reserved occupation under the Kaiser. This time he has refused many tempting offers to tour overseas, preferring to sing for victory in England. The Taubers spent part of the winter in Switzerland. Their hotel at St. Moritz was full of Germans, which pleased neither of them.

Mrs Tauber, it is related, took the matter in hand. A whispered conversation with the leader of the hotel band, an exchange of money, the playing of a certain tune—and the room was emptied of the enemy. The tune was “Hanging out the Washing on the Siegfried Line.”