Word: wenceslaus
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...secular age, the only larger-than-life figures who can still quicken belief while dwelling in mystery. If God is dead, long live the Queen! Their titles alone suggest that kings and princesses are ambassadors from the realm of fairy tale: Who ever heard of Good President Wenceslaus or The Prime Minister and the Pea? And if the very rich, as Hemingway said, are different from you and me, then the royals are different from the very rich, separated by some indefinable chasm from those who have merely money or power or fame. Japan's Emperor Hirohito is sometimes known...
...Wenceslaus, the Crimson sage...
...WENCESLAUS ANDRUSZKIEWICZ...
...call is Germany's Bad Bertrich (pop. 800), nestled on a hillside 45 miles from Coblenz, near the Moselle river. It is moderately well known for its waters (good for stomach, gall bladder and liver disorders) and its 18th century castle, onetime residence of Prince-Bishop Clement Wenceslaus. Only a few years ago, tourists in Bad Bertrich seemed to be just about as dead as Clement: the bath houses were in disrepair, the castle was falling apart, and mighty few American or even British gall bladders were in evidence. Then, a new administrative director named Wilhelm Hammer...
Sure enough, it turned out that good Prince-Bishop Wenceslaus had been a patron of music. His favorites: one Vincenzo Righini (1756-1812) and one Josef Martin Kraus (1756-92), who once had a symphony conducted by Haydn. That was all Impresario Hammer needed to know. Now a baroque-music week is a permanent fixture in Bad Bertrich. This year's festival gets under way next month with music by Righini and Kraus, plus Mozart, Haydn and Schumann. It will be played in the castle's candlelit hall, dominated by portraits of the Prince-Bishop and his sister...