. . . more German
Sir: My attention has been drawn to Michael Tanner's review of Scottish Opera's Ariadne auf Naxos (Arts, 28 March), in which he complains of 'one or two poor German accents, especially that of the Major-Domo'.
I have more than once in the past sup- pressed the urge to pen an amused com- ment on some betise or other perpetrated by your not very reliable critic, but this time I cannot resist pointing out that he has put his foot in it. The speaking role of the Major-Domo was performed by Nigel Dou- glas, whose German — whether Hochdeutsch or Wienerische — is not only not 'poor', but, in fact, impeccable. If Mr Tanner had known that Douglas studied in Vienna, made his debut as a tenor at the Volksoper in 1959 and sang regularly in Vienna until fairly recently, he would pre- sumably have thought twice before hazard- ing a guess that an English surname must imply a poor German accent.
Charles Osborne 125 St George's Road, London SE1
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