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Article: Blues on the Danube: A Modern Austrian Operetta in Three-Part Disharmony
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 2, 1994
- Author:
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They are calling it a Viennese operetta, although whether this
unfolding presidential marital drama will go down in Austrian
history as political farce or human tragedy remains to be seen.
But the libretto is as much about a whole nation coming of age
in today's world of personality politics and intense media scrutiny
of public figures as about the personal lives of its First Family.
This Alpine nation of conservative, hearty peasants and
tradition-bound folk has never experienced an expose' of its
president's personal life and still seems ill at ease with the
debate it is stirring over issues of public morality and women's
liberation.
It began, publicly at least, when President Thomas ...