Famous conductor dies in strange circumstances.

 From Il Corriere della Sera:  VENICE, Italy -- Helmut Wellauer, one of
the most famous conductors of the last century, was found dead in his box
at Teatro La Fenice, during the intermission before the second act of a
performance of Verdi's La Traviata.  Amadeo Fasini, the artistic director
of the theatre, found the body.  Dr Barbara Zorzi, that was among members
of the audience, couldn't do anything to save Mr. Wellauer's life:  he
was already dead.  Police was called because Doctor Zorzi thought that Mr.
Wellauer lips were contracted in a strange way, proper of death by cyanide.
Now inspector Guido Brunetti is in charge of the investigations.  The
audience was informed that maestro Wellauer was "indisposed" and would be
replaced by maestro Longhi.

German conductor Helmut Wellauer was one of the most controversial
conductors of his time.  He started his conducting career before WW2, and
was considered a prodigy of the Berlin Conservatory.  Shortly after the
war rumours about his connections with the Nazis started.  In the 50's
his career was launched in the international scene.  He was famous also
for being discourteous with musicians, but he could extract precision and
tenderness from all orchestras that he was conducting, demanding absolute
fidelity to the original score.  He was married with Elizabeth Ballintffy,
30 years younger than he, and left 3 children from his previous marriages.

No, no, ladies and gentlemen.  Nothing that was said above is true.
It is a plot of "Death at La Fenice", by Donna Leon (New Jersey, 1942),
a marvellous book that I recommend to all lovers of classical music and
detective stories.  I know from previous experience that list members
probably don't care about what Marcel Proust said about the violin (see
my post "Proust and The Violin" of 27/11) but what about fictional books
where conductors, tenors, sopranos are the main characters of the plot?
Can anyone suggests more examples of the kind? By the way, in my opinion,
Mr. Wellauer's profile in Donna Leon's book is very much alike with the
Herbert von Karajan.

Regards,
Wilson Pereira
from Natal, the City of the Sun.