Will Waspe
Anna Mahler, sculptress daughter of the composer, is less than enthusiastic about the new play about him, Mahler, which opened at London's Arts Theatre Club this week, and she makes no secret of her opinion. Miss Mahler first read the play when the author, Maurice Rowdon, sent it to her under the title, Song of the Earth, hoping that her endorsement might assist the sale of film rights.
No such approval was forthcoming, though Miss Mahler makes no complaint of misrepresentation. Her reaction was a double-edged condemnation, "The play is inane, and in any case it is a complete ' take ' from my mother's book,” one
edge of which seems hardly complimentary to her mother's book. Nonetheless
she consulted the publishers (Murray) to see whether a case of plagiarism could be made out. They decided it could not.
I cannot think that there is any connection between all this and a dismaying incident in Spoleto last summer when one of Miss Mahler's artistic creations — commissioned by the town and set up in a principal square — was savaged by vandals. But that story, which received no press attention here, is worth telling anyway.
The story goes that Gian Carlo Menotti, the director of the Spoleto Festival, was outraged by the sculpture and desired its removal with all dispatch, a suggestion in which Miss Mahler was prepared to acquiesce only if those who commissioned
the piece agreed. Before any final decision could be taken, however, a self
appointed Menotti mafia — knowing of their hero's views — took to the streets at night, tarred the sculpture all over and set fire to it, rendering it unrecognisable and irreparable. It would be surprising if Miss Mahler had any cause to like the name of Gian Carlo Menotti.
It is a curious coincidence that the public relations work for Mr Rowdon's
aforementioned play is being handled by Mrs Wendy Moger, who formerly worked for — and remains a close friend and admirer of — Gian Carlo Menotti.
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