Achtung!
Sir: In his previously unsuspected role as a German pronunciation expert, Charles Osborne (Letters, 23 May) reveals scant knowledge of that language. The surround- ing Lower Austrians often affect to believe that the Viennese are not even German, but Czech, in speech. Certainly they would hold Bundesbuhnedeutsch to be the only Viennese form appropriate to the stage, and this is most definitely hoc/i.
Mr Osborne points out that the artist, whom your opera critic censured for his German, lived in Vienna. But residence does not guarantee accurate pronunciation. I am reminded of some erstwhile central European Jewish refugees I met in the early Seventies, who proudly told me that they had not spoken a word of German since entering Britain in the Thirties. I was tempted to reply that, regrettably, they had not spoken a word of English either, for they still had very strong German accents.
Dr P.G. Urben
2 Upper Rosemary Hill, Kenilworth, Warwickshire
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