This last April, I spent a glorious 16 days in the world's musical capitol, Vienna. My primary motus operandi was to attend the Wagner Ring Cycle at the Wiener Staatsoper under the very inspired direction of the San Francisco opera's Donald Runnicles. In fact, yours truly and fellow member John Kongsgaard and his family (wife Maggie, daughter Helen and son Alex) were invited by the Runnicles clan to experience the Ring as their guests! It was a fabulous time! It was also my second time in Vienna but the first really serious visit, as the initial one was for a mere three days at the end of August 1972 and the entire city seemed like a morgue. However, this time around the place was teeming with musical opportunities: opera, chamber concerts, orchestral concerts, lieder recitals, solo recitals ad infinitum. Visiting the famous Goldener Saal in the Musikverein reminded me that Furtwängler had spent a considerable amount of time in Vienna. Each hallowed evening in the Staatsoper made me wish all the more that I'd been born a little earlier than 1950!

One thing that occupied my spare time was hunting down Furtwängler photos and memorabilia in the many shops in and around the center of the city. I recalled that a certain photo studio had done quite a bit of work with Furtwängler (as well as almost all the famous musicians, singers and soloists) by the name of Photo Atelier Fayer (pronounced "fire"). I paid a visit to their studio around the corner from the Staatsoper and met the widow Frau Fayer. She could not have been more charming, pleasant and helpful. I explained the W.F.S.A.'s activities and gave her several of our Newsletters which impressed her no end and inspired her to produce a handful of Furtwängler original negatives and offered to reprint them for use in our Newsletter for a small fee. When the results finally arrived a couple of months ago, I was astonished at the impeccable prints! Normally, we prefer to vary the photos in our publications, although we also enjoy the occasional series or so of four or five images. I felt that Studio Fayer did such an excellent job that it warranted display as a group. The dozen or so photos span some 30 years of Furtwängler's career in Vienna. We hope you approve of the concept and join us in a heartfelt thanks to our new found friends at Photo Atelier Fayer!

Dade Thieriot
President, WFSA