She answered my advertisement in the Bookseller looking for a partner in what was then a nearly 10-year-old small publishing company called John Calder. He made his final appearance at the age of 70, in March 1996, as Fritz Kothner the Baker in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.Raymond Wolansky, opera singer: born Cleveland, Ohio 15 February 1926; died Stuttgart, Germany 1 December 1998.. In Stuttgart towards the end of the 1970s he began to take on heavier roles: as Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde, which was greatly admired, and two of Verdi’s heaviest baritone roles, Rigoletto and Simon Boccanegra, of which the latter brought him one of the biggest triumphs of his career.Even after retiring in 1991 Wolansky continued to appear in character roles such as the Old Convict in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Returning to San Francisco, in 1972, Wolansky took the part of Alfred III in the American premiere of Gottfried von Einem’s Der Besuch der Alten Dame, adapted from Durrenmatt’s play The Visit of the Old Lady.Wolansky made his only appearances at Covent Garden in 1973, as Mandryka in Arabella, a part that fitted him like a glove, both musically and dramatically. During 1970 he took part in two world premieres there: in January he sang the chief role, Pestilence, in Milko Kelemen’s Der Belagerungszustand, an adaptation of Albert Camus’ play The Siege Situation; and in June he was Urumuru in Ernst Krenek’s Das kommt davon, a modern version of Cosi fan tutte set partly in the South Seas. In 1964 he made his debut in San Francisco as Count Luna in Il trovatore.

Over the next few seasons there, to demonstrate his versatility he also sang Ping in Turandot, Silvio in Pagliacci, Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus, Riccardo in Bellini’s Puritani and Manfredo in Montemezzi’s L’amore di tre re, as well as his showpiece role in Carmina Burana.Since 1960 Wolansky was a regular guest artist at the Hamburg State Opera. Other Strauss roles in his repertory included Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, John the Baptist in Salome, and Mandryka in Arabella. Apart from three seasons in the late 1960s, he remained with the company until 1991.He soon acquired a wide repertory, ranging from Gluck and Mozart to Richard Strauss, Britten, Hans Werne Henze and Aribert Reimann. His type of voice, which in Germany is called a Kavaliersbariton, was not in the earlier days suitable for the heavier Verdi or Puccini roles, though he tackled both Renato in Un ballo in maschera and Marcello in La Boheme: he had a great natural aptitude for modern music, and faced the Burgundian Troubadour in Orff’s Carmina Burana, or Major Mary in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten, with perfect equanimity.In 1963 he came to Glyndebourne to sing Olivier, the poet in Strauss’s Capriccio, which he repeated the following year. His voice, at first a high, light baritone, grew stronger and darker over the years, but it retained an amazingly youthful timbre up to – and beyond – his retirement.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1926, Wolansky studied in that city, and in Boston, before taking the well-worn route to Europe. He sang in Lucerne and Graz, then in 1958 he became a member of the Wurttemberg State Opera, Stuttgart, whose ensemble of singers was legendary at that time.

He appeared frequently in Hamburg and other German cities, as well as at Glyndebourne, Edinburgh and Covent Garden. Although he returned to America during those years, most particularly to San Francisco, the Wurttemberg State Opera in Stuttgart was his home base during almost his entire singing career. THE BARITONE Raymond Wolansky was one of those American singers who came to Germany in the 1950s in search of fame and fortune. Many, having gained experience, went back to the United States; Wolansky stayed for the rest of his life.

The work he has left behind – photo-graphs, pots, contributions to gardens and to the urban scene – will remain a fine record of a life devoted to art in so many of its manifestations.Hans Gohler (John Gay), photographer and potter: born Karlsruhe, Germany 2 September 1909; married 1942 Marie Arnheim; died London 24 January 1999.. Music, pictures, pottery, books and good wine were important to him; and he extracted the best elements from the century that his amazing life nearly spanned. He was a modest and private person who delighted in helping others: whether feeding an absent neighbour’s cats, cutting out dead wood from an overgrown shrub or photographing a local event.His own house was a veritable cultural haven. It became a notable feature of the craft fairs that he and Marie helped to organise for the Highgate Society.Like many perfectionists John Gay was uncompromising in his views but extraordinarily generous with his talents.