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CHRISTINE RANKL, wife of the recently ap-
pointed music director
of the Australian Eliza-
bethan Theatre Trust,
copies scores for her
famous husband.
Musician's wife
loves life
Perfect command of five languages and the ability to make
shirts and copy scores are just some of the attributes which
make Christine Rankl the perfect wife for her husband, Karl,
who was recently appointed music director of the Australian
Elizabethan Theatre Trust.
THE Rankls, who ar-
rived in Sydney at the
end of March, will be in
Australia for three years.
They will travel to Bris-
bane soon for the opening
of the opera season there
on June 20, and then tour
Sydney, Melbourne, and
Adelaide.
The five operas in the 1958
season will be "Carmen,"
Peter Grimes," "Fidelio,"
"Lohengrin," and "The Bar-
ber of Seville."
Tall, hazel-eyed Mrs.
Rankl, who has made more
than half of her husband's 55
shirts, thinks nothing of cop-
ing with the washing and iron-
ing when Karl uses three or
four shirts a day during rehearsals.
She finds time to swim
nearly every day, make her
own clothes, cook her hus-
band's "plain Austrian meals,'
act as his secretary, and also
work at the exacting task of
copying his scores for the
individual instruments.
"It took me a whole year
to copy his third symphony,'
Mrs. Rankl said, with her
quick, shy smile, "but, of
course, you can do only a
little at a time, it's so hard on
the eyes."
Her husband, she said, has
written five symphonies, a
number of chamber works
and an opera—"Deirdre of the
Sorrows"—which shared first
prize in a Festival of Britain
competition, but has never
been performed.
Christine Rankl is ever
ready to talk about her
famous husband—how he be-
came the first music director
of the newly formed Covent
Garden Opera Company in
1946, and how, from 1952
until recently, he was princi-
pal conductor of the Scottish
National Orchestra.
But she is reluctant to talk
about herself.
"He is the musician of the
family," she insists. "He is
the important one."
Mrs. Rankl, who neither
plays a musical instrument
nor reads music, nevertheless
------------------------
By
ANNE BRADLEY,
staff reporter
-------------------------
has a deep understanding of
her husband's work and helps
him in any way she can.
Like him, she was born in
Austria, and has lived most
of her life in Vienna. For
more than 12 years now she
has lived in England.
I thought this accounted
for her perfect English, with
no trace of accent, except per-
haps the suggestion of a Scot-
tish burr. But she explained
that she was taught English—
and French and Czech — at
school.
"Then my family thought
I should go to England to get
the correct inflection, so when
I was 18 I went for a year as
a mother's help."
She smiled her quick smile
again, remembering.
"I don't know that I did
my little charge much good,
and the family certainly
worked me hard," she said,
"but I loved every minute."
Mrs. Rankl gives the im-
pression that she has spent
practically all her life "lov-
ing every minute of it." Her
sense of fun is contagious,
and she has a gift for mimicry
that would earn her a living
any day as an entertainer.
She insists she could earn
her living as a chicken farmer,
as she grew up on her parents'
chicken farm.
"My husband says that
when he retires we will go
somewhere and keep chickens,
for he doesn't like the eggs I
buy in the shops.
"But conductors don't re-
tire; look at Toscanini! If we
should, though," and her face
became wistful, "I should like
to go back to our house in
Salzburg, which looks towards
the lake and mountains."
A painting of their view is
almost the only thing from
home, apart from clothes, that
the Rankls brought with them.
"It is our talisman," she
said, touching it gently.
Christine Rankl is not
serious for long. She has a
fund of stories, and tells one
against her husband, whose
English is not as good as hers:
"After a long rehearsal one
day he saw that the chorus
was getting restive, so he de-
cided to tell them the story
of another conductor faced
with a similar situation.
"This conductor had bel-
lowed forth to the chorus,
'Ladies, you must be more
pregnant!' He meant, of
course, 'praegnant,' the Ger-
man technical music term for
'precise.'
"My husband told this story
and the chorus dutifully
laughed. Then my husband
made it really funny by add-
ing, 'lt happens so easily, you
know.'
"Of course, the chorus
howled, and he couldn't offer
another word of explana-
tion."
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