A fact from Gustav Hölzel appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 September 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the bass-baritone Gustav Hölzel was dismissed from the Vienna State Opera because he changed the words of a song that he was singing in the role of Friar Tuck?
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What was the damn alteration to the friar's song that caused him to be fired! I hope someone can satisfy my curiosity…
Zetetic Apparatchik (talk) 07:52, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've been making enquiries. It's a drinking song, which starts "Der barfüssler Mönch seine Zeller verliess, Ora pro nobis" in Act I, scene 2 of Der Templer und die Jüdin. Apparently it was often censored because it was thought improper to mix drinking and praying, so it's possible that Hölzel merely restored the original version against the wishes of the management. In some performances elsewhere, the censors replaced "ora pro nobis" ("pray for us") with "im gruenen Kleide" ("wearing green clothes" - Robin Hood's Lincoln green, I guess). If I get any more definite info, I'll add it either here or (if there are Reliable Printed Sources) in the article. --GuillaumeTell 21:28, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]
