As the waltzes begin to play, it is difficult to resist Strauss's blandishments to cast one's mind back over the years. The first production of the opera at the London Coliseum was almost 20 years ago in January 1976.
The fund ignored the blandishments of those proffering bonds, cash and commodities as alternative investments and remained full-bloodedly in equities.
However, he was wooed away by the blandishments of the duke of Mantua, the highly cultivated but, as Mantegna was to discover, not always solvent Ludovico Gonzaga.
He's resisted the blandishments of President Bush and disrupted the script for the NATO summit meeting to be held Monday and Tuesday in Brussels by demanding a negotiated reduction in short-range nuclear missiles.