REGENSBURG,
Germany — Udo Kaiser was 8 years old, brimming with energy and a
bell-clear soprano voice when he arrived at the boarding school of the
famed boys choir that bears this city’s name. Before his first day
ended, he had been struck by a teacher.
The
months that followed brought twisted ears or slaps for disrupting the
silence demanded in the classrooms, corridors and dining hall. Singing
the wrong note earned a beating with a conductor’s baton. Fingers that
missed notes at the piano were slammed with the fallboard.