Enrico Caruso was the tenor, Arturo Toscanini the conductor on that November night in 1908 when Giulio Gatti-Casazza mounted his first performance as manager of Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera Company. The opera was A'ida, chosen by Gatti out of reverence for his friend and hero, Composer Giuseppe Verdi. Lately Gatti has been accused of being old-fashioned and reactionary. But last week as he began his farewell season at the Metropolitan, the sphinxy Gatti behaved as if he had never heard the carping. Again for the opening night he chose Aïda.
Since Depression no opera night...
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