Milan's La Scala heard Alban Berg's atonal opera Wozzeck for the first time last week and, somewhat to its own surprise, was impressed.
A few last-ditch Verdi-lovers turned out to express their disapproval, greeted the opening curtain with whistles, catcalls and shouts of "Vergogna, vergogna!" (Shame, shame!). But the ruckus was feeble compared with the uproar they raised over Gian-Carlo Menotti's Consul and Juan Jose Castro's Proserpina (TIME, Feb. 5, 1951; March 31, 1952).
Most of the audience listened with caution in Act I, but by Act II they were applauding enthusiastically. At the end,...