Music: Desultory

In parched, dusty Milan this summer the La Scala orchestra directed by Signor Toscanini had a desultory season. Once the-Fascist audiences hooted “Basta! Basta!” “Viva l’Italia” when Pianist Iqor Stravinsky essayed a French com-position. After the summer season had closed, however, all but the financiers seemed satisfied. They found a several-year deficit of 7,000,000 lire despite two millions per annum state subsidy derived from a two per cent tax levied on all other forms of amusement. This would refute the charge: “Only in the U. S. and Britain does music have to be subsidized.”