Star Crushed

A plump, liquid-eyed tenor is Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, who earns fat contracts by hurling lusty high C's at the boxes in William Tell, caroling lushly in operatic staples like La Traviata and Rigoletto. He has been paid well by the Metropolitan Opera. But he says that the U. S. is culturally immature, that he will stay in Europe next year when his contract expires. There he is more appreciated. In Paris, for instance, it is a gala occasion when he sings as guest star; the Opera pushes up its prices a bit (usually $3.20 for best orchestra seats) and all over town one reads LAURI-VOLPI. Artists find Paris a pleasing contrast to Manhattan, where the Metropolitan is reticent about announcing its operas.

In Italy, where he is still an Army Major, Lauri-Volpi has worked hard to become a great singer. He planned to sing there as usual this year. But he asked for more than $1,000 a night, special billing, special advertising, best dressing-rooms, and of course a No. 1 star rating. Crushingly from Rome last week came an official communique of the Consortium of Lyric Theatres which controls all the lyric theatres and opera houses in Italy, as well as all concert artists under contract. Because of "excessive special conditions," Lauri-Volpi was for an indefinite length of time to be boycotted.

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