Hero of La Scala

Eugene Conley is a cocksure singer from Lynn, Mass, who has made a reputation at the Metropolitan Opera as a fine romantic tenor, if not a great one. But in tenor-impoverished Italy (most of the good ones have come to the U.S.), Conley is a hero. Ever since he bounced a ringing D flat above high C off the ceiling of Milan's La Scala in I Puritani three seasons ago, the Italians have hardly been able to get enough of him.

Last week Tenor Conley, 43, reached a peak in his career; he became the first American-born-and-trained singer ever to star at a La Scala opening. The opera: Verdi's Sicilian Vespers, a bloody tale of revolt of the Sicilians against the oppressing French, not heard at La Scala since 1909.

Conley was cast in the difficult role of the Sicilian patriot Arrigo, and at first his small but silvery tenor seemed hemmed in by the sumptuous sounds of Soprano Maria Meneghini Callas (also U.S.-born) and the rumbling bass of Bulgarian Boris Christoff. But by the second act his voice had warmed up, and so had the elegant and traditionally indifferent first-night audience. When the final curtain came down on the blood-bathed stage, Milanese were shouting "Conelay, Conelay" from their carnation-decked boxes.

The critics overlooked a boggled high note in the first act, and poured compliments on Conley's singing--but not on his bandy-legged acting. Milan's Il Tempo: "Conley has again proved his excellent vocal technique, his facility in moving among the highest notes," but, added Rome's Il Tempo, "beside [Soprano Callas] he appeared more her page than her promised." L'ltalia found his high notes "bell-like and sure," but his movements "uncertain and indefinite." The Communist L'Unit`a snarled at his "atrocious pronunciation, insupportable to the Italian ear." But even L'Unit`a admitted that U.S. Tenor Conley has a voice. His high notes, it said, were "impeccable."

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