Lire for the Casa

Giuseppe Verdi came from peasant stock and never lost the blunt imprint. But the composer of some of the most moving and impassioned operas ever written--Trovatore, Traviata, Rigoletto, Aida, Otello--remained a hard man only outwardly. Verdi's music eloquently tells the story of the inner man. And so, in a way, did his will.

A comparatively wealthy man, Verdi gave some 450,000 lire, five years before he died, at 87, to establish a Casa di Riposo for worn-out musicians. In his will he left it 250,000 lire, plus all future opera royalties.

Until World War II, "Casa Verdi" in Milan housed 100 pensioners in gracious ease. But Casa Verdi's income suffered when buildings in which some of its capital was invested were bombed in air raids. Moreover, the lira isn't what it used to be.

Facing Milan's quiet Piazza Buonarroti and its huge, brooding statue of Verdi, the three-story, red brick Casa now accommodates 50 men and 35 women in elegant austerity. There are still a few who remember the old maestro. Said Soprano Giannina Russ, 77, once a star at La Scala: "He was always critical. Just like Toscanini, he was never satisfied."

This week, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Benefactor Verdi's guests will pay their special respects to his memory. Wearing the simple costume Verdi prescribed for them--the men, black suits, string ties and soft wide-brimmed hats, the women, plain, dark grey dresses--they will gather in the Casa's open courtyard, lay flowers on the tomb where Verdi and his wife Giuseppina lie buried. At night, those still able to go to La Scala may sit in the royal box for a performance of Verdi's Requiem.

Gifts are coming Casa Verdi's way. Arturo Toscanini, 83, who knew Verdi and worships him, has been helping to pay some of the bills. Last week he sent another check, for $8,000. And that was just the beginning. Disabled with an ailing knee since last fall, Toscanini had recovered enough last week to get down to serious rehearsal, with soloists, chorus and the NBC Symphony, for his first conducting in six months: an anniversary performance of the Requiem. Carnegie Hall (at a top of $25 a seat) was already almost sold out. That would add up to a lot of lire for the Casa Verdi.

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