Writing, ironically, for the Spectator, Norman Lebrecht reveals himself once more to be no observer at all. His brief account of a visit to La Scala is riddled with factual errors. (The wrong-headedness of his opinions is of course beyond dispute.)

Daniel Barenboim “took the baton for a bit” at La Scala to perform over 200 times across 10 seasons.

There is no “lonely trumpet” in the Fellini film La dolce vita; I suppose Lebrecht was thinking of La strada?

Zandonai worships at the altar of Richard Strauss?

There is no depiction of incest in Francesca da Rimini.

There is no sex scene in the second act of Francesca da Rimini.

Norma has been performed at La Scala in four seasons since 1955.

“Verdi’s little-seen Attila” has had 72 performances of 21 productions in 17 cities over the past two seasons.

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