La Scala

“ I tell thee I warned them, I would hold them as nothing when it came to saving her."
"Still, they trust you," returned Ligozzi. "Listen, Della Scala; I speak in the cause of honor—you shall hear, you shall know what it means, before you lend yourself to such a thing for love of a woman! It will give all Lombardy to Visconti, it and hundreds to the sword; it will mean the burning of cities to the ground; it will mean the misery of half Italy! ”

“ Visconti turned them over hastily, till he came upon a document hung with the seals of Verona, a cartel of defiance, neatly endorsed in a clerkly hand, and signed in large, bold writing, "Mastino della Scala."
Eagerly he turned to the cover of the packet, and laid the two writings side by side. They were the same.
Visconti leaned against the black chest, breathing heavily, his face not good to look on in its white devilry.
"He lives! Della Scala lives!" he cried, and struck at himself in his rage. Then his gaze came back to the blood-stained parchment crumpled in his hand. ”

“ Cities pass under Visconti's rule and cities are snatched from him—am I responsible for the fate of Lombardy? Men fight, betray, deceive and lie for wealth, ambition, and revenge—and common folk pay the price—shall I consider it too closely if they suffer once in a cause like mine? I tell thee, Ligozzi, I would hold it cheap to save her from Visconti with the misery of all Italy."
Ligozzi's eyes did not move from Della Scala's face.
"Thou art striving to blind thyself, Della Scala. Oh, my lord," he resumed, "because others are dishonorable will ye be so also? ”

“ Della Scala called his Veronese out, my lord."
"'Twill be almost too easy a victory," said Visconti, [Pg 312] smiling. "And then, from Piedmont to the Apennines, Italy will be under my rule: and Della Scala—I wonder what will happen to Della Scala, de Lana?"
"There is nothing but death for Della Scala," returned the soldier, standing at the door as if anxious to be gone. "Nothing is left for him but that, my lord."
"Ah—you forget," said Visconti softly. "There is his price—his wife; there is always his wife." ”

“ But Mastino della Scala's object was not to lose time in idle skirmishes. Brilliant success had fallen to his share, not one reverse had marred his short campaign, and it is not the policy of the victor to dally with time, [Pg 146] rather to seize the chances each day offers, while yet fortune smiles on him.
But well Della Scala knew that neither honor, nor pity, nor shame, but fear alone, would restrain Gian Maria Visconti from venting his hatred on Isotta d'Este. ”

“ To one side a few unhappy men, of note enough to have been spared, watched in grim silence the unlading of the spoils that came from the sacking of their palaces. The great gates stood at their widest, and through them wound a long train of soldiers, some driving before them groups of prisoners, tightly chained together, others galloping in laden with plunder of all kinds, art treasures, blackened as if by fire, banners and suits of armor.
"Ah, Giannotto, look," cried Visconti, "Della Scala's collection, Della Scala's jewels. How my treasury will be enriched! ”

“ Do you think there will be war?"
"I am a man of peace," returned Ambrogio softly, his eyes on Graziosa. "How should I know? Still, I do not think Della Scala will trouble the peace of Milan much."
And now Agnolo, at the top of the flight of stairs, was holding open a wide door through which they passed into Agnolo's workshop, filled with the pleasant litter of his occupation. "I do not agree with thee," he said. "Della Scala's is a great name. Were I Visconti, I should not feel secure." ”

“ Men would have as soon thought the stars would fall as Mastino della Scala.
Visconti, pacing his palace in a fever of triumph, thought of all this; thought of the d'Estes in Novara, still trusting—thought of Mastino's Veronese, their devotion, their sympathy—thought of Mastino's feelings. It was almost enough to satisfy his hate—but not quite—not quite.
"To-morrow," he said, stopping before de Lana—"to-morrow I shall march from Milan, and I shall lay in ashes every village, every town that has favored Della Scala. ”

“ It is not strange he should wish to revenge Della Scala's wrongs and his own."
"I think him of better birth and station than he claims," said the Count judicially. "He has the bearing of one gently born." ”

“ The Duke sat silent a while, and the smile deepened to a laugh.
"I disturb myself for a woman's quarrels," he said at last, "and am on the eve of winning Lombardy!"
"The Estes may already have detached themselves from Della Scala, my lord," said the secretary.
"We will hope not. They will cling to the losing cause, and Mastino della Scala, the stainless knight, himself shall betray them!" smiled Visconti, with such cruel wickedness that Giannotto shrank. ”

“ Visconti will not hurt her, yet we must be hurried into war for it, forsooth!"
"I owe Della Scala my life," returned Conrad airily. "I should be the last to speak; still, my wrongs are as many and as deep. I love the Lady Valentine. I have lost my land and my jewels, my house and servants, yet I am quite ready to settle in some other part of Italy—and forget Visconti. I do not go about trying to entice other people into my quarrels." ”

“ She is one woman against the fate of half Italy."
"She is my wife!" cried Della Scala desperately; "that one woman is my wife! Thou hast forgotten!"
"Forget it too, my lord; for your own honor's sake, forget it too."
"Ligozzi, Ligozzi," whispered Mastino, "thou canst not mean it: deliver up to die by Visconti's hands the woman I—love!" ”

“ At thy sister's wedding thou wert proud that Mastino della Scala stooped to pat thee on the head. The Duke of Verona was once as much greater than are we, Vincenzo, than we are higher than a footman. It goes not with nobility nor with honor to slight the fallen. ”

“ He could not imagine Mastino della Scala a beggar at any prince's court.
But Visconti, blinded and absorbed by hatred, continued unheedingly:
"Carrara also, the Duke of Padua, is too necessary to the Estes. They cannot stand without him. Will he, thinkest thou, ever be won over to side with Mastino? No, Giannotto, I do not fear him. Let Della Scala [Pg 103] live robbed of all,—and with Count Conrad as an ally!"
"Shall we then dismiss him, my lord?" ventured Giannotto smoothly; "he who is not worth fearing is not worth considering." ”

“ But Della Scala had risen.
"Spare thyself a catalogue of their virtue, my lord of Padua," he said. "For I refuse thy offer—one well worthy of a Carrara!"
Giacomo paled with anger; his merchant descent was a sore point, and Mastino's words struck home.
[Pg 117]
"Refuse!" exclaimed Ippolito. "Ten thousand men!" Della Scala glanced at him with scorn.
"Ten thousand men!" he echoed. "Yes, I refuse ten thousand men. I thought thou once loved me, d'Este, and wert too much of a soldier to dishonor me by such a proposal."
"We can make it more—" began Ippolito. ”

“ Of course in the last analysis the macrocosm is only the autocosm of its age, but it is the common segment of all the individual autocosms. And while they are liable to shrivel up like pricked bladders, the objective universe can only expand and expand.
Despite La Scala and its dædal Modernism, it was, I fear, the Catholic autocosm which fascinated me most in Italy, with its naïve poetry, its grossness, its sublimity, and its daring distortions of the macrocosm. The very clock-wheels in their courses fight against reality. ”

“ Come to Milan on the fifteenth. You will see me then. I appear at La Scala. Promise me, if you hear me, that you will do exactly what I make you feel it right to do. Ah, you will not, though thousands will! But step aside to me, when the curtain falls, and remain—oh, dear friend! I write in honour to you; we have sworn to free the city and the country—remain among us: break your sword, tear off your uniform; we are so strong that we are irresistible. I know what a hero you can be on the field: then, why not in the true cause? ”

“ At last Conrad found his voice.
"Lord!" he cried, "let me stay."
"Go," said Mastino.
"I will stay," faltered Conrad, "and amend my fault."
But Della Scala turned his back on him.
"Go to Visconti," he flashed. "Tisio plays chess as well almost as Vincenzo."
The taunt made speech come more easily. "No man can ask more than another's humiliation, that other suing humbly for pardon——"
"I did not ask so much," said Mastino, his back still to him. "You are unhurt."
And the Count glanced at Della Scala's face, and saw a little of what he had done; that speech was useless. ”

“ Here, too, is the famous Teatro la Scala, next to San Carlo at Naples, the largest in Italy, and capable of holding 3000 spectators. The highest ambition of an Italian artiste is attained when he or she has sung at this theatre, for it is a guarantee of success, and, having gained the suffrages of an audience on the boards of La Scala, they are certain of laurels on any other stage in Europe. ”

“ Though both are of Russian birth, [277] this was their first meeting. As La Scala is recognized throughout Europe as the final "acid test" of an opera singer's qualities, the status which both had attained separately in their own country was of comparatively small consequence. With nerves tense to the breaking point, each concentrated on the task of winning that cultivated, critical Milan audience.
At rehearsals their quarrels were rather fiercer than is usual between the principal tenor and the prima donna.
"At that time I could hardly endure him," says Mme. Legat. "We quarrelled terribly. ”

“ Visconti's arms seemed everywhere victorious. The country was laid waste—and not by their allies.
But the Estes' hope was still in Della Scala. Urgent messages were sent to his camp outside Milan, and when neither answer nor messengers returned, the Duke of Modena grew sick at heart indeed.
He had not mentioned all his fears to his son, though Vincenzo could not but know their strait desperate.
"If we hear not to-day," said d'Este slowly, "I shall think there is treachery; not one messenger has returned—treachery, or some misfortune to Della Scala."
"Then are we lost indeed!" cried Vincenzo. ”

“ At the Opera they were giving the Templario. Unfortunately, as is well known, the theatre of La Scala serves, not only as the universal drawing-room for all the society of Milan, but every sort of trading transaction, from horse-dealing to stock-jobbing, is carried on in the pit; so that brief and far between are the snatches of melody one can catch. Besides this, they have the uncomfortable habit of giving the ballet between the two acts of the opera. ”

“ When Jacopo da Carrara died, Can Grande della Scala attacked Marsilio da Carrara, who had succeeded his uncle, and wrung from him Padua and the Padovano; thence the Scala spread to Feltre, Belluno, and the territory at the foot of the Alps, and finally Treviso came to their possession in 1329. The Republic of Venice could not be indifferent to the growth of a Power which threatened to enclose the Lagoons and to block all exits for Venetian merchandise. Moreover her natural position rendered her incapable of supporting herself if food supplies from the mainland were cut off. ”

“ Her popularity grew so much that when the three months' engagement came to an end, the manager urged her to accept his offer of appearing at Paris. But she knew that art is long, and that she had still much to learn, so she decided to go back to Milan, and continue her studies under Signor Ronconi. At a concert given by Regondi, she met the manager of La Scala, and he offered her an engagement which she gratefully accepted. La Scala was then looked upon as the first theatre in Europe, and to be heard there was a proud distinction for any singer. ”

“ There were yet five minutes before the overture.
La Scala is an enormous opera house, and its stage stretches beneath one like a great plain. To be sure, after a winter of Wagnerian harmonies, Verdi's music sounded somewhat colorless, but oh! the language! I cannot tell you what a peaceful, refreshing change it was to hear a soft Cielo! issue from the soprano's lips, instead of the Ach, Gott! to which we were accustomed; and to remark how easily the tenor floated along on broad ahs instead of struggling over a succession of gutturals. Don't imagine that I sneer at German. ”

“ For days the sun had risen and set in cloudless splendor, hanging through the long summer day in a sapphire sky, flooding the beautiful country with gold, making the air heavy with perfume and sense of summer.
Mastino della Scala, standing at the door of his tent, hardly saw the glory and the brightness, the splendor of the great chestnuts, all deep green and snowy white, the proud beauty of the heaped-up flowers, the vivid richness of the foliage; for his heart was too sore for the finest sun that ever shone to ease it. ”

“ How many lives had been flung aside in wild agony and despair to make way for those banners to stand there!
"Mantua resisted desperately," Arezzo was saying. "But Della Scala had left them so weakened."
"Della Scala!" cried Visconti. "I remember, he is in yonder garden; see he be brought in, da Ribera; out of all Lombardy I can spare him a tomb!"
The soldier left the room, and the talk went on with little heed of the interruption; Visconti still busy with the ramparts of Turin and the defenses of Modena, de Lana disputing the route to Vercelli; but the secretary was not interested. ”

“ I do not pay with ducats, Paduans, or measure my rewards with coin; follow me, and I will give you cities for your plunder, and nobles to hold for ransom. Like to the thunder will I circle Lombardy, and city after city shall surrender me its keys, and the meanest soldier in my train shall gain him fame and riches from my spreading greatness such as kings might envy! Now, who but a faint heart would follow Della Scala, who lost into my hands his very wife? So long as there is a Visconti, he rules in Italy! ”