Music: Conductor Chaliapin

Few will deny that towering Feodor Chaliapin is an imposing actor, an irreproachable singer of opera. Likewise, many have found him imperiously temperamental. Last week as the sardonic, demonic Mephistopheles of Faust he poured out his ruddy bass to the burghers, dames and daughters of Vienna in the Vienna Opera House. But frowns of annoyance danced on his brow; he found the time too slow for his impetuous taste. Over the bobbing heads of the first violins he glared meaningfully at Conductor Karl Alwin, tried vainly to force a faster tempo. Suddenly the...