Music: Class of the Claqueurs

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The opera at Milan's La Scala last week was Verdi's Battle of Legnano, and the principals bore glittering reputations —Soprano Antonietta Stella, Tenor Franco Corelli. But as anxious to please as either of them were the two men posted on either side of the first gallery (the fifth tier). Antonio Carrara, 33, and Carmelo Alabisio, 76, can lay claim to being opera's most successful dispensers of professional applause.

Carrara and Alabisio are the organizers of the La Scala claque. At a time when claques are disappearing from many of the world's opera houses, the La Scala group is one of the best in the house's long history. At a signal, 30 hand-clappers burst into applause, almost always sweeping a large part of the audience with them. Says Carrara: "The claque is absolutely necessary, not only for the artists, but because some operas are so boring that nobody would clap if we didn't boost up the atmosphere."

Duty & Spirit. Although claques are still common in Italian opera houses, none in years have been organized with the same flair and genius for detail. A onetime aspiring singer, Carrara abandoned his career when his money ran out, now works during the day as a salesman, has been claquing evenings for ten years. Alabisio was a top La Scala tenor under Toscanini in the 1920s. Their basic claque (which they can beef up to 40 on important evenings) includes singing students, teachers, music lovers and two barbers. Perhaps the most dedicated is Claqueur Nino Grassi, 60, who has clapped professionally at La Scala since he was ten years old. Carrara and Alabisio attend every La Scala dress rehearsal, talk to the leading singers to find out if they want applause at unexpected places, finally discuss the completed applause script with the conductor to make sure that it will not interrupt his inspiration. (The one person whom even the most skillful claqueur cannot beat is a conductor determined to drown applause with a full orchestra.)

Clapping fees remain surprisingly low —$5 to $7 a night — because the directors alone are paid, while subordinates clap merely for admission. A certain amount of applause comes free. "Naturally, when an artist pays, we feel like applauding stronger," says Carrara, "but even if he doesn't pay, we still applaud because it is our duty to keep up the atmosphere and spirit of the performance." Most Italian singers approve of the claque, but as a general rule other European singers and Americans resent it. Soprano Leontyne Price has even paid the claque not to applaud.