Music: Crises Abroad

Depression had its claws on the Paris Opéra last week. All over the world word flashed that it was about to close its doors. Director Jacques Roche resigned, announced that performances could not be continued after March 31 unless the Government increased its annual subsidy of some $250,000.

Paris was on the verge of losing one of its chief showplaces. Tourists flock to the Opéra, ignorantly supposing that they will hear great performances. The building itself gave rise to the legend—the great colonnade, the marble-&-onyx staircase, the cellars awesomely described in The Phantom of the Opera. Performances at the Opéra are generally second-rate, the repertoire and staging oldfashioned. Senators and Deputies often get their discarded mistresses jobs dancing in the ballet, famed for its inferiority.

But performances at the Opéra will go on. After a tense 24 hours it was decided that salary cuts would keep the doors open, at least for this summer's tourists. The music-wise were never seriously alarmed. Their attention was focused more on the Vienna opera, a real throne of music, which was also threatened with suspension.