Music

Operatic Bribes: Officials of Italy’s famed La Scala opera charged Monday the company’s just-concluded tour of the Soviet Union was a “bureaucratic inferno” of bribery and corruption and called for the Italian government to lodge an official protest. Alberto Rispoli, secretary-general of La Scala, said it was “a miracle” the company was able to stage all its performances during the Oct. 2-Nov. 4 tour in Moscow and Leningrad. “Every day we had to deliver something under the table for being allowed to work,” Rispoli said. However, officials declared the incidents would not hamper relations with the Soviets and that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev will be welcome to visit La Scala during his Nov. 29-Dec. 1 trip to Italy.