La Scala: Verdi-Wagner polemics 'ridiculous'

"This is an attack on the institution of La Scala, which is a unique in the world, and should be defended because it is a pride of Italy," said Lissner, a Frenchman who will leave La Scala in 2015 to join the Paris Opera.

No less than Italy's respected President Giorgio Napolitano has entered the fray — although only to appeal for harmony.

He wrote a letter to musical director Daniel Barenboim over the weekend rejecting press rumors that his decision to miss the gala season opener on Friday was a deliberate snub. Napolitano said he has state business to attend to in Rome, and called polemics over the staging of a Wagner opera "futile" and "pathetic."

"Those two musical greats of the 19th Century belong to the history of the culture and creativity of Europe — and cannot be missing from a place of honor in the season programs of the biggest Italian opera houses," Napolitano wrote. He recalled attending a 1981 performance of "Lohengrin" at La Scala and welcomed its return after more than 30 years.

The Milan daily Corriere della Sera launched an opening salvo in the Verdi-Wagner debate, publishing a piece last month asking whether "the Germans would have inaugurated a Wagner year with a Verdi opera."

The piece, headlined "Milan and the curse of Lohengrin," elicited a lively response from readers who both welcomed and lamented the Wagner season premiere.