You may remember that, in the Corner yesterday, we had a letter from the former principal trumpet in the orchestra of La Scala. (We were talkin’ a big Communist work by Luigi Nono.) Thought you might enjoy this further missive:

When Abbado [Claudio Abbado, the conductor] asked me if I would come to Milan, I asked what the salary would be. He did some rough calculating in his head and came up with a monthly sum. I calculated the annual income and expressed surprise that the salary wasn’t higher. “Don’t worry,” he said, “as principal trumpet you’ll receive eighteen months’ salary each year. With seniority, you’ll be getting yet more months’ pay each year.”
I asked how this could be, and he replied that the theater, being under the administration of the civic government (which was Communist), had to be able to say that all its employees earned the same monthly salary. I managed to sputter out that that was absolutely ridiculous. Abbado thought for a moment, then agreed, then started to smile, then couldn’t help joining me in laughter.

Good for Abbado! (I’m a little surprised.)