Chamberlain, Mussolini, Lord Halifax, and Count Ciano attend a peformance in the Rome Opera House in 1939, the same year and venue as Gigli’s haunting, portentous Verdi Requiem recording. Music is rarely far from politics; still, it isn’t often this close. The opera house’s 1926 refurbishing infamously put Mussolini’s name above center stage.
