“Though Riccardo Muti did allow the chorus to repeat ‘Va, pensiero’ from Verdi’s Nabucco (which is virtually a second national anthem in Italy) once in 1986 and once in 1996, no soloist has sung an encore at La Scala since the legendary bass Fyodor Chaliapin did it once in 1933 (while Toscanini was out of town). Until the night before last, that is.”