hen Luciano Pavarotti sang his farewell to staged opera — as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's "Tosca" — at the Metropolitan Opera on March 13, the full house gave him a long standing ovation that was clearly meant less for his performance that evening than for a spectacular career at the house since his debut in 1968.

Mr. Volpe, livid, made it clear that Mr. Pavarotti's days of singing opera at the Met were over — that if he were to return at all, it would be for a recital. Then all was apparently forgiven, and Mr. Pavarotti's valedictory Cavaradossis appeared on the schedule for this season. When the curtain came down after the last of the performances, the Met unfurled a banner on the second tier, reading, "We Love You Luciano." And in one of the last curtain calls, Mr. Volpe joined the cast onstage. The next morning, Allan Kozinn asked Mr. Volpe what had led him to bring Mr. Pavarotti back, and how he thought it had all gone.

JOSEPH VOLPE I believe that all things being considered, what Luciano did was miraculous these last three performances. He hasn't really sung opera in months, and he got through these performances on his determination and will. The beauty of the tone of his voice is so unique that even given his difficulties in these performances, you heard that voice. That's something we won't ever hear again, at least not in staged opera.

ALLAN KOZINN I'd like to ask you about some of the preparations for this, going back to May 2002, when Mr. Pavarotti was originally to have sung his farewell "Tosca" performances.

VOLPE Sure. You see, May 2002 was not a farewell. It is true that we did not have any other contracts with him after that, but it was never planned as a farewell. It was just planned as two performances. And I think people got the impression it was the farewell, but it wasn't.

KOZINN Probably many people thought that, because when you came out to announce that Pavarotti wouldn't sing, you said you had told him, "This is a hell of a way to end a beautiful career."

VOLPE Everyone reminds me of what I said in front of the curtain, but let me explain the circumstances. I went out just before 8 o'clock to announce that Luciano had canceled. He only notified me at 7:20, so of course I was upset. So I walked out, and being a very forthright person, I said what I had on my mind. And the point was that if it was the end, it was a terrible way to do it.

KOZINN You also said he would not be back to sing opera.

VOLPE Yes, at that moment I guess I felt he would never come back. I thought I wouldn't want to put myself in the position to take a chance. And I thought he wouldn't want to do it. But happily, I was wrong on both counts.

KOZINN What made you change your mind?

VOLPE Fortunately, Luciano and I remained friends. We spoke the next day. I met with him two or three times over the next year. And I thought it appropriate that he come back and do a proper farewell. But I said, "You really have to promise me that you're going to do everything in your power to do this." He had to take this seriously, which of course he did. So today I'm feeling elated that it worked. That's not to say I'm not somewhat melancholy about having lost such a great singer. Whether it was 10 years ago or now, you hate to lose such a wonderful voice. But that's life. Things move on.

KOZINN When you fired Kathleen Battle — and there was a general sense that she was fired with cause — you did it, and you meant it, and you never had her back. I'm curious why you held the line with her, but you relented in Pavarotti's case.

VOLPE Because, first of all, I didn't fire Luciano. This wasn't a situation where he was behaving in an unprofessional manner or causing problems with other singers in the company. What I was upset about that night was that I felt that Luciano, as sick as he was, could come into the theater and at least make an appearance and say something to the audience. And he felt that he did not want to do that. So that was our disagreement. There was no comparison between Kathy Battle and Luciano.

KOZINN What special preparations were made to take account of Mr. Pavarotti's current physical state? The blocking seemed arranged so that there was always something for him to lean or sit on. And there seemed to be strategically placed glasses of water.

VOLPE Well, actually, Luciano does his own blocking. If he sees a chair, he heads for it. It's not like the stage director says, "O.K., now in Act II you go from the bed to the chair." But there was water everywhere for him because he didn't want to get dried out. And I think it was in the second performance, in the third act he had a little something in his throat, and he cleared it out. I'll tell you, he's a courageous guy. He really gave 100 percent of himself to get through those performances.

KOZINN The Met — and until now, I think, most opera companies — have always regarded physicality as a nonissue for singers. It's about the voice. But now that Deborah Voigt has been dropped from a Covent Garden production of "Ariadne auf Naxos" because she was too large to fit into the cocktail dress that was part of the director's concept, do you think we're going to see physicality becoming an issue more frequently?

VOLPE Well, directors have raised questions with me about singers, and quite frankly, my position is very clear. If we were hiring Debbie Voigt or any other singer who did not fit the director's concept physically, we would get another director. Because I would never allow a situation where our audience would not have the pleasure and the opportunity to hear Debbie sing Ariadne. She's the best Ariadne in the world today, and we would make sure we'd present her. In opera, yes, it's important that you have interesting productions and staging, but 75 percent is the music. And if you accept that, you can make that decision without any difficulty at all.

KOZINN But when Angela Gheorghiu didn't want to wear a blond wig to sing Micaela in "Carmen," you told her, "The wig is going on, with you or without you," and another singer took her place. One could argue that it's a short leap from requiring that Angela Gheorghiu wear a blond wig to requiring that Deborah Voigt fit into a cocktail dress.

VOLPE No. You see, if you open a new production and you have an agreed-upon concept, and then a singer comes in and says, "O.K., I'm going to do this or change that," and without any discussion, that's a different case, and that's why I took such a strong position. I hate last-minute surprises. But if a singer says, a year before, "I have a problem with this costume, can we do this or can we change that," that's a different thing. You can work within the concept of the production, and I think that's O.K.

KOZINN Do you think Mr. Pavarotti waited too long to leave the opera stage?

VOLPE Well, in Luciano's case, let's forget the ideal. His is such a unique and glorious sound that people really did not want to give up hearing him in live performance. I felt the same, I must tell you.

KOZINN Now he is undertaking a farewell tour, which apparently will go on until Oct. 12, 2005, his 70th birthday, when, he has said, he will stop singing entirely. Do you think he will?

VOLPE He can't, no. Because we're going to have a closing-night gala when I retire, on May 20, 2006, and he's going to have to appear one way or another. I said to him, "Luciano, you'd better hold this date." And he looked at me and said, "Are you mad?" And I said, "You're going to be there." In some capacity, he'll be there.