Monte Pederson, who went on to sing a nuanced Wotan in Seattle Opera’s 1995 RING, gave a tremendous performance as Scarpia. The prop mishaps which bedeviled Barbara Daniels, who had to stab him with a dinner knife, pull the Letter of Transit from his cold, dead fingers, place a crucifix on his chest and candelabras to either side of his corpse, became the stuff of legend.