CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE MUSIC Cornell University Library ML 1711.8.N56K92 Chapters of opera :belna historical and 3 1924 022 336 196 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022336196 AXTON SKIDL The C'l'iiiliK (cir whn jm.duced \\'a£;ncr's greatest music ilramas at the Melnipolitan CHAPTERS OF OPERA BEING HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECORDS CONCERNING THE LYRIC DRAMA IN NEW YORK FROM ITS EARLIEST DAYS DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME BY HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL MUSICAL EDITOK OF " THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE " J AUTHOR OF " HOW TO LISTEN TO MUSIC," "STUDIES IN THE WAGNERIAN DRAMA," " MUSIC AND MANNERS IN THE CLASSICAL PERIOD,'' "the PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF NEW YORK," ETC., ETC. WITH OVER SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1908 Copyright, 1908, By HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL Copyright, igoB, By HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY Published, November, igoS THE QUIN17 & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY, i». J. To MARIE — WIFE and DAUGHTER HELEN Who have shared with the Author many of the Experiences described in this book. "Joy shared is Joy doubled." — Goethe. PREFACE The making of this book was prompted by the fact that with the season 1907-08 the Metropolitan Opera House in New York completed an existence of twenty-five years. Through all this period at public representations I have occupied stall D-15 on the ground floor as reviewer of mu- sical affairs for The New York Tribune newspaper. I have, therefore, been a witness of the vicissitudes through which the institution has passed in a quarter-century, and a chronicler of all significant musical things which were done within its walls. I have seen the failure of the artistic policy to promote which the magnificent theater was built; the revolution accomplished by the stockholders under the leadership of Leopold Damrosch ; the progress of a German regime, which did much to develop tastes and create ideals which, till its coming, were little-known quantities in Ameri- can art and life; the overthrow of that regime in obedi- ence to the command of fashion ; the subsequent dawn and development of the liberal and comprehensive policy which marked the climax of the career of Maurice Grau as an operatic director. I have witnessed since then, many of the fruits of wise endeavor and astute management frit- tered away by managerial incapacity and greed, and fad and fashion come to rule again, where for a brief, but eventful period, serious artistic interest and endeavor had been dominant. The institution will enter upon a new regime with the season 1908-09. The time, therefore, seemed fitting for a review of the twenty-five years that are past. The inci- dents of this period are fixed ; they may be variously viewed. xi PREFACE but they cannot be changed. They belong to history, and to a presentation of that history I have devoted most of the pages which follow. I have been actuated in my work by deep seriousness of purpose, and have tried to avoid every- thing which could not make for intellectual profit, or, at least, amiable and illuminative entertainment The chapters which precede the more or less detailed history of the Metropolitan Opera House (I- VII) were written for the sake of the light which they shed on exist- ing institutions and conditions, and to illustrate the devel- opment of existing taste, appreciation, and interest touching the lyrical drama. To the same end much consideration has been given to significant doings outside the Metro- politan Opera House since it has been the chief domicile of grand opera in New York. Especial attention has been given for obvious reasons to the two seasons of opera at Mr. Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera House, H. E. Krehbiel. Blue Hill, Maine, the Summer of 1908. PUBLISHERS' NOTE The publishers have found difficulty in getting pictures of some of the earlier artists and opera houses, but when they came to later people, the trouble was to decide what pictures could be omitted. The omission of any portrait is not necessarily any expression of the author's opinion of an artist's ability. An effort has been made to represent the different singers each in the costume of some favorite part, but some important people have been omitted because good pictures in costume were not available. Hearty thanks are due for photographs of artists, and of the Metropolitan Opera House, to the managers, and Mme. Aime Dupont ; also to Mr. R. H. Russell for his kind per- mission to reproduce eight of the over one hundred admira- ble pictures in Kobbe's " Opera Singers," and for photo- graphs of Hammerstein's Manhattan Opera House, and his artists, to the management, and to the Mishkin Studio. Vll CONTENTS Chapter I INTRODUCTION OF OPERA IN NEW YORK PAGE The Introduction of Italian Opera in New York — English Ballad Operas and Adaptations from French and Italian Works — ^Hallam's Comedians and " The Beggar's Opera " — The John Street Theater and Its Early Successors — ^Italian Opera's First Home — Manuel Garcia — ^The New Park Theater and Some of Its Rivals — Malibran and English Opera — The Bowery Theater, Richmond Hill, Niblo's and Castle Gardens I Chapter II EARLY THEATERS, MANAGERS, AND SINGERS Of the Building of Opera Houses — A Study of Influences-r. j The First Italian Opera House in New York — Early^ Impresarios and Singers — ^Da Ponte, Montressor, Riva- finoli — Signorina Pedrotti and Fornasari — Why Do Men Become Opera-Managers? — Addison and Italian Opera — The Vernacular Triumphant 14 Chapter III THE FIRST ITALIAN COMPANY Manuel del Popolo Vicente Garcia — " II Ba rhiere di S iviglia " — Signorina Maria Garcia's Unfortunate Marriage — Lirenzo da Ponte — His Hebraic Origin and Checkered Career — "D on Giovan ni" — An Appeal in Behalf of Italian Opera ^ Chapter IV HOUSES BUILT FOR OPERA More Opera Houses — Palmo's and the Astor Place — Signora Borghese and the Distressful Vocal Wabble — Antognini and Cinti-Damoreau — An Orchestral Strike — Advent of the Patti Family — Don Francesco Marty y Torrens and His CONTENTS Havanese Company — Opera Gowns Fifty Years Ago — Edward and William Henry Fry — Horace Greeley and His Musical Critic — ^James H. Hackett and William Niblo — Tragic Consequences of Canine Interference — Goethe and a Poodle — A Dog-Show and the Astor Place Opera House 38 Chapter V MARETZEK, HIS RIVALS AND SINGERS Max Maretzek — His Managerial Career — Some Anecdotes — " Crotchets and Quavers " — His Rivals and Some of His Singers — Bernard Ullmann — 'Marty Again — Bottesini and Arditi — Steff anone — Bosio — Tedesco — Salvi — Bettini — Badiali — Marini S3 Chapter VI THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC Operatic Warfare Half a Century Ago— The Academy of Music and Its Misfortunes — A Critic's Opera and His Ideals — A Roster of American Singers — Grisi and Mario — ^Annie Louise Cary — Ole Bull as Manager — Piccolomini and Re- clame — AdeUna Patti's Debut and an Anniversary Dinner Twenty-five Years Later — A Kiss for Maretzek ... 64 Chapter VII MAPLESON AND OTHER IMPRESARIOS Colonel James H. Mapleson — A Diplomatic Manager — His Persuasiveness — How He Borrowed Money from an Irate Creditor — Maurice Strakosch — Musical Managers — PoUini — Sofia Scalchi and Annie Louise Cary Again — Campanini and His Beautiful Attack — Brignoli — His Ap- petite and Superstition 75 Chapter VIII THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE The Academy's Successful Rival— Why It Was Built— The Demands of Fashion — Description of the Theafer — War be- tween the Metropolitan and the Academy of Music — Maple- son and Abbey— The Rival Forces — Patti and Nilsson — Gerster and Sembrich — A Costly Victory 8s CONTENTS XI Chapter IX FIRST SEASON AT THE METROPOLITAN PAGE The First Season at the Metropolitan Opera House — Mr. Ab- bey's Singers — Gounod's " Faust " and Christine Nilsson — Marcella Sembrich and Her Versatility — Sofia Scalchi — Signor Kaschmann — Signor Stagno — Ambroise Thomas's " Mignon " — Madame Fursch-Madi— Ponchielli's " La Gio- conda" 92 Chapter X OPERATIC REVOLUTIONS The Season 1883-1884 at the Academy of Music— Lillian Nor- dica's American Debut — German Opera Introduced at the Metropolitan Opera House — Parlous State of Italian Opera in London and on the Continent — Dr. Leopold Damrosch and His Enterprise — The German Singers — Amalia Ma- terna — Marianne Brandt — Marie Schroeder - Hanfstangl — Anton Schott, the Military Tenor — Von Billow's Char- acterization : " A Tenor is a Disease " 109 Chapter XI GERMAN OPERA AT THE METROPOLITAN First German Season — ^Death Struggles of Italian Opera at the Academy — Adelina Patti and Her Art — Features of the German Performances — " Tannhauser " — Marianne _ Brandt in Beethoven's Opera — " Der Freischiitz " — " Masaniello " — Materna in " Die Walkure " — Death of Dr. Damrosch . . 121 Chapter XII END OF ITALIAN OPERA AT THE ACADEMY The Season 1885-1886 — End of the Mapleson Regime at the Academy of Music — Alma Fohstrom — The American Opera Company — German Opera in the Bowery — A Tenor Who Wanted to be Manager of the Metropolitan Opera House — The Coming of Anton Seidl — His Early Career — ^Lilli Leh- mann — A Broken Contract — Unselfish Devotion to Artistic Ideals — Max Alvary— Emil Fischer 139 Chapter XIII WAGNER HOLDS THE METROPOLITAN Second and Third German Seasons— The Period 1885-1888— More about Lilli Lehmann — Goldmark's "Queen of xii CONTENTS Sheba " — First Performance of Wagner's " Meistersinger " — Patti in Concert and Opera — A Flash in the Pan at the Academy of Music — The Transformed American Opera Company — Production of Rubinstein's " Nero " — An Im- perial Operatic Figure — First American Performance of " Tristaij_ua4Isglde "—Albert Niemann and His Charac- teristics— Hislnjersonation of Siegmund — Anecdotes — A Triumph for "Fidelio" 155 r Chapter XIV WAGNERIAN HIGH TIDE Wagnerian High Tide at the Metropolitan Opera House — 1887- iSgcH-Italian Low Water Elsewhere — Rising of _ the Op- position — ^Wagner's " Siegfried " — Its Unconventionality — / " Gattetdainmsrung '' — " Der Trompeter von Sakkingen " — . "Euryanthe" — "Ferdinand Cortez" — "Der Barbier von J Bagdad "—Italo Campanini and Verdi's " Otello "-Patti and Italian Opera at the Metropolitan Opera itoiise . . 175 Chapter XV END OF THE GERMAN PERIOD End of the German Period — 1890-1891 — Some Extraordinary- Novelties — Franchetti's " Asrael " — " Der Vasall von Szi- geth" — A Royal Composer, His Opera and His Distribu- tion of Decorations — " Diana von Solange " — Financial Salvation through Wagner — Italian Opera Redivivus — Ill- mannered Box-holders — Wagnerian Statistics . . . 197 Chapter XVI ITALIAN OPERA AGAIN AT THE METROPOLITAN The Season 1891-1892 — ^Losses of the Stockholders of the Metro- politan Opera House Company — Return to Italian Opera — Mr. Abbey's Expectations — Sickness of Lilli Lehmann — The De Reszke Brothers and Lassalle — Emma Fames — De- but of Marie Van Zandt — " Cavalleria Rusticana " — Fire Damages the Opera House — Reorganization of the Owning Company 213 Chapter XVII THE ADVENT OF MELBA AND CALVfi An Interregnum — Changes in the Management — Rise and Fall of Abbey, Schoeffel, and Grau — Death of Henry E. Abbey — CONTENTS xiu His Career — Season 1893-1894 — Nellie Melba — Emma Calve — Bourbonism of the Parisians — Massenet's " Wer- ther "— 1894-189S— A Breakdown on the Stage—" Elaine "— ,■■' Sybil Sanderson and " Manon " — Shakespearian Operas — J Verdi's "Falstaflf" 228 Chapter XVIII UPRISING IN FAVOR OF GERMAN OPERA The Public Clamor for German Opera — Oscar Hammerstein and His First Manhattan Opera House — Rivalry between Anton Seidl and Walter Damrosch — ^The Latter's Career as Manager — ^Wagner Triumphant — German Opera Re- stored at the Metropolitan—" The Scarlet Letter "— " Mata- swintha" — " Hansel und Gretel" in English — ^Jean de Reszke and His Influence — Mapleson for the Last Time — " Andrea Chenier" — Madame Melba's Disastrous Essay with Wag- ner — "Le Cid" — Metropolitan Performances 1893-1897 . 252 Chapter XIX BEGINNING OF THE GRAU PERIOD Beginning of the Grau Period — Death of Maurice Grau — His Managerial Career — An Interregnum at the Metropolitan Opera House Filled by Damrosch and Ellis — Death of Anton Seidl — His Funeral — Characteristic Traits — " La Boheme " — 1898-1899 — " Ero e Leandro " and Its Composer . . . 277 Chapter XX NEW SINGERS AND OPERAS Closing Years of Mr. Grau's Regime— Traits in the Manager's Character— Debuts of Alvarez, Scotti, Louise Homer, Luci- enne Breval and Other Singers— Ternina and " Tosca " — Reyer's " Salammbo " — Gala Performance for a Prussian Prince — " Messaline " — Paderewski's " Manru " — " Der Wald" — Performances in the Grau Period . . . .295 Chapter XXI HEINRICH CONRIED AND "PARSIFAL" Beginning of the Administration of Heinrich Conried— Season 1903-1904 — Mascagni's American Fiasco — " Iris " and " Za- netto" — Woful Consequences of Depreciating American Conditions— Mr. Conried's Theatrical Career— His Inherit- ance from Mr. Grau— Signor Caruso— The Company Re- cruited—The " Parsifal " Craze 320 XIV CONTENTS Chapter XXII END OF CONRIED'S ADMINISTRATION Conried's Administration Concluded — 1905-1908 — Visits from Humperdinck and Puccini — The California Earthquake — Madame bembrich's Generosity to the Suffering Musicians — f" Madama Butterfly " — " Manon Lescaut " — " Fedora " — Production and Prohibition of " iSalnm e " — A Criticism of the Work — " Adriana Lecouvreur "—A Table of Perform- /; 336 Chapter XXIII HAMMERSTEIN AND HIS OPERA HOUSE Oscar Hammerstein Builds a Second Manhattan Opera House — How the Manager Put His Doubters to Shame — His Earlier Experiences as Impresario — Cleofonte Campanini — A Zeal- ous Artistic Director and Ambitious Singers — A Surprising Record but No Novelties in the First Season — Melba and Calve as Stars — The Desertion of Bonci — Quarrels about Puccini's "Boheme" — List of Performances .... 363 Chapter XXIV A BRILLIANT SEASON AT THE MANHATTAN Hammerstein's Second Season — Amazing Promises but More Amazing Achievements — Mary Garden and Maurice I Renaud — Massenet's " Thais," Charpentier's " Louise " — " Giordano's " Siberia '' and Debussy's " Pglleas_et_McliS3nde " Performed for the First Time in America — Revival of Offenbach's " Les Contes d'Hoffmann," " Crispino e la Comare" of the Ricci Brothers, and Giordano's "Andrea Chenier " — The Tetrazzini Craze — Repertory of the Sea- son 372 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Anton Seidl Frontispiece The Old Park Theater 8 Italian Opera House, Afterward National Theater . . lo The Richmond Hill Theater lo Exterior and Interior of Castle Garden, used for Opera ABOUT 1848 12 Manuel Popolo Vicente Garcia 26 Maria F^iaTA Garcia Malibran 28 Lorenzo Da Ponte 32 The Astor Place Opera House 40 Palmo's Opera House 40 Max Maretzek 54 Col. J. H. Mapleson 54 The Academy of Music 64 Mario Marchese De Candia 68 Giulia Grisi 70 Sofia Scalchi as Urbino the Page in "Les Huguenots" 80 Italo Campanini 82 Brignoli and Piccolomini in "II Poliuto" .... 84 Christine Nilsson 9° Annie Louise Cary 92 Marcella Sembrich as Rosina in " The Barber of Seviuje " 96 Edmund Stanton 112 Henry E. Abbey 112 Leopold Damrosch 116 Marianne Brandt as Ortrud in "Lohengrin" . . .118 Adelina Patti 126 T.TTT.T Lehmann as Brunnhilde in "Die Walkure" . . 156 XV xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS , PAGE Emil Fischer as Hans Sachs in "Die Meistersinger " . i6o Albert Niemann as Tristan i68 Max Alvary as the Young Siegfried 178 Edouard de Reszke as Hagen in " Gotterdammerung " . 182 Jean Lassalle as De Nevers in "Les Huguenots" . . 218 Francesco Tamagno as Turiddu in " Cavalleria Rusti- cana" 224 Pol PLANgoN as Mephistopheles in " Faust "... 234 Nellie Melba as Juliet 238 Emma Calv£ as Carmen 240 Jean de Reszke as Tristan 254 Walter Damrosch 256 Johanna Gadski as Eva in "Die Meistersinger" . . 258 Emma Eames as Elsa in "Lohengrin" 260 Lillian Nordica as Isolde 268 Mario Sammarco and Alessandro Bonct in "La Boheme" 286 Anton Van Rooy as Wotan in " Die Walkuee " . . . 288 Maurice Grau 290 LuiGi Mancinelu 290 Ernestine Schumann-Heink as Fides in "Le Prophete" 292 Louise Homer as Amneris in "Aida" 298 MiLKA Ternina as " Tosca " 300 Antonio Scotti as Scarpia in "Tosca" 302 Ernest Van Dyck as Tannhauser 308 Alfred Hertz 322 Heinrich Conried 322 OiivE Fremstad as Isolde 326 Enrico Caruso as Canio in- " Pagliacci '' 328 Alois Burgstaller as Parsifal 332 Interior of the Metropolitan Opera House in November, 1908 336 Geraldine Farrar as Madame Butterfly 342 Berta Morena as Sieglinde in "Die Walkure" . . . 356 Andreas Dippel as Parsifal 360 GusTAV Mahler 362 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii FACE Cleofonte Campanini 362 Oscar Hammerstein 364 Maurice Renaud as Don Giovanni 366 Mario Ancona as Barnabas in "La Gioconda" . . . 368 Amadeo Bassi as Canio in " Pagliacci " 368 The Manhattan Opera House 372 Giovanni Zenatello as Rhadames in " A&a " . . . . 374 ViTTORio Arimondi as Mephistopheles in "Faust" . . 374 Charles Dalmores in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" . . 380 Mary Garden as Thais 382 LuiSA Tetrazzini 392 Eleanor De CisNEROs AS Amneeis IN "AS)a" .... 400 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION OF OPERA IN NEW YORK THE INTRODUCTION OF ITALIAN OPERA IN NEW YORK— ENG- LISH BALLAD OPERAS AND ADAPTATIONS FROM FRENCH AND ITALIAN WORKS— HALLAM'S COMEDIANS AND "THE BEGGAR'S OPERA"— THE JOHN STREET THEATER AND ITS EARLY SUCCESSORS— ITALIAN OPERA'S FIRST HOME— MAN- UEL GARCIA— THE NEW PARK THEATER AND SOME OF ITS RIVALS— MALIBRAN AND ENGLISH OPERA— THE BOWERY THEATER, RICHMOND HILL, NIBLO'S AND CASTLE GARDENS Considering the present state of Italian opera in New York City (I am writing in the year of our Lord 1908), it seems more than a little strange that its entire history should come within the memories of persons still living. It was only two years ago that an ancient factotum at the Metropol- itan Opera House died who, for a score of years before he began service at that establishment, had been in various posts at the Academy of Music. Of Mr. Arment a kindly necrol- ogist said that he had seen the crowd gather in front of the Park Theater in 1825, when the new form of entertainment effected an entrance in the New World. I knew the little old gentleman for a quarter of a century or more, but though he was familiar with my interest in matters historical touch- ing the opera in New York, he never volunteered informa- tion of things further back than the consulship of Mapleson at the Academy. Moreover, I was unable to reconcile the story of his recollection of the episode of 1825 with the cir- cumstances of his early life. Yet the tale may have been true, or the opera company that had attracted his boyish attention been one that came within the first decade after Italian opera had its introduction. 2 MRS. JtJLIA WARD HOWE'S RECOLLECTIONS Concerning another's recollections, I have not the slightest doubt. Within the last year Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, entertaining some of her relatives and friends with an account of social doings in New York in her childhood, recalled the fact that she had been taken as a tiny miss to hear some of the performances of the Garcia Troupe, and, if I mistake not, had had Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of Mozart's " Nozze di Figaro " and " Don Giovanni " pointed out to her by her brother. This brother was Samuel Ward, who enjoyed the friendship of the old poet, and published recollections of him not long after his death, in The New York Mirror. For a score of years I have enjoyed the gen- tle companionship at the opera of two sisters whose mother was an Italian pupil of Da Ponte's, and when, a few years ago. Professor Marchesan, of the University of Treviso, Italy, appealed to me for material to be used in the biogra- phy of Da Ponte, which he was writing, I was able, through my gracious and gentle operatic neighbors, to provide him with a number of occasional poems written, in the maimer of a century ago, to their mother, in whom Da Ponte had awakened a love for the Italian language and literature. This, together with some of my own labors in uncovering the American history of Mozart's collaborator, has made me feel sometimes as if I, too, had dwelt for a brief space in that Arcadia of which I purpose to gossip in this chapter, and a few others which are to follow it. There may be other memories going back as far as Mrs. Howe's, but I very much doubt if there is another as lively as hers on any question connected with social life in New York fourscore years ago. Italian opera was quite as aristocratic when it made its American bow as it is now, and decidedly more exclusive. It is natural that memories of it should linger in Mrs. Howe's mind for the reason that the family to which she belonged moved in the circles to which the new form of entertainment made appeal. A memory of the incident which must have been even livelier COMING OF ENGLISH BALLAD OPERAS 3 than that of Mrs. Howe's, however, perished in igo6, when Manuel Garcia died in London, in his one hundred and first year, for he could say of the first American season of Italian opera what ^neas said of the siege of Troy, " All of which I saw, and some of which I was." Manuel Garcia was a son of the Manuel del Popolo Vicente Garcia, who brought the institution to our shores ; he was a brother of our first prima donna, she who then was only the Signorina Garcia, but within a lustrum afterward was the great Malibran ; and he sang in the first performance, on November 29, 1825, and probably in all the performances given between that date and August of the next year, when the elder Garcia departed, leaving the Signorina, as Mme. Malibran, aged but eighteen, to develop her powers in local theaters and as a chorister in Grace Church. Of this and other related things presently. In the sometimes faulty and incomplete records of the American stage to which writers on musical history have hitherto been forced to repair, 1750 was set down as the natal year for English ballad opera in America. It is thought that it was in that year that " The Beggar's Opera " found its way to New York, after having, in all probability, been given by the same company of comedians in Philadel- phia in the middle of the year preceding. But it is as little likely that these were the first performances of ballad operas on this side of the Atlantic as that the people of New York were oblivious of the nature of operatic music of the Italian type until Garcia's troupe came with Rossini's " Bar- ber of Seville," in 1825. There are traces of ballad operas in America in the early decades of the eighteenth century, and there can exist no doubt at all that French and Italian operas were given in some form, perhaps, as a rule, in the adapted form which prevailed in the London theaters until far into the nineteenth century, before the year 1800, in the towns and cities of the Eastern seaboard, which were in most active communication with Great Britain. I quote from an article on the history of opera in the United States, 4 THE NASSAU STREET THEATER written by me for the second edition of " Grove's Dic- tionary of Music and Musicians " : Among French works Rousseau's " Pygmalion '' and " Devin du Village," Dalayrac's "Nina" and "L'Amant Statue," Monsigny's " Deserteur," Gretry's " Zemire et Azov," " Fausse Magie " and " Richard Coeur de Lion " and others, were known in Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York in the last decade of the eighteenth century. There were traces, too, of Pergolese's " Serva padrona," and it seems more than likely that an " opera in three acts," the text adapted by Colman, entitled " The Spanish Barber ; or. The Futile Precaution," played in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, in 1794, was Paisiello's " Barbiere di Siviglia." From 1820 to about 184s more than a score of the Italian, French, and German operas, which made up the staple of foreign repertories, were frequently performed by English singers. The earliest of these singers were members of the dramatic companies who introduced theatrical plays in the colonies. They went from London to Phila- delphia, New York, Williamsburg (Va.), and Charleston (S. C), but eventually established their strongest and most enduring foot- hold in New York. Accepting the 1750 date as the earliest of unmistakable records for a performance of " The Beggar's Opera " in New Yorif, the original home of opera here was the Nassau Street Theater — the first of two known by that name. It was a two-storied house, with high gables. Six wax lights were in front of the stage, and from the ceiling dangled a " barrel hoop," pierced by half a dozen nails on which were spiked as many candles. It is not necessary to take the descriptions of these early playhouses as baldly literal, nor as indicative of something like barbarism. The " barrel hoop" chandelier of the old theater in Nassau street was doubtless only a primitive form of the chandeliers which kept their vogue for nearly a century after the first come- dians sang and acted at the Nassau Street Theater. Illuminating gas did not reach New York till 1823, and " a thousand candles " was put forth as an at- tractive feature at a concert in the American metrop- olis as late as 1845. " The Beggar's Opera " was only twenty years old when the comedians sent to the colo- THE COVENT GARDEN THEATER S nies by William Hallam, under the management of his brother, Lewis, produced it, yet the historic Covent Garden Theater, in which it first saw the stage lights (candles they were, too), would scarcely stand comparison with the most modest of the metropolitan theaters nowadays. Its audience room was only fifty-four or fifty-five feet deep ; there were no footlights, the stage being illuminated by four hoops of candles, over which a crown hung from the borders. The orchestra held only fifteen or twenty musicians, though it was in this house that Handel produced his operas and ora- torios ; the boxes " were flat in front and had twistle double branches for candles fastened to the plaster. There were pedestals on each side of the boards, with elaborately- painted figures of Tragedy and Comedy thereon." Hallam's actors went first to Williamsburg, Va., but were persuaded to change their home to New York in the summer of 1753, among other things by the promise that they would find a " very fine ' Playhouse Building ' " here. Nevertheless, when Lewis Hallam came he found the fine playhouse un- satisfactory, and may be said to have inaugurated the habit or custom, or whatever it may be called, followed by so many managers since, of beginning his enterprise by erect- ing a new theater. The old one in Nassau Street was torn down, and a new one built on its site. It was promised that it should be " very fine, large, and commodious," and it was built between June and September, 1753; how fine, large, and commodious it was may, therefore, be imagined. A year later, the German Calvinists, wanting a place of wor- ship, bought the theater, and New York was without a play- house until a new one on Cruger's Wharf was built by David Douglass, who had married Lewis Hallam's widow, Hallam having died in Jamaica, in 1755. This was abandoned in turn, and Mr. Douglass built a second theater, this time in Chapel Street. It cost $1,625, ^^ can scarcely have been either very roomy or very ornate. Such as it was, however, it was the home of the drama in all its forms, save possibly 6 THE JOHN STREET THEATER the ballad opera, until about 1765, and was the center around which a storm raged which culminated in a riot that wrecked it. The successor of this unhappy institution was the John Street Theater, which was opened toward the close of the year 1767. There seems to have been a period of about fif- teen years during which the musical drama was absent from the amusement lists, but this house echoed, like its earliest predecessors, to the strains of the ballad opera which " made Gay rich and Rich gay." " The Beggar's Opera " was pre- ceded, however, by " Love in a Village," for which Dr. Arne wrote and compiled the music ; and Bickerstaff 's " Maid of the Mill " was also in the repertory. In 1774 it was officially recommended that all places of amusement be closed. Then followed the troublous times of the Revolution, and it was not until twelve years afterward — ^that is, till 1786 — that English Opera resumed its sway. " Love in a Village " was revived, and it was followed by " Inkle and Yarico," an arrangement of Shakespeare's "Tempest," with Purcell's music, " No Song, No Supper,'' " Macbeth," with Locke's music, McNally's comic opera " Robin Hood," and other works of the same character ; in fact, it may safely be said that few, if any, English operas, either with original music or music adapted from the ballad tunes of England, were heard in London without being speedily brought to New York and performed here. In the John Street Theater, too, they were listened to by George Washington, and the leader of the orchestra, a German named Pfeil, whose name was variously spelled Fyle, File, Files, and so on, produced that " President's March," the tune of which was destined to be- come associated with " Hail Columbia," to the words of which it was adapted by Joseph Hopkinson, of Philadelphia. On January 29, 1798, a new playhouse was opened. This was the Park Theater. A musical piece entitled " The Purse, or American Tar," was on the program of the open- ing performance, and for more than a score of years the THE PARK THEATERS OLD AND NEW 7 Park Theater played an important role in local operatic his- tory. For a long term English operas of both types held the stage, along with the drama in all its forms, but in 1819 an English adaptation of Rossini's " Barber of Seville " — the opera which opened the Italian regime six years later — was heard on its stage, and two years after that Henry Rowley Bishop's arrangement of Mozart's " Marriage of Eigaro." At the close of the season of 1820 the Park Thea- ter was destroyed by fire, to the great loss of its owners, one of whom was John Jacob Astor. On its site was erected the new Park Theater, which was the original home of Italian opera, performed in its original tongue, and in the Italian manner, though only a small minority of the per- formers were Italians by birth. Garcia was a Spaniard, born in Seville. Richard Grant White, writing in The Century Magazine for March, 1882, calls him a " Spanish Hebrew," on what authority I am unable to guess. Not only was Manuel Garcia, the elder, a chorister in the Cathedral of Seville at the age of six, but it seems as likely as not that he came of a family of Spanish church musicians who had made their mark for more than fifty years before the father of Malibran was bom. But it is a habit with some writers to find Hebrew blood in nearly all persons of genius. The new Park Theater was looked upon as a magnificent playhouse in its day, and it is a pity that Mr. White, writing about it when it was a quarter of a century old, should have helped to spread the erroneous notion that it was quite un- worthy of so elegant a form of entertainment as Garcia brought into it. It remained a fashionable house through all its career or at least for a long time after it gave refuge to the Italian muse, though it may not have been able to hold one of its candles to the first house built especially to house that muse eight years later. The barrel hoop of the first New York theater gave way to " three chandeliers and patent oil lamps, the chandeliers having thirty-five Hghts 8 DESCRIPTION OF A HISTORIC PLAYHOUSE each." Mr. White's description of this house after it had seen about a quarter of a century's service is certainly unin- viting. Its boxes were like pens for beasts. " Across them were stretched benches consisting of a mere board covered with faded red moreen, a narrower board, shoulder high, being stretched behind to serve for a back. But one seat on each of the three or four benches was without even this luxury, in order that the seat itself might be raised upon its hinges for people to pass in. These sybaritic inclosures were kept under lock and key by a fee-expecting creature, who was always half drunk, except when he was wholly drunk. The pit, which has in our modern theater become the par- terre (or, as it is often strangely called, the parquet), the most desirable part of the house, was in the Park Theater hardly superior to that in which the Jacquerie of old stood upon the bare ground {par terre), and thus gave the place its French name. The floor was dirty and broken into holes ; the seats were bare, backless benches. Women were never seen in the pit, and, although the excellence of the position (the best in the house) and the cheapness of admis- sion (half a dollar) took gentlemen there, few went there who could afford to study comfort and luxury in their amusements. The place was pervaded with evil smells; and, not uncommonly, in the midst of a performance, rats ran out of the holes in the floor and across into the orches- tra. This delectable place was approached by a long, under- ground passage, with bare, whitewashed walls, dimly lighted, except at a sort of booth, at which vile fluids and viler solids were sold. As to the house itself, it was the dingy abode of dreariness. The gallery was occupied by howling roughs, who might have taken lessons in behavior from the negroes who occupied a part of this tier, which was railed off for their particular use." This was the first home of Italian opera, strictly speak- ing. It had long housed opera in the vernacular, and re- mained to serve as the fortress of the English forces when MALIBRAN AND THE NEW YORK THEATER 9. the first battles were fought between the champions of the foreign exotic and the entertainment which had been so long established as to call itself native. Its career came to an end in 1848, when, like its predecessor and successor, it went up in flames and smoke. Presently I shall tell about the houses which have been built in New York especially for operatic uses, but before then some attention ought to be given to several other old theaters which had connection with opera in one or another of its phases. One of these was the New York Theater, afterward called the Bowery, and known by that name till a. comparatively recent date. The walls of this theater echoed first to the voice of Malibran, when put forth in the ver- nacular of the country of which fate seemed, for a time, ta have decreed that she should remain a resident. This was immediately after the first season of Italian opera at the Park Theater. The New York Theater was then new, hav- ing been built in 1826. Malibran had begun the study of English in London before coming to New York with her father ; and she continued her studies with a new energy and a new purpose after the departure of her father to Mexico had left her apparently stranded in New York with a bank- rupt and good-for-nothing husband to support. She made her first essay in English opera with " The Devil's Bridge," and followed it up with "Love in a Village." English operas, whether of the ballad order or with original music, were constructed in principle on the lines of the German Singspiel and French opera comique, all the dialogue being spoken, and Malibran's experience at the theater and Grace Church, coupled with her great social popularity, must have made a pretty good Englishwoman of her. " It is rather startling," says Mr. White, in the article already alluded to, " to think of the greatest prima donna, not only of her day, but of modern times — ^the most fascinating woman upon the stage in the first half of the nineteenth century — as singing the soprano parts of psalm tunes and chants in a small town lo NEW YORK'S GARDEN THEATERS then less known to the people of London and Paris and Vienna than Jeddo is now. Grace Church may well be par- doned for pride in a musical service upon the early years of which fell such a crown of glory, and which has since then been guided by taste not always unworthy of such a be- ginning." Malibran's performances at the New York Thea- ter were successful and a source of profit, both to the man- ager and M. Malibran, to whom, it is said, a portion of the receipts were sent every night. Three other theaters which were identified with opera more or less came into the field later, and by their names, at least, testified to the continued popularity which a famous English institution had won a century before, and which endured until that name could be applied to the places that bore it only on the lucus a non lucendo principle. These were the theaters of Richmond Hill, Niblo's, and Castle Garden. The Ranelagh Gardens, which John Jones opened in New York, in June, 1765, and the Vauxhall Gardens, opened by Mr. Samuel Francis, in June, 1769, were planned more or less after their English prototypes. Out-of-doors concerts were their chief musical features, fireworks their spectacular, while the serving of refreshments was relied on as the principal source of profit. Richmond Hill had in its palmy days been the villa home of Aaron Burr, and its for- tunes followed the descending scale like those of its once illustrious master. Its site was the neighborhood of what is now the intersection of Varick and Charlton streets. After passing out of Burr's hands, but before his death, the park had become Richmond Hill Gardens, and the man- sion the Richmond Hill Theater, both of somewhat shady reputation, which was temporarily rehabilitated by the re- sponse which the fashionable elements of the city's popula- tion made to an appeal made by a season of Italian opera, given in 1832. The relics of Niblo's Garden have disap- peared as completely as those of Richmond Hill, but its site is still fresh in the memory of those whose theatrical expe- ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE, AFTERWARD NATIONAL THEATER The first house built fur opera in New York / v';< .<'/■■' ^Jmiji \ p^^^^. THE RICHMOND HILL THEATER The second home of Italian Opera in New Yorlc NIBLO'S THEATER AND GARDEN n riences go back a quarter of a century. They must be old, however, who can recall enough verdure in the vicinity of Broadway and Prince Street to justify the name maintained by the theater to which for many years entrance was gained through a corridor of the Metropolitan Hotel. Three-quar- ters of a century ago Niblo's Garden was a reality. Wil- liam Niblo, who built it and managed it with consummate cleverness, had been a successful coffee-house keeper down- town. Its theater opened refreshingly on one side into the garden (as the Terrace Garden Theater, at Third Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street does to-day), where one could eat a dish of ice cream or sip a sherry cobbler in luxurious shade, if such were his prompting, while play or pantomime ■went merrily on within. Writing of it in 1855 Max Maret- zek, who, as manager of the Astor Place Opera House, had suffered from the rivalry of Niblo and his theater, said : The Metropolitan Hotel, Niblo's Theater, stores and other build- ings occupy the locality. Of the former garden nothing remains save the ice cream and drinking saloons attached to the theater. These take up literally as much room in the building as its stage does, and prove that its proprietor has not altogether overlooked the earlier vocation which laid the foundation of his fortune. The name by which he calls it has never changed. It was Niblo's Garden when loving couples ate their creams or drank their cob- blers under the shadow of the trees. It is Niblo's Garden now, when it is turned into a simple theater and hedged in with houses. Nay, in the very bills which are circulated in the interior of the building during the performances you may find, or might shortly since have found, such an announcement as the following, appear- ing in large letters : " Between the second and third acts " — or, possibly, it may run thus when opera is not in the ascendant — " after the conclusion of the first piece an intermission of twenty minutes takes place, for a promenade in the garden." You will, I feel certain, admit that this is a marvelously delicate way of intimating to a gentleman who may feel "dry" (it is the right word, is it not?) that he will find the time to slake his thirst. When he returns and his lady inquires where he has been he may reply, if he wills it: "Promenading in the garden." 12 CASTLE GARDEN It is not plain from Mr. White's account whether or not his memory reached back to the veritable garden of Mr. Niblo, but his recollections of the theater were not jaun- diced like those of Mr. Maretzek, but altogether amiable. Speaking of the performances of the Shireflf, Seguin, and Wilson company of English opera singers, who came to New York in 1838, he says : Miss Shireff afterward appeared at Niblo's Garden, which was on the corner of Broadway and Prince Street, where the Metro- politan Hotel now stands. Here she performed in Auber's " Masked Ball" and other light operas (all, of course, in English), singing in a theater that was open on one side to the air; for Niblo's was a great place of summer entertainment. It was a great New York " institution " in its day — ^perhaps the greatest and most beneficent one of its sort that New York has ever known. It may be safely said that most of the elder generation of New Yorkers now living [this was written in 1881] have had at Niblo's Garden the greatest pleas- ure they have ever enjoyed in public. There were careless fun and easy jollity; there whole families would go at a moment's warning to hear this or that singer, but most of all, year after year, to see the Ravels — a family of pantomimists and dancers upon earth and air, who have given innocent, thoughtless, side-shaking, brain-clearing pleasure to more Americans than ever relaxed their sad, silent faces for any other performers. The price of admission here was fifty cents, no seats reserved ; " first come, first served." Last of all there was Castle Garden. Children of to-day can remember when it was still the immigrants' depot, which it had been for half a century. Tradition says that it was built to protect New York City from foreign invasion, not to harbor it ; but as a fortress it must have suffered disarma- ment quite early in the nineteenth century. It is now an aquarium, and as such has returned to its secondary use, which was that of a place of entertainment. In 1830 and about that day it was a restaurant, but for the sale only of ice cream, lemonade, and cakes. You paid a shilling to go in — ^this to restrict the patronage to people of the right sort — and your ticket was redeemable on the inside in the inno- cent fluids and harmless solids aforementioned. A wooden bridge, flanked by floating bathhouses, connected the castle BATTERY PARK IN THE OLDEN TIME 13 with the garden — i.e., Battery Park. North and east, in lower Broadway and Greenwich Street, were fashionable residences, whose occupants enjoyed the promenade under the trees, which was the proper enjoyment of the day, as much as their more numerous, but hss fortunate fellow citi- zens. There balloons went up by day, and rockets and bombs by night, and there, too, the brave militia went on parade. To Mr. White we owe the preservation of a poeti- cal description written by Frederick Cozzens in an imitation of Spenser's " Sir Clod His Undoinge " : With placket lined, with joyous heart he hies To where the Battery's Alleys, cool and greene, Amid disparted Rivers daintie lies With Fortresse brown and spacious Bridge betweene Two Baths, which there like panniers huge are seen: In shadie paths fair Dames and Maides there be With stalking Lovers basking in their eene. And solitary ones who scan the sea. Or list to vesper chimes of slumberous Trinity. The operas performed in the first season of Italian opera in America by the Garcia troupe in the Park Theater 1825-1826, were "II Barbiere,di Siviglia," " Tancredi," "II Turco in Italia," "La Cenerentola," and " Semiramide " by Rossini ; " Don Giovanni " by Mozart ; " L'Amante astuto " and " La Figlia del Aria " by Garcia. CHAPTER II EARLY THEATERS, MANAGERS, AND SINGERS OF THE BUILDING OF OPERA HOUSES— A STUDY OF INFLU- ENCES— THE FIRST ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE IN NEW YORK- EARLY IMPRESARIOS AND SINGERS— DA PONTE, MONTRES- SOR, RIVAFINOLI— SIGNORINA PEDROTTI AND FORNASARI— WHY DO MEN BECOME OPERA MANAGERS?— ADDISON AND ITALIAN OPERA— THE VERNACULAR TRIUMPHANT The first opera house built in New York City opened its doors on November i8, 1833, and was the home of ItaHan Opera for two seasons ; the second, built eleven years later, endured in the service for which it was designed four years ; the third, which marked as big an advance on its immediate predecessor in comfort and elegance as the first had marked on the ramshackle Park Theater described by Richard Grant White, was the Astor Place Opera House, built in 1847, ^^^ the nominal home of the precious exotic five years. The Astor Place Opera House in its external appearance is familiar enough to the memory of even young New Yorkers, though, unlike its successor, the Academy of Music, at Fourteenth Street and Irving Place, it did not long permit its tarnished glories to form the surroundings of the spoken drama after the opera's departure. The Academy of Music weathered the operatic tempests of almost an en- tire generation, counting from its opening night, in 1854, to the last night on which Colonel J. H. Mapleson was its lessee, in 1886, and omitting the expiring gasps which the Italian entertainment made under Signer Angelo, in Octo- ber, 1886, under Italo Campanini, in April, 1888, and the final short spasm under the doughty Colonel in 1896. The first Italian Opera House (that was its name) became the 14 THE GENESIS OF OPERA HOUSES 15 National Theater ; the second, which was known as Palmo's Opera House, when turned over to the spoken drama, be- came Burton's Theater; the Astor Place Opera House be- came the Mercantile Library. The Academy of Music is still known by that name, though it is given over chiefly to melodrama, and the educational purpose which existed in the minds of its creators was only a passing dream. The Metropolitan Opera House has housed twenty-three regu- lar seasons of opera, though it has been in existence for twenty-five seasons. Once the sequence of subscription seasons was interrupted by the damage done to the theater by fire, once by the policy of its lessees, Abbey & Grau, who thought that the public appetite for opera might be whetted by enforced abstention. The Manhattan Opera House is too young to enter into this study of opera houses, their genesis, growth, and decay, and the houses which Mr. Oscar Hammerstein built before it in Harlem and in West Thirty-Fourth Street, near Sixth Avenue, lived too brief a time in operatic service to deserve more than mention. I am at a loss for data from which to evolve a rule, as I should like to do, governing the length of an opera house's existence in its original estate as the home of grand opera. The conditions which produce the need are too variable and also too vague to be brought under the operation of any kind of law. At present the growth of wealth, the increase in population, and with that increase the rapid multiplication of persons desirous and able to enjoy the privileges of social display would seem to be determining factors, with the mounting costliness of the luxury as a deterrent. The last illustration of the operation of the creative impulse based on the growth of wealth and social ambition is found in the building of the Metropolitan Opera House, Mr. Hammer- stein's enterprise being purely individual and speculative. The movement which produced the Metropolitan Opera House marked the decay of the old Knickerbocker regime, and its amalgamation with the newer order of society of a i6 A SOCIAL REVOLUTION quarter of a century ago. This social decay, i£ so it can be called without offense, began — if Abram C. Dayton (" Last Days of Knickerbocker Life in New York ") is correct — about 1840, and culminated with the Vanderbilt ball, in 1882, to which nearly all the leaders of the old Knicker- bocker aristocracy accepted invitations. " During the third quarter of the nineteenth century," said The Sun's reviewer of Mr. Dayton's book, " sagacious and far-sighted Knick- erbockers began to realize that as a caste they no longer possessed sufficient money to sustain social ascendency, and that it behooved them to effect an intimate alliance with the nouveaux riches." To this may be added that when there were but two decades of the century left it was made plain that the Academy of Music could by no possibility accom- modate the two classes of society, old and new, which had for a number of years been steadily approaching each other. There was an insufficiency of desirable boxes, and holders of seats of fashion were unwilling to surrender them to the newcomers. So the Metropolitan Opera House was built in 1883, and the vigor of the social opposition, coupled with popular appreciation of the new spirit, which came in with the German regime, gave the deathblow to the Academy, whose loss to fashion was long deplored by the admirers of its fine acoustic qualities and its effective architectural ar- rangements for the purposes of display. The period is not so remote that we cannot trace the in- fluences of fashion and society in the rise of the first Italian Opera House, if not in its fall. The Park Theater was still a fashionable playhouse when Garcia gave his season of Italian opera in it in 1825-26, but within a decade thereafter the conditions so graphically described by Mr. White, com- bined with new ambitions, which seem to have been inspired to a large extent by Lorenzo Da Ponte, prompted a wish for a new theater, one specially adapted to opera. The new entertainment was recognized as a luxury, and it was no more than fitting that it be luxuriously and elegantly housed. THE DREAMS OF DA PONTE i? It will be necessary to account for the potent influence of a Da Ponte, who was only a superannuated poet and teacher of Italian language and literature, and this I hope to do presently; for the time being it is sufficient to say that it was he who persuaded the rich and cul- tured citizens of New York to build the Italian Opera House, which stood at the intersection of Church and Leonard streets. The coming of Garcia had filled Da Ponte, then already seventy-six years old, with dreams of a recru- descence of such activities as had been his in connection with Italian Opera in Vienna and London. He made haste to identify himself in an advisory capacity with the enterprise, persuaded Garcia to include " Don Giovanni " in his list of operas, although this necessitated the engagement of a singer not a member of the company, and had already brought his niece, who was a singer, from Italy, and the Italian composer Filippo Trajetta, from Philadelphia, when his dream of a permanent opera, for which he should write librettos, his friend compose music, and his niece sing, was dispelled by Garcia's departure for Mexico, and his subse- quent return to Europe. For the next five years Da Ponte seems to have kept the waters of the operatic pool stirred, for there is general recognition in the records of the fact that to him was due the conception of the second experi- ment, although its execution was left to another, who was neither an American nor an Italian, but a Frenchman named Montressor. Like Garcia, he was his own tenor, which fact must have eased him of some of the vexations of man- agement, though it added to its labors. We are told that Montressor succeeded in making himself personally popular. He had an agreeable voice, a tolerable style, and was favor- ably compared with Garcia, though this goes for little, inas- much as Garcia was past his prime when he came here. Among his singers were Signorina Pedrotti, who created a great stir (though, I fancy, this was largely because of her beauty and the fact that the public, remembering the Signo- 1 8 PEDROTTI AND FORNASARI rina Garcia, wanted somebody to worship) and a basso named Fornasari. Signorina Pedrotti effected her entrance on October 17, in a new opera, Mercadante's " Elisa e Claudio," which made the hit of the season, largely because of the infatua- tion of the public for the new singer. Mr. White gives us a description of her (from hearsay and the records) in his article published in The Century Magazine, of March, 1882 : Not much has been said of her, for she had sung only in Lisbon and in Bologna, and had little reputation. But she took musical New York off its feet again. She had a fine mezzo-soprano voice, of sympathetic quality; and although she was far from being a perfectly finished vocalist, she had an impressive dramatic style and a presence and a manner that enabled her to take possession of the stage. She was a handsome woman — tall, nobly formed, with bril- liant eyes and a face full of expression. She carried the town by storm. Like Malibran, and many another singer since, Fornasari made a fine reputation here, and was afterward " discov- ered " in Europe, where he rose to fame. He seems to have been of the tribe of lady-killers, of whom every opera company has boasted at least one ever since opera became a fashion — which is only another way of saying ever since it was invented. But Fornasari had a noble voice, besides his mere physical attractions. Mr. White, who saw him long years afterward, when he chanced to be passing through New York on his way to Europe, describes him: He was very tall; his head looked like that of a youthful Jove ; dark hair in flaky curls, an open, blazing eye ; a nose just heroically curved; lips strong, yet beautifully bowed; sweet and persuasive (one would think that White got his description from some woman — what man ever before or since was praised by a man for having a Cupid's bow mouth?), and withal a large and easy grace of manner. Montressor's season opened on October 6, 1832, at the Richmond Hill Theater, which became respectable for the nonce, and collapsed after thirty-five representations. The A PHILOSOPHER IN FLEET PRISON 19 receipts for the season were $25,603 — let us say about half as much as a week's receipts at the Metropolitan Opera House to-day. The operas given were Rossini's " Cene- rentola," " L'ltaliana in Algieri " ; Bellini's " II Pirata," and Mercadante's " Elisa e Claudio," the last winning the largest measure of popularity. The chief good accomplished was the bringing to New York from Europe of several excellent orchestral players, who, after the failure of the enterprise, settled here, to the good of instrumental music and the next undertaking. Why men embark in operatic management, or, rather, why they continue in it after they have failed, has always been an enigma. Once, pointing my argument with excerpts from the story of all the managers in London, from Han- del's day down to the present, I tried to prove that the desire to manage an opera company was a form of disease, finding admirable support for my contention in the confession and conduct of that English manager who got himself into Fleet Prison, and thence philosophically urged not only that it served him right (since no man insane enough to want to be an operatic impresario ought to be allowed at large), but also that a jail was the only proper headquarters for a manager, since there, at least, he was secure from the im- portunities of singers and dancers. Lorenzo Da Ponte was, obviously, of the stuif of which impresarios are made. Montressor's failure, for which he was in a degree respon- sible (and which he discussed in two pamphlets which I found twenty years ago in the library of the New York Historical Society), persuaded him that the city's greatest need was an Italian opera house. His powers of persuasion must have been great, for he succeeded in bringing a body of citizens together who set the example which has been followed several times since, and built the Italian Opera House at Church and Leonard streets, on very much the same social and economic lines as prevail at the Metropol- itan Opera House to-day. European models and European 20 FIRST ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE taste prevailed in the structure and its adornments. It was the first theater in the United States which boasted a tier composed exclusively of boxes. This was the second bal- cony. The parterre was entered from the first balcony, a circumstance which redeemed it from its old plebeian asso- ciation as " the pit," in which it would have been indeco- rous for ladies to sit. The seats in the parterre were ma- hogany chairs upholstered in blue damask. The seats in the first balcony were mahogany sofas similarly uphol- stered. The box fronts had a white ground, with emblem- atic medallions, and octagonal panels of crimson, blue, and gold. Blue silk curtains were caught up with gilt cord and tassels. There was a chandelier of great splendor, which threw its light into a dome enriched with pictures of the Muses, painted, like all the rest of the interior, as well as the scenery, by artists specially brought over for the pur- pose from Europe. The floors were carpeted. The price of the boxes was $6,000 each, and subscribers might own them for a single performance (evidently by arrangement with the owners) or the season. Apropos of this, Mr. White tells a characteristic story: It was told of a man who had suddenly risen to what was then great wealth, that, having taken a lady to the opera, he was met by the disappointing assurance that there were no seats to be had. "What, nowhere?" " Nowhere, sir ; every seat in the house is taken, except, indeed, one of the private boxes that was not subscribed for." " I'll have that." " Impossible, sir. The boxes can only be occupied by subscribers and owners." "What is the price of your box?" " Six thousand dollars, sir." "I'll take it." And drawing out his pocketbook he filled up a check for six thou- sand dollars and escorted his lady to her seat to the surprise and, indeed, to the consternation of the elegant circle, which saw itself completed in this unexpected manner. The new house, which, with the ground, had cost $150,- 000, was opened on November 18, 1833, under the joint THE FIRST OPERATIC BOX-HOLDERS 21 management of the Chevalier Rivafinoli and Da Ponte, with Rossini's " La Gazza ladra," but two months before that date there was a drawing for boxes, concerning which and some of the details of the opening performance an extract from the diary of Mr. Philip Hone, once mayor of the city, presents a much livelier picture than I could draw : (From the diary of Philip Hone, Esq.) September 15, 1833. The drawing for boxes at the Italian Opera House took place this morning. My associates, Mr. Schermerhorn and General Jones, are out of town, and I attended and drew No. 8, with which I am well satisfied. The other boxes will be occupied by the following gentlemen: Gerard H. Coster, G. C. Howland, Rufus Prime, Mr. Panon, Robert Ray, J. F. Moulton, James J. Jones, D. Lynch, E. Townsend, John C. Cruger, O. Mauran, Charles H. Hall, J. G. Pierson and S. B. Ruggles. November 18, 1833. The long expected opening of the opera house took place this evening with the opera " La Gazza ladra " ; all new performers except Signor Marozzi, who belonged to the old company. The prima donna soprano is Signorina Fanti. The opera, they say, went ofif well for a first performance; but to me it was tiresome, and the audience was not excited to any degree of applause. The performance occupied four hours — much too long, according to my notion, to listen to a language which one does not understand; but the house is superb, and the decorations of the proprietors'^, boxes (which occupy the whole of the second tier) are in a style of magnificence which even the extravagance of Europe has not, yet equaled. I have one-third of box No. 8; Peter Schermerhorn one- third ; James J. Jones one-sixth ; William Moor/s" one-sixth. Our box is fitted up with great taste with light blue W&ngings, gilded panels and cornice, armchairs, and a sofa. Some of the others have rich silk ornaments, some are painted in fresco, and each proprietor seems to have tried to outdo the rest in comfort and magnificence. The scenery is beautiful. The dome and the fronts of the boxes are painted in the most superb classical designs, and the' sofa seats are exceedingly commodious. Will this splendid and refined amuse- ment be supported in New York? I am doubtful. The outcome justified Mr. Hone in his doubts. The sea- son was advertised to last forty nights. When they were at an end a supplementary season of twenty-eight nights was added, which extended the time to July 21, 1834. Besides " La Gazza ladra," the operas given were " II 22 ITALIAN OPERA'S FIRST FAILURE Barbiere di Siviglia," "La Donna del Lago," "II Turco in Italia," " Cenerentola," and " Matilda di Shabran "—all by Rossini ; Pacini's " Gli Arabi nelli Gallic," Cimarosa's " II Matrimonio segreto," and " La Casa do Pendere," by the conductor, one Salvioni. The season had been socially and artistically brilliant, but the financial showing at the end was one of disaster. The prices of admission were from $2 down to fifty cents, and when the house was completely sold out the receipts were not more than $1,400. The managers took their patrons into their confidence, Rivafinoli publish- ing the fact that the receipts for the entire season — includ- ing fifteen nights in Philadelphia, for that city's dependence on New York for Italian opera began thus early — were but $51,780.89, which were exceeded by the expenses $29,- 275.09. For the next season the house was leased by the owners to Signor Sacchi, who had been the treasurer of Rivafinoli and Da Ponte, and Signor Porto, one of the singers. These managers had an experience similar to that which Maretzek declaimed against twenty years later when troubles gathered about the new Academy of Music. Notwithstanding that there had been a startling deficit, though the audiences had been as large as could be accom- modated, these underlings of Rivafinoli and Da Ponte, who were at least men of experience in operatic management, took the house, giving the stockholders the free use of their boxes and 116 free admissions every night besides. The second season started brilliantly, but just as financial dis- aster was preparing to engulf it the performances were abruptly brought to an end by the prima donna, Signora Fanti, who took French leave, an incident which remains unique in New York's operatic annals, at least in its conse- quences, I think. It is evident to a close student of the times that the rea- sons given were not the only ones to contribute to the downfall of the enterprise. Italian opera had found a vig- orous rival in English, or rather in opera in the vernacular. A DIARIST WHO LOVED THE VERNACULAR 23 for the old ballad operas were disappearing and German, Prench, and Italian opera sung in the vernacular, not by actresses who had tolerable voices, but by trained vocal- ists, was taking its place. The people of New York were not quite so sophisticated as they are to-day, and possibly were dowered with a larger degree of sincerity. Many of them were willing to admit the incongruity of behavior at ■which Addison made merry when he predicted that the time would come when the descendants of the English people of his day would be curious to know "why their forefathers used to sit together like an audience of foreign- ers in their own country and to hear whole plays acted before them in a tongue which they did not understand." We know that Addison was a poor prophet, for the people of Great Britain and America are still sitting in the same attitude as their ancestors so far as opera is concerned; but it is plain that arguments like his did reach the con- sciences of even the stockholders of the Italian Opera House, or at least the one of them who has taken posterity into his confidence. The season under Sacchi and Porto had scarcely begun when Mr. Hone wrote in his diary: I went to the opera, where I saw the second act of " La Straniera," hy Bellini. The house is as pretty as ever, and the same faces were seen in the boxes as formerly ; but it is not a popular entertainment, and will not be in our day, I fear. The opera did not please me. There was too much reiteration, and I shall never discipline my taste to like common colloquial expressions of life : " How do you do, madame ? " or " Pretty well, I thank you, sir," the better for being given with orchestral accompaniment I shrewdly suspect that Mr. Hone had been reading his Spectator. There were three years of opera in London, in Addison's day, when the English and Italian languages were mixed in the operas as German and Italian were in Hamburg when Handel started out on his career. "The king or hero of the play generally spoke in Italian and his slaves answered him in English; the lover frequently made 24 ITALIAN AND THE BALLET his court and gained the heart of his princess in a language which she did not understand." At length, says Addison, the audience got tired of understanding half the opera, " and to ease themselves entirely of the fatigue of think- ing, so ordered it that the whole opera was performed in an unknown tongue." Now listen to our diarist : The Italian language is among us very little understood, and the genius of it certainly never entered into with spirit. To entertain an audience without reducing it to the necessity of thinking is doubtless a first-rate merit, and it is easier to produce music with- out sense than with it; but the real charm of the opera is this — it is an exclusive and extravagant recreation, and, above all, it is the fashion. Italian music's sweet because 'tis dear, Theif vanity is tickled, not their ear ; Their taste would lessen if the prices fell. And Shakespeare's wretched stuff do quite as well. The recitative is an affront to common sense, and if there be any spectacle more than another opposed to the genius of the English character and unsuited to its taste it is the ballet of the opera house. Its eternal dumbshow, with its fantastic appeals to sense and to sense only, may be Italian perfection, but here it is in English a tame absurdity. What but fashion could tempt reasonable creatures to sit and applaud — what was really perpetrated — ^Deshayes dancing "The Death of Nelson"? After the season of Sacchi and Porto Italian opera went into exile for ten years. Da Ponte pleaded for " the most splendid ornament" of the city in vain. English opera conquered, aided, no doubt, by the fact that the section of the city in which the Italian Opera House was situated was fatally unfashionable, and after standing vacant for a year the house was leased to James W. Wallack, father of John Lester Wallack, who turned it into a home for the spoken drama. In another year it went up in flames. CHAPTER III THE FIRST ITALIAN COMPANY MANUEL DEL POPOLO VICENTE GARCIA— " IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA "— SIGNORINA MARIA GARCIA'S UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE— LORENZO DA PONTE— HIS HEBRAIC ORIGIN AND CHECKERED CAREER— " DON GIOVANNI "—AN APPEAL IN BE- HALF OF ITALIAN OPERA The beginnings of Italian opera in America are inti- mately associated with two men who form an interesting link connecting the music of the Old World with that of the New. These men were Manuel del Popolo Vicente Garcia and Lorenzo Da Ponte. The opera performed in the Park Theater on November 29, 1825, when the precious exotic first unfolded its petals in the United States, was Rossini's " II Barbiere di Siviglia." In this opera Garcia, then in his prime, had created, as the French say, the role of Almaviva in Rome a little less than ten years before. The performance was one of the most monumental fiascos in Rossini's career, and the story goes that Garcia, hoping to redeem it, introduced a Spanish song to which he him- self supplied a guitar accompaniment. The fiasco of the first performance was largely, if not wholly, due to the jealous ill will of the friends of Paisiello, who had written music for an opera on the same story, which was much admired all over Europe, and which in an adapted form had reached America, as had Rossini's, before Garcia came with the original version. But Rossini's music was too fascinating to be kept under a bushel, and in it Garcia won some of his finest triumphs in London and Paris. In the first New York season it was performed twenty-three times. Garcia was also a composer, and had made his 35 a6 WHY DID GARCIA COME TO NEW YORK? mark in this field before he became famous as a singer, having produced at least seventeen Spanish operas, nine- teen Italian, and seven French, most, if not all of them, before he came to America. Exactly what it was that persuaded Garcia to embark on the career of impresario in a new land does not appear in the story of his enterprise. There are intimations that he had long had the New York project in mind; also it used to be thought that Da Ponte had inspired him with the idea; the more general story is that Dominick Lynch, a New York importer of French wines, was at the bottom of the enterprise, but whether on his own account or as a sort of agent for the manager of the Park Theater, I have not been able to learn. Garcia's singing days were com- ing to an end, though his popularity was not yet on the wane if there is evidence in the circumstances that from 1823 to 1825 his salary in London had increased from £260 to £1,250. But it was as a teacher and composer that he now commanded the greater respect. He had founded a .school of singing of which it may truthfully be said that it was continued without loss of glory until the end of the jiineteenth century by his son Manuel, who died in 1906, a few months after he had celebrated the hundredth anni- versary of his birth. But, though we may not know all the reasons which prevailed with him to seek fortune as a man- ager after he had himself passed the half-century mark, it is easy to fancy that the fact that he had half the artists necessary for the undertaking in his own family had much to do with it. His daughter, Maria Felicita, had studied singing with him from childhood and at sixteen years of age had sung with him in Italy. His wife was an opera- .singer and his son Manuel had made a beginning in the •career which he speedily abandoned in favor of that which gave him far greater fame than the stage promised. The future Malibran was singing in the chorus in London only a year before she disclosed her peerless talents in New ^rAN^I•:L pr)POLA vicente garcia Who lirought the first Italian Opera Company to America MALIBRAN'S DEBUT 27 York. In June, 1825, Pasta, who was Mr. Ebers's prima donna at the King's Theater, took ill. Garcia was a mem- ber of the company and came forward with an offer of his daughter as substitute. The offer was accepted, the girl effected her debut as Rosina in "The Barber," and made so complete a hit that she was engaged for the remaining six weeks of the season at a salary of £500. This is the story as told by Fetis, which does not differ essentially from that told by Ebers in his account of his seven years of ten- ancy of the King's Theater, or by Lord Mount-Edgecumbe in his " Musical Reminiscences," except that these make no direct reference to Pasta's illness as the cause which gave Maria her opportunity. Lord Mount-Edgecumbe's account says that Ebers found it necessary, about the time of the arrival of Pasta, " to engage a young singer, the daughter of the tenor Garcia, who had sung here for sev- eral seasons. She was as yet a mere girl, and had never appeared on any public stage; but from the first moment of her appearance she showed evident talents for it, both as singer and actress. Her extreme youth, her prettiness, her pleasing voice and sprightly, easy action as Rosina in ' II Barbiere di Siviglia,' in which part she made her debut, gained her general favor; but she was too highly extolled and injudiciously put forward as a prima donna when she was only a promising debutante, who in time, by study and practice, would, in all probability, under the tuition of her father, a good musician, but (to my ears at least) a most disagreeable singer, rise to eminence in her profession. I am not more than half persuaded that this view of the future Malibran's talents and prospects did not tally with that of her father, though her tremendous success in New York ought to have persuaded him that a future of the most dazzling description lay before his daughter. There is something of a puzzle in the fact that in the midst of her first triumph the girl should have married M. Malibran, who was only apparently wealthy, and was surely forty- 28 THE WAYS OF A MAID three years her senior, and of a nature which was bound to develop lack of sympathy and congeniality between the pair. The popular version of the story of her marriage is that she was forced into it by her father, and it is more than intimated that he was induced to act as he did by the promise of 100,000 francs made by Malibran as a compen- sation for the loss of his daughter's services. Did Garcia oppose his daughter's marriage, and did she wilfully have her own way in a matter in which she was scarcely a proper judge? Or was the marriage repugnant to her, and was she sacrificed to her father's selfishness? I cannot tell, but it has been hinted that there was danger of her marrying a member of the orchestra in London before she came to New York, and it is as like as not that the affair Malibran was of her wishing. Who can know the ways of a maid fourscore years after? The marriage was as unfortunate as could be. In a few months Malibran was a bankrupt, his youthful wife's father was gone to distant Mexico, there to make money, only to be robbed of it at Vera Cruz on his home journey to England, and Maria Felicita, instead of living in affluence as the wife of a wealthy New York merchant, was supporting an un- worthy husband, as well as herself, by singing in English at the theater in the Bowery and in Grace Church on Sun- days. The legal claims bound the ill-assorted pair for ten years, but did not gall the artist after she returned to Europe in 1827, little more than a year later. In Paris the marriage was annulled in 1836, and the singer, now the greatest prima donna on the stage, married Charles de Beriot, the violinist, with whom she had been living happily for six years, and by whom she had a son, born in Febru- ary, 1833. The world's Book of Opera must supply the other chapters which tell of the great Malibran, her mar- velous triumphs and her early death; but it is a matter of pride for every American to reflect that this adorable artist began her career with the admiring applause of our people. After a drswing by Grevedon MARIA FELICITA GARCIA MALIBRAN DA PONTE AND GARCIA 29 Manuel Garcia, the son, the senior of his sister by three years, survived her the whole span of life allotted to man by the Psalmist. Malibran died in 1836; Garcia in 1906. He achieved nothing on the stage, which he abandoned in 1829. Therea.fter his history belongs to that of pedagogy. Till 1848 his field of operations was Paris; afterward, till his death, London. Jenny Lind was one of his pupils; Mme. Marchesi another. The story that Da Ponte had anything to do with inspir- ing Garcia's New York enterprise is practically disposed of by the fact that Da Ponte, though intimately associated with the opera in London during his sojourn in that city, had already been a resident of New York three years when Garcia made his debut as a singer and never returned thither. Personally Garcia was a stranger to him and he to Garcia when the latter came to New York in the fall of 1825. This gives color of verity to a familiar story of their meeting. As might easily be imagined, the man who had written the librettos of " Le Nozze di Figaro," " Don Giovanni," and " Cosi Fan Tutte " for Mozart, was not long in visiting Garcia after his arrival here. He intro- duced himself as the author of " Don Giovanni," and Garcia, clipping the old man in his arm, danced around the room like a child in glee, singing " Fin ch'han dal vino " the while. After that the inclusion of Mozart's master- piece in Garcia's repertory was a matter of course, with only this embarrassment that there was no singer in the company capable of singing the music of Don Ottavio. This was overcome by Da Ponte going to his pupils for money enough to pay an extra singer for the part. Many a tenor, before and since, who has been cast for that divinely musical milksop has looked longingly at the role of Don Giovanni which Mozart gave to a barytone, and some have appropriated it. Garcia was one of these (he had been a tenor de forza in his day), and it fell to him to introduce the character in New York. Outside of him- 30 LORENZO DA PONTE'S INFLUENCE self, his daughter, and the basso Angrisani, the company- was a poor affair, the orchestra not much better than that employed at the ordinary theater then (and now, for that matter), and the chorus composed of mechanics drilled to sing words they did not understand. It is scarcely to be wondered at, therefore, that at one of the performances of Mozart's opera, of which there were ten, singers and play- ers got at sixes and sevens in the superb finale of the first act, whereupon Garcia, losing his temper, rushed to the footlights sword in hand, stopped the orchestra, and com- manded a new beginning. It has already been told how that Da Ponte was active in the promotion of the first Italian opera enterprise, that he inspired Montressor's experiment at the Richmond Hill Theater and was the moving spirit in the ambitious, beau- tiful but unhappy Italian opera house undertaking. To do all these things it was necessary that he should be a man of influence among the cultured and wealthy classes of the community. As a matter of fact he was this, and that in spite of the fact that his career had been checkered in Europe and was not wholly free from financial scandal, at least in New York. The fact is that the poet's artistic temperament was paired with an insatiable commercial in- stinct. This instinct, at least, may be set down as a racial inheritance. Until seven or eight years ago nobody seems to have taken the trouble to look into the family antecedents of him whom the world will always know as Lorenzo Da Ponte. That was not his name originally. Of this fact something only a little better than a suspicion had been in the minds of those who knew him and wrote about him during his lifetime and shortly after his death. Michael Kelly, the Irish tenor, who knew him in Vienna, speaks of him as "my friend, the abbe," and tells of his dandyish style of dressing, his character as a " consummate cox- comb," his strong lisp and broad Venetian dialect; if he knew that he was a converted Jew, he never mentioned the DA PONTE'S HEBREW ORIGIN 3* fact. Later writers hinted at the fact that he had been born a Jew, but had been educated by the Bishop of Ceneda and had adopted his name. When I investigated his American history, a matter of twenty years ago, my statement in The Tribune newspaper that he was the son of a Hebrew leather dealer provoked an almost intemperate denial by a German musical historian, who quoted from his memoirs a story of his religious observances to con- found me. My statement, however, was based, not only on an old rumor, but also on the evidence of a pamphlet published in Lisbon in the course of what seems to have been a peculiarly acrimonious controversy between Da Ponte and a theatrical person unnamed, but probably one Francesco. In this pamphlet, which is not only indecorous- but indecent, he is referred to as "the celebrated Lorenzo Daponte, who after having been Jew, Christian, priest, and poet in Italy and Germany found himself to be a layman, husband, and ass in London." It remained for Professor Marchesan, his successor in the chair of rhetoric in the University of Treviso, to give the world the facts concern- ing his origin and early family history. From Marchesan's book (" Delia Vita e delle Opere di Lorenzo da Ponte ") published in Treviso in 1900 we learn that the poet's father was in truth a Hebrew leather dealer, and also that the father's name was Jeremiah Conegliano, his mother's Rachel Pinchere, and his own Emanuele Conegliano. He was fourteen years old when not he alone, but the whole family, embraced Christianity. They were baptized in the cathedral of Ceneda on August 20, 1763, and the Bishop gave the lad, whose talents he seems to have observed, his own name. The rest of his story up to his departure for America may be outlined in the words of the sketch in Grove's " Dictionary of Music and Musicians " (second edition. Vol. Ill, p. 789). After five years of study in the seminary at Ceneda (probably with the priesthood as an object) he went to 32 A POET'S PERIPATETICS Venice, where he indulged in amorous escapades which compelled his departure from that city. He went to Tre- viso and taught rhetoric in the university, incidentally took part in political movements, lampooned an opponent in a sonnet, and was ordered out of the republic. In Dresden, whither he turned his steps, he found no occupation for his talents, and journeyed on to Vienna. There, helped by Salieri, he received from Joseph II the appointment of poet to the imperial theater and Latin secretary. Good fortune brought him in contact with Mozart, who asked him to make an opera book of Beaumarchais's " Mariage de Figaro," The great success of Mozart's opera on this theme led to further co-operation, and it was on Da Ponte's suggestion that " Don Giovanni " was undertaken, the promptings coming largely from the favor enjoyed at the time by Gazzaniga's opera on the same subject, from which Da Ponte made generous drafts — as a comparison of the libretti will show. Having incurred the ill will of Leo- pold, Da Ponte was compelled to leave Vienna on the death of Joseph II. He went to Trieste, where Leopold was sojourning, in the hope of effecting a reconciliation, but failed ; but there he met and married an Englishwoman who was thenceforth fated to share his checkered fortunes. He obtained a letter recommending him to the interest of Marie Antoinette, but while journeying toward Paris learned of the imprisonment of the Queen, and went to London instead. A year was spent in the British metropo- lis in idleness, and some time in Holland in a futile effort to establish an Italian theater there. Again he turned his face toward London, and this time secured employment as poet to the Italian opera and assistant to the manager, Taylor. He took a part of Domenico Corri's shop to sell Italian books, but soon ended in difificulties, and to escape his creditors fled to America, arriving in New York on June 4, 1805. Da Ponte lives in the respect and admiration of Dante From 3 [ilmtiigrapli by Kurtz LORENZO DA PONTE Mozart's librettist, first professor of Italian at Columbia and sometime impiresario A POET'S BUSINESS CAREER 33 scholars as the first of American teachers and commenta- tors on " The Divine Comedy." He gave himself the title, and in this case adhered to the truth, which cannot be said of all of his statements about himself. For instance, in a letter to the public to be set forth presently, he calls him- self " poet of the Emperor Joseph II." He was in the habit of thus designating himself and it was small wonder that his biographers almost unanimously interpreted these words to mean that he was poet laureate, or Caesarian poet. After the mischief, small enough, except perhaps in an ethical sense, had been done, he tried to correct it in a foot note on one of the pages of his " Memorie," in which he says that he was not " Poeta Cesario," but " poet to the Imperial theaters." In his capacity as a teacher his record seems to have been above reproach; and it was in this capacity that he first presented himself favorably to New Yorkers. Within two years after his arrival he gave a pamphlet to the public entitled " Compendium of the Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte, written by Himself, to which is added the first Literary Conversatione held at his home in New York on the loth day of March, 1807, consisting of several Italian compositions in verse and prose translated into English by his scholars." That this little brochure was designed as an advertisement is obvious enough; it was issued on his fifty-eighth birthday and its contents, besides the sketch of his life, which, so it began, he had promised to give his pupils, were specimens of their literary handi- craft. In the biographical recital are echoes of the con- tentions in which he had been engaged in London a few years before. Although only two years had elapsed since his arrival in America, what may be called the first of his commercial periods was already over. He had sent his wife to New York ahead of him with some of the money which his English creditors were looking for. With this he promptly embarked in business, trafficking in tobacco, liquors, drugs, etc. — goods which promised large profits. 34 DA PONTE AND HIS FRIENDS In three months fear of yellow fever drove him to Eliza- bethtown, N. J., where he remained a year, by which time he was ruined. He came back to New York and began to teach the Italian language and literature, and the little " Compendium " recorded his first successes. He taught till 1811, by which time he had laid aside $4,000, with which he again went into business, this time as a distiller in Sunbury, Pa. After several years of commercial life he returned again to New York and resumed the profes- sion which brought him into contact with people of refine- ment and social standing, who seem to have remained his friends, despite his complaints and importunities, till his death in 1838. Among those who were sincerely attached to him were Clement Clark Moore, Hebrew lexicographer, trustee of Columbia College, and (best of all) author of " 'Twas the Night before Christmas." Through Moore he secured the privilege of calling himself Professor of Italian Literature at Columbia, though without salary, man- aged to sell the college a large number of Italian books, and was engaged to make a catalogue of the college library. Another friend was Henry James Anderson, who became Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in the college in 1825, the year in which Garcia came to New York with his operatic enterprise. Professor Anderson married his daughter and became the father of Edward Henry and Elbert Ellery Anderson. Other friends were Giulian C. Verplanck, Dr. Macneven, Maroncelli, the Italian patriot, whose wife was one of the members of the opera company which Da Ponte organized with Rivafinoli; Samuel Ward, Dr. John W. Francis, the Cottenet family, and H. T. Tuck- erman, who wrote a sketch of him after his death in Put- nam's Magazine. At the time of his operatic venture, 1833-34, he lived at No. 342 Broadway, and kept a book- store at No. 336, which may then have been an adjoining house. The site is near the present Catherine Lane. Be- fore then he had lived in dozens of different houses, mov- THE DISAPPOINTMENTS OF MOZART'S LIBRETTIST 35 ing, apparently, nearly every year. He died at No. 91 Spring Street, on August 17, 1838, and was buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Eleventh Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A. When the centenary of the first performance of " Don Giovanni " was celebrated in many European cities, in 1887, I conceived the idea of sending a choir of trombones to the grave of the poet who had writ- ten the text to pay a musical tribute to his memory, and thus made the discovery that the place of his burial was as completely lost as the last resting place of the mortal remains of Mozart. Weeks of research were necessary to determine the fact that it was the old cemetery that had received his body, and that the location of the grave was no longer to be determined by the records. It was never marked. Da Ponte's ambition to see Italian opera permanently established in New York seems to have received a crushing blow with the failure of the pretentious Italian Opera House enterprise. His dream I have referred to; he was again to be a " poet to the opera," to write works for season after season which his countryman Trajetta was to set to music. His niece was to be a prima donna. He did write one libretto ; it was for an opera entitled, " L'Ape Musicale," for the musical setting of which he despoiled Rossini. His niece, Giulia Da Ponte, did sing, but her talents were not of the kind to win distinction. He persuaded Montressor to give his season, and, rushing into print, as was his cus- tom — ^the period of the pamphleteer was to his liking — ^he discussed the failure of that undertaking in two booklets. After the successive failures of himself with Rivafinoli and his underlings, who attempted to succeed where he had come to grief, he appended a letter to his old supporters (who had plainly fallen away from him) to a pamphlet devoted to setting forth the miseries of his existence after the great things which, in his opinion, he had done for the people of New York. The letter has never seen the light 36 AN APPEAL BY DA PONTE of day from the time when it was printed in 1835 till now ; but it deserves preservation. I found it twenty years ago in the library of the Historical Society of New York in a bound volume of miscellaneous pamphlets. It is as follows : TO THOSE AMERICANS who love the fine arts I address myself. Hitherto I have vainly spoken and written. Never was more really verified the Latin proverb: Abyssus abyssum invocat. Let the verses that I now present you rouse you from your lethargy; yet should they not, I will not cease to cry aloud. I can- not now remain in silence while my fellow countrymen are sacri- ficed, the citizens of two noble cities deceived, and an enterprise for which I have so long and ardently labored, so calculated to shed luster on the nation, and so honorable in its commencement, ruined by those who have no means, nor knowledge, nor experience. An- swer at least these questions: Did you not request from me an Italian company? It will be readily understood with whom I speak. Why did you ask this of me? I was offered a handsome premium if I would introduce a troupe of select Italian artists in America. Did not I, and I alone procure them? Were they not excellent? Have I been compensated for my labor, reimbursed my actual ex- penses, or even honored by those most benefited by my losses and labors ? Had not I a right to expect thus much, or at least justice? And if you thought me competent to do what I have done, why should you not be guided by my counsels? Did I not tell you and reiterate in my writing and verbally that Rivafinoli was not to be trusted? That he was a daring, but imprudently daring, adventurer, whose failures in London, and in Mecico and Carolina were the sure forerunners of his failure in New York? And when deceived by him, whom did you take in place of him? PORTO! SACCHI! With what means ? What talents? What judgment? What experi- ence ? What chances of a happy issue ? Would you know why they wished it? I will tell you, with Juvenal — ' Gre cuius esuriens si in cesium jusseris ibit.' But ignorant pretenders mostly have more influence than modest truth. You, gentlemen of the committee, gave the theater to them because, not having anything to lose, they could yield to everything, even to the promising of what they knew themselves unable to perform. " One of them it is said still has some hopes from you. Before another disgrace occurs I beg you to look at the effects. Nemo dat quod non habet. I brought a company from Italy by the mere force of my word. And why was this? Because they knew me for an honorable man, who would not promise what he could not perform, A VAIN PETITION 37 who had been eleven years the poet of the Emperor Joseph 2d, who for another equal space of time had been the poet to the theater in London, who had written thirty-six operas for Salieri, for Martini, for Storace and Mozzart (sic). That these dramas still survive, and you yourself have seen and thought its author not worthy of your esteem. For God's sake let the past become a beacon light to save you from the perils of the future. Do not destroy the most splendid ornament of your city. Rocco is obliged to visit Italy. Lease to him the theater, he will have for his advisers the talented and estimable Bagioli and myself. For me I wish for nothing, but it pains me to see spoiled by ig- norance and imposture, and vanity that which cost me so much, or to speak more correctly, which cost me everything, and you so much, and it will cost you more in fame as well as in money. What will they say, the Trollops and the Halls and Hamiltons who nodum in scripto quarunt with the microscope of national aversion? Rocco and he only can redeem the fortunes of your disorganized, betrayed, dishonored establishment by giving you a new and meritorious company. Listen then to him and assist him — you will lose nothing by it; I pledge you the word of an old man whose lips have never uttered an untruth. Your servant and fellow citizen, Lorenzo Da Ponte. The theater was not leased to Rocco. It never echoed to opera after the second season. CHAPTER IV HOUSES BUILT FOR OPERA MORE OPERA HOUSES— PALMO'S AND THE ASTOR PLACE— SIG- NORA BORGHESE AND THE DISTRESSFUL VOCAL WABBLE— ANTOGNINI AND CINTI-DAMOREAU— AN ORCHESTRAL STRIKE —ADVENT OF THE PATTI FAMILY— DON FRANCESCO MARTY Y TORRENS AND HIS HAVANESE COMPANY— OPERA GOWNS FIFTY YEARS AGO— EDWARD AND WILLIAM HENRY FRY- HORACE GREELEY AND HIS MUSICAL CRITIC— JAMES H. HACKETT AND WILLIAM NIBLO— TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES OF CANINE INTERFERENCE— GOETHE AND A POODLE— A DOG- SHOW AND THE ASTOR PLACE OPERA HOUSE " His wit was not so sharp as his chin, and so his career was not so long as his nose," says Richard Grant White of the impresario who, ten years after the failure of the Italian Opera House, made the third effort to establish Italian opera in New York of which there is a record. The man with a sharp chin and long nose was Ferdinand Palmo. He was the owner of a popular restaurant which went by the rather tropical name " Cafe des Milles Co- lonnes," and was situated in Broadway, just above Duane Street. Palmo knew how to cook and how to cater, and his restaurant made him fairly rich. What he did not know about managing an opera house he was made con- scious of soon after the ambition to be an impresario took hold of him. His was an individual enterprise, like Mr. Hammerstein's, with no clogs or entangling alliances in the shape of stockholders, or managing directors, or amuse- ment committees. He seems to have been strongly im- pressed with the idea that after the public had been total abstainers for ten years they would love opera for its own sake, and that it would not be necessary to give hostages to 38 PALMO'S OPERA HOUSE 39 fashion in the shape of a beautiful house, with a large por- tion set apart for the exclusive use of wealth and fashion. Except in name, says Mr. White, there were no boxes. Palmo did not even build a new theater. He found one that could be modeled to his purposes in Stoppani's Arcade Baths, in Chambers Street, between Broadway and Center Street. The site is now occupied by the building of the American News Company. The acoustics of the new opera house are said to have been good, but the inconvenience of the location and unenviable character of the neighborhood are indicated quite as much as Signor Palmo's enterprising and considerate nature by his announcement that after the performances a large car would be run uptown as far as Forty-Second Street for the accommodation of his patrons ; and also that the patrons aforesaid should have police pro- tection. The house seated about eight hundred persons, the seats being hard benches, with slats across the back shoulder high. Opera lovers given to luxury were per- mitted to upholster their benches. The orchestra numbered " thirty-two professors," but their devotion to the art which they professed was not so great as to make them willing to starve for its sake or to refuse to resort to the methods of the more modern workingmen's unions to compel pay- ment for their services, as we shall see presently. The first performance under Signor Palmo took place on February 3, 1844, the opera being the same one with which Mr. Hammerstein began his latest venture sixty-two years later — " I Puritani," The prima donna soprano was Borghese, who was attractive in appearance, though not beautiful; who dressed well, sang with passionate intensity, and won a popularity that found vent in praise which may have been extravagant. One critic, "balancing her beau- ties against her defects," pronounced her the best operatic singer that the writer had yet heard on this side of the Atlantic. This remark leads Mr. White to surmise that the critic had not been five years in America, for, says he, 40 AN ESTIMATE OF BORGHESE Signora Borghese was not worthy to tie the shoes of Mali- bran, Pedrotti, Fanti, Caradori, or Mrs. Wood, the last two of whom had sung in English opera. Her chief defect seems to have been the tremolo — ^that vice toward which the American critics of to-day are more intolerant than those of any other people, as they are toward the sister vice of a faulty intonation. Mr. White talks sensibly on the subject in his estimate of Borghese. She had a fine voice, although not a great one; her vocalization, regarded from a merely musical point of view, was of the corre- sponding grade, but as stage vocalization it had great power and deserved higher commendation. Her musical declamation was al- ways effective and musico-rhetorically in good taste. She had a fine person, an expressive face, and much grace of manner. One might be content never to hear a better prima donna if one were secured against never hearing a worse. In her was first remarked here, among vocalists of distinction, that trembling of the voice when it is pressed in a crescendo, which has since become so common as greatly to mar our enjoyment of vocal music. This great fault, un- known before the appearance of Verdi, is attributed by some musi- cal critics to the influence of his vociferous and strident style. It may be so; but that which follows is not always a consequence of that after which it comes. Certain it is, however, that from this time forward very few of the principal singers who have been heard in New York — only the very greatest and those whose style was formed before Verdi domineered the Italian lyric stage — were without this tremble. Grisi, Mario, Sontag, Jenny Lind, Alboni, and Salvi were entirely without it ; their voices came from the chest pure, free and firm. I can scarcely believe that the distressful vocal wabble either came in with Verdi's music or was greatly pro- moted by it. In the lofty quality of style Mme. Sembrich is the most perfect exemplar whom it is the privilege of New Yorkers to hear to-day; and she is the best singer we have of Verdi's music. Did anyone ever hear a tone come out of her throat that was not pure, free, and firm? Fre- quently the tremolo is an affectation like the excessive vibrato of a sentimental fiddler ; sometimes it is the product of weakness due to abuse of the vocal organ. In all cases it is the sign of bad taste or vicious training, or both, and PALMO'S OPERA HOL'SE Opened in 1844 THE ASTOR PLACE OPERA HOUSE The fashionable home of opera from 1847 'o 1852 SIGNOR ANTOGNINI 41 is an abomination. On the opera stage to-day Italian prima: donnas are most afflicted with it. In turn Verdi, Meyerbeer, and Wagner have been accused of having caused it, but anyone who has listened intelligently to the opera singers of the last forty years will testify with me that the truly great singers of their music have been as free from the vicious habit as have been those whose artistic horizons have been confined by the music of Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti. The tenor of the Palmo company was Antognini, who effected his entrance on the American stage five weeks after the opening of the season. In the opinion of Mr. White, he was the greatest tenor ever heard here, not ex- cepting Mario and Salvi, and Mr. White's opinion is so judiciously expressed that one is fain to give it credence. Whether or not it can be extended over the period which he has covered, which is that reaching from the last days of the Academy of Music, when Campanini was still in his vocal prime but had not developed the dramatic powers which he put into play with the decay of his voice, I shall not undertake to say; taste in tenor voices has changed within the last generation in favor of the robust quality so magnificently exemplified in Signor Caruso. To judge from Mr. White's description Antognini, as a singer merely, was a Bonci of a manlier mould. His fame seems to have died with those who heard him, and perhaps this is a good reason for reprinting what Mr. White said about him in full: He (Antognini) was an artist of the first class, both by natural gifts and by culture. His voice, although not of notable compass, was an absolute tenor of a delicious quality and great power. His vocalization was unexceptionably pure, and his style was manly and noble. As a dramatic singer I never heard his equal except Ron- coni; as an actor, I never saw his equal, except Ronconi, Rachel, and Salvini. He had in perfection that power which Hamlet speaks of in his soliloquy, after he dismisses the players, when the speech about Pyrrhus is ended: 43 CINTI-DAMOREAU Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wann'd; Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit! I have seen the blood fade not only from Antognini's cheeks, but from his very lips, as he strode slowly forward to interrupt the nuptials in " Lucia di Lammermoor," and then flame back again as he broke into defiance of his foes. The inflections of his voice in passages of tenderness were ravishing, and his utterance of anger and despair was terrible. Nor was any tenor that has been heard here, not even Mario in his prime, his superior in that great test of fine vocalization, a sustained cantabile passage. He was one of those blond Italians who are found on the northern border of the peninsula. Being all this he nevertheless soon disappeared, and was forgotten except by a few of the most exacting and cultivated among his hearers ; the reason of which was that his voice could not be de- pended upon for two nights together — not, indeed, for one alone. On Monday he would thrill the house; on Wednesday he would go about the stage depressed, almost silent, huskily making mouths at his fellow actors and the audience. His voice would even desert him in the middle of an evening, thus producing an impression that he was trifling with his audience. No judgment could have been more unjust, for he was a conscientious artist, but the effect of this defect, as Polonius might say, was therefore no less disastrous, and he soon gave place to artists less admirable but more to be relied upon. In this season there appeared a prima donna of the French school in the person of Laura Cinthe Montalant, known in the annals of opera as Cinti-Damoreau, who had come to America to sing in concerts with Artot, the violin- ist. In the eyes of Fetis she was one of the greatest singers the world had known. Damoreau was the name of her husband, an unsuccessful French actor. When she came to America she had made her career in Paris and London, a great triumph coming to her in the French capital, where Rossini composed the principal female roles in " Le Siege de Corinth " and " Moise," and Auber those in " Domino Noir," " L'Ambassadrice," and " Zanetta."* * Repertory of the first season at Palmo's Opera House : " I Puri- AN ORCHESTRAL STRIKE 43 It is not surprising that ill fortune became the com- panion of Palmo at the outset of his enterprise and dragged him down to the lowest depths before the end of his second season (according to the calendar). The first season ran its course and a second one began in November, 1844. Amidst the usual vicissitudes it con- tinued until January 25, 1845. On this momentous date Borghese was before the footlights and about to open her mouth in song when suddenly the orchestra ceased play- ing. Not a soft complaining note from the flute, not a whimper from the fiddles. Borghese raved and Palmo came upon the stage to learn the cause of the direful silence. A colloquy with the musicians, if not exactly in these words, was to this effect: "What's the meaning of this? Is it a strike? Why?" " No pay." " I'll pay you to-morrow." " To-night's the time " — ^the musicians packing up their instruments. Palmo rushed to the box office to get the night's receipts. Alas ! they were already in the hands of the deputy sheriff. Another opera manager had gone down into the vortex which had swallowed up Ebers, and Taylor, and Delafield, and others of their tribe in London, and Montressor and Rivaiinoli in New York. Palmo, it is said, had literally to return to his pots and kettles ; after serving as cook in the hotels and restaurants of others the once enterprising man- ager of the Cafe of a Thousand Columns became a de- pendent upon the charity of his friends. There was another season of opera at Palmo's, among the managers tani" (Bellini), "Belisario" (Donizetti), "Beatrice di Tenda" (Bellini), "II Barbiere di Siviglia" (Rossini), "La Sonnambula" (Bellini), " L'Elisir d'Amore" (Donizetti), "L'ltaliani in Al- geria" (Rossini). Repertory of the second season, 1844- 1845: "Lucia di Lammermoor" (Donizetti), "II Pirata" (Bellini), "Chiara de Rosemberg" (Luigi Ricci), "Lucrezia Borgia" (Doni- zetti), "Belisario" (Donizetti), "La Cenerentola" (Rossini), " Semiramide " ( Rossini ) . 44 THE PATTI FAMILY of which were Sanquirico, a buffo singer, Salvatore Patti, and an Italian named Pogliagno. In the company were Catarina Barili and her two children, Clotilde and Antonio. Patti was a tenor singer. He was the husband of the prima donna, Catarina Barili, who was looked upon as a fine representative of the old school of singing, and from the pair sprang Carlotta and Adelina, who gave a luster to the name of Patti which the father would never have given it by his exertions as singer and manager. Both were bom before their parents came to New York ; Carlotta in Florence, in 1840, and Adelina in Madrid, in 1843. The childhood and youth of both were spent in New York, and here both received their musical training. Their artistic history belongs to the world, and since I am, with difficulty, trying just now to talk more about opera houses and those who built them to their own ruin, than about those who sang in them, I will not pursue it. The summer of 1847 saw Palmo's little opera house deserted. In 1848 it became Burton's Theater, where, as Mr. White observes, that most himiorous of comedians made for himself in a few years a handsome fortune. Who shall deny that Signor Palmo, though his fortunes went down in disaster, made a valuable contribution to that movement — which must still be looked upon as in an experimental stage — ^which has for its aim the permanent establishment of opera in the United States ? Experimental in its nature the movement must remain until the ver- nacular becomes the language of the performances and native talent provides both works and interpreters. The day is still far distant, but it will come. The opera of Germany was still Italian more than a century and a half after the invention of the art form, though in the mean- while the country had produced a Bach and a Handel. The Palmo venture (at the bottom of which there seems to have been a desire to popularize or democratize a form of entertainment which has ever been the possession of THE ASTOR PLACE OPERA HOUSE 45 wealth and fashion) revived the social sentiment upon which Da Ponte had built his hopes. In the opinion of the " upper classes " it was not Italian opera that had suc- cumbed, but only the building which housed it. This cer- tainly presented an aspect of incongruity. Fine talent came from England for the English companies, whose career continued without interruption, and the moment which saw the downfall of Palmo's enterprise saw also the influx of a company of Italian artists under the manage- ment of Don Francesco Marty y Torrens, of Havana, who deserves to be kept in the minds of the opera lovers who go back to the days of the Academy of Music, if for no other reason than that he brought Signer Arditi to New York — the hawk-billed conductor whose shining pate used to glisten like a stage lamp from the conductor's seat in the fine old house at Fourteenth Street and Irving Place. And so, in order that Italian opera might not perish from the earth, but live on, surrounded by the architectural splendor appropriate to it, one hundred and fifty men of social prominence got together and guaranteed to support it for five years, and Messrs. Foster, Morgan, and CoUes built the Astor Place Opera House. Instead of the eight hundred seatings of Palmo's institution, this held i,8oo. The theater had " a fine open front and an excellent ven- tilation." That it was an elegant playhouse and admirably adapted to the purpose for which it had been designed there are many people still alive in New York to testify. Mr. White says enthusiastically that it was " one of the most attractive theaters ever erected." Even Max Maretzek, who began his American career there, first as conductor, afterward as impresario, while throwing ridicule upon its management (his own administration excepted, of course) and its artistic forces, praises the architectural arrange- ment of the house. " Most agreeably surprised was I," he writes in his " Crotchets and Quavers," published in 1855, "on entering this small but comfortably arranged 46 OPERA TOILETS FIFTY YEARS AGO bonbonniere. It contained somewhere about i,ioo excel- lent seats in parquet (the Parisian parterre), dress circle and first tier, with some seven hundred in the gallery. Its principal feature was that everybody could see, and, what is of infinitely greater consequence, could be seen. Never, perhaps, was any theater built that afforded a better opportunity for a display of dress. Believe me " (he is indulging in the literary fiction of a letter to a journalistic friend in Paris), "that were the Funambules built as ably for this grand desideratum, despite the locality and the grade of performance at this theater, my conviction is that it would be the principal and most fashionable one in Paris." Maretzek is, of course, here aiming chiefly to cast discredit upon one of the vanities and affectations of so- ciety — the love of display; but if Mr. White is to be be- lieved, the patrons of the Astor Place Opera House, on its opening (which means the fashionable element of New York society) were temperate and tasteful in the matter of dress. Speaking of the first performance at the new house, he says : " Rarely has there been an assembly, at any time or in any country, so elegant, with such a gen- erally suffused air of good breeding; and yet it could not be called splendid in any one of its circles. At the Astor Place Opera House that form of opera toilet for ladies which is now peculiar to New York and a few other Ameri- can cities came into vogue — a demi-toilet of marked ele- gance and richness, and yet without that display either of apparel and trimmings or of the wearer's personal charms which is implied by full evening dress in fashionable par- lance. This toilet is very pleasing in itself, and it is hap- pily adapted to the social conditions of a country in which any public exhibition of superior wealth in places set apart for common enjoyment of refined pleasure is not in good taste." Mr. White wrote in 1881 ; would he have been able to be so complimentary to the opera audiences of 1908? What relation does the present extravagance of FATAL COMPETITION 47 dress, the vulgar ostentation which Mr. White would have us believe was foreign to the taste of New York's cultured society in 1847, ^^^^ toward the support which opera has received since the Metropolitan Opera House was opened? The factors which are to determine the question seem to be marshaling themselves since Mr. Hammerstdn opened the Manhattan Opera House, but they are not yet fairly op- posed to each other. There are features in which the new opera house recalls memories of the old Academy which met its downfall when the amalgamation between the old Knickerbockers and the newer New Yorkers was effected; but there are also other features which make a repetition of that occurrence under present circumstances very im- probable, and the chiefest of these is that inculcated by the failure of the Palmo enterprise; opera must have an ele- gant environment if it is to succeed. But it had this in the Astor Place Opera House; why, then, did it live its little span only? The question is easily answered — ^the Astor Place Opera House was killed by competition; not the competition of English opera with Italian, which had been in existence for twenty-five years, but of Italian opera with Italian opera. The first lessees of the new institution were Messrs. Sanquirico and Patti, who had first tried their luck in Palmo's Opera House. They endured a' season.* Then the first American manager appeared on the field — I mean the first American manager whose thoughts were directed to opera exclusively as distinguished from the managers of theaters who took hold of opera at intervals, as they did any other sort of entertainment which offered employment *At the Astor Place Opera House in its first season Sanquirico and Patti produced Verdi's " Ernani," Bellini's " Beatrice di Tenda," Donizetti's " Lucrezia Borgia," Mercadante's " II Giuramento," and Verdi's " Nabucco." Mr. Fry's season in 1848 when Mr. Maretzek was the conductor, brought forward Donizetti's " Linda di Cha- mouni," "Lucrezia Borgia," "L'Elisir d'Amore," "Roberto Dev- ereux," and " Lucia di Lammermoor " and Verdi's " Ernani." 48 HORACE GREELEY AND HIS CRITIC for their houses. The manager in question was Mr. E. R. Fry, who came from the counting house to a position of which he can have known nothing more than what he could acquire from attendance upon opera, of which he was fond, and association with his brother, W. H. Fry, who was a journalist by profession (long the musical critic of The Tribune) and an amateur composer of more than respect- able attainments. Mr. Maretzek, in his " Crotchets and Quavers " — a book generally marked by characteristic good humor, but not free from malevolence — tries to make it appear that Mr. Edward Fry went into operatic manage- ment for the express purpose of performing his brother's operas; but while the animus of the statement is enough to cause it to be looked upon with suspicion, the fact that none of William Henry Fry's operas was performed at the Astor Place Opera House during the incumbency of Edward Fry is a complete refutation. " Leonora," the only grand opera by a professional critic ever performed in New York, so far as I know, was brought forward at the Academy of Music a good nine years later. Apropos of this admirable and respected predecessor of mine, a good story was disclosed by Charles A. Dana some fifteen or twenty years ago in his reminiscences of Horace Greeley. Mr. Dana published a large number of letters sent to him at various times while he was managing editor of The Tribune and Mr. Greeley editor-in-chief. It was in the days just before the War of the RebeUion. A political question of large importance had arisen in Congress, and Mr. Greeley was so concerned in it that he went to Wash- ington to look after it in person and act as a special cor- respondent of his own newspaper. Thence one day he sent two letters to The Tribune on the subject, but in the issue of the day in which he expected them to appear in The Tribune he sought in vain for his communication. Thereupon he indited an epistle to Mr. Dana in these -winged words: AN IMPRESARIO FROM HAVANA 49 Friend Dana: What would it cost to burn the Opera House? If the price is reasonable have it done and send me the bill. ... I wrote my two letters under the presumption (there being no paper on Wednesday) that the solid work of exposing their (Pierce and Gushing) perversion of history had of course been done by Hil- dreth. I should have dwelt with it even more gravely but for that. And now I see (the Saturday paper only got through last night) that you crowded out what little I did say to make room for Fry's eleven columns of arguments as to the feasibility of sustaining the opera in N. Y. if they would only play his compositions. I don't believe three hundred people who take the Tribune care one chew of Tobacco for the matter. The " eleven columns " was an amiable exaggeration quite in consonance with the remainder of the letter ; but I can testify from a consultation of the files of the newspaper which I have served as one of Mr. Fry's successors for more than a quarter of a century that on the date in ques- tion The Tribune's critic did occupy three and a half columns with a discussion of the Lagrange season just ended at the Academy of Music and a most strenuous plea for the permanent substitution of English for Italian opera 1 Also, that most of what Mr. Fry said would sound just as apposite to-day as it did then, and be backed by just as much reason. But a taste for the elegant exotic and reason do not seem to go hand in hand, and managers are still strangely averse to placing themselves for guid- ance into the hands of The Tribune's critics. How differ- ent might not musical history in New York have shaped itself had William Henry Fry, George William Curtis, John R. G. Hassard, and H. E. K. had their way during the last sixty years! The thought is quite overpowering. The opposition which the Astor Place Opera House met was indeed formidable. It came from the company or- ganized by Don Francesco Marty y Torrens for perform- ances in Havana. This enterprising gentleman did not come to New York to make money, but mischief — as Messrs. Sanquirico, Patti, Fry, and Maretzek must have thought — and incidentally to keep his singers employed 5© MISCHIEF MADE BY DOG-SHOWS during the hot and unhealthy season of Havana. His aiders and abettors were James H. Hackett and William Niblo. The former, in his day an actor, was particularly famous for his impersonation of Falstaif. His interest in opera may have been excited more or less by the fact that his wife had been Catherine Leesugg, an English opera singer, who had sung the part of Rosina in an EnglisH version of Rossini's " Barber of Seville " as early as 1819. At Niblo's history I have already taken a glance. In the present chapter he is chiefly interesting, according to a story which has long had currency, as the manager who succeeded in putting an end to the Astor Place Opera House by a trick which took the bloom of caste off that aristocratic institution. I shall let Maretzek tell the story presently, pausing now to interject an anecdote which fell under my notice some years ago while I was turning over the records of the Grand Ducal Theater at Weimar. This always comes to my mind when the downfall of the Astor Place Opera House is mentioned, and also when, as has frequently been the case within the last sixteen years, I met a grandson of one of the principal actors in the incident in the streets of New York. In April, 1817, there came to Weimar from Vienna a gifted dog, who assisted his master in the presentation of a play of the melodramatic order, entitled " The Dog of Aubri de Mont-Didier." The director of the Grand Ducal Theater at the time was one Wolfgang von Goethe. To him the dog's manager applied for the privilege of pro- ducing his edifying piece. Goethe refused permission, and there was danger that the patrons of the playhouse which had echoed to the first sounds of the plays of Schiller and Goethe were to be deprived of the inestimable privilege of seeing a dog dash out of the door of a tavern in which a murder had been committed, pull a bell rope to alarm the village, carry a lantern into the forest, discover the mur- derer just at the psychological moment, pursue him from THE HUMILIATION OF GOETHE 51 rock to rock, capture him at the last, and thus bring about the triumph of justice. But the dog's manager was not thus to be put down. He went with a petition to Fraulein Jagemann (whose portrait in the character of Sappho my readers may still find hanging on a wall of the library at Weimar), and solicited her intervention with the Grand Duke, whose reign Schiller and Goethe made glorious. Fraulein Jagemann was a prima donna and the Grand Duke's mistress. ("The companion of my leisure mo- ments," he called her with quite a pretty euphemism.) In the former capacity she had given Goethe, the director, a great deal of trouble, and in the latter her influence ha3 caused him many an annoyance. It was the dog that broke the camel's back of his patience. Fraulein Jagemann saw an opportunity to get in a blow against her artistic tyrant, and she wheedled Charles Augustus into commanding the production of " The Dog of Aubri de Mont-Didier." The play was given twice, on April 12 and 14, 1817, with uproarious success, of course, and on April 17th Goethe resigned the artistic direction of the Weimar Court The- ater. As for Fraulein Jagemann, she eventually got a title and estates as Frau von Heygendorf. And now for the story of " The Dogs of Donetti : or, the Downfall of the Astor Place Opera House," by Max Maretzek; it must be prefaced by the statement that after Edward Fry had made a lamentable failure of his opera season at which he had the services of Maretzek as con- ductor, Maretzek became lessee of the house and thus remained for the years 1849 and 1850. Bled to the last drop in my veins (I, of course, allude to my purse and my pocket), the doors of the Astor Place Opera House were closed upon the public. It was my determination to woo the fickle goddess Fortune elsewhere. Possibly her blinded eyes might not recognize her old adorer, and she might even yet bestow upon me a few of her faithless smiles. Again, however, after my departure, was the opera house leased. But to whom do you imagine it was now abandoned by the ex- emplary wisdom of its proprietors? Sa A HOUSE'S LOST PRESTIGE To the identical William Niblo who had fostered and encour- aged the opposition — the same William Niblo who had a theater (or let me give it his name, and call it — a garden) within the length of some three stone-throws from their own house. It must be granted they did not foresee that which was about to happen. But this will scarcely palliate the folly of taking the head of a rival establish- ment for their tenant. This gentleman engaged the troupe of dogs and monkeys, then in this country, under the charge of a certain Signor Donetti. Their dramatic performances were offered to the refined and intelligent proprietors and patrons of this classic and exclusive place of amusement. Naturally they protested. It was in vain. Then they sued out an injunction against this exhibition on the ground that in Niblo's lease of the premises only respectable per- formances were permitted to be given in the opera house. On the "hearing to show cause" for this injunction Mr. Niblo called up Donetti or some of his friends, who testified that his aforesaid dogs and monkeys had, in their younger days, appeared before princes and princesses and kings and queens. Moreover, witnesses were called who declared under oath that the previously mentioned dogs and monkeys behaved behind the scenes more quietly and respectably than many Italian singers. This fact I feel that I am not called on to dispute. . . . As might be supposed the injunction was dissolved. As a matter of course, the house lost all its prestige in the eyes of the community. Shortly afterward its contents were sold, and the shell of the opera was turned into a library. Its deathblow had been given it as a place for theatrical amusement by the astute Mr. Wil- liam Niblo. Furthermore, Mr. Maretzek would have us believe that some year or two later, the Academy of Music having been projected meanwhile, he met Niblo and asked him what he thought of the prospects of the new enterprise. " Why," answered the manager, in his nasal voice, " I suppose I shall have again to engage Donetti's dogs and monkeys." CHAPTER V MARETZEK, HIS RIVALS AND SINGERS MAX MARETZEK— HIS MANAGERIAL CAREER— SOME ANECDOTES— " CROTCHETS AND QUAVERS "—HIS RIVALS AND SOME OF HIS SINGERS— BERNAftD ULLMANN— MARTY AGAIN— BOT- TESINI AND ARDITI— STEFFANONE— BOSIO— TEDESCO— SALVI — BETTINI— BADIALI— MARINI Of the operatic managers of fifty years ago Max Maret- zek was the only one with whom I was personally acquainted, and it was not until near the close of his career that he swam into the circle of my activities or I into his. He died on September 17, 1897. His last years were spent in a home on Staten Island, and the public heard nothing about him after the memorable concert given for his benefit at the Metropolitan Opera House on February 12, 1889, the occasion being set down as the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of his career as a conductor in America. All the notable conductors then living in New York took part in the concert — Theodore Thomas, Anton Seidl, Frank van der Stucken, Walter Damrosch, and Adolf Neuen- dorff. Maretzek was seventy-six years of age at the time of his death, and he had grown old, if not gracefully, at least good-naturedly. He did not quarrel with his fate, but even when he spoke of its buffetings it was in a tone of pleasant banter and with a twinkle in his eyes. His manner of accepting what the world brought him was illustrated at a meeting which I had with him in the season of 1883-84 — the first of the Metropolitan Opera House. It was on a Saturday afternoon that I found him standing in front of the new establishment after the first act of the opera was over. Not having seen him in the house, I 53 54 NEITHER USHER NOR BARKEEPER asked him if he was attending the performance. He said he was, but that, the house being sold out, he had no seat. Thereupon I offered him mine, saying that it might be a pleasure to occupy it since several of his professional ac- quaintances were seated in the neighborhood who would be glad to greet him. " Annie Louise Gary is right back of me," I said, " and Clara Louise Kellogg near by." But he did not care to accept my offer, and I fancied I saw a rather more serious and contemplative look come over his grizzled face. Naturally, I asked him what he thought of the new house and the new enterprise, adding that I re- gretted that he was not the manager. He began with apparent solemnity: " Well, when I heard the house was to be built, I did think — I did think that some of the stockholders would remember what I had done for opera. Some of the old- timers, who used to go to the Academy of Music and Astor Place Opera House when I was manager there, I thought, would recollect what companies I gave them — Parodi, and Steflfanone, and Marini, and Lorini, and Bettini, and Ber- tucca" — (how often I had heard him chant the list, count- ing off the singers on his chubby fingers!) — "and Truffi, and Benedetti, and Salvi. I thought somebody might re- member this and the old man, and come to me and say, ' Max, you did a good deal for us once, let us do some- thing for you now.' I didn't expect them to come and offer me the house, but I thought they might say this and add, ' Come, we'll make you head usher,' or, ' You may have the bar.' But nobody came, and I'm out of it com- pletely." Maretzek's managerial career continued at least until 1874; after that he conducted operas for others and did something toward the last in the way of teaching. It was seldom that one could get into a conversation with him but he could grow reminiscent, and, reverting to the olden time, begin tolling off the members of the companies which 7, O - K ri m '^ pa a <; c W CU vho comes to urge her sister to avert the doom which threatens the gods by restoring the baneful ring to the Rhine daughters. Both scenes are highly significant in the plan of the tragedy as a whole, but a public largely unfa- miliar with German and unconcerned about Wagner's phil- osophical purposes can much more easily spare than endure them. In later years they were restored at the Metro- politan performances, but I make no doubt that Mr. Seidl's wise abbreviation had much to do with the unparalleled success of the drama in its first season. Persons familiar with the German tongue and the tetralogy, either from study of the book and music or from attendance on per- formances in Germany, were justified in being disappointed at the loss of two scenes highly important from a dramatic point of view and profoundly beautiful from a musical ; but it was better to achieve success from the representations by adapting the drama to the capacity of the public than to sacrifice it bodily on the altar of integrity. Nessler's opera, " Der Trompeter von Sakkingen," which had for nearly five years fairly devastated the German opera houses, receiving more performances than any three operas in the current lists, won only a sucds d'estime. It was performed for the first time on November 23d, dressed most sumptuously and effectively cast (Robinson as Werner, Elmblad as Conradin, Kemlitz as the Major- domo, Sanger as the Baron, Frau Seidl-Krauss as Marie, Von Milde as Graf von Wildenstein, and Meisslinger as Grafin) , but it reached only seven performances, was fourth from the bottom in the list arranged according to popu- larity, and in the following year it was not included in the repertory. In 1889-90 it was revived and received fouir performances, but its rank was seventeenth in a list of nine- teen. Weber's " Euryanthe " fared but little better, though a work immeasurably greater. It, too, received four per- Copyright hy A. Duiionl. l-'i..in Kipll^l■^ "Op, EDOUARU I)K RESKE AS HAGEN MERUNG" C.OTTERDAM- VON WEBER'S " EURYANTHE " 183 formances, and it was but one remove in advance of " Der Trompeter." To all intents and purposes it was new to the American stage when it was produced on December 23, 1887, with Lehmann, Brandt, Alvary, Fischer, and Elmblad in the parts of Euryanthe, Eglantine, Adolar, Lysiart, and the King, respectively. Mr. Seidl conducted. Twenty- four years before there had been some representations of the opera under the direction of Carl Anschiitz in Wallack's Theater, at Broadway and Broome Street, but of this fact the patrons of the Metropolitan Opera House had no memory. It was a beautiful act of devotion on the part of Herr Anschutz and his German singers to produce " Eury- anthe " at that time, and, had it been possible to break down the barriers of fashion and reach the heart of the public, the history of the lyric theater in America during the quar- ter of a century which followed would, no doubt, read dif- ferently than it does. " Tannhauser " and " Lohengrin " were produced under similar circumstances, and even " Die Walkiire " ; but " Lohengrin " was popularized by the sub- sequent performances in Italian, and " Tannhauser *' and " Die Walkure " had to wait for appreciation until fortui- tous circumstances caused fashion, fame, and fortune to smile for a space upon the German establishment at the Metropolitan. It may have been a benignant fate which preserved " Euryanthe " from representation in the inter- val. The work is one which it is impossible for a serious music lover to approach without affection, but appreciation of all its beauties is conditioned upon the acceptance of theories touching the purpose, construction, and repre- sentation of the lyric drama which did not obtain validity in America until the German artists at the Metropolitan liad completed their missionary labors. Indeed, there are aspects of the case in which Weber's opera, with all its affluence of melody and all its potency of romantic and chivalric expression, is yet further removed from popular appreciation than the dramas of Wagner. In these there 1 84 " FERDINAND CORTEZ " is so much orchestral pomp, so much external splendor, so much scenic embellishment, so much that is attractive to both eye and ear, that delight in them may exist inde- pendently of a recognition of their deeper values. " Eury- anthe " still comes before us with modest consciousness of grievous dramatic defects and pleading for consideration and pardon even while demanding with proper dignity recognition of the soundness and beauty of the principles that underlie its score and the marvelous tenderness, sin- cerity, and intensity of its expression of passion. When it was first brought forward in Vienna in October, 1823, Castelli observed that it was come fifty years before its time. He spoke with a voice of prophecy. It was not until the fifty years had expired that " Euryanthe " really came into its rights, and it was the light reflected upon it by the works of Weber's great successor at Dresden that disclosed in what those rights consisted. After that the critical voices of the world agreed in pronouncing " Eury- anthe" to be the starting point of Wagner, and, as the latter's works grew in appreciation, " Euryanthe " shone with ever-growing refulgence. No opera was ever pre- pared at the Metropolitan with more patience, self-sacrifice, zeal, and affection than this, and the spontaneous, hearty, sincere approbation to which the audience gave expression must have been as sweet incense to Mr. Seidl and the forces that he directed. But " Euryanthe " is a twin sister of mis- fortune to " Fidelio " ; the public will not take it to its heart. It disappeared from the Metropolitan list with the end of the season which witnessed its revival. A dozen or more circumstances combined to give the first performance of Spontini's " Ferdinand Cortez," which took place on January 6, 1888, a unique sort of interest. In one respect it was a good deal like trying to resuscitate a mummy, for whatever of interest historical criticism found in the opera, a simple hearing of the music was suf- ficient to convince the public that Spontini was the inost THE FIRST NATURALIZED OPERATIC AMERICAN 185 antiquated composer that had been presented to their atten- tion in several years. Compared with him Gluck and Mozart had real, dewy freshness, and Weber spoke in the language of to-day. Nevertheless, Spontini still stands as the representative of a principle, and if it had been possible for Mr. Stanton to supplement " Ferdinand Cortez " with "Armida " or " Iphigenia in Aulis," the Metropolitan rep- ertory would admirably have exemplified the development of the dramatic idea and its struggle with simple lyricism in opera composition. The public would have been asked to take the steps in the reverse order, it is true — ^Wagner, Weber, Spontini, Gluck — ^but this circumstance would only have added to the clearness of the historical exposition. The light which significant art works throw out falls brightest upon the creations which lie behind them in the pathway of progress. " Euryanthe " was understood through the mediation of " Tristan und Isolde." " Ferdi- nand Cortez " has an American subject ; the conqueror of Mexico is the only naturalized American with whom we had an acquaintance till Pinkerton came on the stage in Puccini's " Madama Butterfly," and Mr. Stanton surpassed all his previous efforts in the line of spectacle to celebrate the glories of this archaic American opera. The people employed in the representation rivaled in numbers those who constituted the veritable Cortez's army, while the horses came within three of the number that the Spaniard took into Mexico. This was carrying realism pretty close to historical verity. A finer sense of dramatic propriety, however, was exhibited in the care with which the pictures and paraphernalia of the opera were prepared. The ancient architecture of Mexico, the sculptures, the symbols of various kinds carried in the processions, the banners of Montezuma and some of the costumes of his warriors were copied with painstaking fidelity from the remains of the civilization which existed in Mexico at the time of, the con- quest. The cast of the opera was this: Cortez, Niemann; i86 THE RECORD FOR 1888-1889 Alvarez, Alvary ; High Priest, Fischer ; Telasko, Robinson ; Montezuma, Elmblad; Morales, Von Milde; Amazily, Fraulein Meisslinger. The prospectus for the season of 1888-89 announced sixteen weeks of opera between November 28th and March 1 6th, the subscription to be for forty-seven nights and six- teen matinees. The last two weeks were set apart for two consecutive representations of the dramas constituting " The Ring of the Nibelung." The difficulties involved in an effort to compass the tetralogy in a week combined with other circumstances to compel an extension of the season for a week, much to the advantage of the enterprise. The final record showed that fifty evening and eighteen after- noon performances had taken place between the opening night and March 23, 1889. Sixteen works were performed, the relative popularity of which is indicated in the follow- ing list : " Gotterdammerung," " Tannhauser," " Das Rheingold," "La Juive," "II Trovatore," "Lohengrin," "Aida," "Siegfried," " L'Africaine," "Die Meistersinger," "Les Huguenots," "Die Walkiire," "Faust," "Le Prophete," " Fidelio," and "William Tell." The most significant new production — indeed the only significant one — was "Das Rheingold," which completed the acquaint- ance of the New York public with the current works of Wagner, "Parsifal" being still under the Bayreuth em- bargo, although it had several times been given in concert form. The total cost of the representations, not including scenery, costumes, properties, and music, was $333,731.31, or an ^average of $4,907.78 a representation. The total receipts from the opera were $213,630.99, divided as fol- lows: Box office sales, $149,973.50; subscriptions, $59,- 607.50; privileges, $4,049.99. The average receipts a rep- resentation were $3,141.63. The loss to the stockholders on the operatic account was $1,766.15 a representation, which was covered by the receipt of $201,180.00 from the stockholders for the maintenance of the establishment, the WAGNER'S "DAS RHEINGOLD" " 187 fixed charges on the building, and the cost of scenery, music, etc., amounting to $144,455.81. " Das Rheingold " was performed for the first time on January 4, 1889, under the direction of Mr. Seidl, and was performed nine times in the ten weeks of the season which remained. The artists concerned in the production were Emil Fischer as Wotan, Max Alvary as Loge, Alois Grie- nauer as Donner, Albert Mittelhauser as Froh, Joseph Beck as Alberich, Wilhelm Sedlmayer as Mime, Eugen Weiss as Fafner, Ludwig Modlinger as Fasoh, Fanny Moran-Olden as Fricka, Katti Bettaque as Freia, Sophie Traubmann as Woglinde, Felice Kaschowska as Wellgunde, Hedwig Reil as Flosshilde, and again, Hedwig Reil as Erda. The sixth season of opera in German began on Novem- ber 27, 1889, and ended on March 22, 1890. Within this period fifty evening and seventeen afternoon subscription performances were given and there was an extra perform- ance on February 27th for the benefit of Lilli Lehmann, who had stipulated for it in her contract in lieu of an in- crease in her honorarium, demanded and refused. The sixty-seven subscription performances were devoted to nineteen operas and dramas which are here named in the order of popularity as indicated by attendance and receipts : "Siegfried," "Don Giovanni," "Die Meistersinger," "Tristan und Isolde," "Lohengrin," "Das Rheingold," "Der Barbier von Bagdad," " Tannhauser," "Der Flie- gende Hollander," " Gotterdammerung," " Die Konigin von Saba," "William Tell," "Aida," "Die Walktire," "Rienzi," "II Trovatore," "Der Trompeter von Sakkin- gen," "Un Ballo in Maschera," and "La Juive." The ballet " Die Puppenfee " was performed in connection with the opera " Der Barbier von Bagdad." The last three weeks of the season were devoted to representations in chrono- logical order (barring an exchange between "Tristan" and " Meistersinger ") of all the operas and lyric dramas of Wagner from " Rienzi " to " Gotterdammerung," in- 1 88 "THE BARBER OF BAGDAD" elusive. The total receipts from subscriptions, box office sales, and privileges were $209,866.35 ; average, $3,132.34. The total cost of producing the operas (not including scenery, costumes, properties, and music) was $352,990.32, or an average of $5,268.52 per representation. On this showing the loss to the stockholders on operatic account was $2,136.18 a representation, which was met by an as- sessment of $3,000 a box; of this sum $1,200 went to the fixed charges on the opera house. The one novelty of the season was Peter Cornelius's " Barbier von Bagdad," which had its first performance on January 4, 1890. The production was embarrassed by mis- haps and misfortunes. It had been announced for Decem- ber 25th, but Mr. Paul Kalisch, the tenor, fell ill with the prevailing epidemic and a postponement became necessary. It was set down for January 4th, but when that day came Mr. Seidl was ill. He had prepared the opera with great care and loving devotion, but at the eleventh hour had to hand his baton to his youthful assistant, Walter Damrosch. The beautiful work had only four representations. The original cast was as follows : Caliph, Josef Beck ; Mustapha, Wilhelm Sedlmayer; Margiana, Sophie Traubmann; Bos- tana, Charlotte Huhn; the Barber, Emil Fischer. "Die Puppenfee," ballet by J. Hassreiter and F. Gaul, music by Joseph Bayer, followed the opera and was conducted by Frank Damrosch. The most important addition to the forces in this season was Theodor Reichmann, who effected his entrance on the American stage on the first evening in Wagner's " Flying Dutchman." Herr Reichmann was known to American pilgrims to the Wagnerian Mecca as the admired representative of Amfortas in " Parsifal," but his impersonation of the Dutchman was equally famous in Vienna and the German capitals. On this occasion Mr. Seidl restored the architect's original design with reference to the band. Mr. Cady's device had never had a fair trial. Signor Vianesi condemned it in the first season. When GERMAN OPERA ON THE BOWERY 189 Dr. Damrosch took the helm he tried it, but abandoned it and resorted to the compromise suggested by Vianesi, ■which raised the musicians nearly to the level of the first row of stalls in the audience room. The growth of the band sent the drummers outside the railing, but no one was brave enough to restore the original arrangement till the opening of the sixth German season. I come to the operatic activities of the period beyond the "walls of the Metropolitan. They scarcely amounted to opposition at any time, though at the end of the third year there came a brief season of Italian opera in the home of the German institution which whetted the appetites of the boxholders and, no doubt, had much to do with the revolu- tion which took place two years later. In 1887, beginning on October 17th and ending in December, there was a series of performances at the Thalia Theater which served again to indicate that German opera had a following among the people who could not afford to patronize the aristocratic establishment. This season was arranged to exploit Hein- rich Botel, a coachman-tenor of the Wachtel stripe, who came from the Stadttheater, in Hamburg. The prima m K«\,\,k' NELLIE " Opera Singtrs " MELBA AS JULIET CALVE AS CARMEN 239 raised to a higher power by the melody. In moments of extreme excitement one scarcely realized that she was sing- ing at all. Carried along by the torrent of her feelings, her listeners accepted her song as the only proper and efficient expression for her emotional state. The two ex- pressions, song and action, were one; they were mutually complemental. It was not nature subordinated to art, but art vitalized by nature. It is not possible for me to com- pare her Carmen with Galli-Mariee's, which stood in the way of her appreciation in the part in Paris. I have heard that that was so frank in one of its expressions that it invited the interference of the Prefect of the Seine. To me, at least, in Mme. Calve's impersonation, it seemed that I was enjoying my first revelation of some of the elements of the character of the gypsy as it had existed in the imagina- tion of Prosper Merimee when he wrote his novel. To me she presented a woman thoroughly wanton and diabolic- ally equipped with the wicked witcheries which explained, if they did not palliate, the conduct of Don Jose. Here we had a woman without conscience, but also without the capacity for even a wicked affection; a woman who might have been the thief whom the novelist describes, who surely carried a dagger in her corsage, and who in some respects, left absolutely nothing to the imagination, to which even a drama like " Carmen " makes appeal. She came upon the stage as Merimee's heroine stepped into his pages : " pois- ing herself on her hips, like a filly from the Cordovan stud," and with a fine simulation of unconsciousness, she seemed every moment about to break into one of those dances which the satirist castigated in the days of the Roman Empire : Nee de Gadibus improbis puellse Vibrabunt sine fine prurientes Lascivos docili tremore lumbos. Alas! Mme. Calve's admiration for herself was stronger than her devotion to an artistic ideal, and it was not long 240 AN ESTIMATE OF MASSENET'S "WERTHER" before her Carmen became completely merged in her own capricious personality. Massenet's " Werther " had its first American perform- ance at the Metropolitan on April 20, 1894, with the prin- cipal parts in the hands of Mme. Eames, Sigrid Arnold- son, Jean de Reszke, M. Martapoura, and Signor Carbone. Signor Mancinelli conducted. The opera had one per- formance, and was repeated once in the season of 1896-97. Then it disappeared from the repertory of the Metropoli- tan, and has since then not been thought of, apparently, al- though strenuous efforts have been made ever and anon to give interest to the French list. I record the fact as one to be deplored. " Werther " is a beautiful opera ; as instinct with throbbing life in every one of its scenes as the more widely admired " Manon " is in its best scene. It has its ■weak spots as have all of Massenet's operas, despite his mastery of technique, but its music will always appeal to refined artistic sensibilities for its lyric charm, its delicate workmanship, its splendid dramatic climax in the duo be- tween Werther and Charlotte, beginning : " Ah ! pourvu que de voie ces yeux tou jours ouverts," and its fine scoring. It smacks more of the atmosphere of the Parisian salon than of the sweet breezes with which Goethe filled the story, but no Frenchman has yet been able to talk aught but polite French in music for the stage, Berlioz excepted, and the music of " Werther " is of finer texture than that of most of the operas produced by Massenet since. The season of 1894-95, consisting again of thirteen weeks, began on November 19th, and closed on February i6th. It was marked by a number of incidents, some of which made a permanent impression on the policy of the Metropolitan Opera House. Chief of these was a remarkable eruption of sentiment in favor of German opera — so vigorous an eruption, indeed, that it led to the incorporation of Ger- man performances in the Metropolitan repertory ever after, though the change involved a much greater augmentation Cnp.vriplil Ijy A. Duiiunl. Fi K..ljhd's "Opera SiDgers" EMMA CALVE AS CARMEN THE SEASON 1894-1895 *4i of the forces of the establishment than the consorting of French with Italian had involved. To this I shall give the attention which it deserves presently. Other features were the introduction of Saturday night performances of opera at reduced prices (a feature which became perma- nent), the appearance of several new singers, and the pro- duction of two novelties, one of them Verdi's " Falstaff," of first-class importance. In their prospectus the managers promised a reformation of the chorus, and announced the re-engagement of " nearly all the great favorites of last year." The improvement of the chorus was not particularly noticeable except in appear- ance; a number of young and comely American women were enlisted, but their best service was to stand in front of the old stagers who knew the operas, and could sing but who seemed to have come down through the ages from the early days of the old Academy. The phrase " nearly all " was an ominous one, for it betokened the absence from the company of Mme. Calve. The newcomers were Lucille Hill, Sybil Sanderson, Zelie de Lussan, Mira Hel- ler, and Libia Drog, sopranos; G. Russitano and Fran- cesco Tamagno, tenors, and Victor Maurel, who had been a popular favorite twenty years before at the Academy of Music. Luigi Mancinelli and E. Bevignani were the con- ductors, and Mr. Seidl was engaged to give eclat to the Sunday evening concerts. Mme. Melba's chief financial value to the management in the preceding season had been found to lie in these concerts, which this year were begun earlier than usual, and made a part of Melba's concert tour. The first opera was " Romeo et Juliette," with the cast beloved of society, and on the second night the intro- duction of the newcomers began. But woefully. The opera was " William Tell," and Signorina Drog sang the part of the heroine in place of Miss Hill, indisposed. Mathilde (or Matilda — ^the opera was sung in Italian), does not ap- pear in the opera until the second act, and then she has 242 BREAKDOWN OF A PRIMA DONNA the most familiar air in the opera to sing — " Selva opaca," an air which then belonged to the concert-room repertory of most florid sopranos. When Signorina Drog came upon the stage, it is safe to say that no one regretted her sub- stitution for the English singer except herself. She was an exceedingly handsome person, who moved about with attractive freedom and grace, and disclosed a voice of good quality, especially in the upper register. . She began her aria most tastefully, but scarcely had she begun when her memory played her false. For a few dreadful seconds she tried to pick up the thread of the melody but in vain. Then came the inevitable breakdown. She quit trying, and appealed pitifully to Signer Mancinelli for help. He seemed to have lost his head as completely as the lady had her memory. So had the prompter, who pulled his noddle into his shell like a snail and remained as mute. Signor Tamagno entered in character, and indulged in dumbshow to a few detached phrases from the orchestra. Then the awfulness of the situation overwhelmed him, and he fairly ran off the stage, leaving Matilda alone. That lady made a final appeal to the conductor, switched her dress ner- vously with her riding whip, went to the wings, got a glass of water, and then disappeared. The audience, which had good-humoredly applauded till now, began to laugh, and the demoralization was complete. It would have been a relief had the curtain fallen, but as this did not happen Signor Tamagno, Signor Ancona, and fidouard de Reszke came upon the stage and began the famous trio, in which Signor Tamagno sang with tremendous intensity and power. It was a remarkable performance of a sensational piece, and had it not been preceded by so frightful a catastrophe, and interrupted by Tamagno himself to bow his acknowl- edgments, pick up a bunch of violets thrown from a box, and repeat his first melody, its effect would have been dramatically electrifying. There was a long wait after the act to enable Signor Mancinelli to arrange the necessary AN ARTHURIAN OPERA 243 cuts, and after the stage manager had made an apology on behalf of Signorina Drog, and explained that she had been seized with vertigo, but would finish the opera in an ab- breviated form, the representation was resumed. It is due to the lady to add that she had never before attempted to sing the part, and that on the third evening she materially redeemed herself in " Aida." Miss de Lussan, a native of New York, who had begun her operatic career a few years before in the Boston Ideal Opera Company, and had won a commendable dfegree of favor at Covent Garden as Car- men, had been engaged in the hope of continuing the pros- perous career of Bizet's opera, but the hope proved abort- ive. It was the singer, not the song, which had bewitched the people of New York — Calve, not Bizet. " Carmen " was excellently given, the charm of Melba's voice being called on for the music of Micaela's part ; but the sensation had departed, and was waiting to be revived with the re- turn of Calve in the succeeding season. The first novelty in this season was " Elaine," an opera in four acts, words by Paul Ferrier, music by Herman Bem- berg, brought forward on December 17, 1894. " Elaine " was produced because Mme. Melba and the brothers de Reszke wanted to appear in it out of friendship for the composer, who had dedicated the score to them, and come to New York to witness the production, as he had gone to London when it was given in Covent Garden. In America Bemberg was a small celebrity of the salon and concert room. His parents were citizens of the Argentine Repub- lic, but he was born in Paris, in 1861. His father being a man of wealth, he had ample opportunity to cultivate his talents, and his first teachers in composition were Bizet and Henri Marechal. Later he continued his studies at the Conservatoire, under Dubois and Massenet. In 1885 he carried off the Rossini prize, and in 1889 brought out a one-act opera at the Opera Comique, " Le Baiser de Suzon," for which Pierre Barbier wrote the words. " Elaine " had 344 BEMBERG'S " ELAINE " its first performance at Convent Garden in July, 1892, with Mme. Melba, Jean and Edouard de Reszke, and M. Plan- ■9on in the cast. It was then withdrawn for revision, and restored to the stage the next year. If there is anything creditable in such a thing it may be said, to Mr. Bemberg's credit, that, so far as I know, he was the first musician who wrote music for Oscar Wilde's " Salome." The pub- lic, especially the people of the boxes, lent a gracious ear to the new opera, partly, no doubt, because of its subject, but more largely because of Mme. Melba, Mme. Mantelli, the brothers de Reszke, Plangon, and M. Castelmary, who were concerned in its production. All of Mr. Bemberg's music that had previously been heard in New York was of the lyrical order, and it seemed but natural that he was less successful in the developing of a dramatic situation than in hymning the emotions of one when he found it at hand. A ballad in the first act (" L'amour est pur comme la flamme"), the scene at the close ("L'air est leger"), a prayer in the third act (" Dieu de pitie"), and the duets which followed them are all cases in point. They mark the high tide of M. Bemberg's graceful melodic fancy, and exemplify his good taste and genuineness of feeling. It is not great music, but it is sincere to the extent of its depth. For the note of chivalry which ought to sound all through an Arthurian opera M. Bemberg has chosen no less a model than " Lohengrin " ; but his trumpets are feebler echoes of the original voice than his harmonies on several occasions, as, for instance, the entrance of Lancelot into the castle of Astolat. In general his instrumentation is discreet and effective. He has followed his French teachers in the treat- ment of the dialogue, which aims to be intensified speech. He has also trodden, though at a distance, in the footsteps of Bizet and Massenet in the device of using typical phrases ; but so timidly has this been done that it is doubtful if it was discovered by the audience. The resources of the opera house in reproducing the scenes of chivalric life were SYBIL SANDERSON'S Df BUT 245 commensurate with the music of the opera in its attempt to bring its spirit to the mind through the ear. It is more exciting to read of a tournament in Malory than to see a mimic one on the stage. It is true that there were men on horses who rode together three times, that a spear was broken, and that they afterward fought on foot; but they struck their spears together as if they had been singlesticks, instead of receiving each his opponent's weapon on his shield, and when the spear broke it was not all " toshiv- ered." Then, when they had drawn their swords, they did not " lash together like wild boars, thrusting and foin- ing and giving either other many sad strokes, so that it was marvel to see how they might endure," as the gentle Sir Thomas would doubtless have had them do. Still, the opera was enjoyed and applauded, as it deserved to be for the good things that were in it, and the Lily Maid had more lilies and roses and holly showered about her than she could easily pick up and carry away. Miss Sybil Sanderson, who had gone to Paris from the Pacific Slope some years before, and had achieved consid- erable of a vogue, particularly in Massenet's operas, made her American debut on January i6, 1895, in Massenet's " Manon," in which M. Jean de Reszke sang the part of the Chevalier des Grieux for the first time. The opera had been heard at the Academy of Music, in Italian, nine years before, and this was its first performance in the orig- inal French, a language which the fair debutante used with admirable distinctness and charmingly modulated cadences, a fact which contributed much to the pretty triumph which she celebrated after the first act. She did not maintain her- self on the plane reached in this act. The second had scarcely begun before it became noticeable that she was wanting in passionate expression as well as in voice, and that her histrionic limitations went hand in hand with her vocal. But she was a radiant vision, and had she been able to bring out the ingratiating character of the music she 346 FIRST PERFORMANCE OF VERDI'S "FALSTAFF" might have held the sympathies of the audience, obviously predisposed in her favor, in the degree contemplated by the composer. This quality of graciousness is the most notable element in Massenet's music. As much as anything can do so it achieves pardon for the book, which is far less amiable than that of " Traviata," which deals with the same unlovely theme. Another quasi novelty was Saint-Saens's " Samson et Dalila," which had one performance — and one only— -on February 8th to afford Mme. Mantelli an oppor- tunity to exhibit her musical powers, and Signor Tamagno his physical. The music was familiar from performances of the work as an oratorio ; as an opera it came as near to making a fiasco as a work containing so much good and sound music could. The most interesting event in the whole administration of Mr. Abbey and his associates happened on February 4th, when Verdi's " Falstaff " was presented. Signor Manci- nelli conducted, and the cast was as follows: Mistress Ford Mme. Emma Eames Anne Mile, de Lussan Mistress Page Mile. Jane de Vigne Dame Quickly Mme. Scalchi Fenton Sig. Russitano Ford Sig. Campanari Pistol Sig. Nicolini Dr. Caius Sig. Vanni Bardolph Sig. Rinaldini Sir John Falstaff M. Victor Maurel (His original creation.) To construct operas out of Shakespeare's plays has been an ambition of composers for nearly two centuries. Verdi himself yielded to the temptation when he wrote " Mac- beth " forty years ago. Probably no one recognized more clearly than he did when he wrote " Falstaff " how the whole system of lyrico-dramatic composition should under- go a transformation before anything like justice could be done to the myriad-minded poet's creations. Who would listen now to Rossini's " Otello " ? Yet, in its day, it was SHAKESPEARIAN OPERAS 247 immensely popular. A careless day it was — the day of pretty singing, and little else; the day when there was so little concern for the dramatic element in opera that the grew- some denouement of Rossini's opera is said once to have caused a listener to cry out in astonishment : " Great God ! the tenor is murdering the soprano ! " Then it might have been possible for a composer, provided he were a Mozart, to find a musical investment for a Shakespearian comedy, but assuredly not for a tragedy. No literary masterpiece was safe from the vandalism of opera writers at that time, however, and Shakespeare simply shared the fate of Goethe and their great fellows. With the dawn of the new era there came greater possibilities, and now it may be said we have a few Shakespearian operas that will endure for several decades at least : let us say Nicolai's " Merry Wives of Windsor," Gounod's " Romeo and Juliet," Verdi's " Otello " and " Falstaff ." Ambroise Thomas's " Hamlet " and Saint-Saens's " Henry VIH " seem already to have out- lived their brief day, at least in all countries save France, where the personal equation in favor of a native composer seems strong enough to keep second-class composers afloat while it permits genius to perish. As for Goetz's " Tam- ing of the Shrew," it was too much like good Rhine wine, and too little like champagne to pass as a comic opera. When Verdi's last opera appeared the only Falstaff who had vitality was the fat knight of Nicolai's opera. Yet he had had many predecessors. Balfe composed a " Falstaff " for the King's Theater in London, which was sung with the capacious-voiced Lablache in the titular part, and Grisi, Persiani, and Ivanoff in the cast. That was in 1838. Forty years earlier Salieri had composed an Italian " Falstaff " for Vienna. In 1856 Adolphe Adam produced a French "Falstaff" in Paris, and the antics of the greasy knight amused the Parisians eighty-six years earlier in Papavoine's " Le Vieux Coquet." Nicolai's predecessors in Germany were Peter Ritter, 1794, and Dittersdorf, 1796. 248 THE DEVELOPMENT OF VERDI Verdi's return to Shakespearian subjects after reaching the fulness of his powers in his old age, and after he had turned from operas to lyric dramas, is in the highest degree significant of the thoroughness of the revolution accom- plished by Wagner. The production of " Otello " and " Fal- staff " created as great an excitement in Italy as the first performance of " Parsifal " did in Germany ; and it must have seemed like the irony of fate to many that Wagner should have to be filtered through Verdi in order to bear fruit in the original home of the art form. But that is surely the lesson of " Otello," " Falstaff," and the fervid works of Leoncavallo, Mascagni, and Puccini. Even more strikingly than " Otello " this comic opera of the youthful octogenarian discloses the importance which Boito had assumed in the development of Verdi. That de- velopment is one of the miracles of music. In manner Verdi represents a full century of operatic writing. He began when, in Italy at least, the libretto was a mere stalk- ing horse on which arias might be hung. All that he did besides furnishing vehicles for airs was to provide a motive for the scene painter and the costumer. Later we see the growth of dramatic characterization in his en- sembles, and the development of strongly marked and in- geniously differentiated moods in his arias without depar- ture from ye old-fashioned forms. In this element lay much of the compelling force of his melodies, even those com- monplace ones which were pricked for the barrel organ al- most before the palms were cool which first applauded them — like " Di quella pira " and " La donna e mobile." Then set in the period of reflection. The darhng of the public began to think more of his art and less of his popu- larity. Less impetuous, less fecund, perhaps, in melodic invention, he began to study how to wed dramatic situa- tions and music. This led him to enrich his harmonies, and to refine his instrumentation, which in his earlier works is frequently coarse and vulgar in the extreme. At this VERDI AND WAGNER 249' Stage he gave us " La Forza del Destine " and " Aida." Now the hack writers of opera books would no longer suffice him. He had already shown high appreciation of the virtue which lies in a good book when he chose Ghis- lanzoni to versify the Egyptian story of " Aida." But the final step necessary to complete his wonderfully pro- gressive march was taken when he associated himself with Boito. Here was a man who united in himself in a credit- able degree the qualifications which Wagner demanded for his "Artist of the Future"; he was poet, dramatist, and musician. No one who has studied " Otello " can fail to see that Verdi owes much in it to the composer of " Mefisto- f ele " ; but the indebtedness is even greater in " Falstaff," where the last vestige of the old subserviency of the text ta the music has disappeared. From the first to the last the play is now the dominant factor. There are no " num- bers " in " Falstaff " ; there can be no repetition of a por- tion of the music without interruption and dislocation of the action. One might as well ask Hamlet to repeat his soliloquy on suicide as to ask one of the characters in " Fal- staff " to sing again a single measure once sung. The play- moves almost with the rapidity of the spoken comedy. Only once or twice does one feel that there is an un- necessary eddy in the current. And how has this play been set to music? It has been plunged into a perfect sea of melodic champagne. All the dialogue, crisp and sparkling, full of humor in itself, is made crisper, more sparkling, more amusing by the music on which, and in which, it floats, we are almost tempted to say more buoyantly than comedy dialogue has floated since Mozart wrote " Le Nozze di Figaro." The orchestra is bearer of everything, just as completely as it is in the lat- ter-day dramas of Richard Wagner ; it supplies phrases for the singers, supports their voices, comments on their ut- terances, and gives dramatic color to even the most fleet- ing idea. It is a marvelous delineator of things external 2SO VERDI'S ORCHESTRATION as well as internal. It swells the bulk of the fat knight un- til he sounds as if he weighed a ton, and gives such piquancy to the spirits of the merry women (Mrs. Quickly monopolizing the importance due to Mrs. Page), that one cannot see them come on the stage without a throb of delight. In spite of the tremendous strides which the art of instrumentation has made since Berlioz mixed the modern orchestral colors, Verdi has in " Falstaff " added to the variegated palette. Yet all is done so discreetly, with such utter lack of effect-seeking, that it seems as if the art had always been known. The flood upon which the vocal melody floats is not like that of Wagner; it is not a development of fixed phrases, though Verdi, too, knows the use of leading motives in a sense, but a current which is ever receiving new waters. The declamation is managed with extraordinary skill, and though it frequently grows out of the instrumental part, it has yet independent melodic value as the vocal parts of Wagner's " Die Meistersinger " have. Through this Verdi has acquired a comic potentiality for his voice parts which goes hand in hand with that of his instrumental parts. But Verdi is not only dramatically true and melodious in his vocal parts, he is even, when occasion offers, most simple and ingenuous. There is an amazing amount of the Mozartian spirit in " Falstaff," and once we seem even to recognize the simple graciousness of pre-Gluckian days. Thus the dainty fancy and idyllic feeling which opens the scene in Windsor Forest, with its suggestion of fays and fairies and moonlight (a scene, by the way, for which Verdi has found entrancing tones, yet without reaching the lovely grace of Nicolai), owes much of its beauty to a minuet measure quite in the manner of the olden time, but which is, after all, only an accompaniment to the declama- tion which it sweetens. The finales of " Falstaff " have been built up with all of Verdi's oldtime skill, and sometimes sound like Mozart rubbed through the Wagnerian sieve. AN OPERATIC FUGUE 251 Finally, to cap the climax, he writes a fugue. A fugue to wind up a comic opera! A fugue — ^the highest exempli- fication of oldtime artificiality in music! A difficult fugue to sing, yet it runs out as smoothly as the conventional tag of Shakespeare's own day, whose place, indeed, it takes. It is a tag suggested by "All the world's a stage," and though it is a fugue, it bubbles over with humor. CHAPTER XVIII UPRISING IN FAVOR OF GERMAN OPERA THE PUBLIC CLAMOR FOR GERMAN OPFBA— OSCAR HAMMER- STEIN AND HIS FIRST MANHATTAN OPERA HOUSE— RIVALRY BETWEEN ANTON SEIDL AND WALTER DAMROSCH— THE LATTER'S CAREER AS MANAGER— WAGNER TRIUMPHANT- GERMAN OPERA RESTORED AT THE METROPOLITAN— " THE SCARLET LETTER " — " MATASWINTHA " — " HANSEL UND GRETEL " IN ENGLISH— JEAN DE RESZKE AND HIS INFLUENCE — MAPLESON FOR THE LAST TIME— " ANDREA CHENIER "— MADAME MELBA'S DISASTROUS ESSAY WITH WAGNER— " LE CID "—METROPOLITAN PERFORMANCES 1893-1897 In marshaling, in the preceding chapter, the chief inci- dents of the period with which I am now concerned I set down the restoration of German performances at the Met- ropolitan Opera House as the most significant. There was a Strong influence within the company working to that end in the person of M. Jean de Reszke, who, though the organization was not adapted to such a purpose, neverthe- less strove energetically to bring about a representation of " Tristan und Isolde " in the supplementary spring season of 1895. Through him " Die Meistersinger " in an Italian garb had been incorporated into the repertory, and he was more than eager not only that it and the popular operas " Tannhauser " and " Lohengrin " should recover their original estate as German works, but that he might gratify a noble ambition and demonstrate how the tragic style of " Tristan " could be consorted with artistic singing. He achieved that purpose in the season of 1895-96, and set an example that will long be memorable in the annals of the Wagnerian drama in America. But the force which com- pelled the reform was an external one. It came from the 252 THE FIRST MANHATTAN OPERA HOUSE 2S3 public. To the people, as they spoke through the box office, Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau were always readier to give an ear than the stockholders or the self-constituted cham- pions of Italian opera in the public press. There had been talk of a rival German institution when Mr. Abbey restored the Italian regime in 1891 ; but it was wisely discouraged by the more astute friends of the Ger- man art, who felt that the influence of seven years would bear fruit in time, and who placed the principles of that art above the language in which they were made manifest. The interregnum following the fire had led Mr. Oscar Hammerstein to enter the field as an impresario on a more ambitious scale than ordinary, and on January 24, 1893, he opened a Manhattan Opera House with a representation in English of Moszkowski's " Boabdil." The " season " lasted only two weeks, and the opera house has long since been forgotten. It stood in the same street as the present Manhattan Opera House, and its site is part of that cov- ered by Macy's gigantic mercantile establishment. Though he had no opposition, Mr. Hammerstein showed little of that pluck and persistence which have distinguished him during the two seasons in which he has conducted a rival establishment to the Metropolitan Opera House. After two weeks, within which he produced " Boabdil," " Fi- delio," and some light-waisted spectacular things, he turned his theater over to Koster & Bial, who ran it as a vaudeville house until the end of its short career. There were Eng- lish performances of the customary loose-jointed kind in the summer at the Grand Opera House, the first series of which, beginning in May, 1893, derived some dignity from the fact that it was under the management of Mr. Stanton, who had conducted the Metropolitan Opera House for the stockholders during the German seasons; and in November the Dufif Opera Company anticipated Mr. Abbey's forces by bringing out Gounod's " Philemon et Baucis " in an English version. 2S4 RIVALRY OF SEIDL AND DAMROSCH These things, however, contained no portents for the future of opera in New York; they were the familiar phe- nomena which flit by in the metropolis's dead seasons. Pregnant incidents came in the midst of the regular season. It chanced that Mme. Materna, Anton Schott, Emil Fischer, and Conrad Behrens, who had been identified with the earlier German seasons, were in New York in February, 1894, and taking advantage of that fact Mr. Walter Dam- rosch arranged two performances of "Die Walkiire," in the Carnegie Music Hall, for the benefit of local charities. They were slipshod affairs, with makeshift scenery and a stage not at all adapted for theatrical performances; but the public rose at them, as the phrase goes, and Mr. Dam- rosch felt emboldened to give a representation of " Gotter- dammerung," with the same principals at the Metropolitan Opera House, on March 28th. Again there was an ex- traordinary exhibition of popular interest which the Ger- man Press Club turned to good account by improvising a performance of " Tannhauser " for its annual benefit on April 9. Soon there was a great stir in the German camp, but united action was hindered by the rivalry between Mr. Damrosch and Mr. Seidl. The supplementary season at the Metropolitan ended on April 27th, and under date of April 28th there appeared a circular letter, signed indi- vidually by friends of Mr. Seidl, soliciting subscriptions for a season of German opera in 1904-05. The plan contem- plated forty performances between November and May, on dates which were not to conflict with the regular perform- ances of Italian and French opera. At the same time an- nouncement was made of the organization of a Wagner Society, whose purpose it was to support a season of Wag- ner's operas at the Metropolitan Opera House, beginning on November 19, 1894, and continuing for four weeks — twelve evening performances and four matinees, the com- pany to include " the greatest Wagnerian singers from Bay- reuth and other German opera houses." Personal friends JEAN DE RESKE AS TRISTAN WALTER DAMROSCH BECOMES A MANAGER 2SS of the two conductors attempted to unite the rival enter- prises, and a conference was held at the office of William Steinway. The attempt failed because Messrs. Seidl and Damrosch could not agree on a division of the artistic labors and credits. Mr. Seidl withdrew from the negotiations. In less than a week Mr. Damrosch announced that he had secured subscriptions for his season amounting to $12,000, and also a guarantee against loss of $10,000 more. On May loth he sailed for Europe to engage his company. When he returned in the fall he announced a season of twelve evenings and four afternoon performances, to be devoted wholly to Wagner's operas and dramas, to begin on February 25, 1895. The prices ranged from $4 for orchestra stalls to $1 for seats in the gallery. In his com- pany were Rosa Sucher, Johanna Gadski, Elsa Kutscherra, Marie Brema, Max Alvary, Nicolaus Rothmtihl, Paul Lange, Franz Schwarz, and Rudolph Oberhauser, besides Emil Fischer and Conrad Behrens, who had been identified with the earlier German regime. Adolf Baumann, of the Ro3ral opera at Prague, was engaged as stage manager, but lost his life in the wreck of the North German Lloyd steam- ship Elbe on the voyage hitherward. The season began, as advertised, on February 25th and ended on March 23d, the sixteen performances receiving an additional representation to enable Max Alvary to effect his one hundredth performance of Siegfried in the drama of that name in the city where he " created " it, as the French say. There were also an additional performance of " Lohengrin " and three extra performances at reduced prices after the subscription. The whole affair was Mr. Damrosch's own venture, he being at once manager, artistic director, and conductor, but, as I have intimated, he had the backing of an organization called the Wagner Society, which was chiefly composed of women. The season came hard on the heels of the Italian and French season. Mr. Damrosch's leading singers were familiar with Wagner's 2S6 PRESENTIMENT OR FATALITY works, but practically he had to build up his institution from the foundation and to do it within an incredibly short time. With such rapid work we are familiar in America, but in Germany to have suggested such an undertaking as the organization of a company, the preparation of a theater, and the mounting, rehearsing, and performing of seven of the most difficult and cumbersome works in the repertory of the lyric drama within the space of five or six weeks would have been to have invited an inquest de lunatico. I do not wish to be understood as mentioning these things wholly in the way of praise — the results from an artistic point of view disclosed much too often that they were blameworthy — ^but what credit they reflect upon the tre- mendous energy, enterprise, and will power of Mr. Dam- rosch must be given ungrudgingly and enthusiastically. Plainly he was inspired with a strength of conviction quite out of the ordinary line of that spirit of theatrical specula- tion upon which we have so often depended for the large undertakings in music. It was a belief based on something like religious zeal, and under the circumstances what he did was an even more remarkable feat than that accom- plished by his father in 1884. I sometimes thought at the time that he was driven into the enterprise more by im- pulse than by reason, and the fact that he occasionally had the same sort of a notion is evidenced by a letter which I received from him in response to one of mine to him near the close of the season. " Thanks for your congratulations on the financial success so far," wrote the young manager. " I shall breathe more freely after the next four weeks are over. The responsibility has been a heavy one, and it is curious that no one seemed to share my almost fatalistic belief in Wagner opera. Neither Abbey & Grau, nor Seidl, nor anyone was willing to touch it, and I was finally driven into it myself by an irresistible impulse which, so far, seems to have led me right. I am glad now, for many reasons, that events have so shaped themselves, and I think WALTER DAMROSCH Impresario and Conductor who was largely instrumental in restoring German 0]5era AN AMAZING TRIUMPH 257 that the season will be productive of much good for the future. A curious and interesting fact in connection with the performances has been that the public came to hear the operas, and not the singers." And such a success! Not only far in advance of what the fondest Wagnerites had dared to hope for as a tribute to their master's art, but one which compelled them to rub their eyes in amazement and grope and stare in a search for causes. Twenty-one times in succession was the vast audience room crowded, and when the time was come for striking the balance on the subscription season there was talk, only a little fantastic if at all, of receipts aggregating $150,000, or nearly $9,000 a performance. I should like to keep the thought of this unparalleled financial success separate from that of the artistic results attained. Between the financial and artistic achievements there was a wide disparity; but that fact only sufficed to emphasize the ob- vious lesson of the season, namely, the vast desire which the people of New York felt again to enjoy Wagner's dramas. Fortunately I can make a record of the capaciousness of that hunger without necessarily lauding its intelligence and discrimination. Great indeed must have been the hunger which could not be perverted by the vast deal of slipshod work in the scenic department of the representations, and the vaster deal of bungling and makeshift in the stage management. Many an affront was given to the taste and intelligence of the audiences, and dreadful was the choral cacophony which filled some of the evenings. Yet the peo- ple came ; they came, as Mr. Damrosch observed in his let- ter, to hear the dramas instead of the singers, and though " Lohengrin " had been beautifully performed in the Italian season by artists like Nordica, Jean and fidouard de Reszke, and Maurel in the cast, the public crowded into the German representation as if expecting a special revelation from Fraulein Gadski, a novice, and Herr Rothmiihl, a second- rate tenor. Of all the singers only Miss Marie Brema, a 2S8 GERMAN OPERA AGAIN AT THE METROPOLITAN newcomer, and the veteran, Emil Fischer, were entirely satisfactory. For the beautiful dramatic art of Frau Sucher and for her loveliness of person and pose there was much hearty admiration, but this could not close the ears of her listeners to the fact that her voice had lost its fresh- ness. The subscription repertory, including the Alvary anniversary, was as follows: "Tristan und Isolde," three times ; " Siegfried," four times ; " Lohengrin," twice ; " Gotterdammerung," twice ; " Tannhauser," twice ; " Die Walkiire," twice, and "Die Meistersinger," twice. In a letter recently received from Mr. Damrosch he says : " My first spring season of thirteen weeks in New York, Chi- cago, Boston, and a few Western cities gave a profit of about $53,000, leaving me with a large stock of Vienna- made scenery, costumes, and properties." Mr. Damrosch had won the first battle of his campaign and taught a lesson of lasting value to his old and experi- enced rivals. Warned by the success of his experiment and stimulated by a petition signed by about two thousand per- sons asking that German representations under Mr. SeidI be included in the Metropolitan scheme, Messrs. Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau made German opera a factor in the next season; but they did so in a half-hearted way, which de- feated its purposes and brought punishment instead of re- ward. Nevertheless, German opera had returned to the Metropolitan to stay, and henceforth will call for attention along with the Italian and French performances in this his- tory. Meanwhile, since I have begun it, let me finish the tale of the impresarioship of Mr. Damrosch. Flushed with victory, the young manager prepared a five months' campaign for the year 1896, and sought for new worlds to conquer. Philadelphia, in which city he began operations on February 20th, treated him shabbily, but he did fairly well in New York and other cities in the East and West. Unfortunately for him, he made an in- vasion of the South, which was not ripe for serious opera. Copyrit^ht by A, I'u[iiirit JOHANNA GADSKI AS EVA IN "DIE MEISTERSINGER' A TRUCE BETWEEN MANAGERS 2S9 either financially or artistically. A performance in one city of that section which cost him over $3,000 brought him exactly $220. The diflference between the sums was what Mr. Damrosch paid to learn that knowledge and love of Wagner's operas had not penetrated far into Tennessee. Experience is always purchased at large cost in the operatic field. Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau refused Mr. Dam- rosch the use of the Metropolitan Opera House for his second New York season, and he was driven to the old, socially discredited Academy of Music. They did not look with favoring eyes upon an enterprise which had achieved so tremendous a triumph at its very start, and they provided a large percentage of the wormwood which filled the cup which Mr. Damrosch drank in 1896; but they embittered their own goblet by the procedure, and when the time came for laying out the campaign of 1896-97 they were quite as ready as Mr. Damrosch to sign a treaty of peace whose provisions promised to make for the good of both sides in- stead of the injury of either. The rivals agreed to keep out of each other's way as much as possible and even to help each other by an occasional exchange of singers. By this means it was purposed to widen the repertories of both companies, Mr. Damrosch providing the Metropolitan es- tablishment with a Briinnhilde and an Isolde for Jean de Reszke's Siegmund, Siegfried, and Tristan, and the Metro- politan company lending him in return Melba, Eames, and Calve, or others, to enable him to perform some of the Italian and French operas which he had included in his list. Mr. Damrosch yielded Chicago to his rivals and took Phila- delphia in exchange. It was a wise compromise. Mr, Damrosch lost $40,000 in 1896; he made $14,000 in 1897, The next year, the Metropolitan Opera House being closed during the regular subscription period, as will appear later in this record, Mr. Damrosch entered into partnership with Charles A. Ellis, manager of the Boston Symphony Or- chestra, who had undertaken the management also of Mme, 36o KLAFSKY AND ANOTHER BROKEN CONTRACT Melba's American affairs, and Italian and French operas were added to the German repertory. The regular sea- son showed a good profit, most of which, however, was frittered away in a spring tour made by Melba with a por- tion of the company. By this time Mr. Damrosch had concluded that he was too good a man and musician to surrender himself to the hateful business of managing a traveling opera company, and he withdrew from the part- nership with Ellis, to whom he sold all his theatrical prop- erties, and returned to concert work and composition, though for two weeks in the next season he was conductor of Mr. Ellis's company. And now to some of the details of the artistic work of these Damroschian enterprises. The year 1896 was sig- nalized by the appearance in America of two singers who rapidly achieved first-class importance. These were Kath- erina Klafsky and Milka Ternina. Mme. Klafsky was the wife of Herr Lohse, whom Mr. Damrosch also engaged as assistant conductor. She came here under a cloud, so far as the managerial ethics of Germany were concerned. How much respect those ethics were entitled to may be judged from the story. I have already said, in discussing the case of Mme. Lehmann and her violation of contract with the Opera at Berlin, that a speedy result of the success of Ger- man opera under Mr. Stanton was a change of attitude on the part of the Intendanten of German theaters toward the New York institution so soon as it was found that a hand- some proportion of the American earnings might be di- verted into the pockets of those Intendanten or the man- agers of municipal theaters. When Mr. Damrosch en- gaged his second company Mme. Klafsky was a member of ■the Municipal Theater in Hamburg, of which Pollini was director. When the offer of an American engagement came to her she consulted with Herr Pollini, who gra- ciously gave his consent to her acceptance of it on condi- tion that she pay him one-half of her earnings. She re- Copyright by Airne Dupont. From Koljbt's "Opera Singers " EMMA EAMES AS ELSA IN "LOHENGRIN' DAMROSCH'S SINGERS AND OPERAS 261 fused to agree to do this, and, fearing that Pollini would invoke the aid of the courts to restrain her from coming to New York, she took French leave of Germany more than two months before she was needed here. Her success in America was emphatic, and after she had effected a recon- ciliation with Pollini she was re-engaged by Mr, Damrosch to alternate with Mme. Lehmann in the season of 1896-97. Within a fortnight of the re-engagement she died in Ham- burg from a trephining operation undertaken to relieve her from the results of an injury to her skull, received while in America. Mme. Klafsky and Mr. Alvary had sung in " Tristan und Isolde," with which Mr. Damrosch began his campaign in Philadelphia on February 20th. Her success was in- stantaneous, and her tremendous dramatic forcefulness, the natural expression of an exuberant temperament, placed her higher in public favor during the season than Mme. Ter- nina, whose refined and ingratiating art did not receive full appreciation till later. Other members of the Damrosch troupe of 1896 were Wilhelm Griining, tenor, and Demeter Popovici, bass, beside Gadski, Fischer, Alvary, and other persons already known, but of smaller importance. The New York season began a:t the Academy of Music on March 2d and ended on March 28th. The operas were " Fidelio," " Lohengrin," " Siegfried," " Tannhauser," " Die Meistersinger," " Die Walkure," " Der Freischiitz," and (in the original English) Mr. Damrosch's " The Scarlet Letter." This opera had its first performance in New York on March 6. Its libretto was written by George Par- sons Lathrop, a son-in-law of Hawthorne, who wrote the romance on which it was based. The cast included Jo- hanna Gadski as Hester Prynne, Barron Berthald as Arthur Dimmesdale, Conrad Behrens as Governor Belling- ham, Gerhard Stehmann as the Rev. John Wilson, and William Mertens as Roger Chillingworth. The greater part of the music had been performed at concerts of the 262 "THE SCARLET LETTER" Oratorio Society on January 4 and 5, 1895. The book of the opera proved to be undramatic in the extreme, a defect which was emphasized by the execrable pronunciation of nearly all the singers at the performance on the stage at the Academy. In the music Mr. Damrosch essayed the style of Wagner, and did it so well, indeed, as to deserve hearty admiration. He was helped, it is true, by factors frankly and copiously copied from the pages of his great model. The nixies of the Rhine peeped out of the sun- flecked coverts in the forest around Hester Prynne's hut, as if they had become dryads for her sake ; ever and anon the sinister Hunding was heard muttering in the ear of Chillingworth, and Hester wore the badge of her shame on the robes of Elsa, washed in innocency. But such things are venial in a first work. In frankly confessing his model (for it cannot be thought for a moment that Mr. Damrosch expected his imitations to be overlooked) he illustrated a rule which applies to all composers at the outset of their careers. The fact must be noted, but it is much more to the purpose that the young composer blended the elements of his composition with a freedom and daring quite aston- ishing in its exhibitions of mastery. There is no sign of doubt or timorousness anywhere in the work, though the moments are not infrequent when the utterance is more fluent than significant. The typical phrases which he chose to symbolize the persons and passions of the play are most of them deficient in plasticity, and nearly all of them lack that expressiveness which Wagner knew so well how to impress upon his melodic elements; the greater, therefore, was the surprise that Mr. Damrosch was able to weave them together in a fabric which moved steadily forward for more than an hour, and reflected more or less truthfully and vividly the feeling of the dramatic situations. Unfortu- nately there is little variety in this feeling, so that in spite of Mr. Damrosch's effort, or, perhaps, because of it, there is a deal of monotony in the music of .the first act. There AMERICAN OPERAS AND SUBJECTS 263 is a fine ingenuity of orchestration throughout, however, and an amount of daring in harmonization which sometimes oversteps the limits of discretion. In an agonizing scene between Chillingworth and Hester at the close of the first act the orchestra and the two chief personages are wholly engrossed with an exposition of the dramatic feeling of the moment, while the chorus (supposed to be worshiping in the neighboring meeting-house) sing the "Old Hun- dredth " in unison and without instrumental support. It is an admirable historical touch, and the device is the ap- proved one of using the psalm tune as a cantus firmus to the remainder of the music; but Mr. Damrosch's harmo- nization of the ensemble is such that we seem to hear two distinct and unsympathetic keys. There was, after the second act, a scene upon the stage in honor of Mr. Dam- rosch, in which, after several large wreaths had been be- stowed upon him, a representative of the Wagner Society came forward, and on behalf of that body presented him with a handsome copy of Hawthorne's story and the incor- rect statement that the honor was paid to him as the first American who had composed a grand opera on an Amer- ican theme which had been publicly produced. In this there were as many errors of statement as in the famous French Academician's description of a lobster. George F. Bristow's " Rip Van Winkle " was composed by a native American and was brought out at Niblo's garden long before Mr. Damrosch was born in Breslau; while Mr. Maretzek, a foreign-bom American, like Mr. Damrosch, brought out under his own direction and with continued success an opera entitled " La Spia," based on Cooper's novel. This merely in the interest of the verities of history. The German season of 1907, a part of whose story I have already told, began at the Metropolitan Opera House on March 8th and lasted four weeks. It added no novelty to the local list, but had some interesting features, among them a serial performance of the dramas of Wagner's 264 SCHARWENKA'S "MATASWINTHA" "Ring of the Nibelung," the first appearance of Mme. Nordica in the Briinnhilde of " Siegfried " on March 24th, and the joint appearance of Mmes. Lehmann and Nordica in " Lohengrin," the German singer, true to her dramatic instincts, choosing the part of Ortrud. On April ist Xavier Scharwenka, who had taken a residence with his brother Philip in New York, borrowed the company from Mr. Damrosch and on his own responsibility gave a per- formance of his opera, entitled " Mataswintha." The opera was produced under difficulties. It had withstood its bap- tism of fire in Weimar seven months before, and Mr. Scharwenka had performed portions of it at a concert for the purpose of introducing himself to the people of New York. But the singers had to learn their parts from the beginning, there was a great deal of pageantry which had to be supplied from the stock furniture of the Metropolitan stage, the tenor Ernst Kraus took ill and caused a postpone- ment, and even thus the chapter of accidents was not ex- hausted. When the performance finally took place Herr Stehmann, a barytone, had to sing Herr Kraus's part, which he had learned in two days. Under the circumstances it may be the course of wisdom to avoid an estimation of the opera's merits and defects and to record merely that it proved to be an extremely interesting work and well worth the trouble spent upon its production. Under different cir- cumstances it might have lived the allotted time upon the stage, which, as the knowing know, is a very brief one in the majority of cases. The story of the opera was drawn from Felix Dahn's historical novel " Ein Kampf um Rom." It is high time to get back again to the story of opera at the Metropolitan Opera House under the direction of the lessees; but before then chronological orderliness requires that attention be paid to an incident outside the category of prime importance. This was the first production in New York of Humperdinck's delightful fairy opera " Hansel und Gretel " at Daly's Theater on October 8, 1895. The "HANSEL UND GRETEL" IN ENGLISH 265 production was in English. The venture looked promising, and great interest was felt in it. Mr. Seidl was charged with the musical direction. A company of singers was brought together, partly from London, partly enlisted here. Sir Augustus Harris, director of the opera at Covent Gar- den, was the financial backer of the enterprise. As numer- ous an orchestra as the score calls for could not be accom- modated in the theater, but Mr. Seidl did the best he could, and the band was commendable. Three of the singers. Miss Jeanne Douste, Miss Louise Meisslinger, and Mr. Jacques Bars, disclosed ample abilities; but the English manager had no knowledge either of the needs of the opera or the demands of the New York public; Sir Au- gustus's speech on the opening night, indeed, disclosed ig- norance also of the name of the composer and the history of the work which he had clothed with considerable sump- tuousness. It was long remembered with amusement that to him Herr Humperdinck was " Mr. Humperdinckel " and the opera some "beautiful music composed for this occa- sion." And so great expectations were disappointed, and, after worrying along from October 8th to November 15th, the opera was withdrawn with a record of failure, not deserved by the work and only partly deserved by the per- formance. We shall meet the opera again in the story of opera at the Metropolitan Opera House a decade later, when it came into its rights, and the public were able to testify their admiration in the presence of the composer. The prospectus of Henry E. Abbey and Maurice Grau (which continued to be the official style of the managers) for the season 1895-96, contained this announcement : " The management has also decided to add a number of celebrated German artists and to present Wagner operas in the Ger- man language, all of which operas will be given with superior singers, equal to any who have ever been heard in the German language. The orchestra will be increased. . . , The chorus will be strengthened by a number of 266 THE SEASON 189S-1896 young, fresh voices, to which will be added an extra Ger- man chorus." Signor Mancinelli was not re-engaged as conductor, but Anton Seidl was. After what I have told thus far in this chapter the causes which led to this change of policy will be readily understood. The augmented com- pany was a formidable host, though its strength remained in the French and Italian contingent. Had the German singers been equally capable, the story of Mr. Damrosch's enterprise might have read differently. Mme. Calve re- turned and revived the furor over " Carmen " ; Mesdames Melba, Nordica, Scalchi, Mantelli, and Messrs. Jean and fidouard de Reszke, Pol Plangon, Victor Maurel, and Cas- telmary remained; newcomers were Lola Beeth, Frances Saville, Marie Brema (who had been brought from Europe by Mr. Damrosch), Giuseppe Cremonini, Adolph Wall- nofer, Giuseppe Kaschmann (who had been a member of Mr. Abbey's first company twelve years before), and Mario Ancona. The regular subscription season consisted of thirteen weeks (fifty-two performances), beginning on November i8th, and there was a special subscription, at the same scale of prices, for a season of ten performances of German operas, beginning on December 5th. There were also performances at popular prices on Saturday even- ings, and the entire season, excluding the spring season, which developed but little interest, compassed seventy-four representations. For these and thirteen Sunday night con- certs the public paid about $575,000. " Oh ! how far are we from Covent Garden ! " cried Jean de Reszke on the night of November 27th, and he clipped in his arms the friend who had come to oifer his congratu- lations to the thunderous plaudits of the audience. M. de Reszke was in a fine glow of enthusiasm. He had sung and played Tristan and opened a new era in the style of Wagnerian performances in New York. A few days later, while the drinking horn was going from hand to hand at a medieval dinner given in honor of the principal interpreters THE INFLUENCE OF JEAN DE RESZKE 267 of Wagner's love drama (Mme. Nordica, Miss Brema, the brothers de Reszke, and Mr. Seidl), he responded to a toast, and in four languages, English, German, French, and Italian, celebrated the advent of what he called " interna- tional opera." Why he neglected to throw in a few Polish phrases for the benefit of his countryman Paderewski, who sat opposite him at table, his hosts could not make out, unless it was because he wanted his expressions of delight at the achievement and prospect to be understood by all his hearers. High hopes filled the hearts of all local lovers of the lyric drama at the period. The promises of Abbey and Grau had stimulated the kindliest, heartiest, cheeriest feel- ing on all hands. All bickerings between the adherents of the various schools were silenced by the promulgation of a policy which seemed as generous and public-spirited as it was liberal. Whenever it was practicable New York was to have performances which should respect not only the tongue, but also the spirit of the works chosen for repre- sentation. That M. de Reszke had been an active agent in the inauguration of the new regime was an open secret to his acquaintances, and he bore public testimony when he supplemented his impersonation of Tristan with a Ger- man Lohengrin. The significance of such an act, coupled with Mme. Nordica's support of him in both performances, seemed extraordinary even in the minds of those who were not inclined to attach much importance to the language used in performance, so long as the performance was im- bued with a becoming spirit of sincerity and a desire to make artistic purpose replace idle diversion. It looked as if through the example of these two artists, seconded by the liberality of the management, the people of New York were to take a long step forward in musical culture — a step toward the foundation of an institution which should en- dure and exemplify the esthetic, moral, and physical char- acter of the people of America. The expectations aroused by the announcement were 268 UNSATISFACTORY GERMAN PERFORMANCES woefully disappointed. There were nights of wondrous brilliancy and of extraordinary splendor in nearly every department. Some of the refulgence came from the new ambitions with which M. de Reszke and Mr. Seidl inspired the organization. The season had no prouder moments than those filled with the performances of " Tristan " and " Lohengrin " vouchsafed the subscribers to the regular subscription; but it had no deeper gloom than that which settled upon the subscribers to the special German season on most of the occasions set apart for them. The fate of " Fidelio " was utterly grievous ; two representations of " Tristan " filled their souls with indignation instead of gratitude ; there is no saintly intercession which could have won redemption for " Tannhauser." The performances of " Tristan " and of the Italian " Lohengrin " at which Nordica, Brema, and the brothers de Reszke sang were brilliantly successful, but in each case the regular perform- ance was made to precede that set apart for the German subscription. The circumstance would alone have sufficed to arouse suspicion that the management was at least willing to discriminate against the special Thursday nights, and the suspicion was wrought into conviction by the disparity between the performances of the two subscriptions. If it was the purpose of Abbey & Grau to put German opera on trial their method looked very unfair. " The drama for its own sake as an art work, and not for the sake of the singer " is a fundamental prin- ciple of German art, but it can only maintain its validity with the help of adequate performances. Saving the four singers who sang in Italian and French as well as German (Mme. Nordica, Miss Brema, and the brothers de Reszke), the German singers of 1895-96 were woefully inefficient, and the German season was an indubitable failure. I shall append a list of performances of the operas pre- sented in the seasons covered by this chapter and its prede- cessor, and its perusal will, I think, enforce even upon a Copjright, Ih'^S, by A. Diijiorit LILLIAN NORDICA AS ISOLDE A REPERTORY IN RHYME AND METER 269 careless reader the fact that, in spite of the shortcomings to which I have called attention, the administration of Abbey & Grau yet marked a gigantic step in the direction of dra- matic sanity and sense over the lists which prevailed in the period when this story began. In the consulship of Maple- son the repertory might have been turned into verse quite as dramatic as most of that of the opera books. Thus : " Favorita," " Puritani," " Lucia di Lammermoor," "Marta," "Linda di Chamouni," "La Traviata," "Trovatore"; " II Barbiere di Siviglia," " Roberto il Diavolo," "Don Pasquale," "Rigoletto," " Faust," " Gli Ugonotti," " Un Ballo," and so on for quantity. Of the old hurdy-gurdy list "Favorita," "Traviata," "Trovatore," "Lucia," and " Rigoletto " were given, but unitedly they had only ten representations, and most of them were on Saturday nights, when popular prices prevailed. Even though Melba sang in " Lucia," it had to be consorted at the last with " Caval- leria," which Mme. Calve made attractive. Against this fact we have the other that " Carmen " alone had a greater number of representations than the entire old-fashioned list, and that the operas which were most popular after it were " Tristan und Isolde," " Faust," and " Lohengrin." Of the ten German performances three were devoted to " Tristan," two to " Tannhauser," one to " Fidelio," two to "Lohengrin," and two to "Die Walkure." "Tristan," " Tannhauser," and " Lohengrin " were in the repertory of the regular subscription season. Only two unfamiliar works were brought forward — Bizet's " Pecheurs de Perles " (two acts only) and Massenet's " La Navarraise " ; but there was an interesting revival of Boito's " Mefisto- fele " after a lapse of twelve years, and a more than inter- esting revival of "Tristan und Isolde," with Mmes. Nor- dica and Brema and the brothers de Reszke in the principal 270 LAST APPEARANCE OF MAPLESON parts. Mme. Melba did not join the company until Decem- ber 27th ; she added Massenet's " Manon " to her reper- tory. Jean de Reszke increased the list of parts in which he was known by adding Tristan to it and the German Lohengrin. Mme. Nordica's new roles were Isolde, Venus in " Tannhauser," and Elsa in German. Miss Brema's operas were "Tristan," "Lohengrin," " Orfeo," " Aida," and "Die Walkiire," and, like Mme. Nordica, Mile. Lola Beeth and Signor Kaschmann, she sang in German as well as Italian. " La Navarraise " was brought forward for Mme. Calve on December 11, 1895; the two acts of "Les Pecheurs de Perles" at a matinee on January 11, 1896. Colonel Mapleson provided a prelude to the Metropolitan season of 1896-97 with a short season of Italian opera of the archaic sort at the Academy of Music. The doughty manager could no longer fly his old London colors, so he appeared as the sole director of " The New Imperial Opera Company." With two or three exceptions all his singers were strangers to the opera-goers of New York. Mme. Scalchi was again with him, and Signor de Anna; but the rest were newcomers. Among them were Mme. Hariclee- Darclee, Mme. Bonaplata-Bau, Susan Strong, and Mme. Giuseppina Huguet, sopranos ; Mme. Parsi, Mile. Ponzano, and Mme. Meysenheim, contraltos; Signori de Marchi, Randacio, Betti, Olivieri, and Durot, tenors; Signori Ughetto and Alberti, barytones, and Pinto, Terzi, Giordano, Borelli, and Dado, basses. The conductors, capable men both of them, were Signori Bimboni and Tango. Within a fortnight "Aida," " Trovatore," " Traviata," "Les Huguenots," " Sonnambula," and " Faust " had been sung and a new work brought out; This was " Andrea Chenier," by Illica and Giordano, which had its first performance in America on November 13, 1896, the cast being as follows : Andrea Chenier Durot Carlo Gerard Ughetto Maddalena di Coigny Bonaplata-Bau La Mulatta Bersi Meysenheim DECEIVING A REPORTER 271 La Contessa di Coigny Scalchi Madelon Parsi Roucher Dado II Romanziero Alberti Fouquier Tinville Mathieu Borellj Un Incredibile ) Giordano L Abate, poeta j Schmidt, Carceriere a San Lazzaro Terzi II Maestro di Casa Olivieri Dumas Pinto Tango conducted and the performance had a rude force- fulness quite in keeping with the character of the opera. Under better conditions " Andrea Chenier " would doubt- less have held its own for a respectable space in the local repertory. But the seeds of dissolution were germinating in the company even before the performances began, and Colonel Mapleson did not dare to appear long in rivalry with the Metropolitan when it opened its doors on Novem- ber i6th. In a week or so he went to Boston, where after one or two performances the orchestra went on strike and the Imperial Opera Company went to pieces. With it the last effort of the veteran manager. Mapleson had held out a promise of the likelihood that Giordano would come to New York to give personal superintendence to the pro- duction of his opera and carried his fiction to the extreme of telling a reporter of The Sun newspaper that the com- poser was in the city. Meeting the reporter in the Acad- emy of Music, I expressed my doubt touching the correct- ness of his information, whereupon he pointed out the gen- tleman whom Colonel Mapleson had introduced to him as the composer. It was Giordano, the barytone! After its introduction to America " Andrea Chenier " disappeared for nearly a dozen years, when, on March 27, 1908, it had a single performance at the Manhattan Opera House, so that Mme. Eva Tetrazzini, the wife of Cleofonte Campanini, who had retired from the stage, might help at a gala repre- sentation in honor of her husband. 272 MADAME NORDICA HAS A GRIEVANCE No season since the Metropolitan Opera House was opened was so full of vicissitudes as that of 1896-97. First came the death of Mme. Klafsky, who, under the reciprocal arrangement between Mr. Damrosch and Abbey & Grau, was to sing the chief Wagner roles with Jean de Reszke. This happened in September, and was followed by the death of Mr. Abbey (nominally the leader of the managing di- rectors, though from the beginning it was Mr. Grau who did the practical work of management) , and of Mr. William Steinway, who had formulated and carried through the plan of reorganization which relieved the firm of Abbey, SchoeflFel & Grau of its burden of indebtedness and trans- ferred it to the shoulders of the Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau Company (Ltd.). Just before the season began Mme. Nordica, who had won her way to a high place in the favor of the public, and whose absence from the company's roster was widely and sincerely deplored, came forward with a story charging her failure to secure a re-engagement to the intrigfues of Mme. Melba and M. Jean de Reszke. So far as the gentleman was concerned the story seemed improba- ble on its face, and long before the season was over Mme. Nordica was willing to admit publicly that she had been misinformed as to the facts in the case. It remained, how- ever, that Mme. Melba had reserved the exclusive right to herself to sing the role of Briinnhilde in Wagner's " Sieg- fried." It soon turned out that the failure to secure Mme. Nordica was to cost the management dear. Mme. Melba sang the part once, and so injured her voice that she had to retire for the season and cede the role to Mme. Litvinne (the Mile. Litvinof of Colonel Mapleson's company in 1885- 86), who up to that time had not succeeded in convincing the public that she was equal to so great a responsibility, although she had been engaged to sing the part of Isolde after Mme. Klafsk/s death and the failure of negotiations between Mr. Grau and Mme. Nordica. The manager's judgment was never at fault in these negotiations; he A SEASON'S UNFORTUNATE END 873 wanted to secure the services of Mme. Nordica, for he well knew their value, but the unhappy contract with Melba stood in his way, and Mme. Nordica was beyond his reach when the failure of Melba's voice and her departure for France on January 23d left the company crippled. Hap- pily the popularity which Mme. Calve's impersonation of Marguerite in Gounod's " Faust " had found restored that perennial work to its old position as one of the principal magnets of the season. Mme. De Vere-Sapio was engaged to make possible the production of such operas as " Ham- let," "Le Nozze di Figaro," and Massenet's " Le Cid." Then there fell a double blow: Mme. Fames went into a surgeon's hands and Mozart's scintillant comedy had to be withdrawn. It was to have been given on February loth. Flotow's " Martha " was substituted for it, and in the midst of the performance the representative of Tristan, M. Castelmary, fell on the stage, fatally stricken with heart disease. It would be pleasant to say that the facts thus detailed exhaust the story of the institution's misfortunes ; but they do not. I have already told of its financial outcome. Throughout the season a determined and wicked effort was made to injure the opera, and was helped along by columns of idle speculation and gossip in three or four newspapers. Without ground, so far as anybody could see, the notion was given publicity that there was grave doubt that opera would be given in the following year. The talk seemed wholly gratuitous, for if there were any signs of falling off in pop- ular interest so far as the opera was concerned or in the confidence and satisfaction of the stockholders of the opera house company so far as Mr. Grau's administration was concerned, it escaped the notice of experienced and inter- ested observers. The total attendance was larger than in the preceding season, and the interest displayed in the rep- resentations was fully as keen. But the newspaper gossips would have their way, and in the end turned out to be 274 MELBA SUCCUMBS TO WAGNER prophets, for there was no opera in 1897-98, for reasons which will have to be discussed in the next chapter. The season began on November i6th. The regular sub- scription was for thirteen weeks, three nights a week and Saturday afternoons. Extra subscription performances were thirteen Saturday nights and three Wednesday after- noon representations at popular prices and an extra week — three nights and a matinee — at subscription prices. There were, therefore, in all, seventy-two performances, at which twenty-four different operas were brought forward, as shown in the table which is to follow. There was a less elaborate organization than in the preceding season, but the average merit of the performances was higher, there being no ill-equipped German contingent to spoil the record. There were, however, quite as many German performances without the special singers and the extra subscription. In place of the latter, an attempt was made to give extra Wednesday matinees, but the experiment was abandoned after three weeks. The most sensational incident of the season was the collapse of Mme. Melba after her ill-advised effort to sing the music of Brunnhilde. To the loveliness of her devotion and the loftiness of her ambition honest tribute must be paid, but it must also be said that nature did not design her to be an interpreter of Wagner's tragic heroines. Her vocal and temperamental peculiarities put a bar to her sing- ing the Briinnhilde music. It did not lie well in her voice, and she was not then, and is not now, of the heroic mould, and her experience should have taught her that her voice would not admit of the expansion necessary to fit her for that mould. That the music wearied her was painfully evident long before the end of the one scene in which Briinnhilde takes part in " Siegfried." Never did her voice have the lovely quality which had always characterized it in the music of Donizetti and Gounod. It lost in euphony in the broadly sustained and sweeping phrases of Wagner, MASSENET'S "LE CID" 275 and the difference in power and expressiveness between its higher and lower registers was made pitifully obvious. The music, moreover, exhausted her. She plunged into her apostrophe with most self-sacrificing vigor at the begin- ning of the scene, and was prodigal in the use of her voice in its early moments ; but when the culmination of its pas- sion was reached, in what would be called the stretto of the piece in the old nomenclature, she could not respond to its increased demands. It was an anti-climax. Wagner's music is like jealousy ; it makes the meat it feeds on if one be but filled with its dramatic fervor. Recall what I have related of Mme, Lehmann's statement of how she was sus- tained by the emotional excitement which Wagner's dramas created in her, and how it made it easier for her to sing the music of Briinnhilde than that of Norma. But Mme. Lehmann was a woman of intense emotionality, and her voice was colored for tragedy and equal to its strain. It would be a happiness to say the same of Mme. Melba, but no judicious person would dream of saying it. " There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory." Mme. Melba should have been con- tent with her own particular glory. Massenet's " Le Cid " was the only novelty of the season. It was given on February 12, 1897, with the following dis- tribution of parts : Rodrigue (his original character) Jean de Reszke Don Diegue (his original character) l^douard de Reszke Le Roi Jean Lassalle Le Conte de Gormas (his original character) Pol PlanQon V^^M^.\ J--^-^- Don Arras Signor Corsi Don Alonzo Signor de Vaschetti L'lnfante Qementine de Vera Chimene Felia Litvinne Conductor — Signor Mancinelli 276 THE REPERTORY FOR FOUR SEASONS The table of performances from 1893 to 1897 follows here: PERFORMANCES IN REGULAR SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Operas 1893-94 1894-95 1895-96 1896-97 "Faust" 8 7 8 10 " Philemon et Baucis " 4 o 2 I ■" Cavalleria Rusticana " 7 3 7 4 "Lohengrin" S S 6 6 " Lucia di Lammermoor "... 2 3 3 2 "Hamlet" I o 2 i " Romeo et Juliette " 5 4 4 S "Orfeo" I o I o " Pagliacci " 3 2 2 o " Les Huguenots " 2 6 5 2 "Carmen" 12 7 11 7 " Don Giovanni " I 3 o 3 "Rigoletto" 2 4 I I " Die Meistersinger " 3 o I 3 " L'Amico Fritz " 2 o o o "Semiramide" 3 I O o "Tannhauser" 2 o 3 3 "Le Nozze di Figaro" 3000 "La Traviata" I I 2 3 " Guillaume Tell " o 3 o "Aida" 0343 "II Trovatore" 0322 "Otello" 0400 "Mignon" ' 0100 "Elaine" (Bemberg) o 2 o o "Manon" (Massenet) o 4 o o "Falstaff" 0330 " Samson et Dalila " I o o " Tristan und Isolde " o 6 2 " L'Africaine " o I o i "La Favorita" 0022 "La Navarraise" 0040 "Fidelio" 0010 "Die Walkure" 0020 " Les Pecheurs de Perles " . . o o I o "Mefistofele" o o 2 4 "Martha" o o o 2 "Siegfried" o o o 6 *"Werther" 0001 "Le Cid" o o o 2 * " Werther " had a single performance in the supplemental seasott of 1893-94. CHAPTER XIX BEGINNING OF THE GRAU PERIOD BEGINNING OF THE GRAU PERIOD— DEATH OF MAURICE GRAU— HIS MANAGERIAL CAREER— AN INTERREGNUM AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE FILLED BY DAMROSCH AND ELLIS— DEATH OF ANTON SEIDI^HIS FUNERAI^CHAR- ACTERISTIC TRAITS— "LA BOHEME "— 1898-1899— " ERO E. LEANDRO" AND ITS COMPOSER From 1896 to the end of the season 1902-03 Maurice Grau was in name as well as in fact the monarch of the operatic world of America. For a brief space he also extended his reign to Covent Garden, but the time was not ripe for that union of interests between London and New York which has so long seemed inevitable, and his foreign reign was short. So was his American dictatorship; but while it lasted it was probably the most brilliant operatic government that the world has ever known from a financial point of view, and its high lights artistically were luminous in the extreme. At the end of the period Mr. Grau had retired from operatic management forever, for though his desire to remain in active employment was intense, his mental powers unweakened, and his will strong, his health, was hopelessly shattered, and before another lustrum had passed he had gone down to his death, his last thoughts longingly fixed on the institution which had brought him fame and fortune in abundant measure. For several years he had maintained a beautiful summer home at Croissy- Chatou, on the Seine, about ten miles from Paris. He died in the French capital on March 14, 1907, of a disease of the heart which had compelled his abandonment of active man- agerial life. 277 278 BEGINNING OF THE GRAU PERIOD Mr. Grau was an Austrian by birth, his birthplace being Briinn ; but he was brought to New York by his parents in 1854, when he was five years old, and all his education and business training was American. He passed through the classes of the city's public schools and was graduated from the Free Academy, now the College of the City of New York, in 1867. He then entered the Law School of Co- lumbia College, and read law in the office of Morrison, Lauterbach & Spitgam. His uncle, Jacob Grau, was an operatic and theatrical manager, and for him, as a boy, he sold librettos in his opera house. This opened the way into theatrical life, which proved to have such fascinations and hold such promises that he abandoned the law without having sought admission to the bar, and in 1872 also aban- doned the service of his uncle and embarked on his career as manager. In association with Charles A. Chizzola, the joint capital amounting to $1,500, he engaged Aimee, a French opera bouffe singer, who had made a hit two years before at the Grand Opera House, for a season of seven ■weeks. His first week, in Bridgeport, Conn., paid the ex- penses of the entire engagement. Aimee came to America again and again, and always under Mr. Grau's manage- ment. The same year he managed the American tours of Rubinstein and Henri Wieniawski, both of whom came to America with the financial backing of Messrs. Steinway & Sons. It was before the days of phenomenal honoraria. Rubinstein was content with $200 a concert, and in eight months his energetic young manager had cleared $60,000 on his engagement alone. The next year he organized the Clara Louise Kellogg Opera Company, continued his man- agement of Mile. Aimee, and brought to America the Ital- ian tragedian, Tommaso Salvini. In 1874 he managed three opera bouffe and operetta companies, besides Adelaide Ristori, and became lessee of the Lyceum Theater, in Four- teenth Street. There was a season of financial stress, and in 187s he severed his connection with Chizzola, after GRAU RESTS ON HIS OARS 279 another period of bad luck. In 1876 he gave concerts, di- rected by Offenbach, in the Madison Square Garden, which were a failure, but he recouped his losses from a forfeit of $20,000, which the Italian Rossi paid to him rather than give up a successful season in Paris. A highly successful tour of seventeen months in South America, Cuba, and Mexico with an opera bouffe troupe, headed by the tenor Capoul, and Paola Mariee, continued his successes. In 1883 began his association with Messrs. Abbey and Schoef- fel, whose experiences, together with his own, at the Metro- politan Opera House have repeatedly formed the subject of discussion in these chapters of operatic history. The story of the management of the Metropolitan Opera House ended in Chapter XVII with an account of the dis- asters which overtook Abbey, Schoeffel, and Grau in 1897. Before the end of that season Mr. Grau announced, what had frequently been hinted at in the newspapers, that though he should obtain a lease of the opera house he would not give opera in 1897-98. The announcement had been received with incredulity, for though misfortune had over- taken the managers in Chicago and some of their other enterprises had been unfortunate, the New York season had turned out in all things successful. Besides, though, " Per- juria ridet amantum Jupiter" the public had long before learned to laugh at the oaths of managers. It turned out, however, that Mmes. Melba and Eames, who had become favorites of the stockholders, were not available for the next season, and the directors, who had learned to have confidence in Mr. Grau, were willing to let him make the experiment of a year of famine. As it turned out it cost them nothing except the performances, and Mr. Grau and the friends who had rallied around him very little money. The annual rental of $52,000 was made up to them by sub- rentals of the building to other managers, chiefly to Messrs. Ellis and Damrosch. Meanwhile the year of quiescence was put to a good purpose in strengthening the hold which 28o THE MAURICE GRAU OPERA COMPANY Mr. Grau had resolved to obtain on opera in London as well as New York. Mr. Grau and his friends organized the Maurice Grau Opera Company and easily obtained a lease of the Metropolitan for three years and a release from the bankrupt corporation, Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau (Ltd.). On May 4th the old company accepted a report which re- cited the story of the season 1896-97, recommended that it go out of business, and released Messrs. Schoeffel and Grau from an obligation which they had entered into with the company not to engage in opera management. All that remained for it to do was to realize on the only valuable asset which it owned — the Tremont Theater, in Boston. This it soon did by selling the property to Mr. Schoeffel, who has managed it ever since. The way now being open, Mr. Grau organized his new company, composed wholly of his friends. These were Edward Lauterbach, Charles Frazier, Robert Dunlap, Roland F. Knoedler, Henry Dazian, B. Franklin de Frece, F. W. Sanger, John W. Mackay, Sr., and Frederick RuU- man. The capital stock, paid up, was $150,000, of which the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company sub- scribed to $25,000. Mr. Grau was elected president and general director, Mr. Lauterbach vice-president, and Mr. Frazier treasurer. Mr. Sanger was made associate man- ager, with the specific duty of looking after the affairs of the house itself, and Mr. Ernest Goerlitz was appointed secretary. There was no regular subscription at the opera house in the season of 1897-98, but the public were not without com- fort. From January 17 to February 19, 1898, the Dam- rosch and Ellis company gave a series of performances which provided an excellent substitute. Opera-lovers were not even called on to forego the pleasure of hearing some of the singers whom they had come to consider essential to their happiness under the regime of Damrosch and Ellis's rivals. Mme. Melba was " not available " for Mr. Grau, THE DAMROSCH-ELLIS COMPANY 281 but she was for Mr. Ellis, who was managing all her American business, and she headed the company. With her were Mme. Nordica and Mme. Gadski, and among old popular favorites were Emil Fischer and David Bispham. Other members of the company were Gisela Staudigl, who had been heard in the first German seasons ; Mile. Seygard, Mme. Brazzi, an American contralto with good presence, real warmth of feeling, and correct instincts; Miss Matt- feld, an extremely serviceable " juvenile," who remained such for years ; Salignac and Rothmiihl, tenors respectively for the Italian and German operas; Campanari, barytone; Ibos, a tenor, and Bondouresque, a bass whose name was picturesque. Melba added " Traviata " to her repertory at the opening performance, and later essayed " Aida," only to prove, as she had done in the case of " Siegfried," that there are things in music which are unlike the kingdom of Heaven in that they cannot be taken by violence. The repertory consisted of " La Traviata," " Tannhauser," " Die Meistersinger," "Aida," "Lohengrin," "II Barbiere," "Faust," "Der Fliegende Hollander," "Die Walkiire," " Siegfried," " Gotterdammerung," and " Les Huguenots." Before the next regular season began under the new Grau administration Mr. Seidl, who would doubtless have continued in association with the institution with which he had long and efficiently been connected, died. The tem- porary suspension of the Metropolitan subscription season had forced him more actively than ever into the concert field. He had succeeded Mr. Theodore Thomas as con- ductor of the Philharmonic Society, and continued the pop- ular triumphs of that organization. He had also organized a series of subscription orchestral concerts at the Hotel Astoria, and his friends were developing plans for a new endowed orchestra when he died, after an illness of only a. few hours' duration, supposed to have been caused by pto- maine poisoning. This was on the night of March 28, 1898. His body was cremated after an imposing public 282 DEATH OF ANTON SEIDL funeral at the Metropolitan Opera House on March 31st, participated in by the Musical Mutual Protective Union, Mannergesangverein Arion, the Philharmonic Society, Ger- man Liederkranz, the Rev. Merle St. Croix Wright, who delivered the memorial address, and Mr. H. E. Krehbiel, chairman of the committee of arrangements, who read a despatch received from Robert G. Ingersoll, who was ab- sent from the city on a lecture trip. The pall-bearers were A. Schueler (who had been a classmate of the dead man at the Leipsic Conservatory) ; Oscar B. Weber, E. Francis Hyde (president of the Philharmonic Society) ; Henry Schmitt, Albert Stettheimer, Henry T. Finck (musical critic of The New York Evening Post) ; Walton H. Brown, Louis Josephtal, H. E. Krehbiel (chairman of the com- mittee of arrangements and musical critic of The New York Tribune) ; Xavier Scharwenka, August Spanuth (musical critic of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung) ; Albert Steinberg (sometime musical critic of The New York Herald) ; the Hon. Carl Schurz, Charles T. Barney, Rafael Joseffy, Julian Rix, James Speyer, Edgar J. Levey (mu- sical critic of The New York Commercial Advertiser) ; Dr. William H. Draper, Richard Watson Gilder, Paul Goepel, E. M. Burghard, Eugene Ysaye, Victor Herbert, George G. Haven, Zoltan Doeme, Edward A. MacDowell, and Carlos Hasselbrink, Concerning Mr. Seidl's career I have already spoken at some length in these chapters; it will be long before those who knew him intimately will cease to talk about his per- sonal characteristics, and to tell anecdotes which illustrate those characteristics. He was one of those strong per- sonalities that give an interest to all manner of incidents, even the commonplace. Like Moltke, he could hold his tongue in seven languages; but it is a fact that all his friends must have observed that his taciturnity never made his company any the less entertaining. Moreover, when the mood was on him, he could talk by the hour, and then SEIDL'S RETICENCE 283 his reminiscences of the years spent in the household of Wagner or the story of his experiences while carrying the gospel of Wagner through Europe were full of fascination. But the talkative mood seldom came when a crowd was about him. He was indifferent to the many and fond of the few; so his circle of intimate friends never grew large in spite of the multitudes who sought his acquaintance, and though no combination of circumstances could disturb his self-possession he seemed to be most contented and com- fortable when seated quietly with a single friend. Even under such circumstances he could sometimes sit for min- utes at a time without speaking himself or expecting a word from his companion, yet never show a sign of weari- ness or ennui. In this particular he was something like Schumann, of whom it is related that once he spent an hour with a bright young woman to whom he was fondly at- tached without speaking a word. Knowing his peculiari- ties, she too remained silent, and was rewarded for her self- restraint when he departed by hearing him say that the hour had been one in which they had perfectly understood each other. Seidl's hero, Wagner, was the very opposite of Schumann in this particular, and there is a story which indicates that he must frequently have been amused at his pupil's reticence. Coming to a rehearsal once he found that Seidl had taken a cold which had robbed him com- pletely of his voice, so that he could give no instructions to the musicians. Wagner laughed immoderately, and with mock seriousness upbraided him for his bad habit of talk- ing too much, which had now brought him to the pass where he could not talk at all. Seidl's epistolary habits were like his conversational — he wrote as little as he talked ; but as the talking fit some- times seized him, so did the writing fit. Then he could devote hours to a letter which had the proportions and sometimes the style of a formal essay. On such occasions he was so prone to drop into a pulpit manner that I once 284 SEIDL AT THE PIANOFORTE taxed him with it and asked an explanation. He paused for a moment and then smilingly made a sort of half-con- fession that he had once been destined for the priesthood. His Scriptural illustrations and " preachy " manner were relics which had clung to him from that early day. They were the only academic traces about him, however. It is doubtful if any of his friends ever heard him discuss a question in the theory or history of music. How far his exact knowledge in the art went may not be said ; but one thing is certain — his practical knowledge embraced every measure of Wagner's works. He seldom spoke of his conservatory days at Leipsic, and then generally in a spirit of amusement. Compli- mented once by me on the excellence of his pianoforte playing, he said : " Oh, I made quite a stir at a conservatory examination once with Mendelssohn's ' Rondo Capric- cioso.' I was to be a pianist." That he could have been trained into a virtuoso of merit I can easily believe, for without paying much regard to the graces of pianoforte playing he yet had a remarkable command of those tone qualities which are so helpful in expressive playing. He was always eloquent at the pianoforte, especially when play- ing excerpts from the dramas of Wagner. Then his per- formances were peculiarly full and orchestral, a fact largely due to the circumstance that he never confined himself to pianoforte arrangements, but preferred to play from the orchestral score. That he appreciated the importance of giving consideration to the peculiarities of instrumental media he illustrated once when at a private rehearsal of music for one of my Wagnerian lectures, at which he had intended to play, but had been prevented by a sudden duty- call at the opera, he quickened the tempo considerably for the pianist beyond that heard at his own readings of the opera, and added in explanation : " Nie langweilig werden am Clavier ! " (" One must never be tedious at the piano- forte!") FIRST PERFORMANCE OF "LA BOH^ME" 285 A few first representations of operas in this period out- side of the Metropolitan Opera House call for brief men- tion, if not for the sake of the excellence of the productions, at least for the sake of completeness in the record. Thus on May 16, 1898, a company of Italian singers, some of whom had been singing in Mexico, some in South America, some in San Francisco — ^the sort of a gathering that, I think, I have described in these columns as New York's ordinary summer operatic flotsam and jetsam — gave in Wallack's Theater the first representation of Puccini's " La Boheme " which New Yorkers heard in their own city. The company was first announced as the Baggetto Grand Italian Opera Company, which was probably its official style in Mexico. In New York a hoary device of juggling with the name of Italy's chief opera house was resorted to, and it was called the Milan Royal Opera Company, of La Scala. Under either title the company proved itself capa- ble of a deal of stressful and distressful singing, though a good impression was made by Giuseppe Agostini, a youth- ful tenor, and Luigi Francesconi, a barytone. "La Bo- heme " was performed on the opening night of the com- pany's brief season (it made shipwreck according to rule within four or five days), with the following distribution of parts : Mimi Linda Montanari Musetta Cleopatra Vincini Rodolfo Giuseppe Agostini Marcello Luigi Francesconi Schaunard Giovanni Scolari ^'•^^^^ I Antonio Fumagalli Benoit 5 Parpignol Algernon Asplandi Needless to say that scant justice was done to the play and score of " La Boheme " by the vagrant singers, and that the good opinion which the opera won later was shared by few among critics, lay and professional. After ten years of familiar acquaintance with the work, I like it better 286 AN ESTIMATE OF PUCCINI'S OPERA than I did at first, but it has not yet taken a deep and abid- ing place in my affections. I see in it, however, an earnest and ingenious effort to knit music, text, and action closer together than it was the wont of Italian composers to do before the advent of Wagner set Young Italy in a ferment. Music plays a very different role in it than it does in the operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and the earlier Verdi. It does not content itself with occasionally proclaiming the mood of a situation or the feelings of a conventional stage person. It attempts to supply life-blood for the entire drama; to flow through its veins without ceasing; to bear along on its surface all the whims, emotions, follies, and incidents of the story as fast as they appear; to body them forth as vividly as words and pantomime can; to color them, vital- ize them, arouse echoes and reflections of them in the hearts of the hearers. But this it can do only in association with other elements of the drama, and when these are presented only in part, and then crudely and clumsily, it must fail of its purpose. And so it happens that Puccini's music dis- closes little of that brightness, vivacity, and piquancy which we are naturally led to expect from it by knowledge of Murger's story, on which the opera is based, and acquaint- ance with the composer's earlier opera, " Manon Lescaut." One element the two works have in common : absence of the light touch of humor demanded by the early scenes in both dramas. However, this is a characteristic not of Puccini alone, but all the composers in the Young Italian School. They know no way to kill a gnat dancing in the sunlight except to blow it up with a broadside of trombones. Puc- cini's music in " La Boheme " also seems lacking in the element of characterization, an element which is much more essential in comedy music than in tragic. Whether they are celebrating the careless pleasures of a Bohemian carouse or proclaiming the agonies of a consuming passion, it is all one to his singers. So soon as they drop the inter- vallic palaver which points the way of the new style toward ^*V4^ >«»* •J Ifeili:/; ^^ P" 1 • ^^^ K RETURN OF MADAME SEMBRICH 287 bald melodrama they soar off in a shrieking cantalena, buoyed up by the unison strings and imperiled by strident brass until there is no relief except exhaustion. Happy, careless music, such as Mozart or Rossini might have writ- ten for the comedy scenes in " La Boheme," there is next to none in Puccini's score, and seldom, indeed, does he let his measures play that palliative part which, as we know from Wagner's "Tristan" and Verdi's " Traviata,"— to cite extremes, — it is the function of music to perform when enlisted in the service of the drama of vice and phthisis. On October 10, 1898, another band of strolling singers, which endured for a week at the Casino, also performed " La Boheme," and the Castle Square Opera Company of Henry W. Savage gave it in English at the American Theater on November 28th of the same year. It did not reach the Metropolitan Opera House until the season 190001. Stockholders and subscribers of the Metropolitan Opera House having endured their year of privation, which, as we have seen, was not without its moments of refreshment, Mr. Grau opened the regular subscription season 1898-99 on November 29th. Its incidents of special interest were not many. One was the return of Mme. Sembrich, who made what Mr. Sutherland Edwards called Rosina's " double entry " in Rossini's " Barber " on the second night of the season — November 31st. On the third night Mme. Melba, who sang by the courtesy of Mr. Ellis, appeared in " Romeo et Juliette." There were first appearances of sev- eral artists whose names became fixed in the prospectuses for some years to come : Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink as Ortrud in " Lohengrin " on January 9, 1899 ; Ernest Van Dyck as Tannhauser on the opening night; Albert Saleza as Romeo on December 2, 1898; Suzanne Adams as Juliet on January 4, 1899; Anton Van Rooy as Wotan in " Die Walktire " on December 14, 1898. Mr. Franz Schalk, the conductor engaged for the German operas in a88 THE SINGERS OF i898-'99 place of Mr. Seidl, who had taken part with Mr. Grau in the summer season at Covent Garden and been engaged for the New York season that was to follow, introduced himself to New York on the same occasion. Of acquaintances, more or less old, there were in the company besides Mme. Sembrich Mme. Lehmann, Mme. Nordica, Mme. Mantelli, Miss Meisslinger, Miss Pevny, Frances Saville, Mr. Bispham, Mr. Dippel (who had been a member of the last German company in 1890-91), Pol Plangon, and Adolph Miihlmann. Newcomers besides those mentioned were Matilde Brugiere, Herman Devries (son of Mme. Rosa Devries, a dramatic singer of renown half a century before), Henri Albers, barytone, and Lem- priere Pringle, an English singer, who had worked himself tip in the ranks of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. The two brothers, Jean and Edouard de Reszke, whom New York had come to look upon as indispensable to perfect enjoyment, were also members of the company. There ■were two cyclical performances Of " The Ring of the Nibe- lung " to keep good Wagnerites in countenance, but Mr. Grau made his popular hit by a repetition of the device which had been successful before with " Faust " — he gave " Les Huguenots " with an " ideal cast." The device was simple, but it served. Meyerbeer's opera had been given three times, when on February 20th he announced it with Mme. Sembrich in the cast, and an all-'round advance on prices on the basis of $7, instead of $5, for orchestra chairs. Only one novelty was produced in the season. This was Signer Mancinelli's " Ero e Leandro," which had its first American performance on March 10, 1899, with the com- poser in the conductor's chair. The principal singers were Mme. Fames (Hero), Saleza (Leander), and Plangon (Ariofarno). Mme. Schumann-Heink was set down to sing the prologue, but illness prevented at the first repre- sentation, and the music was sung by Mme. Mantelli. The opera had a pretty success and back of it was an interest- '' ANTON VAN ROOY AS WOTAN IN "DIE WALKURE" A LIBRETTO TWICE COMPOSED 289 ing history. Boito wrote the libretto for himself, but put it aside when the subject of " Mefistofele " took possession of his mind. Two of the numbers, which he had already composed, found their way into the score of the later opera, one of them being the beautiful duet, " Lontano, lontano, lontano," in the classical scene. Boito turned the book over to Bottesini, who composed it, but failed to make a success of it. Signer Mancinelli then took the libretto in hand and, having a commission from the Norwich (Eng- land) festival of 1896 for a choral work, he composed it and handed it in to be sung as a cantata. It was sung at the festival. The next year it received its first stage per- formance at Madrid and by way of Turin and Venice reached Covent Garden, London, where it was produced on July 15, 1898. What a simple tale it is that has so twined itself around the hearts of mankind that it has lived in classic story for ages and gotten into the folk-tales of more than one Euro- pean people! Hero is a priestess of Aphrodite, who lives at Sestos, on the Thracian coast; Leander, a youth, whose home is at Abydos, on the Asiatic shore, beyond the Hel- lespont. The pair meet at a festival of Venus and Adonis and fall in love with each other at sight. The maiden's parents are unwilling that she shall cease her sacred func- tions to become a wife, and Leander swims the strait every night, while Hero holds a torch at the window to direct him to her side. One night there arises a tempest and Leander is drowned, and his body cast up at the foot of the tower. Then Hero throws herself upon the jagged rocks beside him, and the lovers are united in death. " That tale is old, but love anew May nerve young hearts to prove as true," sang Byron after he had put discrediting doubts to shame by swimming the Hellespont himself and catching an ague for his pains. A simple tale, yet I have included more than 29© MANQNELLI'S "ERO E LEANDRO" is ordinarily found in the recital in order to show how Boito utilized and added to them. A simple tale, but with what lovely fervor have the poets sung it over and over again ! Byron could smile at his own Quixotic feat in the lines which he wrote six days after its accomplishment, but in " The Bride of Abydos " he did not attempt to conceal the affection which he felt for the tale, or his pride in the fact that Helle's buoyant wave had borne his limbs as well as Leander's ; and who can without emotion call up Keats's picture of "Young Leander, toiling to his death," pursing his weary lips for Hero's cheek and smiling against her smiles until he sinks, and "Up bubbles all his amorous breath"? Right nobly, too, did Schiller hymn the lovers and two centuries of opera-writers — Italian, French, German, Eng- lish, and Polish — ^have sought to weave their pitiful story into lyric dramas. Boito, as I have said, wrote the book of " Ero e Lean- dro" for himself, but eventually gave it to others. I can only speculate as to the cause of Boito's abandonment of his intellectual child. Probably he concluded that it lacked the dramatic elements which the composers of the last few decades, paying tribute, willingly or unwillingly, to Wag- ner's genius, have felt to be necessary to the success of a lyric drama. But dramatic action need not always be summed up in movement. Wagner's greatest tragedy has scarcely more external incident than " Ero e Leandro," and, indeed, is like this opera, in that the interest in each of its three acts centers in a meeting of the lovers and their pub- lication of the play enacting on the stage of their hearts. But it takes music like Wagner's, music surcharged with passion, to body forth the growth of the dramatic person- ages and make us blind to paucity of incident. When that BOITO'S TREATMENT OF THE LEGEND 291 cannot be had, then pictures and functions of all kinds, solemn and festive, must be relied on to hold the interest. Boito built up such pictures and grouped such functions about his simple tale with a great deal of ingenuity. The eye is charmed at once with his classic landscapes in the first act — ^the cypresses, myrtles, and blooming oleanders, the temple portico, the statues and altar with its votive of- ferings, the kneeling chorus of priestesses and sailors. Hero with her ravishing robes (think of Mme. Eames in the part) , the gallant Leander and the stately archon Ariofarno. It is the scene of the lovers' meeting at the festival, and to heighten its interest and provide something else than hymns and rites, Boito has turned Leander into a victor in the Aphrosian games, both as swordsman and cytharist. Hero crowns him with laurel, and he sings two odes, which Boito cleverly borrows from Anacreon, the first without, the sec- ond with implied, but not expressed credit. The odes are the most familiar of Anacreon's odes, however, and no one could think of moral obliquity in connection with Boito's use of them. They are the address to the lyre which the poet wishes to attune to heroic measures, but which answers only in accents of love; and the tale of how the poet took Eros, shivering, out of the cold night and received a heart wound in return. Charmingly, indeed, do the odes fit into the dramatic scheme and offer two set pieces as a contrast to the solemn pronouncements of the archon and the ex- cessive hymning of the chorus. The development of the plot is now begun. Boito has created Ariofarno to fill the place of the wicked nun of the German folk-tales. He is obsessed with guilty love for Hero and seeks to divert her service from the celestial Venus to the earthly. She scorns his offers of love, and he leaves her with threats of vengeance. Filled with fore- bodings, she seeks an omen in the voice of a sea shell which had been placed on the altar of Aphrodite, the Sea-born. The words are charming, and the occasion prettily prepared 292 PLOT OF THE OPERA for a vocal show piece. She invokes the shell as the cradle of Aphrodite, hears in its murmurs the song of the sea nymphs, the humming of bees amid the oleander's aeolian whispers, and the soft confessions of a mermaid. Then the sounds grow wild, and stimulate her fancy to a picture of rushing waters, flying foam, and wrathful surge — ^the vision which is realized in the last act. Here the sugges- tion for musical delineation is obvious, and Signer Man- cinelli has utilized it in such a manner as to make his song (which, for reasons that I shall not pursue, awakened memories of the ballatella in " Pagliacci ") the first really triumphant thing in the opera. The rest of the act is chiefly devoted to a love duet, at the close of which Hero, kneeling before the statue of the god, invokes Apollo to admonish her of her fate. Ariofamo, in concealment, answers for the god : " Death ! " In the second act, which plays in the part of the temple of Aphrodite devoted to the mysteries, Ariofamo carries out his plan of vengeance against Hero. Professing to have received an oracular command to that effect, he re- stores a service in an ancient town by the sea and to it con- secrates Hero, who is powerless to resist his will. The duty of the priestess is to give warning of approaching storms, so that by priestly rites the angry waters may be placated. While pronouncing her sentence he, in an aside, offers to save her if she will accept his love. Again he is spumed, and when he utters the words which condemn her to the vigil Leander seeks to attack him. For this he is seized and banished to the Asian shore. Hero takes the oath, the dancers rush in and begin a bacchanalian, or Aphro- desian, orgy, while the chorus sings the " lo paean." Here Signor Mancinelli has really written with a pen of fire. The music is tumultuously exciting, though built on the learned forms, and there is the happiest union of purpose and achievement. In the last act, somewhat clumsily set and unnecessarily ambitious in its strivings for spectacular ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK AS FIDES IN "LE PROPHETE" MANCINELLI'S MUSIC 293 realism, the denoument is reached. Songs of sailors come up from the sea; Hero sings her love and longing and lights her lover to his fate. Their love duet is interrupted by the bursting of the tempest, which had come upon them without being observed. The warning trumpet which she should have sounded is heard from the vaults below, and the chant of the approaching priests. Leander throws him- self into the sea; the archon upbraids Hero for neglect o£ duty and discovers its cause. Her punishment, death, will be his vengeance, but the lifeless body of Leander is hurled upon the rocks, and comes into view when a thunderbolt tears away a portion of the tower wall. Hero sinks dead to the ground; the archon rages at the escape of his victim, and an invisible choir sings of a reunion of the lovers in death. As a composer Signor Mancinelli is an eclectic. It would not be easy to specify any particular master as a model. He admires Wagner and has proper appreciation of the dramatic values, the continuity of idea, and the effect of development which flow from the recurrent use of sig- nificant phrases, but his manner is not at all that of the later Wagner whose influence, if found at all, must be sought in a few harmonic progressions and in a belief in the potency of orchestral color. Nearer to him than tlie master poet-musician are Verdi, Ponchielli, Boito, and the eager spirits of Young Italy. His music is as free as the later Verdi's from the shackles of set forms, but he is, nevertheless, at his best when the book permits an extended piece of lyric writing. This being so, it is disappointing that he has done so little that is good in the opening scene where the book invited him to consult the wants of the Norwich festival and to write in the cantata style. In the first act, however, there is little to praise outside of the set- tings of the two Anacreonic odes and the song to the shell. There is much striving, but a paucity of plastic ideas. What might have been an unconstrained lyrical outpour- 294 A THRILLING CHORUS ing, the prologue, mere thundering in the index, because of the composer's mistaken impression that it ought to be tragic, and in the " Ercles vein." When the rites begin and a swelling paean is expected, there is much making of mu- sical faces, but no real beginning. Matters improve in the second act, where the part of Ariofarno becomes dramat- ically puissant. Here there are noble passages and the duet has moments of passionate intensity; but all these things pale their ineffectual fires before the " lo paean," which is as thrilling and well applied as anything that I can recall in the operas of the decade which preceded " Ero e Leandro." CHAPTER XX NEW SINGERS AND OPERAS CLOSING YEARS OF MR. GRAU'S RfiOIME— TRAITS IN THE MAN- AGER'S CHARACTER— DEBUTS OF ALVAREZ, SCOTTI, LOUISE HOMER, LUCIENNE BRfiVAL, AND OTHER SINGERS— TERNINA AND PUCCINI'S " TOSCA "— REYER'S " SALAMMBd "— GALA PERFORMANCE FOR A PRUSSIAN PRINCE— " MESSALINE "— PADEREWSKI'S " MANRU "— " DER WALD "—PERFORMANCES IN THE GRAU PERIOD There now remained four years of Mr. Grau's admin- istration at the Metropolitan Opera House. They were years of great activity, during which the fortunes of the manager and the institution rose steadily. Mr. Grau was no more of a sentimentalist in art than Mr. Abbey had been. He was quiet, undemonstrative, alert, and wholly willing to let the public dictate the course of the establishment. Out- wardly he was always calm, urbane, neither communicative nor secretive. I sat behind him during all the years of his divided and undivided directorship, and never failed of a pleasant greeting, no matter what the expression of The Tribune had been on the morning of the day. He accepted congratulations with a " Thank you ! " which had cordiality in its timbre, and let the subject fall at once. He met ex- pressions of condolence in the same unperturbed and unef- fusive manner. Only once in all the years during which we sat neighbors can I recall that he volunteered a remark indicative of either satisfaction or disappointment. It was on the night of the first performance of Reyer's " Salamm- bo," in the season 1900-01. He appeared in his place early and extended his gloved hand in his ordinary man- ner, but this time his eyes took a survey of the audience- 295 296 MAURICE GRAU'S METHODS room the while. Then, still half turned, he remarked with- out a touch of feeling in the tone of his voice : " Encour- aging, isn't it? Some say the public want novelties." He had expended a large sum on the production, and the public had met him with half a house. . If the public cared little for new things, it may occasion- ally have disturbed the solitary musings of Mr. Grau, but it only emphasized his public exhibitions of willingness to give the people the old things which they liked. A strongly popular favorite had a safe hold on a long tenure of serv- ice under him. Changes there had to be from year to year, but so long as the public manifested a desire to listen to a high-class singer, and there were no untoward circum- stances to interfere, that singer was re-engaged. Hence there came to be at the Metropolitan in the higher ranks something like the theatrical stock companies of an earlier generation. New singers there had to be, from time to time, but year after year (the serious interruption is not yet) the subscribers were assured before one season was ended that in the next they would still be privileged to hear Mmes. Sembrich, Eames, Nordica, Schumann-Heink, Ter- nina. Homer, and (until he retired from his active stage career) Jean de Reszke, and Messrs. fidouard de Reszke, Van Dyck, Dippel, Scotti, Plangon, Journet, Campanari, Miihlmann, Bispham, and Albert Reiss. The presence of these artists of the first rank naturally determined the character of the repertory, which was also cut to a pat- tern, since the public always wanted to hear the artists whom they admired in the roles in which they were most admirable. The German contingent made the Wagnerian list inevitable, just as Mme. Sembrich made inevitable the operas of the florid Italian school, and Mme. Eames the two favorite operas of Gounod. These circumstances simplify the presentation of the significant incidents of the remainder of this history. I have only to take account of the entrance of a few stars into the Metropolitan system. A LIST OF DEBUTS agj and the first production of a few operas — some of which came only speedily to depart, others of which have re- mained in the establishment's repertory. First, then, as to the American debuts. Newcomers of the first rank there were- none among the ladies in the season 1899-1900: the tenor, Alvarez, effected his entrance on the Metropolitan stage on the opening night of the sea- son, December i8th, in Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette"; Signer Scotti, barytone, who has remained a prime favorite ever since, in "Don Giovanni," on December 27th; Fritz Friedrichs, whose success in New York was inconsiderable compared with that which he had won in Bayreuth in his famous character of Beckmesser in " Die Meistersinger," on January 24, 1900. The subscription season of fifteen weeks consisted, with all the extra performances, of 104 performances. It was full of disappointments because of the illness of singers, and many performances were slipshod because of evils that have remained with the institution, in spite of many protests on the part of press and public, and promises of reform on the part of the management. Sev- eral times the company was divided so that performances might be given simultaneously in New York and Philadel- phia. Even when this was not done, the efficiency of the forces was sapped by wearisome midnight journeys to and from the latter city, which prevented adequate rehearsals. Nevertheless, there was a supplemental season of two weeks. Herr Hofrath Ernst von Schuch, director of the opera at Dresden, was a visitor, and conducted two per- formances of "Lohengrin" and four concerts. No new operas were produced. Before the regular subscription season, 1900-01, the Met- ropolitan Opera House was the scene of an ambitious effort to habilitate opera in English, which was made by Henry W. Savage in co-operation with Maurice Grau. Mr. Sav- age had some years before established his Castle Square Opera Company, organized in Boston, in the American 298 ENGLISH OPERA AT THE METROPOLITAN Theater. The repertory of the company was composed largely of operettas at first, but gradually operas of large dimensions and serious import were added. After the sea- son 1899-1900 he entered into an arrangement with Grau to occupy the Metropolitan Opera House from October I to December 15, 1900, and under the title Metropolitan English Grand Opera Company the two managers issued a prospectus which contained the names of nearly all the singers then known favorably to the English opera stage in America. Many of them had also sung in the Carl Rosa Opera Company, of England, ^nd there was a better com- mand of routine in the organization than had been known in EngHsh performances thitherto. The repertory was quite as pretentious as that of the company of foreign artists regularly domiciled at the Metropolitan, save that it did not include the later dramas of Wagner. Instead, however, it comprised some light operas or operettas, and some specifically English works. The promises of the prospectus •were fulfilled to the letter in respect both of singers and operas, and though the enterprise proved to be less suc- cessful than had been those of Mr. Savage in previous years (probably because of the air of aristocracy which it wore, without being able to assume the social importance which belonged only to the foreign exotic), it is deserving of extended record. Some of the names of the singers stand as prominently in the English record as in the Ameri- can, and unexpected laurels have been wound round the brows of some of them in still more foreign fields. In the list were Ingeborg Ballstrom, Grace Van Studdiford, Fan- chon Thompson, Rita Elandi, Mae Cressy, Grace Golden, Josephine Ludwig, Zelie de Lussan, Elsa Marny, Louise Meisslinger, Frieda Stender, Phoebe Strakosch, Minnie Tracey, Barron Berthald, F. J. Boyle, Philip Brozel, For- rest Carr, Lloyd d'Aubigne, Harry Davies, Harry Hamlin, Homer Lind, William Mertens, Chauncey Moore, Winfred Goff, William PauU, Lempriere Pringle, WiUiam Pruette, Convright !'>' ^- L)u[)ont. Kroiii Koblie's *' Opera SiriKers " LOUISE HOMER AS AMNERIS IN ^AIDA" THE ENGLISH REPERTORY 299 Francis Rogers, Joseph F. Sheehan, Leslie Walker, William F. Wegener, and Clarence Whitehill. The conductors were A. Seppilli and Richard Eckhold. The operas performed were "Faust," " Tannhauser," " Mignon," "Carmen," "Trovatore," "Lohengrin," "The Bohemian Girl," " Traviata," " Romeo and Juliet," " Cavalleria Rusticana," "Pagliacci," "Martha," "The Mikado," and Goring Thomas's " Esmeralda." This last opera, a novelty in America, was brought forward on November 19, 1900, with the following distribution of parts : Esmeralda, Grace Golden; Phoebus, Philip Brozel; Claude FroUo, Lempriere Pringle; Quasimodo, William Paull; Fleur-de-Lys, Grace Van Studdiford; Marquis de Chereuse, Leslie Walker; Gringoire, Harry Davies; Clopin, F. J. Boyle. Before taking up the history of the Metropolitan Opera House, record may be made of the production of another novelty earlier in the year, also by Mr. Savage's singers, but under the more democratic conditions which prevailed at the American Theater. This was Spinelli's " A basso Porto," which was given for the first time by the Castle Square Company on January 22, 1900. Mr. Grau began the campaign of 1900-01 on the Pacific Coast, his first performance being in Los Angeles on No- vember 9th. Thence he went to San Francisco, Denver, Kansas City, Lincoln, and Minneapolis, reaching New York in time to open the subscription season on December i8th. The season endured fifteen weeks, within which time eighty- two performances were given. It was an eventful period. No fewer than eight singers who achieved significance in the annals of the house effected their entrances on the New York stage. Mme. Louise Homer made her debut in " Aida " on December 22d ; Mile. Lucienne Breval, in " Le Cid," on January i6th ; Miss Marguarite Macintyre, in " Mefistofele," on January 14th ; Fritzi Scheff, in " Fi- delio," on December 29th ; Charles Gilibert, on the opening night, in "Romeo et Juliette"; Imbart de la Tour, in 300 THE PREMII:RE OF " TOSCA " " Aida," on December 22d ; Robert Blass, in " Tannhauser," on December 24th; Marcel Journet, in "Aida," on De- cember 22d. The first of the operas given was " La Bo- heme," but, as I have already explained, it was no novelty in New York, having been performed by two Italian opera companies and in an English version three years before. Novelties in every sense were Puccini's " Tosca " and Reyer's " Salammbo." The former had its first representa- tion (it was also its first representation in America) on February 4, 1901. Signor Mancinelli conducted, and the parts were distributed as follows: Florio Tosca, Ternina; Cavaradossi, Cremonini; Angelotti, Dufriche; II Sagris- tano, Gilibert; Spoletta, Bars; Sciarrone, Viviani; Un Car- ceriere, Cernusco; Scarpia, Scotti. The restraining influence of music has prevented the lyric drama from acquiring the variety and scope of subject ma- terial adopted by the spoken drama. For nearly two hun- dred years after its invention classic legend and ancient history provided the stories which the opera composer laid under tribute. Very properly dramatic song occupied itself at the outset with a celebration of that fabled singer at the sound of whose voice " rivers forgot to run and winds to blow." In the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as told in what is set down in history as the first opera, music and love were mated; and they have not yet been divorced, though both have undergone many and great changes of character. Love — gentle, constant, chivalric, tried, and triumphant — ^has been hymned amid pictures suggested by a millennium of human happenings, and its expression has passed through all the phases that the development of the most direct vehicle of emotional utterance could place at its service — from the melodramatic strivings of the amateurs who stumbled upon opera in their effort to reanimate the Greek drama to the glowing scores of Richard Wagner, in which high art and profound science are joined in a product as worthy of admiration as any other product of the Intel- C'lr'.vri^'ht by A. r'ui.'mt MILKA TERNINA AS "TOSCA" She created the part in America, 1901 GOOD AND BAD OPERATIC SUBJECTS 30» lect fired by inspiration. In the progress from Peri to Wagner, however, despite many daring and dubious ad- ventures in new territories, there has yet been an avoidance of material in itself ugly and repulsive. We have been asked to contemplate the libertinism of Don Juan, but at its worst it has served only as a foil to the virtue of his victims, which in the end emerged triumphant. We have seen exposed the monstrous double nature of Rigoletto, but only that the pathos of paternal love should thereby be thrown into brighter relief. We have seen convention sacri- ficed by nature and approved by communal experience set at naught by Wagner's treatment of mythological tales of unspeakable antiquity, but only that the tragedy of human existence in its puissant types might be kept before the world's consciousness. The relationship occupied by music to the drama, that is to the words, the pantomime, the pictures and the play, in " Tosca " is that which it occupies in melodrama — using the term in its original and correct sense — ^with the single dif- ference that the dialogue which is illustrated and mildly expounded by the music, and which the instruments seek, more or less vainly, to accentuate, emphasize, and intensify, is not uttered in the speaking, but the singing voice. Even this diflEerence, however, disappears at some of the climac- teric moments, and the actors resort to the elocutionary devices which belong to the spoken drama, and, foregoing pitch and rhjthm, shout or whisper or hiss out the words which tell of the feelings by which they are swayed. Thus the first principle of music, which is melody, in Wagner as much as it was in Cimarosa or Mozart, is sacrificed. Quite as significant as the degradation of music thus illustrated is the degradation of the drama which has brought it about. There has always been a restrictive and purifying potency in melody. It has that which has turned our souls to sym- pathy with the apotheosis of vice and pulmonary tubercu- losis in Verdi's " Traviata," which has made the music of 302 MUSIC AS AN EMOLLIENT the second act and the finale of " Tristan und Isolde " the most powerful plea that can be made for Wagner's guilty lovers. Nowhere else is the ennobling and purifying capacity of music demonstrated as in the death song of Isolde. Without such palliation the vileness, the horror, the hideousness of a play like " Tosca " is more unpardon- able in an operatic form than in the original. Its lust and cruelty are presented in their nakedness. There is little or no time to reflect upon the workings of perverted minds, to make psychological or physiological studies, to watch the accumulation of causes and their gradual development of effects, except in the moments, so plentiful in Puccini's operas, in which music becomes a hindrance and an imperti- nence. Dramatic action cannot be promoted by music. The province of the art is to develop and fix a mood or celebrate a deed. Tosca can sing of her love, her jealousy, her hate, her hope; she cannot sing her frantic efforts to escape the lustful arms of Scarpia; she cannot sing his murder (though she might have chanted its gory glory, if so she held it, after the fact) ; nor can she sing her own destruction. In fact, there is next to nothing in Sardou's drama fit for operatic song, either in the sense that pre- vailed at the time of Paisiello or prevails in the time of Wagner — which is now. In the opera a really fit incident for the lyric drama borrowed from Sardou is expanded adroitly into a scene which is both musically and dramati- cally effective. It is the scene in which the cantata is sung in the Queen's apartments while Scarpia is questioning Cavaradossi in his own. Here the set musical composition is a background for the dramatic dialogue. Parallel scenes provide most of the opportunities which Puccini has em- braced for writing in what may be called a sustained effort outside of the scenes between Tosca and her lover in the first act. Thus the first finale has a pompous church office as its background, with tolling of bells, the booming of can- non, the pealing of a great organ, through all of which ANTOXK) SCOTTI AS SCARPIA IN "TOSCA" He rrcaU-il the part in America, 1901 PUCCINI'S MELODRAMATIC MUSIC 303 surges a stream of orchestral melody bearing the declama- tory shrieks of Scarpia. All of this is purely irrelevant and external, and the device is cheap, but it serves. Similar in musical purpose, but at the opposite end of the color scheme, is the opening of the third act. The stage picture is one of great beauty. The foreground shows the platform of the Castle of St. Angelo. St. Peter's Cathedral and the Vatican are visible in the background. It is urban Rome alone that is visible, but there are sounds from the Cam- pagna — ^the tinkling of sheep bells, the song of a shepherd lad mingling with a strangely languorous and fragmentary orchestral song. Then there arises from the distance the sound of church bells, large and small, while the orchestral song goes on. It is all mood-music, conceived with no necessary relationship to the drama, but providing an at- mosphere which is really refreshing after the sup of horrors provided by the preceding act. Therefore, it must be ac- cepted gratefully like the dance tune over which Scarpia and his associates declaim before the dreadful business of the second act begins, and the piteous appeal to the Virgin which Tosca makes before she conceives the idea of the butchery which she perpetrates a few minutes later. And the melodramatic music upon which Sardou's play floats, — ^what is it like ? Much of it like shreds and patches of many things with which the operatic stage has long been familiar. There are efforts at characterization by means of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmical symbols, of which the most striking, and least original, is a succession of chords which serves as an introduction to the first scene. This and much else came out of Wagner's workshop, and, like all else of the same origin in the score, is impotent because there is no trace of Wagner's logical mind, either in the choice of material or its development. Phrases of real pith and moment are mixed with phrases of indescribable balder- dash, yet these phrases recur with painful reiteration and with all the color tints which Puccini is able to scrape from 304 REYER'S OPERA " SALAMMBO " a marvelously varied and garish orchestral palette. The most remarkable feature, the feature which shows the composer's constructive talent in its brightest aspect, is the fluency of it all. Even when reduced to the extremity of a tremolo of empty fifths on the strings pianissimo, or a single sustained tone, Puccini still manages to cling to a thread of his melodramatic fabric and the mind does not quite let go of his musical intentions. Reyer's " Salammbo " was brought forward for the first time on March 20, 1901, with the following cast : Salammbo, Lucienne Breval; Taanach, Miss Carrie Bridewell; Matho, Albert Saleza; Shahabarim, Mr. Salignac; Narr-Havas, Mr. Journet; Spendius, Mr. Sizes; Giscon, Mr. Gilibert; Authorite, Mr. Dufriche; Hamilcar, Mr. Scotti. Signor Mancinelli conducted. The opera received a brilliant rep- resentation. Mr. Grau had piled up the stage adornments with a lavish hand, and, though it disappeared from the Metropolitan stage after two performances, material traces remained for years in the settings of other spectacular operas. The scenes were all reproductions of the Paris mod- els and exquisitely painted; the costumes were gorgeous to a degree. Mile. Breval's beauty (Semitic, as became the character) shone radiant in the part of the heroine, and she sang and acted with an intensity that in its supreme mo- ments was positively uplifting. Flaubert's brilliant novel supplied the material out of which " Salammbo " was con- structed. The romance has a large historical incident for a background, namely, the suppression of a mutiny among the mercenaries of the Carthaginians in the first Punic war. Running through the gorgeous tissue which the French novelist wove about this incident is the thread of story which Camille du Locle drew out for Reyer's use — the story of the rape of the sacred veil of Tanit by the leader of the revolting mercenaries, his love for Salammbo, daughter of the Carthaginian general ; her recovery of the veil, with its consequence of disaster to her lover, and the pitiful death GOOD DRAMATIC CHARACTERIZATION 305 of both at their own hands. The authors of the opera were adepts in the field of what might be called musical spectacle. M. du Locle had a hand in both of the operas written for Paris, " Les Vepres Sicilienne," and " Don Car- los." Under the eyes of Verdi at Sant' Agata he wrote the prose scenario of " Aida," which Ghislanzoni turned into Italian verse for the composer. If a prodigal and sumptuous heaping up of stage adornments could make the success of an opera, " Salammbo " would have been one of the greatest triumphs of the French lyric stage ; but pompous pictures are not the be-all and end-all of opera, even in Paris, and the fortunate co-operation of du Locle and Verdi was not repeated in the collaboration of du Locle and Reyer. There are, however, merits in " Salammbo " which en- title it to a better fate than befell it in New York. The people in the story have marked dramatic physiognomies; indeed, had M. Reyer's skill in characterization been half so great as M. Flaubert's, and M. du Lode's, there would have been much to praise in the work. The characters are admirably drawn, and show as much individuality in their intellectual and moral traits as they do in their physical — the crafty Greek, the treacherous Numidian, the energetic and manly Carthaginian, the storm-tossed heroine, and the lovelorn Lybian are good dramatic types, even if stamped with stage conventions. A genius in musical characteri- zation, like Mozart, Wagner or Verdi, would have found means for making their utterances as picturesque as their presences; but this was beyond the powers of Reyer. His tastes are modern, his aims far above the frivolity which afflicts some of his colleagues, but his abilities do not keep pace with his ambition. His models are easily found; he clasps hands most warmly with Berlioz, and has some of the Frenchman's peculiarly GalHc reverence for Spontini and Gluck. There are indications in the score that " Les Troyens " occupied much of his attention while he was en- 3o6 REYER'S MUSICAL MODELS gaged upon it, and I fancy that that ambitiously planned, but star-crossed work, was also familiar to the librettist. This need not excite special wonder, for the association of ideas was close enough. The second part of Berlioz's tragedy is also Carthaginian, and ends with Dido's pro- phetic vision of the hero who should avenge her wrongs on Rome. That Reyer also venerates Wagner but shows itself more in the use of the German master's harmonic progressions than in the adoption of his methods. He adopts the device of reiterated phrases, but his purpose in doing so I could not discover. Two short melodies, which are the themes of his brief instrumental introduction, are brought forward again and again, but fail to disclose their relationship to any of the agencies or elements in the story, and without a sign of that organic development which is the distinguishing characteristic of Wagner's creative style. Reyer's orchestration is discreet and free from all taint of that instrumental Volapiik which is so marked in the Young Italian school. His subject invites the use of Ori- ental intervals, and he employs them with the discretion which is noticeable in " Aida," but not with Verdi's ef- fectiveness. Some of his devices are admirable, others simply bizarre. As a whole the music is monotonous in character and color, but it is dignified and earnest, and for this it deserves praise. Mme. Sembrich had absented herself from Mr. Grau's company in the season 1900-01 in order to make a tour of the country with a small opera company of her own; she returned to the Metropolitan fold in the next season, how- ever, and has not been errant since. The newcomers in 1901-02 were de Marchi, the tenor, who sang first in " Aida " on January 17, 1902; Albert Reiss, a German tenor and specialist in Wagner's Mime, and Tavecchia, bass. The last- named made no deep impression, and faded out of view, but Mr. Reiss has been a strong prop of the Wagnerian per- formances ever since, and has proved himself an exceed- ROYALTY ENTERTAINED 307 ingly useful artist in many respects. Mr. Walter Damrosch joined Mr. Grau's forces as conductor of the German operas; with him were associated Signor Sepilli and M. Flon. The record of the subscription season embraced thirty-three subscription evenings, eleven subscription mati- nees, the same number of popular priced performances on Saturday nights, nine extra performances, including four afternoons devoted to " The Ring of the Nibelung," and a gala performance in honor of Prince Henry of Prussia. The additions to the institution's repertory consisted of " Messaline," by Isidore de Lara, and " Manru," by Ignace Jan Paderewski. Concerning these novelties I shall have a word to say presently; the importance of the German prince's visit, from a social point of view, asks that it re- ceive precedence in the narrative of the season's doings. This right royal incident took place on the evening of Feb- ruary 25, 1902. The opera house never looked so beautiful before, nor has it looked so beautiful since, as when it was garbed to welcome the nation's guest, a brother of the German Emperor. The material most used in adorning the house was Southern smilax, which all but hid all that is ordinarily seen of the auditorium and the corridors. All the box and balcony fronts were covered with it, and strings of it hung at the sides of the proscenium opening from the top of the opening to the stage. These strips of green foliage were thickly studded with white and green electric lights. The same scheme was carried out above the stage opening, where long garlands of smilax, gleaming with tiny white and green lamps, were hung in festoons, while the apex was formed by a standard of American and German flags and shields. On the balcony and box fronts the screens of smilax were relieved with frequent bunches of azaleas and marguerites, and with stars of white lamps shining through the green. The royal box was formed by remov- ing the partitions separating five boxes in the middle of the lower tier. The front was decorated with American 3o8 DECORATIONS AND PROGRAM beauty roses, in addition to the smilax. The interior was hung with crimson velvet, and across its front was a canopy of crimson velvet and white satin. Behind the royal box the corridor on which it opened was cut off from the other boxes by hangings of tapestry. One of the most beautiful effects of all was made by the ceiling, where the chandeliers shone through a network of strings of smilax and white and green electric lights radiating from the center like the strands of a cobweb. As may be guessed, the brilliancy of the audi- ence was in harmony with that of the audience-room. The price of tickets for the stalls on the main floor was thirty dollars, and the chairs in the other parts of the room cost proportionately. Persons who could pay such sums to wit- ness the function could also afford to dress well, and at no public affair in my time has New York seen such a dis- play of gowns and jewels. The musical program was elaborate, but that was the least important feature of the evening. Mr. Grau had determined to disclose the entire strength of his company, and to that end, settling the order in some diplomatic manner, into the secret of which he let neither reporter nor public, he made a program ac- cording to which Mesdames Gadski and Schumann-Heink and Messrs. Dippel, Bispham, Miihlmann, and Edouard de Reszke were to perform the first act of " Lohengrin," Mes- dames Calve, Marilly, and Bridewell and Messrs. Alvarez, Declery, Gilibert, Reiss, and Scotti the second act of " Car- men " ; Mesdames Eames and Homer and Messrs. Cam- panari, Journet, and De Marchi the third act of " Aida," Mme. Ternina and Messrs. Van Dyck, Blass, Bars, Reiss, Miihlmann, Viviani, and Van Rooy the second act of " Tannhauser," Mesdames Sembrich and Van Cauteren, and Messrs. Vanni, Bars, Dufriche, Gilibert, and Salignac the first act of " La Traviata," and Mile. Breval and Mr. Alvarez the first scene from the fourth act of " Le Cid." It was a generous rather than a dainty dish to set before a king's brother, but it served fully to disclose the wealth Copyright by A. Dupont From Kobbe's "Opera Singers" ERNEST VAN DYCK AS TANNHAUSER FIRST PERFORMANCE OF "MESSALINE" 309 of resource in New York's chief operatic institution, and the performances took on a heightened brilHancy from the beautiful appearance of the audience-room, and the spirit of joyous excitement which animated the audience. Up to the last moment no one familiar with the interior workings of Mr. Grau's harmonious, yet unruly empire, felt certain that the program would be carried out as planned ; and it was not. It was very late when the curtain of smilax and light fell on the act of " Tannhauser," and, the prince having left the house long before, followed by a large por- tion of the audience, who had come to see royalty, not to hear regal singers, Mme. Sembrich put down her little foot and refused to sing. Otherwise everything went oflf according to program. " Messaline " was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House on January 22, 1902. The list of those who took part in its performance reads thus: Messaline Mme. Calve Tyndaris Miss Marilly La Citharode Miss Van Cauteran Tsilla Miss Juliette Roslyn Leoconce Miss Helen Mapleson Helion Mr. Alvarez. J?,y*'".^ I Mr. Journet Olympias ) Myrrhon Mr. Gilibert Callus Mr. Declery Un Rameur de Galere Mr. Dufriche Un Mime Alexandrin Mr. Viviani Un Poete d'Atellanes Mr. Giaccone Le Loeno Mr. Vanni Un Marchand d'Eau Mr. Maestri L'Edile Mr. Judels Hares Mr. Scotti Conductor, M. Flon When Mr. Grau produced " Salammbo " it was possible for the writers in the newspapers to give a detailed account of the purport and progress of the story, and give an ac- count of its panoramic furniture without offending de- 3IO IMPUDIQTY GLORIFIED cency. This is scarcely possible in the present instance. " Salammbo " was written many years ago, before the con- viction had dawned upon the minds of opera makers that thugs and thieves, punks and paillards, were proper per- sons to present as publishers of operatic themes. Since then there has grown up in Italy a notion that the mud of the slums is ennobling material for celebration by the most ethereal of the arts, and in France that lust and lubricity are lofty inspirations for dramatic song. Gautier's delec- table account of one of Cleopatra's nights has furnished forth an opera book; the mysteries of Astarte have been hymned, and Phryne, Thais, and Messalina have been held up to the admiring views of the Parisians clothed in more or less gorgeous sound — and little else. There is no parallel between this movement on the part of opera and the con- temporary tendency of the spoken drama. Those diligent regenerators of society, Ibsen, Pinero & Co., affect a moral purpose to conceal an obvious aim from the simple- minded; the French makers of opera are franker, for they seek to glorify impudicity in the persons of its greatest historical representatives by lavishing upon the subject the most gorgeous pictures, the most ingenious theatrical con- trivances, and the most sensuous music at their command. " Messaline " is a case in point. This work has Armand Sylvestre and Eugene Morand, two brilliant Frenchmen in their way, for the authors of its book, and Isidore de Lara, at the time chief of the drawing-room musicians of London, as its composer. The story of the opera is a sort of variant of " Carmen " set in an antique key, its heroine being an historic Roman empress instead of a gipsy cigarette girl. But any one who shall take the trouble to glance at the sixth satire of Juvenal will recognize that all its motives were drawn from that source. The likeness to " Carmen " is accidental, after all, though Bizet's opera was not without influence upon the work of librettists and com- poser. Like Carmen, Messalina, merely to gratify her lust. A PARALLEL WITH " CARMEN " 31 1 draws an honest-minded and supposedly pure man into her toils, and then throws him over for the next man she meets who is handsomer and lustier. In Bizet's opera the men are the soldier Don Jose, and the bullfighter, Escamillo; in De Lara's Hares, a singer, and Helion, a gladiator. Both operas end with the arena as a background — ^the Plaza de Toros in Seville, on the one hand, the Roman Circus, on the other. But here the resemblances end unless we pursue the traces of Bizet's music into De Lara's score, and this I shall not do, out of respect for the most brilliant composer that France has produced since Berlioz. Echeon, the harper; Glaphyrus or Ambrosius, the flute players, who are casti- gated in Juvenal's diatribe against marriage, are the proto- types of Messaline's first victim, as also is PolUo, whom a lady of lofty rank so loved that she kept for her kisses the plectrum with which he had strummed his lyre. That lyre she had incrusted with jewels, and for the sake of him who twanged it she had not hesitated to veil her face before the altar of Janus, and speak the mystic formula after the of- ficiating priest. (" What more could she do were her hus- band sick?" asks Juvenal; "what if the physicians had de- spaired of her infant son?") As for Helion, his prototype is the gladiator Sergius, save that we are permitted to find him comely to look upon, and not as one galled by his hel- met, having a huge wen between his nostrils and " acrid rheum forever trickling from his eye." So, too, in the exposition of Messalina's character the librettist, while constructing an entirely fanciful tale, and omitting all reference to the most notorious of her amours (the one which at the last wrung the decree of her death from the generally complacent Claudius), nevertheless man- aged to indicate Juvenal's description in the song which Hares sings against her, a recital by Myrrho, a scene in the slums, which she visits in disguise, and where she is res- cued from a gang of roisterers by Helion, and in the scene of her wooing of the gladiator. (This scene, as it was 312 THE MUSIC OF THE OPERA played by Mme. Calve, may not be pictured here.) A glim- mer of palliation might be read out of a few passages in the book, and at the end there is an indication of something better than the groveling carnality of the woman whose name has been a byword for nineteen centuries in her offer of herself to Helion's sword, and her opening the door to the lurking assassin when the gladiator refuses to strike in obedience to his old vow to avenge the supposed death of his brother. But all of the stage Messalina's words and acts up to that time give the lie to the thought of her ca- pability of feeling a single throb of pure sentiment. She is presented as all beast, and there is not one moment of cheer to relieve the horror of a play which shows how her lewdness compasses the death of two loving brothers, who, unknown to each other, were both her lovers. At the end the hand of Hares, stiffened in death, clings to her robe, and brings her face to face with that death which the veritable Messalina was too cowardly to give to herself when her own mother pleaded with her to do so at the fate- ful meeting in the garden of Lucullus. But there is often palliation in music. To this fact I have called attention before. Music can chasten and en- noble; but not music like Mr. De Lara's, which, when it strives for anything, strives to give an added atmosphere to the incontinence portrayed by the stage pictures, and pro- claimed in the text. It is not dangerous music, however, for it is impotent, with all its blatant pretense. The com- poser seeks to fill the opening scene with languor and lassi- tude; he fills it with ennui instead. If De Lara's music were a hymning of anything, I should say it was a hymn- ing of sensuality in its lowest terms ; but there are nei|her,y eloquent melodies nor moving harmonies in the score. De Lara is a feeble distemper painter. The current of "his music never really flows ; it moves sluggishly now and then,' and eddies lazily about every petty incident. In the scene of debauchery in the second act, it waits for a xylophone PADEREWSKI'S " MANRU " 31J to rattle an accompaniment to the dice; it holds its breath for a muted horn to obtrude its voice with an inane vul- garity which would be laughable were it not pitiful to hear it in a work which is admirable in its dramatic con- trivance and scenic equipment. Mr. Paderewski's opera, " Manru," had its first perform- ance on February 14, 1902. Mr. Damrosch conducted. The composer, who had taken a hand in the preparations, listened to the representation from a box, and the list of performers was this : Ulana Mme. Sembrich Hedwig Mme. Homer Asa Miss Fritzi Scheff Manru Alexander van Bandrowski Oros Mr. Miihlmann Jagu Mr. Blass- Urok Mr. Bispham " Manru " had its original performance at the Court Opera in Dresden, on May 29, 1901. Before reaching New York it was given in Cracow, Lemberg, Zurich, and Co- logne, and Mr. Bandrowski, whom Mr. Grau engaged to sing the titular part, had already sung it twenty times in Europe. Its production at the Metropolitan Opera House brought scenes of gladsome excitement. Hero worshipers had an opportunity to gratify their passion in connection with a man who had filled a larger place in the public eye for a decade than any of his colleagues the world over ; students were privileged to study a first work by an emi- nent musician, whose laurels had been won in a very dif- ferent field; curiosity lovers had their penchant gratified to the full. The popular interest in the affair was disclosed by the fact that never before in the season had the audi- ence -at the Metropolitan been so numerous or brilliant; naturally the presence of the admired composer whetted in- terest and heightened enthusiasm. Long before the evening was over Mr. Paderewski was drawn from his secluded 314 A REMARKABLE FIRST OPERA place in a parterre box by the plaudits of the audience, and compelled to acknowledge hearty appreciation of his achieve- ment along with the artists who had made it possible. Despite the flaws which were easily found in the work, " Manru," the performance showed, is a remarkable first opera. There will scarcely ever be a critic who will say of it as one of the composers now set down as a classic said of the first opera of a colleague, that first operas, like first htters of puppies, ought properly to be drowned- " Manru " has had its day, but it was brilliant while it lasted, and it is possible that now it is not dead, but only sleeping. The story, badly told in the Ubretto made after a Polish romance by a friend of the composer. Dr. Nossig, has the charm of novelty, and beneath it there lies a potent dra- matic principle. But more than the story, more than the picturesque costumes and stage furniture, there is a fascina- tion about the music which grew with each hearing. Many of its characteristic details are based upon national idioms, but on the whole Mr. Paderewski wrote like an eclectic. He paid his tribute to the tendency which Wagner made dominant (where is the composer of the last thirty years who has not?) and, indeed, has been somewhat too frank in his acknowledgment of his indebtedness to that master in falling into his manner, and utilizing his devices whenever (as in the second act) there is a parallelism in situation ; but he has, nevertheless, maintained an individual lyricism which proclaims him an ingenuous musician of the kind that the art never needed so much as it needs it now. As a na- tional colorist Mr. Paderewski put new things upon the operatic palette. " Manru " is not an opera to be disposed of with a hur- ried ultimatum on either book or music. From several points of view it not only invites, it clamors for discussion. The book is awkwardly constructed, and its language is at times amazingly silly ; yet the fundamental idea is kept be- fore the mind persistentiy and alluringly by the devices of THE GIPSY "WANDERLUST" 315 the composer. A Gipsy who forsakes his wife and child because he cannot resist the seductions of a maid of his own race would ordinarily be a contemptible character, and nothing more ; but in this case, despite the want of dramatic and literary skill in the libretto, Manru is presented as a tragic type who goes to merited destruction, indeed, but do- ing so nevertheless creates the impression that he is less the victim of individual passion than of a fatality which is racial. I can easily fancy that the Polish novelist from whom the story was borrowed presented the psychological fact more eloquently than the librettist, but it is a question whether or not he did so more convincingly than Mr. Nos- sig plus Mr. Paderewski. Mr. Leland (after Mr. Borrow the closest of literary students of the Gipsies) has pictured for us the Romany's love for roaming, and our sjrmpathy with his propensity. We look wistfully at the ships at sea, and wonder what quaint mysteries of life they hide; we watch the flight of birds and long to fly with them any- where, over the world and into adventure. These emotions tell us how near we are to be affected or elected unto the Romany, who belong to out-of-doors and nature, like birds and bees. Centuries more than we think of have fashioned that disposition in the black-blooded people, and made it an irresistible impulse. Thus the poetical essence of Man- ru's character is accounted for, and the librettist has given it an expression which is not inept : With longings wild my soul is fill'd, Spring's voices shout within me; Each fiber in my soul is thriU'd With feelings that would win me. In bush and brake The buds awake, Of nature's joy th^ woods partake, And bear me helpless, spent, along Where freedom lives far from the throng; Thus pours the mountain torrent wild. That stubborn rocks would check; 3i6 GIPSY MUSIC IN HUNGARY Thus rolls the molten lava stream, Dispersing havoc dire, supreme, Enfolding, whelming all in wreck! Thus flies the pollen on the breeze To meet its floral love ; The song, outgushing from the soul. Thus seeks the starry vault above. Is it a curse? There is no other life for me. 'Tis written in the book of fate: Thy race must ev'ry pledge abate And wander, rove eternally! But why ? and where ? I know it not, — I needs must fare ! But such a life is lawless, it creates infidelity, nourishes incontinence ; its seeming freedom is but slavery to passion, and this, too, the poet proclaims in Manru's confession that faithfulness is impossible to one to whom each new beauty offers irresistible allurement, and whose heart must remain unstable as his habitation. Into the music of Manru's songs, which tell of these things, Mr. Paderewski has poured such passionate emo- tional expression as makes them convincing, and he has done more. Music is the language of the emotions, and the Gipsies are an emotional folk. The people of Hungary have permitted the Gipsies to make their music for them so long, and have mixed the Romany and Magyar bloods so persistently, that in music Gipsy and Hungarian have become practically identical terms. It was a Hungarian gentleman who said : " When I hear the ' Rakoczy ' I feel as if I must go to war to conquer the whole world. My fingers convulsively twitch to seize a pistol, a sword, or bludgeon, or whatever weapon may be at hand; I must clutch it, and march forward." It is because of this spirit, scarcely overstated in this story, that the Austrian Gov- ernment, fearful of the influence of the " Rakoczy " during periods of political excitement, has several times prohibited its performance on public occasions, and confiscated the MAGYAR MUSIC IN THE SCORE 317 copies found in the music shops. Mr. Paderewski makes admirable use of this passion as a dramatic motive. When neither the pleadings of his tribal companions nor the se- ductive artifices of Asa suffice to break down Manru's sense of duty to his wife and child, the catastrophe is wrought by the music of a gipsy fiddler. As the subject of the opera has to do with the con- flict between Christian and Pagan, Galician and Gipsy, so the music takes its color now from the folk-song and dance of Mr. Paderewski's own people, and anon from the Gipsies who frequent the mountainous scenes in which the opera plays. The use of an Oriental interval, beloved of Poles and Gipsies, characterizes the melos of the first act; the rhythm of a peasant dance inspires the ballet, which is not an idle divertissement, but an integral element of the play, and Gipsy fiddle and cimbalom lend color and char- acter to the music which tempts Manru to forget his duty. The contest in Manru's soul has musical delineation in an extended orchestral introduction to the last act, in which Gipsy and Polish music are at war, while clouds and moon struggle for the mastery in the stage panorama. The season 1902-03 may be said to have been eventful only in its tragic outcome, of which I have already spoken — Mr. Grau's physical collapse. There was a painful and most un- expected echo a few weeks after the doors of the opera house had been closed for the summer vacation in the death of Mr. Frank W. Sanger, who had been acting as associate manager with Mr. Grau, and who had been largely instrumental in persuading Mr. Grau to abandon work and seek health in France. The season covered seventeen weeks, and comprised sixty-eight subscription nights, seventeen sub- scription matinees, seventeen popular Saturday nights, and six extra performances — ninety-one performances in all. Promises of a serial performance of the chief works of Verdi and Mozart had to be abandoned, partly on account of the illness of Mme. Eames. Only one new opera was 3i8 THE SEASON 1902-1903 brought forward, and that under circumstances which re- flected no credit on the institution or its management, the opera (Miss Ethel Smyth's " Der Wald ") not being worth the labor, except, perhaps, because it was the work of a wo- man, and the circumstances that private influences, and not public service, had prompted the production being too obvious to invite confidence in the opera. Simply for the sake of the integrity of the record mention is made that the production took place on March 11, 1903, that Alfred Herz conducted, and that Mme. Gadski, Mme. Reuss-Belce, Georg Anthes, Mr. Bispham, Mr. Blass, and Mr. Miihlmann were concerned in the performance. The newcomers in Mr. Grau's forces were Mme. Reuss-Belce, Georg Anthes, Emil Gerhauser, Aloys Burgstaller, and the conductor of the German operas, Mr. Hertz, who, like Mr. Burgstaller, has remained ever since, and they were all active agents in promoting the sensational feature of the first season of the administration which succeeded Mr. Grau's. I have tab- ulated the performances which took place in the subscription seasons under Mr. Grau as follows : THE GRAU PERIOD, 1898-1903 Operas i898-*i899- 1900- 1901- 1902- 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 " Tannhauser '' 6 5 4 2 4 "IlBarbiere" 44003 " Romeo et Juliette " 6 S 4 3 2 " La Traviata " 2 2 o i 4 "DieWalkure" 46333 " Siegfried " i 2 I I 3 " Nbzze di Figaro " 3 4 O 2 I "Carmen" 2 11 o 7 3 "Lohengrin" 7 7 6 4 7 "Faust" 7 9 S S 7 " Tristan und Isolde " S 3 4 3 4 "Don Giovanni" 4 I I o I "Aida" 3 5 3 S 7 " Les Huguenots " 4 2 3 3 3 " Das Rheingold " i 2 I i 2 * Performances in the supplementary season included. A REPERTORY OF FIVE YEARS 319 Operas i8g8-*i899- 1900- 1901- 1902- 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 " Gotterdammerung " I 2 2 2 2 " Martha " i o o o o " L' Africane " I i i o o "Rigoletto" r I i o i " Le Prophete " 2 2 o o i t " Ero e Leandro " 2 o o o 2 " Lucia di Lammermoor " 1 2^ 2 o o " II Trovatore" o 3' o o i " Der FEegende Hollander " 3 I o o "Mignon" o i o o o " Don Pasquale " o 3 o i i " Cavalleria Rusticana " 6 3 4 i " Pagliacci " I o I 6 " Die Meistersinger " o 4 2 i 2 " Die Lustigen Weiber " o i o o o "Fidelio" O I I o " The Magic Flute " 05032 " La Boheme " o 5 o 3 " Mefistofele " o o 2 o o "Le Cid" 00320 f'Tosca" o 3 3 4 t"Salammb6" 00200 " Fille du Regiment " o o 3 6 t " Messaline " o o o 3 o "Otello" o o o 3 3 t " Manru " o o o 3 o " Ernani " o o o o 3 " Un Ballo in Maschera " o o o o i tDer Wald" 00002 ♦Performances in the supplementary season included. t Novelties. CHAPTER XXI HEINRICH CONRIED AND " PARSIFAL " BEGINNING OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF HEINRICH CONRIED— SEASON 1903-1904— MASCAGNI'S AMERICAN FIASCO— " IRIS " AND " ZANETTO "—WOEFUL CONSEQUENCES OF DEPRECIAT- ING AMERICAN CONDITIONS— MR. CONRIED'S THEATRICAL CAREER— HIS INHERITANCE FROM MAURICE GRAU— SIGNOR CARUSO— THE COMPANY RECRUITED— THE "PARSIFAL" CRAZE A PROLOGUE dealing with other things may with propriety accompany this chapter, which is concerned with the history of the Metropolitan Opera House under the administration of Mr. Heinrich Conried. It is called for by the visit which Pietro Mascagni made to the United States in the fall of 1902. Signer Mascagni came to America under a contract with Mittenthal Brothers, theatrical managers, whose activities had never appreciably touched the Ameri- can metropolis nor the kind of entertainment which they sought to purvey. These things are mentioned thus early in the story so that light may be had from the beginning on the artistic side of the most sensational fiasco ever made by an artist of great distinction in the United States. The contract, which was negotiated by an agent of the Mitten- thals in Italy, was for fifteen weeks, during which time Signer Mascagni obligated himself to produce and himself conduct not more than eight performances of opera or con- certs a week. For his personal services he was to receive $60,000, in weekly payments of $4,000, with advances be- fore leaving Italy and on arriving in New York. The con- tract called for performances of " Iris," " Cavalleria Rusti- cana," " Zanetto," and " Ratcliff " by a company of singers 320 THE COMING OF MASCAGNI 321 and instramentalists to be approved by Signor Mascagni. The composer was hailed with gladness on his arrival by his countrymen, and his appearance and the three operas which were unknown to the American public were awaited with most amiable and eager curiosity. The first perform- ance took place in the Metropolitan Opera House on Octo- ber 8, 1902, and was devoted to " Zanetto " and " Caval- leria Rusticana," both conducted by the composer. There was a large audience and much noisy demonstration on the part of the Italian contingent, but the unfamiliar work proved disappointing and the performance of " Cavalleria " so rough that all the advantages which it derived from Mascagni's admirable conducting failed to atone for its crudities. There were three representations at the Metro- politan Opera House the first week, all devoted to the same works, and one at the Academy of Music in Brooklyn. Meanwhile promises of " Iris " and " Ratcliff " were held out, and work was done most energetically to prepare the former for performance. Rehearsals were held day and night and the Saturday evening performance abandoned to that end. " Ratcliff " was never reached, but " Iris " was given on October i6th with the following cast, which de- serves to go on record since it was the first representation of the opera in the United States. Iris Marie Farneti Osaka Pietro Schiavazzi Kyoto Virgilio Bellatti II Cieco Francesco Navarrini Una Guecha Dora de Fillippe Un Mercianola Pasquali Blasio Un Cencianola Bernardino Landino I shall not tell the story of " Iris," which five years after was adopted into the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera House, it seemed for the purpose of giving Mme. Eames an opportunity to contend with Miss Geraldine Farrar in the field of Japanese opera; but the opera calls for some 322 MASCAGNI'S " IRIS " comment. Why " Iris " ? It might be easier to answer the question if it were put in the negative : Why not " Iris " ? The name is pretty. It suggests roseate skies, bows of promise, flowery fields, messages swiftly borne and full of portent. The name invites to music and to radiant rai- ment, and it serves its purpose. Mascagni and his librettist do not seem to have been able to find a term with which to define their creation. They call it simply "Iris"; not a "dramma per musica," as the Florentine inventors of the opera did their art-form ; nor a " melodramma " nor a " tragedia per musica " ; nor an " opera in musica," of which the conventional and generic " opera " is the abbre- viation ; nor even a " dramma lirico," which is the term chosen by Verdi for his "Falstaff" and Puccini for his " Manon Lescaut." In truth, " Iris " is none of these. It begins as an allegory, grows into a play, and ends again in allegory, beginning and end, indeed, being the same, poet- ically and musically. Signor lUica went to Sar Peladan and d'Annunzio for his sources, but placed the scene of " Iris " in Japan, the land of flowers, and so achieved the privilege of making it a dalliance with pseudo-philosophic symbols and gorgeous garments. Now, symbolism is poor dramatic matter, but it can furnish forth moody food for music, and " Sky robes spun of Iris woof " appear still more radiant to the eye when the ear, too, is enlisted. Crossness and purulence stain the dramatic element in the piece, but when all is over pictures and music have done their work of mitigation, and out of the feculent mire there arises a picture of poetic beauty, a vision of suffering and triumphant innocency which pleads movingly for a pardon- ing embrace. There are many effective bits of expressive writing in the score of " Iris," but most of them are fugitive and aim at coloring a word, a phrase, or at best a temporary situa- tion. There is little flow of natural, fervent melody. What the composer accomplished with tune, characteristic c IS ■" N H Pi W ^ c c MASCAGNI'S SCORE 323 but fluent, eloquent yet sustained, in " Cavalleria Rusti- cana," he tries to achieve in " Iris " with violent, disjointed shifting of keys and splashes of instrumental color. In this he is seldom successful, for he is not a master of or- chestral writing, that technical facility which nearly all the young musicians have in the same degree that all pianists have finger technic. His orchestral stream is muddy; his effects generally crass and empty of euphony. He throws the din of outlandish instruments of percussion, a battery of gongs, big and little, drums and cymbals, into his score without achieving local color. Once only does he utilize it so as to catch the ears and stir the fancy of the listeners — in the beginning of the second act, where there is a mur- mur of real Japanese melody. As a rule, however, Signor Mascagni seems to have been careless in the matter of local color, properly so, perhaps, for, strictly speaking, local color in the lyric drama is for comedy with its petty limitations, not for tragedy with its appeal to large and universal pas- sions. Yet it was in the lighter scenes, the scenes of com- edy, like the marionette show; the scenes of mild pathos, like the monologues of Iris, in which the music helped Signorina Farneti, with her gentle face, mobile, expressive and more than comely, and her graceful, intelligent action, to present a really captivating figure of sweet innocence walking unscathed through searing fires of wickedness and vice, and the scenes of mere accessory decoration, like that of the laundresses, the mousme in the first act, with its purl- ing figure borrowed from " Les Huguenots " and its un- necessarily uncanny col legno effect conveyed from " L'Af- ricaine," that the music seemed most effective. " Zanetto "■ is nothing more than an operatic sketch in one act. In its original shape, as it came from the pen of Frangois Cop- pee, under the title " Le Passant," the story is a gracious and graceful idyl. A woman of the world, sated and weary with a life of amours, meets a young singer, feels the sensa- tions of a pure love pulsing in her veins and sends him out 324 THE OPERA " ZANETTO " of her presence uncontaminated. Here are poetry and beauty; but not matter for three-quarters of an hour of a rambling musical dialogue, such as the librettists and com- poser of " Cavalleria Rusticana " have strained and tor- tured it into. A drawing-room sketch of fifteen minutes' duration might have been tolerable. To add to the dulness of the piece, Mascagni, actuated by a conceit which would have been dainty and effective in the brief sketch hinted at, wrote the instrumental parts for strings, harp, and an ex- tremely sparing use of the wood-wind choir and horn. Harmonies there are of the strenuous kind, but they. are desiccated ; not one juicy chord is heard from beginning to end, and the vitality of the listening ear is exhausted long before the long-drawn thing has come to an end. Signor Mascagni entered upon his second week with disaster staring him in the face, and before it was over it was plain to everyone that the enterprise was doomed to monumental failure. The public after the first night be- came curiously apathetic. This apathy would have been justified had any considerable number of the city's habitual opera-patrons attended any of the performances. The wel- come came from the Italians dwelling within the city's boundaries; the performances themselves could arouse no enthusiasm. The singers were on a level with the usual summer itinerants; the orchestra, made up partly of inex- perienced men from Italy and non-union players from other cities, was unpardonably wretched. It was foolishly reck- less in the composer to think that with such material as he had raked together in his native land and recruited here he could produce four of his operas within a week of his ar- rival in America. He must have known how incapable, inexperienced, and unripe the foreign contingent of his orchestra was. The energy with which he threw himself into the task of trying to repair his blunders won the sym- pathy of the members of the critical guild, though it did not ■wholly atone for his conscious or unconscious misconcep- A POOR OPINION OF AMERICA 325 tion of American conditions. It was not pleasant to think that he had so poor an opinion of American knowledge and taste in music that before coming he thought that anything would be good enough for this country. His experience in Italy ought to have made him something of a student of musical affairs in other countries than his own, and he was unquestionably sincere in his hope that the American tour would win for him and his music the sympathetic ap- preciation which his countrymen had begun to withhold from him. Granting the sincerity of his desire to present himself fairly as a candidate for the good-will of the Amer- ican people, it was inconceivable that he should have con- nived at or suffered such an inadequate preparation for the production of his works. Had he come to New York a month earlier than he did it would not have been a day too early. After his New York fiasco Signor Mascagni went to Boston, where troubles continued to pile upon him till he was overwhelmed. He fell out with his managers, or they with him, and in a fortnight he was under arrest for breach of contract in failing to produce the four operas agreed upon. He retorted with a countersuit for damages and attached theatrical properties in Worcester which the Mit- tenthals said did not belong to them, but to their brother. The scandal grew until it threatened to become a subject of international diplomacy, but in the end compromises were made and the composer departed to his own country in bodily if not spiritual peace. One achievement remained: the Musical Protective Union of New York had asked the federal authorities to deport the Italian instrumentalists under the Alien Labor Contract Law, and the Treasury Department at Washington decided in its wisdom that no matter how poor a musician a musician might be, he was not a laboring man, but an artist, and not subject to the law. Exit Mascagni. On February 14, 1903, the directors of the Metropolitan 326 CONRIED AND HIS CAREER Opera and Real Estate Company by a vote of seven to six adopted a resolution directing the executive committee " to negotiate with Mr. Heinrich Conried regarding the Metro- politan Opera House, with power to conclude a lease in case satisfactory terms can be arranged." This was the outcome of a long struggle between Mr. Conried and Mr. Walter Damrosch, a few other candidates for the position of director of the institution making feeble and hopeless efforts to gain a position which all the world knew had, after many vicissitudes, brought fortune to Mr. Grau. The public seemed opera-mad and the element of uncertainty eliminated from the enterprise. Mr. Conried had been an actor in Austria, had come as such to New York, and worked himself up to the position of manager of a small German theater in Irving Place. He had also managed comic operetta companies, English and German, in the Casino and elsewhere, and acted as stage manager for other entrepreneurs. For a year or two his theater had enjoyed something of a vogue among native Americans with a knowledge of the German tongue, and Mr. Conried had fostered a belief in his high artistic purposes by pre- senting German plays at some of the universities. He be- came known outside the German circle by these means, and won a valuable championship in a considerable portion of the press. In the management of grand opera he had no experience, and no more knowledge than the ordinary the- atrical man. But there was no doubt about his energy and business skill, though this latter quality was questioned in the end by such an administration as left his stockholders without returns, though the receipts of the institution were greater than they had ever been in history. He had no diflficulty in organizing a company, which was called the Heinrich Conried Opera Company, on the lines laid down by Mr. Grau, and acquiring the property of the Maurice Grau Opera Company, which, having made large dividends for five years, sold to its successor at an extremely hand- THE INHERITANCE FROM GRAU 327 some figure. Mr. Conried began his administration with many protestations of artistic virtue and made a beginning which aroused high -expectations. To these promises and their fulfillment I shall recur in a resume of the lustrum during which Mr. Conried was operatic consul. Also I shall relate the story of the principal incidents of his con- sulship, but for much of the historical detail shall refer the reader to the table of performances covering the five years. The new operas produced within the period were but few. Some of them are scarcely worth noting even in a bald record of events ; others have been so extensively discussed within so recent a period that they may be passed over without much ado here. Mr. Conried succeeded to a machine in perfect working order, the good-will of the public, agreements with nearly all the artists who were popular favorites, an obligation with the directors of the opera-house company to remodel the stage, and a contract with Enrico Caruso. Mr. Grau had also negotiated with Felix Mottl, had " signed " Miss Fremstad, and was holding Miss Farrar, in a sense his protegee, in reserve till she should " ripen " for America. The acquisition of Caruso was perhaps Mr. Conried's greatest asset financially, though it led to a reactionary policy touching the opera itself which, however pleasing to the boxholders, nevertheless cost the institution a loss of artistic prestige. I emphasize the fact that Mr. Conried acquired the contract with Signor Caruso from Mr. Grau because from that day to this careless newspaper writers, taking their cues from artful interviews put forth by Mr. Conried, have glorified the astuteness of the new manager in starting his enterprise with a discovery of the greatest tenor of his day. Many were the stories which were told, the most picturesque being that Mr. Conried, burdened with the responsibility of recruiting a company, had shrewdly gone among the humble Italians of New York and by questioning them had learned that the name of the 328 CONRIED'S SINGERS greatest singer alive was Caruso. Confirmed in his de- cision by his bootblack, he had then gone to Europe and engaged the wonder. Caruso's reputation was made some years before he came to America, and Mr. Grau had ne- gotiated with him at least a year before he got his signature on a contract for New York. Let the story stand as char- acteristic of many that enlivened the newspapers during the Conried period. A dozen of the singers who were continu- ously employed throughout the Conried period had already established themselves in public favor when his regime opened. They were Mme. Sembrich, Mme. Eames (who was absent during his first year), Mme. Homer, and Messrs. Burgstaller, Dippel, Reiss, Miihlmann, Scotti, Van Rooy, Blass, Journet, Plangon, and Rossi. To these Mr. Conried associated Caruso, Marion Weed, Olive Fremstad, Edyth Walker, Ernst Kraus (the tenor who had been a member of one of Mr. Damrosch's companies), Fran Naval, Giuseppe Campanari, Goritz, and a few people of minor importance. Miss Weed and Miss Fremstad and Messrs. Caruso and Goritz became fixtures in the institution; Miss Walker remained three years ; Herr Kraus and Herr Naval only one season. The second season witnessed the acces- sion of Bella Alten, Mme. Senger-Bettaque (who dated back to the German regime), Mme. Eames (returned), Signora De Macchi (an Italian singer whose failure was so emphatic that her activity ended almost as soon as it began), Mme. Melba (for one season), Mme. Nordica (for two seasons), Josephine Jacoby (for the rest of the term), and a couple more inconsequential fiUers-in. The third year brought Signorina Boninsegna (who I believe had a single appearance), Lina Cavalieri (who endured to the end), Geraldine Farrar (still with the company and bearer of high hopes on the part of opera lovers for the future), Bessie Abott (a winsome singer of extremely light caliber), Marie Mattfeld (an acquaintance of the Damrosch days), Mme. Schumann-Heink (returned for a single season). DISCOURAGEMENTS OF A CONDUCTOR 329 Marie Rappold, Mme. Kirkby-Lunn, Carl Burrian, Sou- beyran and Rousseliere, tenors; Stracciari, barytone, and Chalmin and Navarini, basses. The list of German dra- matic sopranos was augmented in the last year by Mme. Morena and Mme. Leffler-Burkhardt, the tenors by Bonci (who had been brought to America the year before as oppo- sition to Caruso by Mr. Hammerstein), Riccardo Martin (an American), George Lucas; the basses by Theodore Chaliapine, a Russian, and a buffo, Barocchi. Among the engagements of the first season which gave rise to high hopes in serious and informed circles was that of Felix Mottl, as conductor of the German operas and Sunday night concerts (which it was announced were to be given a symphonic character and dignity), Anton Fuchs, of Munich, as stage manager, and Carl Lautenschlager, of the Prinz Regententheater, Munich, as stage mechanician, or technical director. These two men did notable work in " Parsifal," but in everything else found themselves so hampered by the prevailing conditions that after a year they retired to Germany, oppressed with a feeling some- thing akin to humiliation. Likewise Herr Mottl, who made an effort in the line of symphony concerts on the first Sun- day night of the season and then withdrew, to leave the field open to the old-fashioned popular operatic concert, which Mr. Conried commanded and the public unquestion- ably desired. His experiences in putting half-prepared operas on the stage also discouraged Herr Mottl, and he went through the season in a perfunctory manner and de- parted shaking the Metropolitan dust from his feet, and promptly installed his polished boots in the directorship of the Royal Court Theater at Munich. The season opened on November 23, 1903, with " Rigo- letto " ; Mme. Sembrich reappeared as Gilda and Caruso effected his American debut as the Duke. His success was instantaneous, though there was less enthusiasm expressed by far on that occasion than on his last appearance, five 330 PRODUCTION OF WAGNER'S "PARSIFAL" years later. In the interval admiration for a beautiful voice had grown into adoration of a singer — an adoration which even sustained him through a scandal which would have sent a man of equal eminence in any other profession into disgraceful retirement. The season compassed fifteen weeks, from November 23d to March Sth, within which period there were ninety-seven performances of twenty- seven works, counting in a ballet and a single scene from " Mefistofele," in which Mme. Calve, who joined Mr. Con- ried's forces after the season was two-thirds over, and yet managed to give four performances of " Carmen," helped to improve a trifle the pitiful showing made by the French contingent in the list. The French element, which had become a brilliant factor in the Grau period, began to wane, and subsequently the German was eliminated as far as seemed practicable from the subscription seasons. The boxholders were exerting a reactionary influence, and Mr. Conried willingly yielded to them, since he could thus re- serve certain sensational features for the extra nights at special prices and put money in his purse. This policy had a speedy and striking illustration in the production of Wag- ner's " Parsifal," which made Mr. Conried's first year memorable, or, as some thought, notorious. Certainly no theatrical incident before or since so set the world ringing as did the act which had been long in the mind of the new manager, and which was one of the first things which he announced his intention to do after he had secured the lease from the owners of the opera house. The announce- ment was first made unofficially in newspaper interviews, and confirmed in the official prospectus, which set down Christmas as the date of production. A protest — many protests, indeed — followed. Mme. Wagner's was accom- panied with a threat of legal proceedings. The ground of her appeal to Mr. Conried was that to perform the drama which had been specifically reserved for performance in Bayreuth by the composer would be irreverent and illegal A VAIN APPEAL TO THE COURTS 331 To this Mr. Conried made answer that inasmuch as " Par- sifal" was not protected by law in the United States his performance would not be illegal, and that it was more irreverent to Wagner to prevent the many Americans who could not go to Bayreuth from hearing the work than to make it possible for them to hear it in America. Proceed- ings for an injunction were begun in the federal courts, but after hearing the arguments of counsel Judge Lacombe decided, on November 24, 1903, that the writ of injunction prayed for should not issue. The decision naturally caused a great commotion, especially in Germany, where the news- papers and the composers, conductors, and others who were strongly affiliated with Bayreuth manifested a disposition to hold the American people as a whole responsible, not only for a desecration of something more than sacrosanct, but of robbery also. The mildest term applied to Mr. Con- ried's act, which I am far from defending, was that it was " legalized theft." It was not that, because in civilized lands thievery cannot be made lawful. It was simply an appropriation of property for which the law, owing to the absence of a convention touching copyright and performing rights between Germany and the United States at the time, provided neither hindrance nor punishment. Under cir- cumstances not at all favorable to success, had success been attainable (there was always something more than a sus- picion that the proceedings were fomented by enemies of Mr. Conried in New York), Mme. Wagner tried by legal process to prevent the rape of the work, but the courts were powerless to interfere. Having passed triumphantly through this ordeal, Mr. Conried found himself in the midst of another. A number of clergymen, some eminent in their calling and of unquestioned sincerity, others mere seekers after notoriety, attacked the work as sacrilegious. A peti- tion was addressed to the Mayor of the city asking that the license of the Metropolitan Opera House be revoked so far as the production of " Parsifal " was concerned. The peti- 332 THE " PARSIFAL " CAST tion was not granted, but all the commotion, which lasted up to the day of the first performance, was, as the Germans say, but water for Conried's mill. He encouraged the con- troversy with all the art of an astute showman and secured for " Parsifal " such an advertisement as never opera or drama had in this world before. Mr. Conried had concluded at the outset of his enterprise that " Parsifal " was too great a money-maker to be in- cluded in the regular subscription list of the season. He followed his general prospectus with a special one, in which he announced five performances of Wagner's festival drama on special dates, under special conditions, and at special prices. The first was set down for December 24 ; the prices for the stalls on the main floor, the first balcony, and the boxes which were at his disposal were doubled (orchestra stalls, $10), but seats in the upper balcony and the topmost gallery were sold at the regular price. The first perform- ance took place on December 24th, the cast being as follows : Kundry Milka Ternina Parsifal Aloys Burgstaller Amfortas Anton Van Rooy Gurnemanz Robert Blass Klingsor Otto Gorlitz Titurel . j Marcel Journet First Esquire Miss Moran Second Esquire Miss Braendle Third Esquire Albert Reiss Fourth Esquire Mr. Harden First Knight Mr. Bayer Second Knight Mr. Miihlmann A Voice Louise Homer Anton Fuchs and Carl Lautenschlager were in charge of the stage ; Mr. Hertz conducted. The first half of the sea- son had been sacrificed to the production. As such things are done at Bayreuth and in the best theaters of Germany the preparations were inadequate, but the results achieved set many old visitors to the Wagnerian Mecca in amaze. Copyright by A. DupODt ALOIS BURGSTALLER AS PARSIFAL He created the part in America, 190,^ EXCELLENCE OF THE PRODUCTION 333 So far as the mere spectacle was concerned Mr. Conried's production was an improvement on that of Bayreuth in most things except the light effects. All of Wagner's dramas show that the poet frequently dreamed of things which were beyond the capacity of the stage in his day — even the splendidly equipped stage of the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. Later improvements in theatrical mechanics made their realization in more or less degree possible. The greatest advance disclosed by New York over Bayreuth was in the design and manipulation of the magical scenes of the second act. Such scenes as that between Parsifal and the Flower Maidens were doubtless in the imagination of Wagner, but he never saw their realization: Up to the time of which I am writing the Bayreuth pictures were ex- aggerated and garish. In New York every feature of the scene was beautiful in conception, harmonious in color, graceful in action, seductive as the composer intended it to be — as alluring to the eye as the music was fascinating to the ear. At a later performance Weingartner, conductor and composer, now director of the Royal Imperial Court Opera of Vienna, sat beside me. After the first act he spoke in terms generally complimentary about the perform- ance, but criticized its spirit and execution in parts. When the scene of the magical garden was discovered and the floral maidens came rushing in he leaned forward in his chair, and when the pretty bustle reached its height he could wait no longer to give voice to his admiration. " Ah ! " he exclaimed in a whisper, " there's atmosphere ! There's fra- grance and grace ! " The music of the drama was familiar to New Yorkers from many concert performances. Once, indeed, there was a " Parsifal " festival in Brooklyn, tmder the direction of Mr. Seidl, in which all the music was sung by the best singers of the Metropolitan Opera House on a stage set to suggest the Temple of the Grail. Only the action and the pictures were new to the city's music lovers. Nevertheless the interest on the part of the public was stu- 334 FINANCIAL SUCCESS OF THE DRAMA pendous. The first five representations were over on Janu- ary 2 1 St, but before then Mr. Conried had already an- nounced five more, besides a special day performance on Washington's Birthday, February 22d. After the eleventh performance, on February 2Sth, Mr. Conried gave out the statement to the public press that the receipts had been $186,308; that is, an average of $16,937.17. But this was not the end. Under Mr. Grau the custom had grown up in the Metropolitan Opera House of a special performance, the proceeds of which were the personal perquisites of the director. In all the contracts between the director and his artists there was a clause which bound the latter to sing for nothing at one performance. Before his retirement Mr. Grau grew ashamed of appearing in the light of an elee- mosynary beneficiary under such circumstances, and ex- plained to the newspapers that the arrangement between himself and the singers was purely a business one. Never- theless he continued to avail himself of the rich advantage which the arrangement brought him, and in the spring closed the supplementary season with a performance of an olla podrida character, in which all of the artists took part. Mr. Conried continued the custom throughout his admin- istration, but varied the programme in his first year by giving a representation of " Parsifal " instead of the cus- tomary mixed pickles. The act was wholly commercial. That was made plain, even if anyone had been inclined to think otherwise, when subsequently he substituted an op- eretta, Strauss's " Fledermaus," for the religious play, and called on all of his artists who did not sing in it to sit at tables in the ball scene, give a concert, and participate in the dancing. A year later he gratified an equally lofty am- bition by arranging a sumptuous performance of another operetta by the same composer, " Der Zigeunerbaron," and following it with a miscellaneous concert. That op- eretta was never repeated. In the seasons 1904-05 and 1905-06 " Parsifal " was "PARSIFAL" IN ENGLISH 335 again reserved for special performance at double the ordi- nary prices of admission, and it was not until a year later that the patrons of the Metropolitan were permitted to hear it at the ordinary subscription rates. By that time it had taken its place with the Nibelung tragedy, having, in fact, a little less drawing power than the more popular dramas in the tetralogy. The reason was not far to seek. The craze created by the first year had led to all manner of shows, dramas, lectures with stereopticon pictures which were a degradation of the subject. Only one of the results pos- sessed artistic dignity or virtue, and this justified the appre- hension of the poet-composer touching what would happen if his unique work ever became a repertory piece. Mr. Savage in 1904-05 carried " Parsifal " throughout the length and breadth of the land in an English version, start- ing in Boston and giving representations night after night just before the Metropolitan season opened in the New York Theater. Nevertheless there were eight perform- ances at the Metropolitan in that season and four in the season that followed. At regular rates in 1906-07 only two performances were possible. All of Mr. Conried's artistic energies in his second season were expended on the produc- tion of " Die Fledermaus," which he gave for his own benefit under the circumstances already referred to, on February i6th. The season lasted fifteen weeks, and con- sisted of ninety-five performances of thirty operas and two ballets, outside of the supplementary season, which, let me repeat, are not included in the statistics which I am giving. An incident of the second season was the collapse of the bridge which is part of the first scene of " Carmen," and the consequent injury of ten choristers. The accident hap- pened on the night of January 7, 1905, while the perform- ance was in progress. Fortunately nobody was killed. CHAPTER XXII END OF CONRIED'S ADMINISTRATION CONRIED'S ADMINISTRATION CONCLUDED — 1905-1908 — VISITS FROM HUMPERDINCK AND PUCCINI — THE CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE— MADAME SEMBRICH'S GENEROSITY TO THE SUFFERING MUSICIANS— " MADAMA BUTTERFLY "—" MANON LESCAUT "— " FEDORA "—PRODUCTION AND PROHIBITION OF " SALOME "—A CRITICISM OF THE WORK—" ADRIANA LECOU- VREUR "—A TABLE OF PERFORMANCES A VISIT from Engelbert Humperdinck to attend the first German performance of his "Hansel und Gretel" on November 25th, a strike of the chorus which lasted three days, a revival of Goldmark's " Konigin von Saba " which had been the chief glory of the second German season twenty years before, and the squandering of thousands of dollars and so much time that nearly all of the operas in the repertory suffered for lack of rehearsals on a single production of Strauss's operetta " Der Zigeunerbaron," were the chief incidents of the season of 1905-06. That is to say, the chief local incidents. Out in San Francisco the company was overwhelmed by the catastrophe of the earth- quake, which sent it back a physical and financial wreck. The calamity tested the fortitude and philosophy of Mr. Conried as well as the artists, but through the gloom there shone a cheering ray when Mme. Sembrich, herself one of the chief sufferers from the earthquake, postponed her re- turn to her KuTopean home long enough to give a concert for the benefit of the minor members of the company, and distributed $7,691 to musicians who had lost their instru- ments and $2,435 to the chorus and technical staff. The season of 1906-07 marked highwater in the artistic activities of Mr. Conried's institution. It was the year of 336 A VISIT FROM PUCCINI 337 " Salome " and the coming of Signor Puccini to give eclat to the production of his operas. Outside of " Salome " there was only one real novelty in the season's repertory, and that, " Fedora," might easily have been spared ; but the current list of the house was augmented by no less than seven works, namely, " Fedora," " La Damnation de Faust," " Lakme " (which had been absent from the list for many years), " L'Africaine," " Manon Lescaut," "Madama Butterfly," and "Salome." Berlioz's dramatic legend, " La Damnation," had been a popular concert piece ever since its first production by Dr. Leopold Damrosch at a concert of the Symphony Society more than twenty- five years before, and its novel features were those which grew out of the abortive efforts of Raoul Gunsbourg to turn it into a stage play. In the presence of the composer, who was received with great acclaim by a gathering notable in numbers and ap- pearance, and amid scenes of glad excitement which grew from act to act, Puccini's " Manon Lescaut " was per- formed for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera House on the evening of January 18, 1907. Signor Puccini reached the theater in the middle of the third act and, unnoticed by the audience, took a seat in the directors' box in the grand tier. After the first act the orchestra saluted him with a fanfare and the audience broke into applause which lasted so long that, finding it impossible to quiet it by rising and bowing his acknowledgments, he withdrew into the rear of the box out of sight so that the performance might go on. After the second act he sent the following statement in French to the representatives of the newspapers : " I have always thought that an artist has something to learn at any age. It was with delight, therefore, that I accepted the invitation of the directors of the Metropolitan Opera House to come to this new world of which I saw a corner on my visit to Buenos Ayres and with which I was anxious to get better acquainted. What I have seen to- 338 " MANON LESCAUT " PRODUCED night has already proved to me that I did well to come here, and I consider myself happy to be able to say that I am among my friends, to whom I can speak in music with a cer- tainty of being understood." " Manon Lescaut " was not wholly new to the opera- goers of New York, for it had had one or two perform- ances by a vagrant Italian company at Wallack's Theater in May, 1898 ; but to all intents and purposes it was a nov- elty, for the musical itinerants of nine years before were not equal to the task set by Puccini, and gave a perversion rather than a performance of the opera. Why it should have waited so long and for the stimulus of the coming of the composer before reaching the Metropolitan Opera House was not easily explained by those admirers of the composer who knew or felt that in spite of the high opinion in which " La Boheme," " Tosca," and " Madama Butter- fly " were held, " Manon Lescaut " is fresher, more spon- taneous, more unaffected and passionate in its dramatic climaxes, as well as more ingratiatingly charming in its comedy element, than any of its successors from Puccini's pen. The voice of the composer rings unmistakably through its measures, but it is freer from the formularies which have since become stereotyped, and there are a greater number of echoes of the tunefulness which belongs to the older period between which and the present the opera marks a transition. Abbe Prevost's story, familiar to all readers of French romance, had served at least four opera composers before Signor Puccini. In 1830 Hal6vy brought forward a three-act ballet dealing with the story; Balfe wrote a French opera with the title in 1836, Auber another in 1856, and Massenet still another in 1884. Scribe was Auber's collaborator, and their opera, which like Puccini's ended with the scene of Manon's death in America, received a touch of local color from the employment of Negro dances and Creole songs. It would be interesting to see the old score now that the artistic value of the folk-songs THE STORY OF THE OPERA 339 of the Southern States as an incentive to a distinctive school of music has challenged critical attention and aroused con- troversy. Massenet's opera, which through the influence of Minnie Hauk was produced at the Academy of Music on December 23, 1885, dropped out of the local repertory until the restoration of the Italian regime as has been re- lated elsewhere in this book. The opening and closing incidents in Massenet's opera are the same as are used by Puccini, though MM. Meilhac and Gille, the French librettists, did not think it necessary to carry the story across the ocean for the sake of Manon's death scene. In their book she succumbs to nothing that is obvious and dies in her lover's arms on the way to the ship at Havre which was to transport her to the penal colony at New Orleans. The third act of Puccini's opera plays at Havre, its contents being an effort to free Manon, the deporta- tion of a shipload of female convicts, including Manon, and the embarkation of des Grieux in a menial capacity on the convict ship. Here the composer makes one of his most ambitious attempts at dramatic characterization: there is a roll-call and the woman go to the gang-plank in various moods, while the by-standers comment on their appearance and manner. The whole of the last act, which plays on a plateau near New Orleans, is given up to the lovers. Manon dies; des Grieux shrieks his despair and falls life- less upon her body. Puccini has followed his confreres of the concentrated agony school in introducing an orchestral intermezzo. He does this between the second and third acts and gives a clue to its purposed emotional contents by providing it with a descriptive title, " Imprisonment. Journey to Havre," and quoting a passage from the Abbe Prevost's book in which des Grieux confesses the over- powering strength of his passion and determines to follow Manon wherever she may go, " even to the ends of the world." Here, at least, we recognize a sincere effort to make the interlude something more than a stop-gap or a 340"MADAMA BUTTERFLY" IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN device to make up for the paucity of sustained music in the course of the dramatic action. " Madama Butterfly " in the original Italian had been anticipated by a long series of English performances by Mr. Savage's company at the Garden Theater, beginning on November 12th. This production is deserving of record. Walter Rothwell was the conductor, and the principal sing- ers in the cast were Elza Szamosy, a Hungarian, as Cio- Cio-San; Harriet Behne as Suzuki, Joseph F. Sheehan as Pinkerton, and Winifred Goff as Sharpless. The opera reached the Metropolitan Opera House on February 11, 1907, when it was sung in the presence of the composer by the following cast : Cio-Cio-San Geraldine Farrar Suzuki Louise Homer Pinkerton Caruso Sharpless Scotti Gore Reiss Conductor, Arturo Vigna A great deal of the sympathetic interest which " Madama Butterfly " evoked on its first production and has held in steady augmentation ever since was due to the New York public's familiarity with the subject of the opera created by John Luther Long's story and Mr. Belasco's wonder- fully pathetic drama upon which this much more preten- tious edifice of Messrs. lUica, Giacosa, and Puccini is reared. To the popular interest in story and play Japan lent color in more respects than one, having at the time a powerful hold upon the popular imagination. We have had the Mikado's kingdom with its sunshine and flowers, its romantic chivalry, its geishas and continent and incon- tinent morals upon the stage before, — in the spoken drama, in comic operetta, in musical farce, and in serious musical drama. Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan used its external motives for one of their finest satirical skits, an incom- parable model in its way; but the parallel in serious opera HAPPY USE OF JAPANESE COLOR 341 was that created by Signor lUica, one of the librettists of " Madama Butterfly," and Signor Mascagni. The opera was "Iris," the production of which at the Metropolitan Opera House helped to emphasize the failure of the com- poser's American visit. " Iris " is a singular blending of allegory which had a merit quite admirable though ill- applied, and tragedy of the kind to which I have already several times referred in this book. In " Iris " as in " Madama Butterfly " we have Japanese music, — ^the twanging of samisens and the tinkling of gongs ; but it was more coarsely applied, with more apparent and merely out- ward purpose, and it was only an accompaniment of a vision stained all over with purulence and grossness. " Madama Butterfly " tells a tale of wickedness contrasted with lovely devotion. Its carnality has an offset in a picture of love conjugal and love maternal, and its final appeal is one to infinite pity. And in this it is beautiful. Opera-goers are familiar with Signor Puccini's manner. " Tosca " and " La Boheme " speak out of many measures of his latest opera, but there is introduced in it a mixture of local color. Genuine Japanese tunes come to the surface of the instru- mental flood at intervals and tunes which copy their char- acteristics of rhythm, melody, and color. As a rule this is; a dangerous proceeding except in comedy which aims tO' chastise the foibles and follies of a people and a period. Nothing is more admirable, however, than Signor Puccini's use of it to heighten the dramatic climaxes ; the merry tune with which Cio-Cio-San diverts her child in the second act and the use of a bald native tune thundered out fortissima in naked unison with periodic punctuations of harmony at the close are striking cases in point. Nor should the local color in the delineation of the break of day in the begin- ning of the third act, and the charmingly felicitous use of mellifluous gongs in the marriage scene be overlooked. Always the effect is musical and dramatically helpful. As for the rest there are many moments of a strange charm in 34a GIORDANO'S "FEDORA" the score, music filled with a haunting tenderness and poetic loveliness, music in which there is a beautiful meet- ing of the external picture and the spiritual content of the scene. Notable among these moments is the scene in which Butterfly and her attendant scatter flowers throughout the room in expectation of Pinkerton's return. Here melodies and harmonies are exhaled like the odors of the flowers. Giordano's " Fedora," first performed on December 5, 1906, was given with this distribution of parts : Fedora Una Cavalieri (Her first appearance.) Olga Bella Alten Dimitri Marie Mattfeld Un piccolo Savojardo Josephine Jacoby Loris Ipanow Enrico Caruso De Siriex Antonio Scotti II Barone Rouvel) j^^ p^^^U Desire J Cirillo Mr. Begue Borow Mr. Miihlmann Grech Mr. Dufriche Boleslaw Lazinski Mr. Voghere Lorek Mr. Navarini Conductor, Arturo Vigna The opera is an attempt to put music to the familiar play by Sardou ; an utterly futile attempt. A more sluggish and intolerable first act than the legal inquest it would be diffi- cult to imagine. Fragments of inconsequential tunes float along on a turgid stream, above which the people of the play chatter and scream, becoming intelligible and interest- ing only when they lapse into ordinary speech. Ordinary speech, however, is the only kind of speech that an expedi- tious drama can tolerate, and it is not raised to a higher power by the blowing of brass or the beating of drums. The frankest confession of the futility of Giordano's effort to make a lyric drama out of " Fedora " is contained in the fact that only those moments in his score are musical in the From a I'lmtnpriijih by Aime r'ii|i'irit GERALDINE FARRAR AS MADAME BUTTERFLY CONRIED ANNOUNCES " SALOME " 343 accepted sense when the play stops, as in the case of the intermezzo which cuts the second act in two, pr when the old operatic principles wake into life again, as in Loris's confession of love. Here, in the first instance, a mood receives musical delineation, and in the second a passion whose expression is naturally lyrical receives utterance. One device new to the operatic stage, in its externals at least, is ingeniously employed by the composer: the con- versation in which Fedora extorts a confession from Loris is carried on while a pianist entertains a princess' guests with a solo upon his instrument. But the fact that singing tones, not spoken, are used adds nothing to the value of the scene. On returning from Europe late in the summer of 1906 Mr. Conried announced his intention to produce Richard Strauss's " Salome," and his forces had no sooner been gathered together than Mr. Hertz began the laborious task of preparing the opera — if opera it can be called — for per- formance. There can scarcely be a doubt that Mr. Con- ried hoped for a sensational flurry like that which had ac- companied the production of " Parsifal " ; but, with an eye to the main chance, he confined his first official proclama- tion to a single performance, which, in connection with a concert by all his chief singers not concerned in the opera, was to be given for his annual benefit. Evidently he felt less sure about the outcome of this production than he had about that of " Parsifal," and was bound to reap all the benefits that could come from a powerful appeal to popular curiosity touching so notorious a work as Strauss's setting of Oscar Wilde's drama. The performance took place with many preliminary flourishes beyond the ordinary on January 22d. Two days before there was held a public rehearsal, which was attended by about a thousand persons who had received invitations, most of them being stock- holders of the opera house, old subscribers, stockholders of Mr. Conried's company, writers for the newspapers, and 344 THE DRAMA PERFORMED friends of the artists and the management. The opera was given with the following cast : Salome Miss Fremstad Herodias Miss Weed Herodias's Page Josephine Jacoby Herod's Page Marie Mattfeld Herod Carl Burrian Jochanann Anton Van Rooy Narraboth Andreas Dippel First Jew Mr. Reiss Second Jew Mr. Bayer Third Jew Mr. Paroli Fourth Jew Mr. Bars Fifth Jew Mr. Dufriche First Nazarene Mr. Journet Second Nazarene Mr. Stiner First Soldier Mr. Muhlmann Second Soldier Mr. Blass A Cappadocian Mr. Lange Conductor, Alfred Hertz Concerning the effect produced upon the public by the performance of the work I shall permit Mr. W. P. Eaton, then a reporter for The Tribune, to speak for me. The concert was over a little after nine, and the real business of the evening began at a quarter to ten, when the lights went out, there was a sound from the orchestra pit, and the curtains parted on " Salome." The setting for " Salome " is an imaginative creation of the scene painter's art. The high steps to the palace door to the right, the cover of the cistern, backed by ironic iroses in the center, and beyond the deep night sky and the moonlight on the distant roofs. Two cedars cut the sky, black and mournful. Against this background " Salome " moves like a tigress, the costumes of the court glow with a dun, barbaric splendor, and the- red fire from the tripods streams silently up into the night till you fancy you can almost smell it. Here was atmosphere like Belasco's, and saturated with it the opera moved to its appointed end, sinister, compelling, disgusting. ^ What the opera is is told elsewhere. It remains to record that in. the audience at this performance, as at the dress rehearsals on Sun- day, the effect of horror was pronounced. Many voices were hushed as the crowd passed out into the night, many faces were white al- most as those at the rail of a ship. Many women were silent, and men spoke as if a bad dream were on them. The preceding FURTHER PERFORMANCES FORBIDDEN 345 concert was forgotten; ordinary emotions following an opera were banished. The grip of a strange horror or disgust, was on the majority. It was significant that the usual applause was lacking. It was scattered and brief. In this there is no hyperbole; it fails of a complete description only in neglecting to chronicle the fact that a large proportion of the audience left the audience-room at the beginning of the bestial apostrophe to the head of the Baptist. It was because of this pronounced rejection of the work by an audience which might have been considered elected to it in a peculiar manner that it was a sincere cause of regret that the action of the directors of the Metropol- itan Opera and Real Estate Company caused a prohibition of further performances. It would have been better and conduced more to artistic righteousness if the public had been permitted to kill the work by refusing to witness it. In my opinion there is no doubt but that this would have been the result had Mr. Conried attempted to give perform- ances either at extraordinary or ordinary prices. Imme- diately after his benefit performance he announced three representations outside of the subscription, the first of which was to take place on February ist. Two days after the first performance, the directors of the opera house com- pany held a meeting and adopted the following resolution, which was promptly communicated to Mr. Conried: The directors of the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company consider that the performance of "Salome" is objectionable and detrimental to the best interests of the Metropolitan Opera House. They therefore protest against any repetition of this opera. Under the terms of the contract between the directors and Mr. Conried, such a protest was the equivalent of a command, disobedience of which would have worked a forfeiture of the lease. Mr. Conried parleyed, pleading his cause voluminously in the public prints, as well as before the directors, meanwhile keeping his announcement of the three performances before the people. But the sale o£ 346 A CRITICISM OF "SALOME" tickets amounted to next to nothing, and Mr. Conried yielded with as much grace as possible, when on January 30th the directors refused to modify their action, though they ex- pressed a willingness to recoup Mr. Conried for some of his expenses in mounting the opera. The directors who took this action were J. P. Morgan, William K. Vanderbilt, G. G. Haven, Charles Lanier, George F. Baker, D. O. Mills, George Bowdoin, A. D. Juilliard, August Belmont, and H. McK. Twombly. Representatives of Mr. Conried's com- pany who argued the case before the directors were Otto H. Kahn, Robert Goelet, James Speyer, H. R. Winthrop, and R. H. Cottenet. For some time Mr. Conried talked about performing the opera in another theater, and the directors of his company formally agreed that he might do so on his own responsibility; but nothing came of it. Mr. Conried had probably seen the handwriting on the wall of his box ofl&ce. The next year there were more solemn proclamations to the effect that it would be performed out- side of New York. Boston sent in a protest, and the flurry was over, except as it was kept up in silly and mendacious reports sent to the newspapers of Germany touching the influences that had worked for the prohibition. There never was a case which asked for less speculation. Decent men did not want to have their house polluted with the stench with which Oscar Wilde's play had filled the nos- trils of humanity. Having the power to prevent the pollu- tion they exercised it. A reviewer ought to be equipped with a dual nature, both intellectually and morally, in order to pronounce fully and fairly upon the qualities of this drama by Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss. He should be an embodied conscience stimg into righteous fury by the moral stench exhaled by the decadent and pestiferous work, but, though it make him retch, he should be sufficiently judicial in his tem- perament calmly to look at the drama in all its aspects and determine whether or not as a whole it is an instructive MUSIC TO THE RESCUE OF WILDE 347 note on the life and culture of the times and whether or not this exudation from the diseased and polluted will and imagination of the authors marks a real advance in artistic expression, irrespective of its contents or their fitness for dramatic representation. This is asking much of the harassed commentator on the things which the multitude of his readers receive as contributions to their diversion merely and permit to be crowded out of their minds by the next pleasant or unpleasant shock to their sensibilities. He has not the time, nor have his readers the patience, to enter upon a discussion of the questions of moral and esthetic principle which ought to pave the way for the investigation. If he can tell what the play is, what its musical investiture is like, wherein the combined elements have worked har- moniously and efficiently to an end which to their authors seemed artistic, and therefore justifiable, he will have done much. In the case before us even this much cannot be done until some notions which have long had validity are put aside. We are only concerned with " Salome " in its new- est form, — ^that given it by the musical composer. If it shall ever win approbation here, as it seems to have done in several German cities, it will be because of the shape into which Richard Strauss has moulded it. Several attempts had been made to habilitate Oscar Wilde's drama on the New York stage, and had failed. If the opera succeeds it will be because a larger public has dis- covered that the music which has been consorted with the old pictures, actions, and words has added to them an ele- ment either of charm or expressive potentiality hitherto felt to be lacking. Is that true? Has a rock of offense been removed? Has a mephitic odor been changed to a sweet savor by the subtle alchemy of the musical composer ? Has a drama abhorrent, bestial, repellent, and loathsome been changed into a thing of delectability by the potent agency of music? It used to be said that things too silly to be spoken might be sung; is it also true that things too vile, 348 STRAUSS AND WAGNER too foul, too nauseating for contemplation may be seen, so they be insidiously and wickedly glorified by the musician's art? As a rule, plays have not been improved by being turned into operas. Always their dramatic movement has been interrupted, their emotional current clogged, their poetry emasculated by the transformation. Things are bet- ter now than they were in the long ago, when music took no part at all in dramatic action, but waited for a mood which it had. power to publish and celebrate ; but music has ac- quired its new power only by an abnegation of its better part, by assuming new functions, and asking a revaluation of its elements on a new esthetic basis. In " Salome " music is largely a decorative element, like the scene, — like the costumes. It creates atmosphere, like the affected stylism of much of Oscar Wilde's text, with its Oriental imagery borrowed from " The Song of Solomon," diluted and sophisticated; it gives emotional significance to situa- tions, helping the facial play of Salome and her gestures to proclaim the workings of her mind, when speech has de- serted her ; it is at its best as the adjunct and inspiration of the lascivious dance. In the last two instances, however, it reverts to the purpose and also the manner (with a dif- ference) which have always obtained, and becomes music in the purer sense. Then the would-be dramatist is swal- lowed up in the symphonist, and Strauss is again the master magician who can juggle with our senses and our reason and make his instrumental voices body forth " the forms of things unknown." It would be wholly justifiable to characterize " Salome " as a symphonic poem for which the play supplies the program. The parallelism of which we hear between Strauss and Wagner exists only in part — only in the appli- cation of the principle of characterization by means of musical symbols or typical phrases. Otherwise the men work on diametrically opposite lines. With all his musical affluence, Wagner aimed, at least, to make his orchestra CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VOCAL PART 349 only the bearer and servant of the dramatic word. Noth- ing can be plainer (it did not need that he should himself have confessed it) than that Strauss looks upon the words as necessary evils. His vocal parts are not song, except for brief, intensified spaces at long intervals. They are declamation. The song-voice is used, one is prone to think, only because by means of it the words can be made to be heard above the orchestra. Song, in the old acceptance of the word, implies beauty of tone and justness of intonation. It is amazing how indifferent the listener is to both vocal quality and intervallic accuracy in " Salome." Wilde's stylistic efforts are lost in the flood of instrumental sound ; only the mood which they were designed to produce re- mains. Jochanaan sings phrases, which are frequently tuneful, and when they are not denunciatory are set in harmonies agreeable to the ear. But by reason of that fact Jochanaan comes perilously near being an old-fashioned operatic figure — an ascetic Marcel, with little else to differ- entiate him from his Meyerbeerian prototype than his " raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins," and an inflated phrase which must serve for the tunes sung by the rugged Huguenot soldier. Strauss char- acterizes by his vocal manner as well as by his themes and their instrumental treatment; but for his success he relies at least as much upon the performer as upon the musical text. A voice and style like Mr. Van Rooy's give an up- lift, a prophetic breadth, dignity, and impressiveness to the utterances of Jochanaan which are paralleled only by the imposing instrumental apparatus employed in proclaiming the phrase invented to clothe his pronouncements. Six horns, used as Strauss knows how to use them, are a good substratum for the arch-colorjst. The nervous staccato chatter of Herod is certainly characteristic of this neuras- thenic. This specimen from the pathological museum of Messrs. Wilde and Strauss appears in a state which causes alarm lest his internal mechanism fly asunder and scatter 35° IS UGLY MUSIC JUSTIFIABLE? his corporeal parts about the scene. The crepitating vola- bility with which Strauss endows him is a marvelously in- genious conceit; but it leans heavily for its effect, we fear, on the amazing skill of Mr. Burrian, not only in cackling out the words synchronously with the orchestral part, but in emotionally coloring them and blending them in a unity with his facial expression and his perturbed bodily move- ments. Salome sings, often in the explosive style of Wag- ner's Kundry, sometimes with something like fluent con- tinuity, but from her song has been withheld all the sym- metrical and graceful contours comprehended in the con- cept of melody. Hers are the superheated phrases invented to give expression to her passion, and out of them she must construct the vocal accompaniment to the instrumental song, which reaches its culmination in the scene which, instead of receiving a tonal beatification, as it does, ought to be relegated to the silence and darkness of the deepest- dungeon of a madhouse or a hospital. Here is a matter, of the profoundest esthetical and ethical significance, which might as well be disposed of now, so far as this discussion is concerned, regardless of the sym- metrical continuity of the argument. There is a vast deal of ugly music in " Salome," — music that offends the ear and rasps the nerves like fiddlestrings played on by a coarse file. In a criticism of Strauss's " Symphonia Domestica " I took occasion to point out that a large latitude must be allowed to the dramatic composer which must be denied to the S3anphonist. Consort a dramatic or even a lyric text with music and all manner of tonal devices may derive explanation, if not justification, from the words. But in purely instrumental music the arbitrary purposes of a com- poser cannot replace the significance which must lie in the music itself — ^that is, in its emotional and esthetic content. It does not lie in intellectual content, for thought to become articulate demands speech. The champions of Richard Strauss have defended ugliness in his last symphony, the VILE USES OF A BEAUTIFUL ART 35 1 work which immediately preceded " Salome," and his sym- phonic poems on the score that music must be an expression of truth, and truth is not always beautiful. In a happier day than this it was believed that the true and the beautiful were bound together in angelic wedlock and that all art found its highest mission in giving them expression. But the drama has been led through devious paths into the charnel house, and in " Salome " we must needs listen to the echoes of its dazed and drunken footfalls. The maxim " Truth before convention " asserts its validity and demands recognition under the guise of " characteristic beauty." We may refuse to admit that ugliness is entitled to be raised to a valid principle in music dissociated from words or stage pictures, on the ground that thereby it contravenes and contradicts its own nature; but we may no longer do so when it surrenders its function as an expression of the beautiful and becomes merely an illustrative element, an aid to dramatic expression. What shall be said, then, when music adorns itself with its loveliest attributes and lends them to the apotheosis of that which is indescribably, yes, inconceivably, gross and abominable? Music cannot lie. Not even the genius of Richard Strauss can make it dis- criminate in its soaring ecstasy between a vile object and a good. There are three supremely beautiful musical mo- ments in " Salome." Two of them are purely instrumental, though they illustrate dramatic incidents; the third is pre- dominantly instrumental, though it has an accompaniment of word and action. The first is an intermezzo in which all action ceases except that which plays in the bestially per- verted heart and mind of Salome. A baffled amorous hun- ger changes to a desire for revenge. The second is the music of the dance. The third is the marvelous finale, in which an impulse which can only be conceived as rising from the uttermost pit of degradation is beautified. Crouching over the dissevered head of the prophet, Salome addresses it in terms of reproach, of grief, of endearment 352 AN APOTHEOSIS OF PERVERTED CARNALITY and longing, and finally kisses the bloody lips and presses her teeth into the gelid flesh. It is incredible that an artist should ever have conceived such a scene for public pres- entation. In all the centuries in which the story of the dance before Herod has fascinated sculptors, painters, and poets, in spite of the accretions of lustful incident upon the simple Biblical story, it remained for a poet of our day to conceive this horror and a musician of our day to put forth liis highest powers in its celebration. There was a scene before the mental eye of Strauss as he wrote. It was that of Isolde singing out her life over the dead body of Tristan. In the music of that scene, I do not hesitate to say again, as I have said before, there lies the most powerful plea ever made for the guilty lovers. It is the choicest flower of Wagner's creative faculty, the culmination of his powers as a composer, and never before or since has the purifying and ennobling capacity of music been so convincingly demonstrated. Strauss has striven to outdo it, and there are those who think that in this episode he actually raised music to a higher power. He has not only gone with the dramatist and outraged every sacred instinct of humanity by calling the lust for flesh, alive or dead, love, but he has celebrated her ghoulish passion as if he would perforce make of her an object of that " redemption " of which, again following Wagner but along oblique paths, he prates so strangely in his opera of " Guntram." It is obvious on a moment's reflection that, had Strauss desired, the play might easily have been modified so as to avoid this gruesome episode. A woman scorned, venge- ful, and penitent would have furnished forth material enough for his finale and dismissed his audience with less disturbance of their moral and physical stomachs. But Strauss, to put it mildly, is a sensationalist despite his genius, and his business sense is large, as New Yorkers know ever since he wound up an artistic tour of America with a concert in a department store. When Nietszche was SALOME'S DANCE 353 the talk of Germany we got "Also Sprach Zarathustra." Oscar Wilde's play, too unsavory for the France for which it was written, taboo in England because of its subject, has been joyously acclaimed in Germany, where there are many men who are theoretically licentious and practically uxorious; and Strauss was willing that his countrymen should sup to their full of delights and horrors. To think back, under the impressions of the final scene, to the dance which precipitated the catastrophe is to bring up recollections of little else than the striking originality of its music, its piquancies of rhythm and orchestration, its artfully simulated Orientalism, and the thrilling effect pro- duced by a recurrence to the " love music " (" Let me kiss thy mouth, Jochanaan,") at a moment before the frenetic close, when the representation of Salome (a professional dancer, Miss Froehlich, was deftly substituted for Miss Fremstad at the Metropolitan performance) approaches the cistern in which the white flesh, black hair, and red lips of her idolatry are immured, and casts wistful glances into its ■depths. Since the outcome was to be what it became it ■would have been folly in Mr. Conried's performance to at- tempt to disguise the true character of the " Dance of the Seven Veils." Miss Froehlich gave us quite unconcernedly a danse du ventre; not quite so pronounced as it has been seen in the Oriental quarters at our world's fairs, not quite so free of bodily covering as tradition would have justified. Yet it served to emphasize its purpose in the play. This dance in its original estate is a dramatic dance ; it is, indeed, the frankest example of terpsichorean symbolism within the -whole range of the pantomimic dance. The conditions under which Wilde and Strauss introduce it in their drama spare one all need of thought; there is sufficient com- mentary in the doddering debility of the pleading Herod and the lustful attitude of his protruding eyes. There are fantastical persons who like to talk about religious sym- bolism in connection with this dance, and of forms of wor- 354 THE DISPUTATIOUS JEWS ship of vast antiquity. The dance is old. It was probably danced in Egypt before the Exodus ; in Greece probably be- fore Orpheus sang and " Ilion, like a mist, rose into towers." But it is not to be seriously thought that from those days to this there was ever any doubt as to its significance and its purpose, which is to pander to prurient appetites and arouse libidinous passions. Always, too, from those days to this, its performers have been the most abandoned of the courtesan class. There is not a whiff of fresh and healthy air blowing through " Salome " except that which exhales from the cistern, the prison house of Jochanaan. Even the love of Narraboth, the young Syrian captain, for the princess is tainted by the jealous outbursts of Herodias's page. Salome is the unspeakable; Herodias, though divested of her most pronounced historical attributes (she adjures her daughter not to dance, though she gloats over the revenge which it brings to her), is a human hyena; Herod, a neu- rasthenic voluptuary. A group of Jews who are shown disputing in the manner of Baxter Street, though conveyed by Wilde from Flaubert's pages, are used by Strauss to provide a comic interlude. Years ago a musical humorist in Vienna caused much amusement by writing the words of a quarrel of Jewish pedlers under the voices of the fugue in Mozart's overture to "The Magic Flute." Three hun- dred years ago Orazio Vecchi composed a burlesque mad- rigal in the severe style of that day, in which he tried to depict the babel of sounds in a synagogue. Obviously the musical Jew is supposed to be allied to the stage Jew and to be fit food for the humorist. Strauss's music gives a new reading to Wilde ; it is a caricature in which cacophony reigns supreme under the guise of polyphony. There are five of the Jews, and each is pregnantly set forth in the theme with which he maintains his contention. STRIKING ORCHESTRAL EFFECTS 355 This is but one of many instances of marvelous astuteness in the delineation and characteristic portions of the music. The quality which will be most promptly recog- nized by the public is its decorative and illustrative ele- ment. The orchestra paints incessantly; moods that are prevalent for a moment do not suffice the eager illustrator. The passing word seizes his fancy. Herod describes the jewels which he promises to give to Salome so she relieve him of his oath, and the music of the orchestra glints and glistens with a hundred prismatic tints. Salome wheedles the young Syrian to bring forth the prophet, and her cry, " Thou wilt do this thing for me," is carried to his love-mad brain by a voluptuous glissando of the harp which is as irresistible as her glance and smile. But the voluptuous music is no more striking than the tragic. Strauss strikes off the head of Jochanaan with more thunderous noise upon the kettle-drums than Wagner uses when Fafner pounds the life out of Fasolt with his gigantic stave; but there is nothing in all of Wagner's tragic pages to compare in tenseness of feeling with the moment of suspense while Salome is peering into the cistern and marveling that she hears no sound of a death struggle. At this moment there comes an uncanny sound from the orchestra that is posi- tively blood-curdling. The multitude of instruments are silent — all but the string basses. Some of them maintain a tremolo on the deep E flat. Suddenly there comes a short, high B flat. Again and again with more rapid iteration. Such a voice was never heard in the orchestra before. What Strauss designed it to express does not matter. It accomplishes a fearful accentuation of the awful situation. Strauss got the hint from Berlioz, who never used the device (which he heard from a Piedmontese double-bass player), but recommended it to composers who wished to imitate in the orchestra " a loud female cry." Strauss in his score describes how the effect is to be produced and wants it to sound like a stertorous groan. It is produced by pinch- 3S6 OTHER FEATURES OF THE SCORE ing the highest string of the double-bass at the proper node between the finger-board and the bridge and sounding it by a quick jerk of the bow. This is but one of a hundred new and strange devices with which the score of " Salome " has enriched instrumental music. The dance employs a vast apparatus, but the Oriental color impressed upon it at the outset by oboe and tambour remains as persistent as its rhythmical figure, which seems to have been invented to mark the sinuous flexure of the spine and the swaying of the hips of the dancer. Devices made familiar by the symphonic poems are introduced with increased effect, such as the muting of the entire army of brass instruments. Startling effects are obtained by a confusion of keys, con- fusion of rhythms, sudden contrasts from an overpowering tutti to the stridulous whirring of empty fifths on the vio- lins, a trill on the flutes, or a dissonant mutter of the basses. The celesta, an instrument with keyboard and bell tone, contributes fascinating effects, and the xylophone is used ; — utterances that are lascivious as well as others that are macabre. Dissonance runs riot and frequently carries the imagination away completely captive. The score is unques- tionably the greatest triumph of reflection and ingenuity of contrivance that the literature of music can show. The invention that has been expended on the themes seems less admirable. Only the pompous proclamation of the theme ■which is dominant in Jochanaan's music saves it from being called commonplace. A flippant hunter of reminiscences might find its prototype in the " Lady Moon " chorus of Balfe's " Bohemian Girl." There is no greater originality in the theme which publishes Salome's amorousness for the white flesh of Jochanaan, which time and again shows its kinship to the andante melody in the first movement of Tschaikowsky's " Pathetique " symphony, but becomes more and more transfigured in its passionate loveliness wrhen it aids the beatification of the more than ghoulish princess. There is no escape from the power of the music Copyrijrht by A, Dupoiit BERTA MORENA AS SIEGLINDE IN "DIE WALKURE ' FINANCIAL SUCCESS OF THE SEASON 357 when it soars to grandiose heights in the duet between Salome and the prophet, the subsequent intermezzo and the wicked apotheosis. It overwhelms the senses and reduces the nervous system of the listeners to exhaustion. The subscription season of 1906-07 at the Metropolitan Opera House began on November 26th and lasted seven- teen weeks, compassing sixty-eight subscription perform- ances of twenty-three operas and twenty-nine extra per- formances. Mr. Conried announced at the close of the supplementary season that his receipts had aggregated $1,005,770.20; but this sum doubtless included the receipts from the Boston season. The season 1907-08 began on November i8th and lasted twenty weeks. There were one hundred subscription performances (Thursday having been added to the subscription nights), twenty Saturday popular representations, and three special. Twenty-seven operas were in the list, but only one of them was new. This was Francesco Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur," which was brought forward on the opening night of the season, and had one repetition afterward, notwithstanding that it had been incorporated in the repertory to give Signor Caruso an opportunity to appear in a new work together with Mme. Cavaliqri. The cast was as follows: Adriana Lecouvreur Lina Cavalieri La Principessa Josephine Jacoby Mile. Jouvenot Marie Mattfeld Mile. Dangeville Mme. Girerd Maurizio Enrico Caruso L' Abate Georges Lucas Michonnet Antonio Scotti II Principe Marcel Journet Quinault Mr. Barocchi Poisson Mr. Raimondi Maggiordomo Mr. Navarini Conductor, Rudolfo Ferrari Cilea has in this work attempted to put the familiar play of Scribe and Legouve into music. Formerly, as we all 358 CILIA'S "ADRIANA LECOUVREUR" know, composers used to try to make operas out of plays. The result is for the greater part a sort of spectacle recall- ing familiar things to the eye, accompanied by an under- current of music occasionally breaking into melody and buoying up long stretches of disjointed and fragmentary conversation, out of which, under the best of circumstances, it would be difficult to construct a drama and from which it is not possible to extract the pleasure which one can still find in the old-time style of entertainment derisively called a concert in costume. The manner of " Adriana Lecou- vreur " is more or less that of Puccini, Giordano, and Spi- tielli — ^to mention the names that immediately preceded Cilea's across the ocean — ^but it is only in the manner, not in the matter, except, as some disagreeable seekers after reminiscences will say, when that matter is borrowed. There is some graceful music in the score and some strains which simulate passion; but to find in any of its parts the kind of music which vitalizes the word or heightens the dramatic situation is a hopeless task. It is melodramatic music, which becomes most fluent when there is least occa- sion for it, and which makes its best appeal when the heroine declaims above it in the speaking voice (as she does in the climax of the third act, when Adrienne recites a speech from Racine's " Phedre " in order to accuse the Princess of adultery), when it inspires the heroine carefully and particularly to blow out every light in a large drawing- room, or when it accompanies a ballet which is neither a part of the play nor an incidental divertissement, but only a much-needed device to give the composer an opportunity for a few symmetrical pieces of music. Even here, how- ever, this music must serve as a foil for the everlasting chit- chat of the people of the drama. A pitiful work it was with which to open a season. Mascagni's " Iris " was brought out on December 6th, and after it was all too late there was a carefully studied performance of " Don Giovanni " and a sumptuously, too sumptuously, mounted production of " Fi- CONRIED'S LAST SEASON 359 delio." These two works practically summed up the labors accomplished by Gustav Mahler, though he produced excel- lent representations (except scenically) of "Tristan" and " Die Walkiire." Mr. Mahler, having laid down the directorship of the Court Opera at Vienna, was brought to New York by Mr. Conried, and his coming had raised high the expectations of the lovers of German opera. The record must also include the enlistment in the Metropolitan forces of Madame Berta Morena and Madame Leffler- Burckhardt, whose influence upon the season would have been much more marked had not Mr. Conried's policy of catering principally to the Italianissimi prevented them from becoming as large factors as they deserved to be. When Mr. Conried issued his prospectus for his fifth season it had already long been an open secret that some of the men whom he had invited to share the glories and the profits of his administration had decreed his downfall. During the fourth season he had been ill with sciatic neuritis, and there was no improvement in his physical con- dition when he entered upon his duties in 1907-08. His ability to attend to the arduous labors of the managing di- rectorate was questioned. Worse than this, the air for months had been full of whispers of scandalous doings in the business department, and the chorus of dissatisfaction with the artistic results of his directorate, which had begun in the first season, had been swelling steadily. Two seasons before he had put forth a disingenuous apology for his ad- ministration, comparing the cost and difficulties of produc- ing opera in the preceding season with the cost and diffi- culties under Mr. Grau. The matter was one which af- fected the stockholders of his company only so far as the finances were concerned; as to the difficulties, it was not easy to see how they could have been less formerly than now, when there was so much more money to spend, and so much more had been spent in improving the facilities for opera giving. The patrons of the establishment found 36o MANY UNFULFILLED PLEDGES large ground for complaint in contrasting the artistic achievements with the flamboyant promises which had been made when the new administration came in. Mr. Conried had told them that his first aim was to raise the standard of performance, and to this end he had banished all thought of profit from his mind. He was going to continue to em- ploy the most refulgent " stars " in the world, but to abolish the "star" system. The season in Philadelphia was to be abandoned so that there might be more time for rehear- sals, and less exhaustion of his artistic forces. Opera in English was to be added to opera in Italian, French, and German. As for the French and Italian works they were to be given as they had been under Mr. Grau, but the Ger- man was to be raised to a higher plane. Not one of these promises was redeemed. Italian operas were given great prominence over French, and the additions to the Italian list, which were really new, were of the poorest sort. Per- functoriness, apathy, and ignorant stage management marked the German performances, which were all but elim- inated from the subscription list. There were evidences of high striving at the outset in the engagement of Messrs. Mottl, Lautenschlager, and Fuchs, as I have already said, but the results were negligible because the men were unable to employ their capacities. There were sensational fea- tures, like the production of " Parsifal " and " Salome," but there were humiliating ones, like the prostitution of a great establishment for the performance of " Die Fleder- maus " and " Der Zigeunerbaron " to deck out the Herr Direktor's benefits. The blight of commercialism had fallen on the institution. On February ii, 1908, Mr. Conried re- signed, and announcement was officially made of a re- organization of his company, and the engagement of Giulio Gatti-Casazza and Andreas Dippel as directors of the opera for the season 1908-09. Following is a table of performances during the subscrip- tion seasons of Mr. Conried's administration: Copy I ght by A. DiipoQt ANDREAS DIPPEL AS PARSIFAL In 1908 he was made Administrative Manager of the Metropohlan with Gatti Casazza as General Manager A LIST OF PERFORMANCES 36r THE CONRIED PERIOD: i902-'o8 Operas 1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 "Rigoletto" 5 2 5 2 4 "DieWalkiire" 4 4 3 2 3 "LaBoheme" 3 3 S 7 7 "Aida" 65465 "Tosca" 44367 •' Tajinhauser " 5 9 4 5 4 " Cavalleria Rusticana "... 8 3 o i o "Pagliacci" 5 3 3 4 4 "Lohengrin" 5 6 5 5 2 "LaTraviata" 3 4 2 3 6 • " II Barbiere " 4 2 2 o 6 " Lucia di Lammermoor " . . 3 3 5 4 i " Tristan und Isolde " 4 2 3 4 6 " The Magic Flute " 40000 "Siegfried" 2 2 3 4 3 "L'Elisir d'Amore" 4 i 2 o o " Carmen " 4 4 2 i o "Coppelia" (ballet) 4 i o o o "La Dame Blanche" (Ger.) i o o o o "Faust" 44546 " Mefistofele " *2 o o o 7 " Romeo et Juliette " 2 4 o 5 o " Nozze di Figaro " i 2 o o o t" Parsifal" 11 8 4 2 o "Fidelio" i i o o 3 "Das Rheingold" i 2 2 i o " Gotterdammerung " I 2 3 i o "LaGioconda" o 4 4 o o "Die Meistersinger " o 7 4 o 4 "Lucrezia Borgia" o i o o o " Don Pasquale " O 2 2 i o "Die Puppenfee" (ballet)., o i o o o " Les Huguenots " 04000 " Un Ballo in Maschera " . . o 2 o o o t " Die Fledermaus " o 4 i o " Die Konigin von Saba " . . o o 5 o o " Hansel und Gretel " o o 11 8 5 " La Favorita " o o 4 o o " La Sonnambula " o o 2 o o "II Trovatore" 00406 " Don Giovanni " 00204 "Martha" ° o 4 3 3 * One scene only, t Novelties. 362 A UST OF PERFORMANCES Operas 1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 "Der Zigeunerbaron " o o i o t" Fedora" , 00043 t " La Damnation de Faust " 00050 "Lakme" o o 3 o " L'Africaine " 00020 " Manon Lescaut " o o o 3 S "Madama Butterfly" 00056 f'Salome" o o o i o t " Adriana Lecouvreur " . . o o o 2 " Der Fliegende Hollander " o o o 4 " Iris " o o o 5 "Mignon" 00005 t Novelties. CHAPTER XXIII HAMMERSTEIN AND HIS OPERA HOUSE OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN BUILDS A SECOND MANHATTAN OPERA HOUSE— HOW THE MANAGER PUT HIS DOUBTERS TO SHAME —HIS EARLIER EXPERIENCES AS IMPRESARIO— CLEOFONTE CAMPANINI— A ZEALOUS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND AM- BITIOUS SINGERS— A SURPRISING RECORD BUT NO NOVEL- TIES IN THE FIRST SEASON— MELBA AND CALVfi AS STARS— THE DESERTION OF BONCI— QUARRELS ABOUT PUCCINI'S " BOHSiME "—LIST OF PERFORMANCES Before the close of the season 1905-06 at the Metropoli- tan Opera House, Mr. Oscar Hammerstein, who was build- ing a large theater in Thirty-fourth Street, between Eighth and Ninth avenues, announced that the building would be called the Manhattan Opera House, that it would be exclu- sively his property and under his management, and that it was to be devoted to grand opera. It is no reflection on Mr. Hammerstein to say that many •who have been prompt and generous in their recognition of his achievements since, looked upon his enterprise as quix- otic, down to the very day of the opening of his house. True, he was known to be a manager of extraordinary re- source and indomitable energy, but he had dallied more or less with the operatic bauble without disclosing any ambi- tion to have his name written among the managerial wrecks which have been cast upon the shores of Italian Opera, from Handel's day to ours. It was easy to recall that the new opera house was not his first, but that he had built one in the same street, given it the same name thirteen years be- fore, and begun a season of grand opera with an ambitious 363 364 A MANAGER EASILY DISCOURAGED novelty, only to abandon the enterprise after a fortnight. He had even tried German opera with no less popular an artist than Mme. Lehmann in his earlier opera house in Harlem, and entered into rivalry with an established insti- tution in 1 891 for the production of " Cavalleria Rusticana," then the reigning sensation of the hour in Europe. When the old Manhattan Opera House, so soon aban- doned to the uses of vaudeville, opened its doors with Moszkowski's " Boabdil," on January 23, 1893, there was no rival operatic establishment in the city, for the interior of the Metropolitan had been destroyed by fire, and Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau were resting on their oars for a season while the question whether or not the home of the costly and fashionable entertainment should be restored was under discussion by its owners. Yet Mr. Hammerstein was dis- couraged by two weeks of failure. It was not strange that many observers refused to believe that he was of the stuff out of which opera managers are made. He did not seem, illogical enough, though he showed some symptoms of hav- ing been bitten by the opera habit. Neither was there much to encourage belief in his an- nouncements in the manner in which he put them forth. He began early in the spring by saying that he had engaged Jean and Edouard de Reszke, and kept their names before the people almost up to the time of the opening. He went abroad to engage artists, and even after his return it looked as if it would be a physical impossibility to complete His theater in time for the date set for opening. In fact it was not, but when the opera season arrived he was ready to attempt all that he had said he would do, except some extravagant promises about singers; and when the season closed the fact that loomed largest in the restrospect was the undaunted manner in which he carried on a difficult and dangerous enterprise in a manner that led a large element of the public to respect and admire him, and made it possible for him to lay out a second season on lines of real pith Copyri;,'lit liy Mislikin OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN Founder and Director of the Manhattan Opera House opened 1906 FIRST SEASON AT THE MANHATTAN 365 and moment, and carry an admirable enterprise to an admira- tle conclusion. Mr. Hammerstein began his first season on December 3, 1906, and closed it on April 20, 1907. There were a few admirable artists in his company, but the majority were either inexperienced or of the conventional Italian type. His principal soprano leggiero was Mile. Pinkert, a Polish singer of good routine and fine skill; his dramatic soprano, Mile. Russ, whose knowledge of the conventions of the stage -was complete, and expressive powers excellent, though they exerted little charm. He had a serviceable mezzo in Mme. De Cisneros (formerly a junior member of the Metro- politan Opera Company, under her maiden name. Broad- foot). Miss Donalda, a Canadian soprano of no little charm, helped to make the lyric operas agreeable. But the strength of the company lay in the male contingent — Bonci, the most famous of living tenors, after Caruso , whom Mr. Conried thought it wise to carry over to the Metropolitan Opera House, thus precipitating a controversy, which, as such things go, was of real assistance to the manager whom the rival sought to injure; Maurice Renaud, the most finished and versatile of French operatic artists, whom the foresight of Maurice Grau had retained for the Metropoli- tan, but whose contract Mr. Conried canceled at the cost of a penalty; M. Charles Dalmores, a sterling dramatic tenor; M. Gilibert, a French baritone of refined qualities; Mme. Bressler-Gianoli, who, coming some years before in a peripatetic French company to the Casino, had stirred the enthusiasm of the critics with her truthful, powerful, and unconventional performance of Carmen ; Ancona, a barytone who had been an admired member of the Metropolitan com- pany, and a serviceable bass named Arimondi. Melba and Calve came later in the season. Exaggerated stories of Mr. Hammerstein's success fol- lowed the close of his season, and if all that Mr. Hammer- stein himself said could have been accepted in its literalness 366 LESSONS OF THE EXPERIMENT the lesson of the season would have been that the people who live in New York and come to New York in the winter season were willing to spend, let me say, one and three- quarter millions of dollars every year for this one form of entertainment. It would appear, also, that fad and fashion were not the controlling impulse in this vast expenditure ; for the chief things which fad and fashion had to offer at the Metropolitan Opera House were noticeably absent from the Manhattan. On a score of occasions there were large gatherings representative of wealth and what is called so- ciety at the house in Thirty-fourth Street, but generally the audiences were distinct in their composition. It almost seemed as if Mr. Hammerstein had been correct in his deduction, that there were enough people in New York who wanted to go to the opera, but were excluded from the Metropolitan by the extent of the subscription, to sup- port a second house. If this was so it marked a marvelous change from the time of the last operatic rivalry, which ruined both Mapleson and Abbey, and destroyed the prestige of the Academy of Music forever. Perhaps the city's growth in population and wealth furnished the explanation ; I can scarcely believe from a study of the doings at the two houses that a growth in musical taste and culture was the determining factor. Twenty years ago such a list of operas as that presented by Mr. Hammerstein in his first season would have spelled ruin to any manager. Not even the prestige of Adelina Patti would have saved it. There was not a novelty in the list. Many things contributed to the measure of success which Mr. Hammerstein won. There was a large fascination in the audacity of the undertaking, and its freedom from art- cant and affectation. Curiosity was irritated by the mana- ger's daring, and admiration challenged by the manner in which he kept faith with the public. He seemed to be at- tempting the impossible, but he accomplished all that he said he would do. It is no secret — in fact, Mr. Hammer- MAURICE RENAUD AS DON GIOVANNI ZEALOUS AND AMBITIOUS FORCES 367 stein himself proclaimed it — ^that his artistic achievements were due in an overwhelming degree to the efficiency of Signer Cleofonte Campanini, his artistic director. But not to his efficiency alone — ^to his devotion and zeal also. Signor Campanini was not only the artistic director — he was also almost exclusively the conductor of the performances. His zeal fired all the forces employed at the opera house. A company gathered together from the ends of the earth suc- ceeded in giving one hundred and thirteen performances of twenty-two operas, and making many of the performances of really remarkable excellence. The reason was obvious at nearly every presentation; from the principals down to- the last person in the chorus and orchestra, every one had his heart in his work. Not only the desire to do their duty, but the pardonable ambition to do better than the rival estab- lishment, inspired singers and players alike. It so hap- pened that on one Saturday evening the same opera — Verdi's " Aida " — was performed at both houses. A news- paper reporter carried the intelligence to the Manhattan Opera House that half the seats were empty at the Metro- politan, while the new house was crowded. The curtain was down at the time, and a score of the performers on the stage, headed by the conductor himself, at once formed a ring and danced a dance of triumph. For musical effects, as well as some dramatic, there were distinct advantages with the new house. The disposition of the seats and stage brought the listeners and performers nearer together. The acoustical conditions at the Man- hattan Opera House are admirable; there can be no such feeling of intimacy at the Metropolitan Opera House as exists here. The quality appeals to the music lover pure and simple, and him only, however, for in the things which make the opera a fashionable social diversion the new building is deficient and woefully inferior to the old. The lovers of good singing were surprised by the excel- lence of Mr. Hammerstein's singers, especially the male 368 ADVANTAGES OF THE NEW HOUSE contingent — a surprise which was heightened by the pro- testations, to which they had long been habituated, that there was no talent left in Europe comparable with that engaged at the Metropolitan. When in the face of such assertions the voices and the art of tenors like Bonci and Dalmores, and of barytones like Renaud and Ancona, were brought into notice their actual merit seemed doubled. The women singers of the first rank, save Mmes. Melba and Calve, who appeared in what would have been called " star " engagements under the old theatrical stock regime, were in no way comparable with those of the Metropolitan Opera House, but those of the second rank were superior — a cir- cumstance which, was emphasized by the better ensemble performances, for which a discriminating public soon learned to thank Signor Campanini and the esprit de corps with which he inflamed the establishment's forces. The opening of the season, on December 3, 1906, had been proclaimed a week earlier, so as to make it synchronous with that of the Metropolitan Opera House ; but Mr. Hammer- stein's house was not ready, nor were his singers or stage fixtures. The fact looked ominous, and the enterprise took a lugubrious beginning a week later, when " I Puritani," which had been chosen as the opening opera because it was looked upon in Europe as affording to Signor Bonci his finest artistic opportunity, failed to arouse any public inter- est. It was an experience which Mr. Hammerstein was destined to have again and again with operas like " Dinorah," " Mignon," " Era Diavolo," " II Barbiere," and " Un Ballo in Maschera," for which the public seemed sud- denly to have lost all liking, while still clinging to works of equal antiquatedness. From the opening night to the closing the operas of the list were produced on the dates and in the succession indi- cated in the following table, which tells also the number of times each opera was performed. It must be stated, how- ever, that there were a number of occasions in the course of a % Z" ^<: REPERTORY OF THE FIRST SEASON 369 the season when two operas or portions of several operas were performed on a single evening. This accounts for the large number of times that Mascagni's " Cavalleria " and Leoncavallo's " Pagliacci " were given, the latter being also helped in the record by the fact that it was twice brack- eted with Massanet's " Navarraise." Opera First performance Times "I Puritani" December 3 2 "Rigoletto" December S 11 "Faust" December 7 7 " Don Giovanni " December 12 4 " Carmen " December 14 19 " Aida " December 19 12 " Lucia di Lammermoor " December 21 6 *' II Trovatore " January i 6 " La Traviata " January 2 3 " L'Elisir d'Amore " January S 3 "Gli Ugonotti" January 18 5- ■" II Barbiere di Siviglia " January 21 2 "La Sonnambula" January 25 3 "Pagliacci" February i 10 " Cavalleria Rusticana " February I 8 " Mignon " February 7 3 " Dinorah " February 20 i " Un Ballo in Maschera " February 27 2 "La Boheme" March i 4 " Fra Diavolo '' March 8 4 " Marta " March 23 4 Manzoni Requiem (Good Fri.) . .March 29 i " La Navarraise " April 10 2 On three occasions the regular procedure was interrupted for the sake of matters of temporary and special interest. Thus, on March 2d, there was a miscellaneous bill, made up of an act of " Dinorah," one of " Faust," and all of " Caval- leria Rusticana " ; on April 19th, the performance was little else than a concert, at which fragments of six operas, some of which were not in the repertory, were sung; while on Good Friday, Verdi's Requiem Mass, composed in honor of Manzoni, took the place of an opera, and was sung to popular prices, though it was on a regular opera night. 37° INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST SEASON The subscription was so small that it seemed unnecessary to differentiate in the table between regular and extra per- formances. Of the latter there were twenty on Saturday nights, at popular prices, besides others given on holidays and for benefits. Though it is to be noted as a matter of history that the competition of the Manhattan Opera House did not appreciably affect the subscription of the Metropoli- tan, it is also to be noted that as a rule the attendance on the Saturday night popular performances was larger at the new house. A few of the incidents of the season deserve to be passed in review. Of the singers whose presence in Mr. Hammer- stein's company lent distinction to it, Signor Bonci appeared on the opening night in " I Puritani." The opera failed to awaken interest, but Bonci caught the popular fancy and held it to the end. Toward the close of February, however, it was announced that he had made a contract with Mr. Conried to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House the next season. Mr. Hammerstein first met the move of his rival by announcing the engagement of Signor Zenatello, but afterward began legal proceedings to prevent Signor Bonci from fulfilling his contract with the manager of the house in upper Broadway. M. Renaud, the great French barytone, effected his entrance in " Rigoletto," but he was not in his best voice and condition, and only later conquered recogni- tion for his fine talents. The opera, however, took its place on the popular list, since it employed, at different times, the finest talent at the command of the management. The first large and complete triumph by an opera was won on Decem- ber 14th, by " Carmen," in which Mme. Bressler-GianoH appeared as the heroine. She enacted the part fifteen times before Mme. Calve came to take back the territory which had so long belonged to her. A second success followed hard on the heels of " Car- men." This was " Aida," the triumph of which was one of ensemble, in which the chorus, under Signor Campanini, MME. MELBA'S ACTIVITIES 37 1 played no small part. Mme. Melba's coming, on January" 2d, was the signal for the awakening of society's interest in Mr. Hammerstein's enterprise. She remained until March 25th, when she said farewell in a performance of Puccini's " Boheme," the production of which by Mr. Hammerstein in defiance of the rights of Mr. Conried (according to the allegations of the publishers, Ricordi) and the legal pro- ceedings ending with the granting of an injunction against Mr. Hammerstein at the end of his season, was one of the diverting incidents of the merry operatic war. Mme. Melba sang three times in " La Traviata," five times in " Rigo- letto," twice in " Lucia di Lammermoor," once in " Faust," and four times in " La Boheme." The Bonci incident and the interest created in Mr. Ham- merstein's enterprise by Mme. Melba's popularity stimulated interest in the offerings for a second season, which the man- ager answered by announcing the engagement, besides Zenatello and Sammarco, of Nordica and Schumann-Heink, and the re-engagement of Renaud, Bressler-Gianoli, Gili- bert, and Dalmores. He also opened his subscription for the next season on March 19th, and announced the day after that he had received subscriptions amounting to $200,000, of which $110,000 had come from the four prin- cipal ticket speculators in the city. Mme. Calve, who was engaged to give eclat to the conclusion of the season, effected her entrance on March 27th, and sang nine times — four in " Carmen," three in " Cavalleria Rusticana," and two in " La Navarraise." CHAPTER XXIV A BRILLIANT SEASON AT THE MANHATTAN MR. HAMMERSTEIN'S SECOND SEASON— AMAZING PROMISES BUT MORE AMAZING ACHIEVEMENTS— MARY GARDEN AND MAURICE RENAUD— MASSENET'S " THAJfS," CHARPENTIER'S "LOUISE," GIORDANO'S "SIBERIA," AND DEBUSSY'S " PEL- LfiAS ET MELISANDE " PERFORMED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AMERICA— REVIVAL OF OFFENBACH'S " LES CONTES D'HOFF- MANN," " CRISPING E LA COMARE " OF THE RICCI BROTHERS, AND GIORDANO'S "ANDREA CHENIER"— THE TETRAZZINI CRAZE— REPERTORY OF THE SEASON The prospectus which Mr. Hammerstein published for his second season was magnificently grandiloquent in its promises, but the season itself marvelous in its achieve- ments. Eight operas "never produced in this city or country," " masterpieces of the most celebrated com- posers," which were his " sole property," were to be brought forward, in addition to many familiar works. He announced the engagement of "the greatest sopranos, mezzo sopranos, contraltos, barytones, and bassos of the operatic world." The eight new operas were to be Massenet's "Thais," Debussy's " Pelleas et Melisande," Charpentier's " Louise," Breton's " Dolores," Massenet's " Jongleur de Notre Dame," Saint-Saens's " Helene," Offenbach's " Les Contes d'Hoffmann," and " an opera by our American composer, Victor Herbert." Offen- bach's charming opera had been heard in New York before, from a French company managed by Maurice Grau, but it required a memory that compassed twenty-five years to recall that fact; so in respect of it Mr. Hammerstein's slip was venial at the worst. His list of the greatest singers 373 O " X .5 < .s PL, ^ Copyright by Mishkin CHARLES DALMORES IN " LES COXTES D'HOFFMANN " MISS MARY GARDEN'S DSBUT 381 Schlemihl \ ^'''^^ Cochenille ) -n jj- Pitichinaccio \ ; ^'"^'^'■ Frantz Gianoli-Galetti Hermann Reschiglian Nathaniel Venturini Luther Fossetta Conductor, Cleofonte Campanini On November 25, 1907, Mr. Hammerstein brought for- ward Massenet's " Thais," to signalize the first appearance in America of Miss Mary Garden. The opera was pro- duced with the following cast: Thais Mary Garden Crobyle Trentini Myrtale Giaconia Albine • . Gerville-Reqche Athanael Renaud Nicias Cazouran Palemon Mugnoz Un Serviteur Reschiglian Conductor, Campanini With this work French opera won its second triumph. The charm of Miss Garden's personality was felt, but her singing compelled less tribute, and though the opera had seven representations before the departure of M. Renaud compelled its withdrawal, its success was due much more to him than to his fair companion. The Thais of MM. Gallet and Massenet is not the Thais of classical story, who induced Alexander to burn the palace of the Persian kings at Persepolis — "who like another Helen, fired another Troy " — ^but she is of her tribe. Also of the tribe of Phryne, Lais, and Messalina, who live in history and in art because of their beauty and their pruriency, their loveliness and licentiousness. The operatic Thais is the invention of Ana- tole France, who borrowed her name for a courtesan of Alexandria some centuries after the historic woman lived. With the help of suggestions borrowed from the stories 38a MASSENET'S " THAIS " of innumerable saints who fled from the vicious world into the desert, and industriously cultivated sanctity and bodily filth, of converted trollops and holy Anthonys, he con- structed a tale of how one of these desert saints, filled with ardor to save the soul of a cyprian who had the gay world of Alexandria at her feet, went to her, persuaded her to put her sinful life behind her, enter the retreat of a saintly sisterhood and die in grace, while he, falling at the last into the clutches of carnal lust, repented of his good deed and wrought his own damnation. Changing the name of the unfortunate zealot from Paphnuce to Athanael, M. Louis Gallet made an opera-book out of France's story, and Massenet set it to music. It is a delectable story, but it fell into the hands of master craftsmen, and the admirers of " art for art's sake " and at any cost, have cause to rejoice at the treatment which it received. Glimpses into the life of the frowsy fraternity of cenobites, and fragments of their doleful canticles are not engaging in themselves, but they are fine foils to pictures of antique vice and the songs and dances of classic voluptuaries. There are splendid dramatic potentialities for those who like such things and those who find profit in exploiting in the juxtaposition cheek by jowl of saintliness and sin; of Christian hymning and harlotry; of virtue in a physical wrestle with vice, and coming out triumphant, but handing the palm over to the real victor at the end; in the picture of a monk sprinkling the couch of Venus with holy water, and decking his cowl with roses. Also there was a large personal note in the original crea- tion of " Thais," and there was a large personal note in its reproduction. It is not altogether a pleasant one for the lover of real art to listen to. Had there been no Sybil San- derson, it is doubtful if Massenet would ever have been directed to the subject. True, he had shown a predilection for frail women as his heroines before, as witness Marie Magdalen, Eve, Herodias, and Manon Lescaut; but in the works which exploited these women the personal equation Copyrisht by Mishkin MARY GARDEN AS THAIS She created the part in New York in 1907 THE PERSONAL NOTE IN "THAIS" 383 did not enter so far as the world knows or the printed page discloses. But when he wrote " Thais " it was neither his- trionic nor musical art that he aimed primarily to exploit, but the physical charms of an individual. Something was needed for the jaded boulevardiers of Paris to leer at while they feebly clapped their hands and piped " Ah, charmante ! Ravissante ! " It may be that the fine command of Oriental color which is supposed to have affinity in the idioms of music with voluptuousness in all its forms, had something to do with the case, but the whole structure of the piece, superb as it is in its contrasting elements, and theatrically ingenious and effective, points nevertheless to the unfortunate Sander- son. And in the same way its Parisian revival points to Madame Cavalieri and Miss Garden, and its American production to the latter. For the sake of gifted singers and accomplished actors merely, the opera was not created, and will not be kept alive. It rests for its success on the kind of argument which Phryne, of classic story, presented to her austere judges. The brilliancy of the play, its masterly handling of con- trasts equally gratifying to the scenic artist, the actor, and the composer, challenged admiration and won it in large measure at the Manhattan performances. From the ordi- nary theatrical point of view it would not be easy to pick a quarrel with the drama. It would be almost churlish when there is so much to be grateful for, to pick flaws in M. Mas- senet's score. In the first place, compared with the vast volume of stuff poured forth by his younger colleagues of Italy, and even by some of his confreres of France, it makes appeal for approval by its evidences of consummate tech- nical mastery. It never trickles ; it never grows stagnant ; it never gropes ; it never fails for want of matter and manner in utterance. Its current is smooth and self-reliant. It carries action and scene buoyantly and unceasingly, even if it does not always expound them deeply or give them ade- quate external adornment. When it has no real warmth it Missing Page Missing Page 386 AN OPERA CHARACTERISTICALLY PARISIAN acquaintance of the work at the Opera Comique, in the French capital. It is likely that their interest in the per- formance was mingled more or less with curious question- ings touching the attitude which local opera-lovers would assume toward it There is a vast difference in the mood in which Americans go to public entertainments in Paris and at home. In a sense, though not a large or dignified one, the tragic element in the story of Charpentier's opera is universal; but its representation is in every particular the most local and circumscribed of any opera ever writ- ten. I am not disposed to waste much time or space in a discussion of things to which the patrons of our playhouses have often exhibited a callous indifference. It is only to justify a hurried analysis of the artistic nature of the work that attention is called to some of its essen- tial characteristics. " Louise " is not a French opera, though its score is French, its people speak French, and its music echoes French measures when it is original, and also when borrowed or imitated. " Louise " is Parisian in its gaiety, its passions, its vulgarity, and its artistic vicious- ness. If music could in itself give expression to ethical ideas, it would also be proper to say that this score is Parisian in its immorality. Coupled with its story, which glorifies the licentiousness of Paris and makes mock of virtue, the sanc- tity of the family tie, and the institutions upon which social stability and human welfare have ever rested and must for- ever rest, the music may also be set down as immoral. Cer- tain it is that there is nothing in it that is spiritually uplift- ing, and as little that makes for gentleness and refinement of artistic taste. It is not French in the historic sense, be- cause it rudely tramples upon all the esthetic principles for which the French composers, from LuUy to the best of Charpentier's contemporaries have stood — elegance, grace, and beauty of expression. It is, however, characteristic of the times — characteristic in subject and in utterance. To the intellectual and moral THE STORY OF "LOUISE" 387 anarchism universally prevalent among the peoples of West- ern culture, which desires to have idealism outraged, sacred things ridiculed, high conceptions of beauty and duty dragged into the gutter, and ugliness, brutality, and bestial- ity placed upon a pedestal so long as a consuming thirst for things hot in the mouth may be slaked, it makes a strong appeal. To Mr. Hammerstein its success meant much. It was a reward for another exhibition of a bold and adven- turous spirit; of his skill in gathering together a band of artists splendidly capable of presenting the works which he was trying to make the prop of a new lyric theater in the American metropolis ; of a daringly enterprising purpose to make all the elements of his new productions harmonious and alluring — ^the stage pictures, the action, the singing, and the instrumental music. This achievement he accom- plished when not only the large and striking features of the opera — its scenic outfit, its pictures of popular carousal on the heights of Montmartre, the roystering realism of the scene in a dressmakers' shop, the splendid acting of Miss Garden and Mme. Bressler-Gianoli, the fine singing of M. Dalmores, and the more than superb acting and singing of M. Gilibert — found their complement in the finish of a hun- dred little details, insignificant in themselves, but singularly- potent in helping to create the atmosphere without which " Louise " would be little better than Bowery melodrama, — a play that would be a hundred times more effective if its hero and heroine were represented as living in Williams- burg, swelling at the spectacle of the lights spanning the East River, and longing for the fleshpots of the so-called Iderloin District " in New .York. The story of " Louise," in brief, is that of a sewing-girl who lives with her parents on Montmartre, up to which, night after night, blink and beckon the lights of the gay city. An artist, who is her neighbor, wooes her and offers marriage, but her parents, a harsh, unsympathetic mother and a tender-hearted father, are rigid in their objections to 388 A SUGGESTION OF "LA BOHEME" him because of his insufficient means and loose character. Her lover lures her out of her workshop, and, after he has inculcated in her the doctrine of free love and free life, she leaves her parents to consort with him. The artist's jovial companions make her queen of a Montmartre festival for a purpose wholly extraneous to the story, but one that serves the composer, who is his own librettist, and in the midst of the merrymaking the mother appears and pleads with the girl to return to her home to comfort her dying father. Her lover permits her to do so on her promise to return to him. At home her father entreats her to give up her life of dishonor. She listens to him petulantly. The music of a fete in the city below, voices calling her from a distance, and the flashing lights in the great city below, throw her, into a frantic ecstasy ; she sings of her love and calls to her lover. The mother thinks her mad, but the father drives her out of the house, only to repent and call after her a moment later. But she is gone, and the drama ends with the father shaking his fist at the city, and shrieking at it his hatred and detestation. The thoughts of opera-goers will naturally revert to " La Boheme " ; but there are many points of difference between the story which Puccini's librettist pieced together out of Miirger's tales of bohemian life more than half a century ago, and this one of to-day. The differences are all in favor of the earlier opera. It was in a letter written by Lafcadio Hearn to me that he called attention to the fact that under the levity of Miirger's picturesque bohemianism there was apparent a serious philosophy, which had an elevating effect upon the characters of the romance. " They followed one principle faithfully, — so faithfully that only the strong sur- vived the ordeal, — never to abandon the pursuit of an artistic vocation for any other occupation, however lucrative, not even when she remained apparently deaf and blind to her worshipers." There is very little in Puccini's opera to jus- tify this observation, but the significant fact remains that INSINCERITY OF THE CHARACTERS 389 throughout the dramatic development of the piece the bohe- mian artists and their careless companions grow in the sym- pathy of the audience. For one thing, there is no question- ing their sincerity. For this there is only one parallel in Charpentier's opera. There is, in fact, only one really dra- matic character in it. It is that of the father ; in him there is honest, human feeling, a tenderness and love which yield only to a moment of passion when he is perplexed in the extreme and at a moment when the last drop of sympathy for Louise has oozed away. Her tender regard for her father is pathetic in the first act, where it is set against the foil of her mother's harshness. In the last act, however, she is petulant, irascible, and cold, until the moment of frenzy, when she surrenders to the call of Paris and her wretched passion. Julien is scantily and unconvincingly sketched. There is little indeed even to indicate sincerity in his love for Louise; at first, while she sings of the ecstasy of first love, he calmly reads a book ; and when he responds, it is to invoke her to join him in a paean in praise, not of their love, but of Paris. Does she find him, when she rushes down the stairs, pursued by her father's broken-hearted calls? One can feel no certainty on the point. The last impression is only that she has gone to plunge into the flood of wicked- ness, never to be seen again. It was said some years ago, when " Louise " was celebrat- ing its first triumphs, that the opera was the first number of a projected trilogy, and that Charpentier would tell us the rest of the story of the sewing-girl in other operas. But the years have passed, the composer has grown rich and is giv- ing no sign. Instead, there is an organized " Louise " propaganda in Paris. Funds are raised to send the work- ing girls of the city to the opera in droves, there to hear the alluring call to harlotry, under the pretense that the agonies of the father will preach a moral lesson. There are dramatic strength and homogeneity only in the first and last acts of the opera. The scenes between are 390 SOME PARALLELISMS shreds and patches, invented to give local color to the story. In the original form the picture of low life at dawn on Montmartre, in which charwomen, scavengers, ragpickers, street sweepers, milkwomen, policemen, and others figure, was enlivened by a mysterious personage called Le Noctam- bule, who proclaimed himself to be the soul of the city — the Pleasure of Paris. It was a part of the symbolism which we are asked also to find in the flitting visions of low life and the echoes of street cries in the music. But it was a note out of key, and Mr. Campanini eliminated it, with much else of the local color rubbish. And yet it is in the use of this local color that nearly all that is original and indi- vidual in the score consists. Until we reach the final scene of the father's wild anguish there is very little indeed that is striking in the music, except that which is built up out of the music of the street. We hear echoes of the declamatory style of the young Italian veritists in the dialogue, much that is more than suggestive of the mushy sentimentality of the worst of Gounod and Massenet in the moments when the music attempts the melodic vein, and no end of Wag- nerian orchestration in the instrumental passages which link the scenes together. Some of this music is orchestrated with great beauty and discretion, like the preludes, but all that is conceived to accompany violent emotion is only fit to " tear a cat in " or to " make all split." The score, in fact, is chiefly a triumph of reflection, of ingenious workmanship, and there is scarcely a moment in the opera that takes strong hold of the fancy, for which the memory does not imme- diately supply a model, either dramatic or musical, or both. Wagner's marvelous close of the second act of " Die Meis- tersinger," with the night watchman walking through the quiet streets flooded with moonlight, singing his monoto- nous chant, is feebly mimicked at the close of the first scene of the second act of " Louise," when, all the characters of the play having disappeared, an Old Clothes Man comes down a staircase crying his dolorous (all the street cries are EARLY USE OF STREET CRIES 39 » Strangely melancholy) " Marchand d'habits ! Avez-vous des habits a vendr' ? " while from the distance arise the cries of the dealers in birdseed and artichokes. The spinning scene in " The Flying Dutchman," which reproduces a cus- tom of vast antiquity, is replaced in " Louise " with a scene in the dressmaker's workshop, in which the chatter of the girls and the antics of the comedienne are borne up by the music of the orchestra, with the click-click of the sewing machines to make up for the melodious hum of Wagner's spinning wheels. Puccini's bohemians meet in front of the Cafe Momus, enlivened by the passing incidents of a pop- ular fete; Charpentier's bohemians celebrate the crowning of the Muse of Montmartre with a carnival gathering and ballet. It is this fete, we fancy, which formed the nucleus around which Charpentier built his work. Twice before " Louise " was brought forward he had utilized the ideas of the popular festival at which a working girl was crowned and made the center of a procession of roysterers, and a musical score with themes taken from the noises of Paris. His " Couronnement de la Muse," composed for a Mont- martre festival, was performed at Lille in 1898 ; from Rome he sent to Paris along with his picturesque orchestral piece, " Impressions d'ltalie," a symphonic drama, " La Vie du Poete," for soli, chorus, and orchestra, in which he intro- duced " all the noises and echoes of a Montmartre festival, with its low dancing rooms, its drunken cornets, its hideous din of rattles, the wild laughter of bands of revelers, and the cries of hysterical women." But even here M. Char- pentier is original in execution only, not in plan. There is scarcely a public library in the large cities of Europe and America which does not contain a copy of Georges Kast- ner's " Le Voix de Paris," with its supplement, " Cris de Paris," a " Symphonie humoristique," with its themes drawn from the cries of the peripatetic hucksters and street vend- ers of the French Capital ; and as if that were not enough, historic records and traditions trace the use of street cries 392 THE TETRAZZINI CRAZE as musical material back to the sixteenth century. There seems even to have been a passibility that a " Ballet des Cris de Paris " furnished forth an entertainment in which the Grand Monarch himself assisted, for the court of Louis XIV. French opera had won its battle ; but even now, the way was not wholly clear and open, for the successful operas were too few and their repetition caused some grumbling. At this critical moment the star of Luisa Tetrazzini rose in London and threw its glare over all the operatic world. Two years before Mr. Conried had engaged the singer while she was in California, but had failed to bind the contract by depositing a guarantee with her banker. He failed, it is said, because when he wanted to complete the negotiations he could not find her. Mr. Hammerstein also negotiated with her for the season of 1906-07, so he said, but she proved elusive. Neither of the managers felt any loss at his failure to secure her. The London excitement may have set Mr. Conried to thinking ; Mr. Hammerstein it stirred to action. On December ist he announced that he had en- gaged her for the season of 1908-09, and hoped to have her for a few performances before the end of the season of 1907-08. A fortnight later he proclaimed that she would effect her New York entrance on January 15th, and that he had secured her for fifteen representations in the current season, with the privilege of adding to their number. Mr. Conried threatened proceedings by injunction, but his threats were brutum fulmen; she made her debut on the specified date in " La Traviata," and when the season closed she had added seven performances (one in Philadelphia) to the fifteen originally contemplated. In New York she sang five times in " Traviata," eight times in " Lucia," once in " Dinorah," three times in " Rigoletto," three times in " Crispino e la Comare," and once in a " mixed bill." She was rapturously acclaimed by the public and a portion of the press. It is useless to discuss the phenomenon. The LUISA TETRAZZINI Soprano Leggiera "PELLEAS ET MELISANDE" 393 whims of the populace are as unquestioning and as irre- sponsible as the fury of the elements. That was seen in the Tetrazzini craze in New York and in London; it was seen again in the reception given to that musically and dra- matically amorphous thing, " Pelleas et Melisande." This was as completely bewildering to the admirers of the melo- drama as to those who are blind and deaf to its attractions. It should have been more so, for it is more difficult to affect to enjoy " Pelleas et Melisande " than to yield to the quali- ties which dazzle in the singing of Tetrazzini. Neverthe- less, " Pelleas et Melisande " had seven performances within five weeks. Debussy's opera was performed for the first time on February 19, 1908, the parts being distributed as follows: Arkel M. Arimondi Pelleas ." M. Perier Golaud M. Dufranne Melisande Miss Garden Yniold Mile. Sigrist Genevieve Mme. Gerville-Reache Un Mededn M. Crabbe Conductor, Sig. Campanini The production of " Pelleas et Melisande " was the most venturesome experiment that Mr. Hammerstein had yet made and the one most difficult to explain on any ground save the belief that a French novelty, no matter what its character or its merits, would win profitable patronage in New York at the moment. There was nothing in the history of the work itself to inspire the confidence that it would make a potent appeal to the tastes of the opera-lovers of New York. Nowhere out- side of Paris had it gained a foothold, and its success in Paris was like that which any esthetic cult or pose may secure if diligently and ingeniously exploited. Mr. Hammerstein knew this and he had seen the work at 394 THE ESSENTIAL MAETERLINCK MOOD the Opera Comique. It could not have escaped his dis- cerning mind that only a small element in the population of even so cosmopolitan a city as New York could by any possibility possess the intellectual and esthetic qualifications necessary to enthusiastic appreciation of the qualities, not to say merits, of the work. These qualifications are quite as much negative as they are positive. It is not enough to the appreciation of " Pelleas et Melisande " that the listener shall understand French. He must have a taste — and this must be an acquired one, since it cannot be born in him — for the French of M. Maeterlinck's infantile plays, " Pelleas et Melisande " being on the border-line between the marion- ette drama and that designed for the consumption of mature minds. He must, moreover, have joined the inner brother- hood of symbol worshipers, and be able to discern how it is that the world-old story of the union of December and May, of blooming youth and crabbed age with its familiar (and, as some poets and romancers would have us believe, inevitable) consequences, can be enhanced by much chatter about crowns and rings dropped into wells, white-haired beggars lying in a cave, stagnant and mephitic pools, flut- tering doves, departing ships, kings who lose their way while hunting and are dashed against trees at twelve o'clock, maids who know not whence they came or why they are weeping, and a whole phantasmagoria more, out of all proportion to the simple incidents of the tragedy itself. This so far as the literary side of the matter is concerned. On the musical much more is demanded. He must recog- nize unrhythmical, uncadenced, disjointed, land ejaculatory prose dialogue, with scarcely a lyrical moment in it, as a fit vehicle for music. He must not only be willing to forego vocal melody, but even the semblance of melody also in the instrumental music upon which the dialogue floats; for everybody knows since the Wagnerian drama came into being that words which are in themselves incapable of melodious flow may be the cause of melody in the orchestral CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MUSIC 395 music which accompanies them.* He who would enjoy the musical integument of this play must have cultivated a craving for dissonance in harmony and find relish in com- binations of tones that sting and blister and pain and out- rage the ear. He must have learned to contemn euphony and symmetry, with its benison of restfulness, and to delight in monotony of orchestral color, monotony of mood, monotony of dynamics, and monotony of harmonic device. It is not at all likely that Mr. Hammerstein expected to find a sufficient number of opera-goers thus strangely con- stituted among the patrons of his establishment to justify him in the astonishing exhibition of enterprise or venture- someness illustrated by the production of " Pelleas et Melisande " with artists brought especially from Paris only because they had been concerned in the Parisian perform- ances, with new scenery, and at the cost of much money and labor spent in the preparation. It is therefore safe to assume that he counted on the potent power of public curiosity touching a well-advertised thing. He had fared well with Mme. Tetrazzini in presenting operas which rep- resent everything that " Pelleas et Melisande " is not. In this he had much encouragement. He played boldly, and won. " Pelleas et Melisande " as it came from the hands of M. Maeterlinck, and in the only form which the author recog- nizes, had been presented in New York in an English version. What has been said above about the qualifications of him who would rise to an enjoyment of the music with which Debussy has consorted it ought to serve also to char- acterize that music. Nothing has been exaggerated, noth- ing set down in a spirit of illiberality. No student of music can be ignorant of the fact that the art, being a pure * There is here no allusion to tune in the conventional sense, tune made up of motive, phrase, period and section, but to a well modulated succession of musical intervals, expressing a feeling or illustrating a mood. 396 ANCIENT PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED projection of the human will, is necessarily always in a state of flux, and in its nature, within the limitations that bound all the manifestations of beauty, lawless. M. Debussy might have proclaimed and illustrated that fact without in his capacity of a critical writer having sought to throw odium on dead masters who were better than he and living contemporaries who are at least older. The little Parisian community who pass the candied stick of mutual praise from mouth to mouth would nevertheless have given him their praise. In his proclamation of the principles of musical composition as applied to the drama he has pro- claimed principles as old as opera. It needed no man who has outlived the diatonic scale to tell us that vocal music should be written in accordance with the rhythm and accents of the words, and that dramatic music should be an integral element of the drama, or, as he puts it, be " the atmosphere through which dramatic emotion radiates." The Florentine inventors of monody told us that, Gluck echoed them, Wagner re-enunciated the principle, and no modem composer has dreamed of denying its validity. The only question is whether or not such admirable results have been attained by M. Debussy; whether his music sweetens or intensifies or vitalizes the play. That question must be answered by the individual hearer. No one should be ashamed to proclaim his pleasure in four hours of uninterrupted, musically inflected speech over a substratum of shifting harmonies, each with its individual tang and instrumental color; but neither should anybody be afraid to say that nine-tenths of the music is a dreary monotony because of the absence of what to him stands for musical thought. Let him admit or deny, as he sees fit, that the principle of symphonic development is a proper concomitant of the musical drama, but let him also say whether or not what to some appears a flocculent, hazy web of dissonant sounds, now acrid, now bitter-sweet, maundering along from scene to scene, unrelieved by a HOW THE OPERA WAS RECEIVED 397 single pregnant melodic phrase, stirs within him the emo- tions awakened by a union of melody, harmony, and rhythm, either in the old conception or the new. Debussy has had his fling at Wagner and his system of construction in the lyric drama; yet he adopts his system of musical symbols, It is almost a humiliation to say it. There is sea music and forest music in " Pelleas et Melisande." What a flight of gibbering phantoms there would be if the fluttering of Tristan's pennants or the "hunt's up" of King Mark's horns could be heard even for a moment ! It would be difficult accurately and honestly to say what was the verdict of the audience touching the merit of the work ; concerning the performance there was never a ques- tion. The first three acts were followed by a respectful patter of applause. When Mr. Campanini came into the orchestra to begin the fourth act he received an ovation which was both spontaneous and cordial. The dramatic climax, which is accompanied by superb music of its kind, is reached in the scene of Pelleas's killing at the end of the fourth act. This stirred up hearty enthusiasm, and after all the artists, Mr. Campanini, and the stage manager had shared in the expression of enthusiastic gratitude, Mr. Hammerstein was brought before the curtain. He made a brief speech, saying that by its appreciation of the opera, with its poetical beauty and musical grandeur. New York had set itself down as the most highly cultivated city in the world, and that for himself the only purpose he had had in producing it was to endear himself to the city's people! Would that one dared to exclaim: "O sancta stmplicitas ! " Mr. Hammerstein did not perform all the novelties which he had promised in his prospectus, but to make good the loss he brought forward two operas, one a complete nov- elty, which he had not promised. This was Giordano's " Siberia." More surprising was the fact that only one day before the close of the season he produced the same 398 "ANDREA CHENIER" composer's " Andrea Chenier " under circumstances which made the occasion a gala one for Signor Cleofonte Cam- panini, the energetic and capable director who more than anyone else had made the marvelous achievements of the Manhattan company possible. The production of " Andrea Chenier " was not contemplated when Mr. Hammerstein came forth in the summer with his official announcement of the season ; it had, however, been promised by Mr. Con- ried, who seems to have found that the production of two novelties of a vastly inferior kind taxed to the limit the resources of the proud establishment in Broadway. There it was permitted to slumber on with " Otello," " Der Freischiitz," and " Das Nachtlager von Granada," whose titles graced Mr. Conried's prospectus. That circumstance may have had something to do with Mr. Hammerstein's resolve at the eleventh hour to add it to the list of five other new productions which he had already placed to his credit. If so, he gave no indication of the fact but permitted the announcement to go out that the performance was a compli- ment to Signor Campanini and his wife, who, as Signora Tetrazzini, had retired from the operatic stage after sing- ing in the opera three years before. Incidentally the cir- cumstance appealed to whatever feelings of gratitude the patrons of the Manhattan Opera House felt toward Signor Campanini and also to the popular curiosity to hear a sister of the Tetrazzini whose coming to the opera was the sea- son's chief sensation. The occasion was well calculated to set the beards of memory mongers to wagging. Those who could recall some of the minor incidents of a quarter-century earlier remembered that the indefatigable director of to-day was a modest maestro di cembalo at the Metropolitan in its first season, and on a few occasions when his famous brother Italo Campanini sang was permitted to try his " prentice hand " at conducting. Next they recalled that four years later, when that brother made an unlucky venture as im- GIORDANO'S "SIBERIA" 399 presario and sought to rouse the people of New York to enthusiasm with a production of Verdi's " Otello " it was Cleofonte Campanini who was the conductor of the com- pany and Signorina Eva Tetrazzini who was the prima donna. The original American production of "Andrea Chenier " took place at the Academy of Music on Novem- ber 13, 1896. At the revival on March 27, 1908, the parts were distributed as follows: Maddalena de Coigny Mrae. Tetrazzini-Campanini Andrea Chenier Sig. Bassi Carlo Gerard Sig. Sammarco Contessa de Coigny Sig'ra Giaconia Bersi Sig'ra Seppillf Madelon Mme. De Cisneros Roucher Sig. Crabbe Fouquier-Tinville Sig. Arimondi MafhS ^^sansculotte \ ^'2- Gianoli-Galetti An Incroyable Sig. Venturini Abbe Sig. Daddi Schmidt, a jailor Sig. Fossetta Major Domo Sig. Reschiglian Dumas, president of the tribunal Sig. Mugnoz Conductor, Sig. Campanini " Siberia " was performed on February 5, 1908, with the following cast: Stephana Sig'ra Agostinelli La Fanciulla Sig'ra Trentini Nikona Sig'ra Zaccaria Vassili Sig. Zenatello Gleby Sig. Sammarco Walitzin Sig. Crabbe Alexis Sig. Casauran Xr Sergeant f Sig. Venturini The Captain Sig. Mugnoz The Invalid Sig. Gianoli-Galetti Miskinsky Sig. Reschiglian L'lspravnik \ The Cossack . C Sig. Fossetta The Inspector 1 Conductor, Sig. Campanini 400 NATIONALISM AND LOCAL COLOR Giordano's opera is an experiment along the lines faintly suggested by Mascagni in " Iris," but boldly and success- fully drawn by Puccini in " Madama Butterfly " and Char- pentier in " Louise." The Italian disciples of verismo are in full cry after nationalism and local color. A generation ago the scenes, the characters, and the subject of an opera were of no concern to the composer. His indifference to anachronism was like that of Shakespeare, whose stage-folk, whether supposed to be ancient Greeks, Romans, or Bre- 'tons, were all sixteenth-century Englishmen. When Verdi wrote his Egyptian opera he was content with a little splash of Orientalism which colors the chant of the priestess in the temple of Phtha; the rest of the music is Italian. So the Germans remained German in their music, and the Frenchmen continued to speak their own idioms, saving a few characteristic rhythms for the incidental ballet. Mas- cagni injected a little twanging of the Japanese samiesen into the music of " Iris " but let the effort to obtain local color stop there. Nevertheless the hint was seized upon by both Giordano and Puccini, and apparently at about the same time. The former made an excursion into Russia, the latter into Japan; Signor lUica acted as guide for both. The more daring of the two was Puccini, for Japan is musically sterile, while Russia has a wealth of characteristic folk-song un- equaled by that of any other country on the face, of the earth. Nevertheless there is nothing more admirable in the score of " Madama Butterfly " than the refined and ingenious skill with which the composer bent the square- toed rhythms and montonous tunes of Japanese music to his purposes. The dramatic structure of " Siberia " is not strong. In- cidents of convict life in Siberia which have formed the staple of Russian fiction for so long are depended on to awaken interest and provide picturesque stage-furniture, while sympathy is asked for the heroine who obtains " re- Copyright by Miwhkln ELEANOR DE CISNEROS AS AMNERIS IN "AID A' THE STORY OF " SIBERIA " 401 demption " by an honest love and a heroic sacrifice. Of course, that the requisite degree of piquancy may not be wanting, the martyr is a bawd who surrenders the luxuries of St. Petersburg provided by a princely lover, to endure the privations of the Siberian mines with that lover's suc- cessful rival. Only in the " redemption motive," so to speak, is there any likeness between the story of the opera and Tolstoi's " Resurrection," or the play based on that book which had been seen in New York five years before, though the two had been associated in the gossip of the theaters. There are three acts. The first, in which the young ofiicer Vassili, with whom the heroine Stephana is in love, draws his sword against his superior officer, Prince Alexis, and thereby draws down on himself the sentence of banishment to the mines, plays in a palace in St. Peters- burg, which the Prince had given to Stephana, who is his mistress. The second act discloses incidents in the journey of the convicts through Siberia, Vassili being joined at a station by Stephana, who has sacrificed her all to follow him into exile. In the third act phases of convict life and cus- toms belonging to the Russian Easter festival are disclosed, and there is a resumption of the dramatic story which now hurries rapidly to its tragic conclusion. Gleby, the seducer of Stephana, is found among a gang of new arrivals at the mines, and the governor of the province, who had been among her old admirers, renews his protestations of devo- tion and promises her liberty and a life of pleasure. Him she repulses gently and proclaims the joy which Siberia has brought to her. Gleby also attempts to regain his old influence over her, but is cast aside with contumely. There- upon he denounces her to the community. She and her lover determine to escape but are betrayed and the heroine is shot in her attempted flight. She dies " redeemed." " Siberia " has no overture. In place of an instrumental introduction there is a chorus of mujiks, which, Russian in idea as well as in harmonization and manner of perform- 402 RUSSIAN FOLK-SONGS USED ance, introduces at once the most interesting as it is the most effective element in the score. Without this element the opera would be deplorably dull, so far as its music is concerned. Giordano's original melody is for the greater part commonplace and unexpressive. The dramatic scenes between the lovers in each of the acts are passionate only to ears accustomed or willing to find passion in strenuous- ness. Throughout Stephana and Vassili sing as the Irish- man played the fiddle — by main strength. In the second act there is much more to warm the fancy and delight the ear. Here the lack of an opening overture is made good by an extended instrumental introduction of real beauty and power. In a way the music is both meteorological and psychological; it pictures the dreary waste of country; it seems to speak of the falling snow and biting frost ; but it also gives voice to the heavy-heartedness which is the pre- vailing mood of the act. It introduces, too, as a thematic motive, the opening phrase of the Russian folk-song which the convicts sing as they enter. This melody is one of the gems of Russian folk-song so much admired by the com- posers of the Czar's empire that there are few of them who have not put it to artistic use. It is " Ay ouchnem," the song originally created for the bargemen of the Volga, who to its sighing and groaning measures, with broad straps across their breasts, towed heavy vessels against the current of the river. Now it is also used by workmen to assist them in the lifting and carrying of burdens. Giordano makes excellent use of it at the end as well as at the begin- ning of the act, though as a direct quotation, not for the- matic treatment as Puccini uses the Japanese themes in his score. This is one of the characteristics of Giordano's opera and one which illustrates his inferiority as a musician to his more successful rival. In the second act a semi- chorus of women quote again from Russian folk-song by singing the melody of the air known to all musical folk- lorists by its German title, " Schone Minka." In the third HUMORS OF THE SEASON 403 act there is a Russian Easter canticle which has little of the Russian character but makes an agreeable impression upon the popular ear by reason of its effective use of bell- chimes. There is another folk-melody in the opera which has gained publicity in a manner different from that which made " Ay ouchnem " and " Schone Minka " widely known ; it is the melody of the " Glory " song — " Slava " — which Beethoven used in the scherzo of one of his Rasoumowski Quartets. The season was not without its humorous incidents. A quarrel of Messrs. Conried and Hammerstein over MM. Dalmores and Gilibert, who were enticed away from their old allegiance by Mr. Conried but would not stay bought, was one of these. Another was a circular letter sent out by Mr. Hammerstein on December 23d, scolding his sub- scribers because they were not coming up to his help against the mighty. The letter caused much amused com- ment amongst the knowing, who asked themselves whether it was the scolding of the innocent or the coming of " Louise," Tetrazzini, and " Pelleas et Melisande " which turned the tables in the favor of the manager. Mr. Hammerstein seemed to believe that the letter had been efficacious. THE END INDEX Abbey and Grau: See Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau (Ltd.) : See Abbey, Schoef- fel and Grau Abbey, Henry E., cornet player in a town band, 78; fails as first manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, 107 et seq.; his losses, no; unwilling to continue man- agement, no; a benefit con- cert, III; gives Patti con- certs and " farewells," 160, 203; secures second lease of the Metropolitan, 203, 213; becomes managing director of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau (Ltd.), 229; dies, 229; his career as a manager, 230 ; association with John B. Schoeffel and Maurice Grau, 230, 272, 29s, 366; portrait, 112 Atbey, Schoeffel and Grau, IS; obtain lease of Metro- politan Opera House for season 1891-92, 197; season of Italian opera at the Met- ropolitan in 1890, 194, 214, 224, 226; decide not to give opera in 1892-93, 227; les- sees for 1893-94, 228; finan- cial results from 1893 to 1896, 229; organization of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau (Ltd.), 229 et seq., 230, 233, 253. 256, 258, 272, 279, 280, 364 Abbe/s Theater, 229 Abbott, Emma, American singer, 67 Abott, Bessie, American sing- er, 68, 328 Abramoff, basso, 160 Academy of Music, New York, 14, IS, 16, 22, 45, 52, 54; Horace Greeley suggests its destruction, 49; its rival- ries, 64; changes of manage- ment, 64, 70; coming of James H. Mapleson, 64; Maretzek's associations, 65; failure of first season, 65; planned after the French Academie, 65; Ole Bull's management, 66, 70; Ameri- can singers at, 67; Maret- zek lessee, 68; the opening, 68; Lagrange troupe, 70; Maretzek conductor at, 70; management of Ullmann and Thalberg, 70; fashion outgrows it, 85 ; its status under Mapleson, 85; war- fare with the Metropolitan, 88 et seq., 107; repertory season 1883-84, 91; the sea- son described, 109 et seq.; season 1884-85, 122 et seq.; Wagner festival in 1872, 132; end of 'regular sea- sons, 139; Mapleson's sea- son 1885-86, 140; American Opera Company's season 1885, 143; Schott vexes di- rectors, 145; Patti concerts 1886, 161 ; end of competi- tion with the Metropolitan, 175; National Opera Com- pany season in 1888, 189; Angelo Opera Company in 1886, 161 ; Damrosch season 1894, 259, 261 et seq.; Mapleson season 1896-97, 270, 339, 366 ; picture, 64 Academie Nationale de Mu- sique, Paris, 92, 100, 131 405 4o6 INDEX Achenbach, Andreas, painter, iSi Adam, Adolphe {see " Le Pos- tilion de Lonjumeau "). composes a " FalstaflE " opera, 247 Adams, Charles, American tenor, 67 Adams, Suzanne, American singer, 287 Addison on Italian opera, 23, 24, 113. 232 "Adelaide," Beethoven's song sung by Mario, 69 Adler, Prof. Felix, 136 " Adriana Lecouvreur," opera by Cilea, 357, 362 "Africaine, V," opera by Meyerbeer, 141, 176, 186, 19s. 205, 206, 215, 216, 237, 276, 319, 323, 337, 362 Agostinelli, Italian soprano, 399 Agostini, Giuseppe, Italian tenor, 285 "Aida," opera by Verdi, 91, 164, 16s, 176, 186, 187, 191, 19s, 216, 243, 249, 270, 276, 281, 299, 300, 306, 308, 318, 361, 367, 370, 375 Aimee, French operetta singer, 278 Albani, Carlo, Italian tenor, 373 Albani, Emma, 67, 79, iii, 112, 194. 215 Albers, Henri, barytone, 288 Alberti, barytone, 270 Alboni, Marietta, 40, 68 Alexi, German barytone, 157, 178 Alien Labor Law of the United States, 325 Alten, Bella, 328, 342 Alvarez, tenor, 297, 308, 309 Alvary, Max, his career, 151 ; rebuked by Seidl and Stan- ton, 151, 174, 178, 183, 186, 187, 255, 258, 261; portrait, 178 "Amant Statue, L'," 4 " Ambassadricer-i^"' Auber's opera, 42 Amberg, Gustav, New York manager, 139, 140 Ambre, Mile., singer at the Academy, 80 American Opera Company, 139, 140, 143, 162 American singers in Europe, 66, 67 American Theater, in New York, 287, 298, 299 " Amico Fritz, V," Mascagni's opera, 232, 276 Amodio, barytone, 79 Anacreon, 291 Ancona, Mario, Italian bary- tone, 233, 242, 266, 36s, 368, 373; portrait, 368 Anderson, Edward EUery, 34 Anderson, Edward Henry, 34 Anderson, Henry James, mar- ries Da Ponte's daughter, 34 "Andrea Chenier," Giordano's opera, 270, 374, 375, 398 Angelo Grand Opera Com- pany, 161 et seq. Angelo, Signor, 14, 161 "Angelo, Tyrane de Pa- doue," play by Victor Hugo, 104 Angrisani, basso, 30 Anlauf, German singer, 159 Anschiitz, Carl, German con- ductor, 128, 183 Anthes, Greorge, German tenor, 318 Antognini, Italian tenor, 41 " Ape musicale, U," opera- book by Da Ponte, 35 " Arabi nelli Galli," an opera by Pacini, 22 Arditi, Luigi, opera conductor, 45, 58, 60, 125, 160, 194 Arimondi, basso, 365, 373, 393, 400; portrait, 366 Arment, A. A., his recollec- tions of early opera, i " Armida," Gluck's opera, 185 Arne, Dr., " Love in a Vil- lage," 6 Arnoldson, Sigrid, 232, 240 Aronson, Rudolph, 220, 221 Artot, violinist, 42 Asplandi, Algernon, 285 INDEX 407 "Asrael," opera by Fran- chetti, 198, 199, 206 Astarte, 310 Astor, John Jacob, 7 Astor Place Opera House, 14, IS ; built, 45 ; description of, 45 et seq.; cause of failure, 47; repertories of 1847 and 1848, 47; ruined by a dog- show, so; Maretzek becomes manager, 51 ; picture, 40 Attic tragedy, decorum of, 223 Auber ; See " Ambassadrice," " Domino noir," " Fra Dia- volo," " Gustav III," "Muette di Portici," " Za- netta," " Manon Lescaut" ■" Ay ouchnem," Russian folk- song, 402 Bach, 44 Badiali, Italian barytone, 59, 61, 79 Baggetto Grand Opera Com- pany, 285 " Baiser de Suzon, Le," opera by Bemberg, 243 Baker, George F., 346 " Bal costume," ballet by Ru- binstein, 164 Balfe, M. W. (see " Falstaff,*" " Manon Lescaut," " Bo- hemian Girl"), 57, 58, 247 "Ballet des Cris de Paris," 392 " Ballo in Maschera, Un," Verdi's opera, 162, 176, 187, 269, 319. 361, 368, 369, 375 Ballstrom, Ingeborg, singer, 298 Baltimore, opera in, 4, 108 Barbaja, Neapolitan manager, 59 Barbier, librettist, 99, 164, 243, 378 " Barbiere di Siviglia, II " (and "Barber of Seville"), 3, 7, 13. 22, 25, 27, 43, SO, loi, 108, 224, 269, 281, 287, 318, 361, 368, 369 " Barbier von Bagdad," opera by Cornelius, 176, 187, 188, 205, 206 Barili, Catarina, mother of Adelina and Carlotta Patti, 44 Barney, C. T., 282 Barocchi, buffo singer, 329, 357 Bars, Jacques, 265, 275, 300, 308, 344 Basch, German barytone, 174 Bassetti (Charles Bassett), tenor, 122, 163, 190, 221 Bassi, Amadeo, tenor, 373, 399; portrait, 368 "Basso Porto, A," Spinelli's opera, 223, 299 Battery Park, New York, in the olden time, 13 Bauermeister, 142 Baumann, Adolf, stage-man- ager, 255 Bayer, German singer in "Parsifal," 188, 332, 344 Bayreuth festivals, 117, 118, 133, 146, 254, 297, 330, 332 "Beatrice di Tenda," Bellini's opera, 43, 47 Beaumarchais, " Le Mariage de Figaro," 32 Beck, Joseph, 187, 188 Beecher, the Rev. Henry Ward, 136 Beeth, Lola, German singer, 266 Beethoven (see "Fidelio"): "Adelaide," 69; Mass in D, 81 ; 200, 220, 378 ; Rasou- mowski Quartet No. 3, 403 " Beggar's Opera, The," 3, 4, 6 Begue, sings in " Fedora," 342 Behne, Harriet, 340 Behrens, Conrad, basso, 254, 255 Belasco, 340 " Belisario," opera by Doni- zetti, 43 Bellatti, Virgilio, 321 Bellini (see " Beatrice di Tenda," " Norma," " Pi- rata," " Puritani," " Stra- niera," " Sonnambula,"), ISO, 191 Bellini, Laura, American singer, 221 4o8 INDEX Belmont, August, 346 Bely, Hermine, German singer, 120, 130 Bemberg, Herman (;see " El- aine," " Baiser de Suzon"), 243 et seq.; birth and train- ing, 243 Benedetti, Italian tenor, 54, 69 Bergerat, EmH, his character- ization of Offenbach, 379 Bergmann, Carl, conductor in New York, 128 Berlioz, Hector (see " Damna- tion de Faust," " Les Tro- yens"), 57, 240, 306, 311 Berthald, Barron, tenor, 261, 298 Bertucca (Mme. Maretzek), 54, SS Bettaque, Katti (afterwards Senger-Bettaque), 187, 328 Betti, Italian tenor, 270 Bettini, tenor, 54, 59, 62 Bevignani, E., conductor, 241 Bianchi-Montalda, Mme., 162 Bickerstaff, "Maid of the Mill," 6 Bieletto, utility singer, 142 Bimboni, conductor, 162, 270 Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley, 7 Bispham, David, 281, 288, 296, 308, 313 Bizet {see "Carmen," " Pe- cheurs de Perles"), 244 Blasio, Pasquale, 321 Blass, Robert, basso, 300, 308, 313, 328, 332, 334 "Boabdil," opera by Mosz- kowsky, 253, 364 Botel, Heinrich, German tenor, 189 " Boheme, La," opera by Puc- cini, 285; a criticism, 286, 300, 319, 338, 341. 361, 369, 371, 376, 388 " Bohemian Girl," opera by Balfe, 57, 299,' 356 Bohner, Jennie, 221 Boieldieu : See " La Dame Blanche " Bioto, Arrigo {see " Mefisto- fele," " Nerone," " Tobia Gorrio"), 104, 114; his in- fluence on Verdi, 249, 289, 290, 291, 293 Bologna, basso, 162 Bonaplata-Bau, Italian so- prano, 270 Bonci, Alessandro, tenor, 41, 368, 370, 371; portrait, 286 Boninsegna, Signorina, 328 Borelli, basso, 270 Borello, Camille, 373, 380 Borghese, Signora, 39, 40 Bosio, Angiolina, 59; Richard Grant White's criticism of her, 6l, 125 Boston Ideal Opera Company, 189, 243 Boston, opera in, 68, 106, 108, 231, 258, 325; concerts and festivals, 118 Boston Symphony Orchestra, 259 . Bottesini, contrabassist and conductor, 60; his opera, " Ero e Leandro," 289 Boudouresque, basso, 281 Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, 379 Bourbonism of the Parisians, 237 Bowdoin, George, 346 Bowery Theater, 9, 10 Boyle, F. J., 298 Braendle, Miss, sings in " Parsifal," 332 Brandt, Marianne, her career, 118; debut in London, 118; her performance in " Fi- delio," 128, 130, 131, 132, 133, 14s, 157, 160, 167; breaks down at a laugh from a box, 174, 178, 180, 183, 210, 238; portrait, 118 Brazzi, American contralto, 281 Brema, Marie, 255, 257, 266, 267, 268, 269 Bressler-Gianoli, 365, 370, 371, 385, 387 Breton, his opera " Dolores," 372, 375 Breval, Lucienne, 299, 304, 308 " Bride of Abydos," Byron's poem, 290 Bridewell, Carrie, 304, 308 INDEX 409 Brignoli, Pasquale, tenor, 72, 79; sings in English com- panies, 82 ; the " silver- voiced" tenor, 82; his American career, 82; mar- riages and death, 82, 124; Richard Grant White's opinion of him, 83; his voice and mannerisms, 83; vanity and superstition, 84, igo; portrait, 84 Bristow, George F., his opera "Rip Van Winkle," 66, 263 British Prince Consort, 200 Broch, Jennie, 198 Brooklyn, opera in, 108, 163, 234 ; " Parsifal " festival, 333 Brown, Walton H., 286 Brozel, Philip, 298 Brugiere, Mathilde, 288 Briill, Ignaz, his opera " Das Goldene Kreutz," 165, 166, 176 Bull, Ole, manager of the Academy of Music, 66; of- fers a prize for an Ameri- can opera, 66 Burghard, E. M., 282 Burgstaller, AJoys, 318, 328, 332; portrait, 332 Burr, Aaron, 10 Burrian, Carl, German tenor, 329, 340, 350 Burton's Theater, 15, 64, 65 Byron, his " Bride of Aby- dos," 290; swims the Hel- lespont, 290 Cady, J. Qeaveland, architect of the Metropolitan Opera House, 86, 87, 88, 188, 225 Calve, Emma, 232, 233, 234, 23s; debut of, 236; an esti- mate, 236 et seq., 241, 243, 259, 266, 273, 308, 309, 312, 330, 371 ; portrait, 240 Camera, Italian barytone, 215 Campanari, Giuseppe, bary- tone, 246, 281, 296, 308 Campanini, Cleofonte, 102, 190, 271, 367, 371, 373. 381, 397, 398, 399; portrait, 362 Campanini, Italo, 14, 41, 79, 81 ; his pride in his " at- tack," 81; Philip Hale's opinion, 82, 90; as Faust, 92, 93, 94, 100, 102, 106, 190, 193. 398; portrait, 82 Candidus, William, German tenor, 6y, 163 Candles in New York Thea- ters, 4 Capoul, Victor, French tenor, 97, 99 Caracciolo, basso, 90, 109, 122, 141 Caradori, Mme., 40 Carbone, buffo, 215, 240 Cardinali, Italian tenor, 122 Carl Rosa Opera Company of London, 288, 298 " Carmen," opera by Bizet, 106, 108, 141, 149, 153, 155, 161, 194, 20s, 206, 216, 233, 234, 236, 243, 266, 269, 276, 299, 308, 310, 318, 330, 335, ^361, 365. 369, 370, 371, 375 Carnegie Music Hall, 254 Carr, Forrest, 298 Carre, French librettist, 99, 378 Carreno, Teresa, 69 Caruso, Enrico, Italian tenor, 41, 327, 328; his debut in New York, 329. 340, 342, 357, 365; portrait, 328 Cary, Annie Louise, 54, 67, 69; marries Charles Monson Raymond, 70; domestic life, 80; in concert with Carlotta Patti and Mario, 80; re- tires, 80; as Siebel, 92; por- trait, 92 " Casa do Pendere," opera by Salvioni, 22 Casino, New York, 221, 365 Castelli, German poet, 184 Castelmary, basso, 194, 233, 266; dies on the stage, 273 Castle Garden, New York, 10, 12, 13. 64, 65; picture, iz Castle Square Opera Com- pany, 287, 297, 299 Catalani, Alfredo: his opera " Dejanice," 114 410 INDEX Catenhusen, Ernst, 149 Cavalazzi, dancer, loi Cavalieri, Lina, Italian singer, 328, 342, 357, 383 Cavalleria rusticana," Mas- cagni's opera, rival produc- tions, 104, 216; first per- formance, 220; a criticism, 222 et seq.; Calve as San- tuzza, 236, 238, 276, 299, 319, 320, 321, 323, 324, 361, 364, 369, 371, 375 Cazauran, Leone, 329, 373, 381 " Cenerentola," Rossini's opera, 13, 19, 22 Century Magazine, quoted, 18, 62, 83 Cernusco, 300 Chaliapine, Theodore, 329 Chalmin, basso, 329 Chapel Street, theater in, S Charlestown, opera in, 4 Charpentier: See "Louise" Cherubini, basso, go, 109, 122, 141, 142 " Chiara di Rosemberg," opera by Luigi Ricci, 43 Chicago, opera in, 215, 230, 231, 258, 259 Chizzola, Charles A., 278 " Cid, Le," opera by Mas- senet, 273, 27s, 276, 299, 308, 319 Cilea, opera composer: See " Tilda " and " Adriana Lecouvreur " Cimarosa, his opera " Matri- monio segreto," 22, 301 Cincinnati, College of Music, 55, 81; opera in, 108; con- certs and festivals, 118, 148 Cinti-Damoreau, Mme., 42 Clara Louise Kellogg Opera Company, 278 Clarke, Payne, tenor, 221 Clytemnestra, 223 Coletti, basso, 60 Colman, " The Spanish Bar- ber," 4 " Colomba," opera by Mac- kenzie, 114 Conegliano, family name of Lorenzo da Ponte, 31 Conried, Heinrich, manager, 66; his theatrical training, 78, 157, 221, 320; obtains lease of Metropolitan Opera House, 326; his career, 326 et seq.; his benefits, 334; sea- sons 190S-1908, 336 et seq.; produces " Parsifal," 330 et seq.; his administration re- viewed, 359, 360; produces " Salome," 343 ; resigtns, 360, 3655 370; claims exclusive rights in " Boheme," 371, 376, 379 ; fails to get Tetraz- zini, 392, 398, 403; portrait, 322 " Contes d'Hoffmann, Les," opera by Offenbach, 373, 374, 377 Conti, singer, 162 Cooper, Edward, 86 Cooper, Fenimore, " The Spy," 263 Coppee, Francois, " Le Pas- sant," 323 " Coppelia," ballet by Delibes, 164, 361 •Cornelius, Peter: See "Bar- bier von Bagdad " Corre, Mile., 162 Corsi, Italian singer, 160, 162, 275 "Cosi fan Tutte," opera by Mozart, 29 Coster, Gerard H., ar Cottenet family, 34 Cottenet, R. H., 346 Covent Garden Theater, Lon- don, 5, loi, III, 124, 243, 244, 266, 277, 288, 289 Cozzens, Frederick, poem on Battery Park, 13 Crabbe, singer at the Manhat- tan Opera House, 381, 393, X 399 \Cremonini, Giuseppe, Italian \ tenor, 266, 300 Greole songs, 338 Cressy, Mae, 298 " Crispino e la Comare," opera by the Ricci brothers, 91, 374. 375, 392 Cruger, John C, 21 INDEX 411 Cruger's Wharf, playhouse on, S Curtis, George N., 86 Curtis, George William, once critic of the Tribune news- paper, 49, I2S Daddi, Francesco, tenor, 373, 380, 397 Dado, basso, 270 Dahn, Felix, " Ein Kampf um Rom," 264 Dalayrac, his operas " Nina " and " L'Amant statue," 4 Dalmores, Charles, French tenor, 365, 368, 371, 373, 377, 380, 38s, 387. 403; portrait, 380 Daly, Judge, 72; speaks at a Patti dinner, 74 Daly's Theater, 264 " Dame Blanche, La," opera by Boieldieu, 136, 189, 361 Damerini, soprano, 122 " Damnation de Faust, La," dramatic legend by Berlioz, 337, 362, 374, 375, 376 Damrosch, Frank, 188 Damrosch, Dr. Leopold, speaks at a Patti dinner, 74; a musically trained manager, 78, no; submits plan for German opera at the Metro- politan, ns; organizes a company, 115; his Eu- ropean career, 115; birth and education, n6; becomes a musician, 116; declares him- self for Wagner's principles, 116; appointments, 116; comes to New York, 116; organizes societies, 117; his plans for German opera, 117; the first German sea- son, 121 et seq., 128, 130; sickness, death, and burial, 134; instructs his son on his death-bed, 13S, 138, 140; dissensions foHow his death, 144, i8g; portrait, 116 Damrosch, Walter, first ap- pointment at the Metropoli- tan Opera House, 120, 134; instructed by his father on his death-bed, 135, 136, 14s ; becomes assistant _ di- rector of the Metropolitan, 146, 165, 174, 188, 193, 194, 206; gives Wagner operas in Carnegie Hall, 254; ri- valry with Seidl, 254 ; organ- izes opera company for 1895, 256; season of 1896, 258; misfortune in the southern states, 258; an experience in Tennessee, 259; goes to Academy of Music, 259; a truce with Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, 259; profit and loss account, 259; goes into partnership with Charles A. Ellis, 259; artistic results, 260 et seq.; produces his opera, " The Scarlet Let- ter," 261; the season 1897, 263 et seq., 279, 280; be- comes conductor for Mr. Grau, 307, 313, 326; portrait, 256 Dana, Charles A., Horace Greeley's letter to, 48 D'Angri, singer at the Acad- emy of Music, 79 Danse du ventre, 158, 239, 353 D'Annunzio, 322 Da Ponte, Giulia, 35 Da Ponte, Lorenzo, Mozart's librettist, 2, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25 ; origin and career, 30 et seq.; a Hebrew by birth, 30; Marchesan's life of, 31 ; his real name, 31 ; teaches rhetoric in Treviso, 32; ban- ished from Venetian repub- lic, 32; poet of the Court Theater in Vienna, 32; Latin secretary, 32 ; collaborates with Mozart, 32; marries, 32; recommended to Marie Antoinette, 32; goes to Lon- don, 32; flees to America, 32; first teacher of Dante in America, 33; publishes bio- graphical pamphlet, 33; goes to Elizabethtown, N. J., 34; a distiller in Sunbury, Pa., 412 INDEX 34; his New York friends, 34; daughter marries, 34; becomes a book-dealer, 34; residences in New York, 34; professor of Italian in Co- lumbia College, 34; death of, 35; grave unknown, 35; his operatic ambitions, 35 ; writes " L'Ape musicale," 35 ; a plea for Italian opera, 36; portrait, 32 D'Aubigne, tenor, 298 Davies, Harry, 298 Davis, Jessie Bartlett, 163 Dazian, Henry, 280 " Death of Nelson " danced, 24 De Anna, barytone, 122, 141, 270 De Beriot, Charles, violinist, 28 Debuts in New York: Adelina Patti, 71 ; Marcella Sem- brich, 94; Giuseppe Kasch- mann, 96; Roberto Stagno, 96; Mirabella, 97; Fursch- Madi, 100; Gaudignini, 100; Lillian Nordica, no; Anton Schott, 127; Auguste Seidl- Krauss, 127 ; Schroeder- Hanfstangl, 129 ; Materna, 131 ; Minnie Hauk, 141 ; Alma Fohstrom, 141; Lilli Lehmann, 155 (see also 156) ; Eloi Sylva, 156; Theo- dor Reichmann, 188; Emma Eames, 217; Marie Van Zandt, 218; Nellie Melba, 234; Emma Calve, 236; Libia Drog, 242; Sybil San- derson, 245 ; Schumann- Heink, 287; Ernest Van Dyck, 287; Albert Saleza, 287; Suzanne Adams, 287; Van Rooy, 287; Schalk, con- ductor, 287; Alvarez, 297; Antonio Scotti, 297; Fritz Friedrichs, 297 ; Louise Homer, 299; Lucienne Bre- val, 299; Marguerite Mac- intyre, 299; Fritzi Scheff, 299; Charles Gilibert, 299; imbart de la Tour, 299; Robert Blass, 300; de Marchi, 306; Albert Reiss, 306 ; Caruso, 329 ; Lina Cava- lieri, 342; Mary Garden, 381; Bond, 370; Renaud, 370 De Caux, Marquis, husband of Adelina Patti, 73 De Cisneros, contralto, 365, 373, 380, 399; portrait, 400 Declery, 308, 309 De Filippe, Dora, 321 De Frece, Franklin, 280 Dehn, Prof., 116 " Dejanice," opera by Cata- lani, 114 Delafield, unfortunate English manager, 43, 113 De Lara, Isidore : See " Mes- saline " De la Tour, Imbart, tenor, 299 Delibes : See " Lakme," " Cop- pelia," and " Sylvia " Del Puente, barytone, 90, 93, 102, 106, 141, 142, 160, 194, 224 De Lucia, Italian tenor, 82, 223 De Lussan, Zelie, 68, 241, 243, 246, 298 De Macchi, dramatic soprano, 328 De Marchi, Italian tenor, 270, 306, 308 Denver, opera in, 299 De Reszke, fidouard, basso, 144, 215, 217, 218, 219, 220, 225, 230, 234, 23s, 240, 243, 24s, 257, 266, 267, 269, 275, 288, 308, 364; portrait, 182 De Reszke, Jean, tenor, 82, 168, 21S, 217, 220, 225, 230, 234, 23s, 242, 243, 252, 257, 259, 266, 267, 268, 269, 272, 275, 288, 296, 308, 364; por- trait, 254 " Deserteur," Monsigny's opera, 4 Deshayes, dancer, 24 De Vaschetti, utility singer, 142, 275 De Vere, Clementine, soprano, 193, 273, 275 INDEX 413 De Vigne, Mile. Jane, 142, 21S, 246 "Devil's Bridge, The," 9 " Devin du Village," Rous- seau's opera, 4 Devries, Herman, opera singer, 288 Devries, Mme. Rosa, 288 " Diana von Solange," opera by Ernst II, Duke of Saxe- Coburg-Gotha, 200, 201, 205, 206 Didur, Adamo, basso, 373 Di Marion, Biro, 178 "Dinorah," opera by Meyer- beer, 216, 219, 368, 375, 392 Di Pasqualis, basso, 122 Dippel, Andreas, ig8, 206, 296, 308, 328, 344, 360; appointed administrative manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, 360; portrait, 360 Dittersdorf, composer of a "Falstaflf" opera, 247 Doeme, Zoltan, tenor, 282 Dorfler, German utility singer, 159 "Dog of Aubri de Mont- Didier," 50 " Dolores," an opera by Bre- ton, 372, 375 "Domino noir, Le,'' opera by Auber, 42 Donalda, singer at the Man- hattan Opera House in 1906-07, 36s " Don Carlos," opera by Verdi, 30s Donetti's dogs. Si, 52 "Don Giovanni," opera by Mozart, 29, 32, 35, 71, 94, loi, 108, 130, 131, 136, 141, 176, 187, 216, 219, 276, 297, 301, 318, 361, 369. 375, 378 Donizetti {see his operas " Belisario," " Don Pas- quale," " Elisir d'Amore," " Favorita," " Fille du Regi- ment," " Linda di Cha- mouni," " Lucia di Lammer- moor," " Lucrezia Borgia," "Roberto Devereux"), 132, 191, 274 " Donna del Lago, La," opera by Rossini, 22 " Don Pasquale," opera by Donizetti, 62, 269, 319, 361 Douste, Jeanne, singer, 265 " Dragons de Villars, Les," opera by Maillart, 140 Draper, Dr. William H., 282 Drexel, Joseph W., 86 Drog, Libia, 241, 242, 243 Drury Lane Theater, London, 112, 118 Dubois, Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, 243 Duckworth, Kate, English contralto, 82 " Due Foscari, I," opera by Verdi, 162 Duff Opera Company, 253 Dufranne, Hector, French barytone, 373, 393 Dufriche, utility singer at the Metropolitan, 300, 304, 309, 342, 344 Duke of Edinburgh, an ama- teur musician, 200 Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha : his opera " Diana von So- lange," which see Du Locle, Camille, librettist, 304, 30s Dunlap, Robert, 280 Durot, tenor, 270 Dworsky, utility singer, 159 Eames, Emma, 67, 215, 217, 232, 234, 240, 246, 259, 288, 291, 296, 308, 317, 321, 328; portrait, 260 Easter Hymn, Russian, in " Siberia," 403 Eaton, W. P., quoted, 344 Ebers, John, 27, 43 Eckert, Carl, conductor of opera in Vienna, 58 Eckhold, Richard, conductor, 299 Edwards, H. Sutherland, 287 Ehrlich, Prof. Heinrich, 174 Eiserbeck, German singer, 159 " Elaine," opera by Bemberg, first performance and criti- cism, 243 et seq., 276 414 INDEX Elandi, Rita, American so- prano, 298 " EHsa e Claudio," opera by Mercadante, 18, 19 " Elisir d'Amore," opera by Donizetti, 43, 47, 91, 361, 369 Ellis, Charles A., 259, 260, 279, 280, 281, 287 Elmblad, Johannes, German bass, 178, 182, 183, 186 Emma Juch Opera Company, 194 " Entfiihrung aus dem Serail," Mozart's opera, 150 Epstein, Prof. Julius, 96 " Ernani," opera by Verdi, 47, 104, 319. 374, 375 Ernst II, Duke of Saxe- Coburg-Gotha, his opera, "Diana von Solange," 200; his generosity with decora- tions, 201 " Ero e Leandro," opera by Mancinelli, first performance in New York, 288; criticism, 319 " Esclarmonde,'' opera by Massenet, 211 " Esmeralda," opera by A. Goring Thomas, 299 " Euryanthe," opera by Weber, 176, 182; a note on the opera, 183 "Eve," cantata by Massenet, 382 Fabbri, Italian singer, 194, 224 Fabbris, Amanda, American soprano, 190 Falletti, Italian tenor, 90, log " Falstafif," operas by Verdi, Balfe, Adam, Ritter, Ditters- dorf, and Salieri, 247 "Falstafif," opera by Verdi, 137, 19I1 241 ; first perform- ance in New York , 246 ; criticism, 246, 247 et seq., 276, 322 Fanti, Signora, Italian singer, 22, 40 Farneti, Maria, 321, 323 Farrar, Geraldine, 321, 327, 328, 340; portrait, 342 Faure, French barytone, anec- dote, 237, 238 " Fausse Magie," opera by Gretry, 4 " Faust," opera by Gounod, 91, 92, 108, no, 136, 142, 149, IS3, 161, 164, 165, 186, 195, 216, 217, 226, 234, 236, 237, 269, 270, 273, 276, 281, 288, 299. 318, 361, 369, 371, 375 " Faustspielhaus," Mr. Hen- derson's bon mot, 235 " Favorita, La," opera by Donizetti, 141, 269, 276, 361 " Fedora," opera by Giordano, first performance, 337, 342, 362 " Ferdinand Cortez," opera by Spontini, 176, 178; first per- formance in America, 184; realism in the production, Ferenczy, German singer, 178 Ferrier, Paul : See " Elaine " Fessenden, William, American tenor, 163 Fetis, French critic, 42 " Fidelio," opera by Beethoven, 128, 136, 137, 165, 166, 167; its history, 173; productions by Mr. Stanton, 173, 174; a laugh and its consequences, 174, 176, 184, 186, 193, 201, 202, 204, 205, 206, 210, 211, 215, 2i9> 254, 261, 268, 269, 276, 319. 3S8, 361 "Fille du Regiment, La," opera by Donizetti, 319 Finck, Henry T., 282 Fiorentino, Parisian critic, 57 First performances of operas in New York : " Don Gio- vanni," 29; "Mignon," 97; " La Gioconda," 102 ; " II Guarany," 122 ; " Fidelio," 128; "Die Walkure," 132; "Lohengrin," 134; "Die Meistersinger," 139, 153 ; " Taming of the Shrew," 144 ; " Lakme," 144 ; " Mar- riage of Jeannette," 144; INDEX 415 "Lohengrin" (in English), 144; "Manon," 142, 339; " Konigin von Saba," 153, 157; "Nero," 163; "Gala- tea," 165; "Das Goldene Kreutz," 174; "Tristan und Isolde" 167; "Merlin," 174; "Vienna Waltzes" (ballet), 174; "Puppenfee" (ballet), 188; "Tannhauser" (in Eng- lish), 190; Verdi's " Otello," 190; "Der Vassal! von Szigeth," 200 ; " Diana von Solange," 200; "Werther," 240; "Elaine," 243; "Sam- son et Dalila," 246; Verdi's "Falstaff," 246; "AsraeV'198 {see repertory for 1890-91) ; " Cavalleria Rusticana," 220 ; "Siegfried," 178; " Gotter- dammerung," 180 ; " Trom- peter von Sakkingen," 182; "Ferdinand Cortez," 184; "Das Rheingold," 187; "Barbier von Bagdad," 188; "Boabdil," 253; "Philemon et Baucis," 253 ; " The Scar- let Letter," 261; " Mata- swintha," 264 ; " Hansel und Gretel" (in English), 264; " La Navarraise," 270 ; " Les Pecheurs de Perles," 270; " Andrea Chenier," 270 ; "Le Cid," 275; "La Bo- heme," 285; " Ero e Lean- dro," 288; "Esmeralda," 299; "A Basso Porto," 299 ; " Tosca," 300 ; " Sa- lammbo," 304 ; " Messaline," 309; "Manru," 313; "Za- netto," 321; "Parsifal," 332; " Salome," 343 ; " Manon Lescaut" (by Puccini), 337, 338; "Madama Butterfly," 340; "Fedora," 342; "Ad- riana Lecouvreur," 357 ; " Thais," 381 ; " Louise," 38s ; " Pelleas et Melisande," 393; "Siberia," 400 Fischer, Emil, German basso, 146; career, 152; breaks con- tract with Dresden Court Opera, 1S2; benefit for. 152, 154, IS7. IS9, 167, 174, 178, 180, 183. 186, 206, 207, 238, 254, 25s, 258, 261, 281; portrait, 160. Fischof, Joseph, Vienna profes- sor, 57 Flaubert : See " Salammbo " " Fledermaus," operetta by Johann Strauss, 334, 335. 360, 361, 379 "Fliegende Hollander, Der," opera by Wagner, 136, 143, 164, 176, 187, 188, 202, 206, 215; (in Italian) 224, 281, 319, 362 Flon, conductor at the Metro- politan, 307 Florentine inventors of the opera and their principles, 396 Flotow : See " Martha " and "Stradella" " Flying Dutchman, The," (see " Fliegende H o 1 - lander") Fohstrom, Alma, 140, 141 Foli, American basso, 67 Fornasari, basso, 18 "Forza del Destino, La," opera by Verdi. 249 Foscani (Mr. Fox), 142 Fossetta, Nicolo, 373, 399 Foster, Morgan and CoUes, build the Astor Place Opera House, 45 " Fra Diavolo," opera by Auber, 108, 368, 369 France, Anatole, 381 Francesconi, Luigi, Italian basso, 285 Franchetti : See " Asrael," his symphony in E minor, 199 Franciss Dr. John W., 34 Francisca, Fanny, 373 Frazier, Charles, 280 " Freischiitz," opera by Weber, 129, 136, 137. 139, 176, 261, 398 Fremstad, Olive, 328, 344; portrait, 326 Friedrichs, Fritz, 297 Froelich, Bianca, dancer, 353 Fry, E. R., 48 4i6 INDEX Fry, W. H., critic of the Tri- bune newspaper and com- poser, 48 ; his opera " Leo- nora," 48, 66; Horace Gree- ley writes about him to Dana, 48, 49, 66 Fuchs, Anton, stage-manager, 329, 332, 360 Fumagalli, Antonio, basso, 28s Fursch-Madi, Emmy, dramatic soprano, 90, 100, 102, 122, 193 Gadski, Johanna, German dra- matic soprano, 255, 257, 261, 281, 308, 318; portrait, 258 Galassi, Antonio, barytone, 90, 160, 190 " Galatea " : See Masse Galetti-Gianoli, buffo bass> 373 Gallet, Louis, 381, 382 Galli-Mariee, French singer, 237> 239 Garcia, Manuel del Popolo Vicente, 2, 3; reputed to have been of Hebrew ex- traction, 7; repertory of his first opera season in New York, 13; his opera " L' Amante astuto," 13 ; "La Figlia del Aria, 13, l6. 2S et seg.; robbed in Vera Cruz, 28; portrait, 26 Garcia, Manuel (son), 3, 26 Garden, Mary, 373; debut of, 381, 383, 38s, 387, 393; por- trait, 382 Garden Theater in New York, 340 Gatti-Casazza, Giulio, appoint- ed general manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, 360 Gaudagnini, barytone, 100 Gaul, F. : See " Puppenfee " Gautier, Theophile, " One of Cleopatra's Nights," 310 Gay, John : See his " Beggar's Opera " Gaylordj Julia, American singer, 67 " Gazza ladra. La,'' opera by Rossini, 21, 91 Gazzaniga, his opera on the Don Juan subject, 32 Gerhauser, Emil, 318 Germania Theater in New York, 89 German opera, at the Thalia Theater, 139; agitation in its favor, 252 et seq.; rivalry between Seidl and Damrosch for its production, 254 et seq.; restored by Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau at the Metropolitan Opera House. 258 (see Dr. Leopold Damrosch, Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, Walter Dam- rosch, etc.) ; principles of, 268 German Press Club of New York, 254 Gerold, Herman, basso, 222 Gerster, Etelka, 79, 89, 90, 109, 122 Gerville-Reache, contralto at the Manhattan Opera House, 373. 381, 393 Ghislanzoni, librettist o f "Aida," 249 Giaccone, singer, 309 Giaconia, Giuseppina, 380, 381, 38s. 399 Giacosa, 340 Giannini, Italian tenor, 122, 141, 142, 162 Giannini, tenor, younger brother of the above, 215 Gianoli-Galetti, buffo basso at the Manhattan Opera House, 381, 399 Gilbert, Miss, utility singer, 145 Gilbert and Sullivan, 340 Gilder, Richard Watson, 282 Gilibert, Charles, French bary- tone, 299, 300, 304, 308, 36s, 371. 373, 380, 384. 387. 403 Gille, librettist, 339 "Gioconda, La," opera by Ponchielli, 91 ; first perform- ances in London and New INDEX 417 York, 102; criticism of the opera, 103, 106, 108, 361, ^374> 375 Giordano, composer {see " Andrea Chenier," " Si- beria," "Mala Vita"), 223, 270, 271, 358 Giordano, barytone, 271 Girerd, 357 " Giuramento, II," opera by Mercadante, 47 " Glockchen des Eremiten '' : See " Les Dragons de Vil- lars " Gluck : his operas, " Orfeo " (and " Orpheus,'' " Ar- mida " and " Iphigenia in Aulis"), 114, i8s, 30s, 378, 396 Goelet, Robert, 86, 346 Goepel, Paul, 282 Goerlitz, Ernest, 229, 280 Goethe, driven from Weimar by a dog-show, 50; "Wil- helm Meister," 98, 240 " Gotterdammerung," drama by Richard Wagner, 150, 168, 176, 177, 178; first American performance, 180; observations on, 181 et seq., 186, 187, 206, 209, 254, 258, 281, 319, 361 Goetz, Hermann : See " Tam- ing of the Shrew" Goff, Winifred, American singer, 298, 340 Golden, Grace, American singer, 221, 298 " Goldene Kreutz, Das," opera by Ignaz Briill, 165, 166, 176 Goldmark, Carl : See " Konigin von Saba" and "Merlin" Gomez : his opera " II Gau- rany," 122 Goritz, Otto, barytone, 328, 332 Gounod (see "Faust," "Phi- lemon et Baucis," "Romeo et Juliette," " Mireille," and "Reine de Saba"), 274, 390 Grace Church, Malibran a chorister, 8, 9, 10 Grand Opera House, New York, 253, 278 Grand Opera, Paris, 217, 237 Grau, Jacob, 278 Grau, Maurice, 58, 214; be- comes managing director of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau (Ltd.), 229, 236, 272, 277; his managerial career, 278, 295, 297, 326, 327, 328, 334. 359. 360, 36s, 372; physical collapse, 317, 372; his ad- ministration of the Metro- politans Chapters XIX anil XX ; characteristics, 295 ; death, 277 (see Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau) ; por- trait, 290 Greco, Signor, 162 Gretry: his operas, "Zemire et Azor," " Fausse Magie," " Richard Coeur de Lion," 4 Grienauer, Alois, German tenor, 187 Grisi, 40, 60, 79, 125, 247; por- trait, 70 Griswold, Gertrude, American singer, 160 Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musicians" quoted, 4, 31 Griining, Wilhelm, German tenor, 261 "Guarany, II," opera by Gomez, 122 Gudehus, Heinrich, German tenor, 198 " Guillaume Tell " : See " Wil- liam Tell " Guille, French tenor, 160, 224 "Guntram," opera by Richard Strauss, 352 "Gustav III; ou Le Bal Masque " (The Masked Ball), opera by Auber, 12 Gutjar, Fraulein, German singer at the Metropolitan, 132 Gye, Ernest, 102; negotiations for Metropolitan Opera House, III, 112, 124 Gye, Frederick, manager of Covent Garden, London, 58 4i8 INDEX Gipsies, their music and love for roaming, 315 Habelmann, Theodore, 206 Hackett, James H., manager and actor, 50, 68 " Hail Columbia," 6 Hale, Philip, opinion of Cam- panini, 82 Halevy: See "La Juive" and " Manon Lescaut " Hall, Chas. H., 21 Hallam, Henry, 5 Hallam, Lewis, 5 Hamburg Municipal Theater, 260 Hamilton, William, 163 " Hamlet," opera by Maretzek, 56; opera by Ambroise Thomas, 94, io6, 108, 216, 237, 247, 276 Hamlin, Harry, 298 Hammerstein, Oscar, vi; 15, 35, 102, 194, 220, 221, 329; builds first Manhattan Opera House, 253; builds second Manhattan Opera House, 363; two seasons of opera, 363 et seq.; portrait, 364 Handel, 5, 23, 44, 363 "Hans Heiling," Marschner's opera, 136, 137 " Hansel und Gretel," opera by Humperdinck, 264, 336} 361 Harden, Mr., a singer in "Parsifal," 332 Haricleej Darclee, Mme., 270 Harlem Opera House, 15 ; English opera season, 194 Harris, Sir Augustus, 265 Hassard, J. R. G., once critic of the Tribune, 49 Hasselbrink, 282 Hassreiten J., ballet " Pup- penfee," 88 Hastreiter, Helen, 67 Hauk, Minnie, 67, 79, 140, 141, 142. 156, 198, 20s, 339 Haven, George Griswold, 282, 346 Hawthorne, " The Scarlet Let- ter," 261 Hearn, Lafcadio, 388 Heinrich, Herr, 174 Heinrich Conried Opera Company, 326 " H. E. K," critic of the Tri- bune, 49 " Helene," Saint-Saens's op- era, 372, 375 Henderson W. J., musical critic, 235 "Henri VIH," Saint-Saens's opera, 247 Hensler, Eliza, American singer and morganatic wife of the King of Portugal, 67 Herbert-Foerster, Mme., 189, 194 Herbert, V., 189, 282, 372, 376 Her Majesty's Theater, Lon- don, 124 "Herodias," Massenet's, 382 Hertz, Alfred, conductor, 318, 332, 343; portrait, 322 Heugel, French publisher, 122 Hill, Carl, 146 Hill, Lucille, 241 Hinckley, Allen, American singer, 68 Hinrichs, Gustav, conductor, 163 Hock, Herr, German stage- manager, 133 Hoffmann, E. T. A., 377 et seq. Homer, Louise, 296, 299, 308, 313, 328, 332, 340; portrait, 298 Hone, Philip, on Italian opera, 21, 23, 24 Hopkinson, Jos., author of "Hail Columbia," 6 Hoppe, German singer, 159 Howe, Mrs. Julia Ward, her recollection of the Garcia troupe, 2; sees Da Ponte, 2 Hugo, Victor, his influence on opera, 104; "Angelo, Ty- rane de Padoue," 222 " Huguenots, Les," 80, 91, 106, 108, 129, 131, 136, 137, 142, 164, 165, 176, 186, 189, 194, 195, 202, 206, 216, 269, 270, 276, 281, 288, 318, 323, 361, 369 INDEX 419 Huguet, Giuseppina> 270 Huhn, Charlotte, 188 Humperdinck, Engelbert: See "Hansel und Gretel," 264, 265; his American visit, 336 Hungarian music> 316 Hyde, E. Francis, 282 "lago": See Verdi's "Otello" Ibsen, 310 Illica, librettist, 322, 340, 34i» 400 Illumination of theaters, 4, S " Impressions d'ltalie," Char- pentier's, 391 IngersoU, Robert G., 282 " Inkle and Yarico," 6 "lone," 162 "Iphigenia in Aulis," 185 "Iris," Mascagni's, 330; a criticism, 321 et seq., 341, 358, 362, 400 Irving Place Theater, 326 Iselin, Adrian, 86 " Italiana in Algieri, U," Ros- sini's opera, 19, 43 Italian opera, first season of, 16; state of. in 1884, 112 et seq.; state of, in 1885, 124 Italian Opera House, first in New York, i, 10, 14, 17, ig, 24; picture, 10 Ivanoff, 247 Jackson, Jno. P., 163 Jacoby, Josephine, 328, 342, 344, 357 Jagemann, Fraulem (Frau von Heygendorf), 51; Mis- tress of Grand Duke of Weimar, drives Goethe from Weimar Theater, 51 Jahn, Marie, 206 Janouschowsky, 221 Japanese color in opera, 321, 333. 340, 341, 400 Johannsen, Mme., dramatic singer, 128 John St. Theater, 4. S, 6 Jomelli, Jeanne, 373, 380 Jones, Generals 21 Jones, James J., 21 "Jongleur de Notre Dame," Massenet's opera, 372, 375 Josephthal, 282 Joseffy, Rafael, 194, 282 Journet, Marcel, 296, 300, 304, 308, 309, 328, 332, 344, 357 Juch, Emma, 163 Judeis, utility at Metropolitan, 309 Juillard, A. D., 346 "Juive, La," 132, 136, 138, 142, 162, 176, 186, 187 Juvenal, against marriage, 311 Kahn, Otto H., 346 Kaiser, Emil: See "Trom- peter von Sakkingen" Kalisch, Paul, 188, 215, 219 " Kampf um Rom, Ein," ro- mance by Dahn, 264 Kansas City, opera in, 299 Kaschmann, barytone, 90, 96, 266 Kaschowska, 187 Kastner, Georges, " Cris de Paris," "Voix de Paris," 391 Kaufmann, German singef, 160 Keats, lines on Leander, 290 Kellogg, Clara Louise, 54, 67, 79 Kelly, Michael, on Da Ponte, 30 Kemlitz, Frau, 132 Kemlitz, Otto, I20j 127, 159, 167, 174, 182 Kerker, Gustav, 221 Key, James Barton, givesr Italian opera, 121, 141 King's Theater, London, 27, 247 Kirby-Lunn, Mme., 329 Klauss, Herr, German utility singer, 159 Knickerbocker Theater, 229 Knoedler, 280 Koegler, Josef, 120, 127, 130 Koelling, Helen, 373, 385 "Konigin von Saba" (Queen of Sheba), 151, 153; first 420 INDEX performance, 157; a criti- cism, 157, i6s, 174, 176, 187; in English, 190, 361, 376 Koppmeyer, German singer, 145 Koster and Bial, 253 Kountze, Luther, 86 Kramer, German singer, 159 Kramer- Wiedl, Frau, dramatic soprano, 157 Krauss, Auguste: See Seidl- Krauss Krauss, Ernst, tenor, 264, 328 Krehbiel, H. E., 282 Kreissleriana, 378 Kutscherra, 255 Lablache, Luigi, 51, 61 Lablache, Mme., 90, 1415 142 Lablache, Mile., 93 Lacombe, Judge, 331 Lagrange, Mme., 49, 79 Lais, 381 "Lakme," 122, 143, 164, 19s, 216, 218, 337, 362 L'AUemande, Pauline, 67, 163 Lalloni, singer, 162 Lalo : See " Le Roy d'Ys " Landino, Bernardino, 321 Lange, Paul, 255, 344 Langer, Herr, German singer, 159 Lanier, Chas., 346 Lassalle, Jean, 215, 217, 219, 224, 230, 23s, 237, 27s; por- trait, 218 "Last Days of Knickerbocker Life in N. Y.," 16 Lautenschlager, 329, 332, 360 Lauterbach, Edw., 280 Lathrop, Francis, 87 Lathrop, George Parsons, 261 Leesugg, Catherine, an Eng- lish singer, 50 Leffler-Burkhardt, 329, 359 Legouve, 357 iehmann, Lilli, engaged _ for America, 146; her previous career, 147; sings Isolde at Covent Garden, 147; breaks a contract with the Court Opera at Berlin, 148 et seq.; engaged by Stein- way and Sons, 148 ; pays a fine to the Berlin Intendant, 148, 149; interest in Wag- ner's art, 149; self-sacrific- ing zeal, 150; anecdotes, 150; her debut (see Car- men" 153), IS4, IS5; in "Die Walkiire," 156, 157, 167, 172, 174, 176, 178, 180, 183 ; benefit performance, 187, 194, 198, 215, 219; her broken contract, 260, 261, 264, 27s, 288, 364; portrait, 156 Lehmler, German basso, 159 Leland, Charles G., on the gipsy propensity for roam- ing, 31S Lenox Lyceum, New York, 221 Leoncavallo, 103, 248; see " Pagliacci " " Leonora," opera by W. H. Fry, 48 Levey, Edgar J., 282 Lillian Russell Opera Com- pany, 229 Liederkranz, New York, at funeral of Seidl, 282 Lincoln, Neb., opera in, 299 " Linda di Chamouni," opera by Donizetti, 47, 91, 108, 269 Lind, Homer, American singer, 298 Lind, Jenny, 40, 68 Litta, Marie, American singer, 67 . . Litvinne, Felia (also Litvi- nofl), 141, 272, 27s Locke, Charles E., 163 Locke, Matthew, music to "Macbeth," 6 Logheder, conductor, 162 " Lohengrin," opera by Wag- ner, 88, 99, 108, 127, 130, 132, 136, 137, 143. 144. 153, 166, 176, 183, 186, 187, 190, 192, 198, 202, 206, 216, 244, 252, 2SS, 2S7, 258, 261, 264, 268, 269, 270, 276, 281, 287, 297. 308, 318, 361, 375 INDEX 421 Lohse, Otto, German con- ductor, 260 " Lombardi, I," opera by Verdi, 162 Lombardi, basso, go, 109 Long, John Luther, 340 Lorini, singer, 54, 55, 57 Los Angeles, opera in, 299 " Louise," Charpentier's opera, 372. 374. 375 ; first perform- ance, 38s, 400, 403 Louis XIV, 392 " Love in a Village," opera by Dr. Arne, 6, 9 Lucas, Geo., 329, 357 Lucca, Pauline, 79 " Lucia di Lammermoor," 42, 47. 72, 94, 96, 108, 124, 141, 161, 193, 224, 234, 269, 276, 319. 361, 369, 371. 375, 392 "Lucrezia Borgia," 47, 108, 361 Ludwig, Josephine, 298 Ludwig, Wm., 163 "Luisa Miller," 162 Lully, 386 Lund, John, 120, 136, 139 " Lustigen Weiber von Wind- sor " : See " Merry Wives of Windsor " Lyceum Theater, N. Y., 278, 287 Lynch, D., 21, 26 "Macbeth," Locke's music, 6 "Macbeth," Verdi's, 246 McCuUough, Isabella, Ameri- can singer, f^T, 83 MacDowell, E. A., 282 McGuckin, Barton, 190 Macintyre, Margaret, 229 Mackay, John W., Sr., 280 Mackenzie, A. C., " Colum- bia," 114 McNally : his opera " Robin Hood," 6 Macneven, Dr., 34 McVicker, Horace, gives Ital- ian opera, 121, 141 "Madama Butterfly," 185, 337, 338; criticism, 340, 362, 400 Madier, French chef d'orches- tre, 100 Madison Square Garden, 279 Mannergesangverein, Arion, 116 "Maestri Cantori, I": See " Meistersinger " Maeterlinck Maurice, " Pel- leas et Melisande," 394, 395 "Magic Flute" ("II Flauto Magico" and "Die Zauber- flote "), 136, 143, 319, 354, 361 Magini-Coletti, barytone, 215 Magyar music, 316 Mahler, Gustav, 359; portrait, 362 "Maid of the Mill," Bicker- staff's opera, 6 Maillart : his opera " Les Dragons de Villars," 140 "Mala Vita," opera by Gior- dano, 223 Malibran, Maria Felicita, 3; sings in Grace Church, 3, 7, 9, 17, 18, 26, 28, 40, 68; portrait, 28 Malony, Thomas, 245 Managers who were musicians, 78 Mancinelli, Luigi, 241, 242,, 246, 266, 275 ; production o£ his opera " Ero e Leandro," 288, 292, 293, 300, 304; por- trait, 290 Manhattan Opera House- (first), 253, 364 Manhattan Opera House- (second), built by Hammer- stein, 363; first season, 36s et seq.; second season, 363, et seq., 372 et seq.; picti&e,. 272 -nQ "Manon," Massenet's^ fcpsra, first performance iiiioAii6£r- ica, 142, 240, 24§; 2^pQ^6, 286, 338, 339, ,s^6f.'J38airioo " Manon Lesoatiy ; dfA'ultet's opera, 338.00 .i-t'j^n'ra suo " Manon .^■Lasta"at/'i > / liBaifb's. opera, fggiS ikl ■' ,£-i3qo airl " Manon L^scaut," ,\Biitc!i4i's opeiFa,"322,; s37,5362tss80-.M " " Manru,!' PadtrcwskiSsibpefa, --1308, 3-I3,"3!l9.'-'l"-':T ,L'-;ni;lA Mantelli, 246*1366,-26811 j,ij-j 422 INDEX " Manzoni Requiem," Verdi's, 134, 369 Mapleson, Chas., 134, 140 Mapleson, Helen, 309 Mapleson, Jas. H., 14, 58; plays the courtier at a Patti reception, 73, 74, 75 ; his per- suasiveness, 75, Tj; borrows cash from an irate creditor, 76; his musical education, 78; rivalry between him and Abbey, 88, 109 et seq,.; his company 1883-84, 109; prep- aration for 1884-85, 112, 121; failure of the season, 122; spring season 1885, 123 ; sues Nevada and Nicolini, 123; eighth season at Academy, 139, 140, 161 ; his repertories, 269; his last appearance, 270; attempts to deceive newspaper reporter, 271, 366; portrait, 54 Marchesan, Prof., biographer of Da Ponte, 2; his "Delia Vita e delle Opere di Lorenzo da Ponte," 31 Marchesi, Mme. Mathilde, 29 Marches!, Salvatore, trans- lator of " Lohengrin," 100 Marconi, tenor, 190 Marechal, Henri, teacher of Bemberg, 243 Maretzek, Max, 11, 22, 45, 47, 49; becomes manager of Astor Place Opera House, 51; death of, 53; benefit concert, 53; anecdotes, 53- 56 ; his book " Crotchets and Quavers," 55, 56; "Flats and Sharps," 57; sketch of, 56; employed by Balfe, 56; comes to New York, 56; composes an opera, " Ham- let," 56; his opinion of vari- ous singers, 60, 61 ; gets a kiss from Patti, 74, 125, 193; his opera, " La Spia," 263 ; portrait, 54 "Mariage de Figaro," drama by Beaumarchais, 32 Mariee, Paolo, French oper- etta singer, 279 " Marie Magdalene," Mas- senet's cantata, 382 Marilly, Miss, singer, 308, 309 Marimon, singer at the Acad- emy of Music, 80 Marini, Italian singer, 60, 61 Mario, Giuseppe, 40, 41, 42, 62, 63, 68; his American visit in 1872, 69; last days and death, 6g, 79; portrait, 68 "Maritana," opera by Wal- lace, 142 Marny, Elsa, singer, 298 Maroncelli, Italian patriot, 34 Marquand, Henry G., 86 " Marriage of Jeannette " (" Les Noces de Jean- nette") opera by Masse, 144, 164 Marschner : See " Templer und Jiidin" Martapoura, barytone, 215, 233, 240 "Martha," opera by Flotow, 72, 91, 106, 108, 124, 160, 161, 164, 189, 216, 219, 267, 273, 276, 299, 319. 361, 369 Martin, Riccardo, 329 Marty y Torrens, Francesco, manager from Havana, 45; brings company from Ha- vana 49, 58 " Masanieilo," opera by Au- ber : See " Muette de Portici, La " Mascagni, Pietro {see " Iris," " Cavalleria Rusticana," "Amico Fritz," " Ratclifl," "Zanetto"), 103, 248; his visit to the United States, 320 et seq. "Masked Ball," opera by Auber {see " Gustav HI") Masse, Victor {see "Marriage of Jeannette " and " Gala- tea"), 164 Massenet {see "Le Cid," " Esclarmonde,'' " Navar- raise," " Manon," " Jongleur de Notre Dame," "Thais," "Werther," "Eve"), 243, 244, 390 INDEX 423 *' Mataswintha," opera by X. Scharwenka, 264 Materna, Amalia, a member of the Metropolitan Com- pany, 117; association with Bayreuth, 117; visits to America, 117; creates Kun- dry in "Parsifal," 117; career, 118; her operatic debut in New York, 131, 132 ; in " Die Walkure," 133, 144, 14s. 214, 238, 254 ■" Matilda di Shabran," opera by Rossini, 22 ■" Matrimonio segreto, II," opera by Cimarosa, 22 Mattei, Tito, recitatives for " Maritana," 142 Mattfeld, Marie, 281, 328, 342, 344, 357 Maurand, 21 Maurel, Victor, 80, 241, 246, 257, 266 Maurice Grau Opera Company, 231, 280, 326 {see Abbey, Schoeflel and Grau) Maynard, Francis, painter, 87 Mees, Arthur, conductor, 163 ■" Mefistofele," opera by Boito, loi, 108, 249, 269, 276, 289, 299. 319, 330, 361, 376 Meilhac, French librettist, 339 Meisslinger, Louise, 178, 180, 182, 186, 265, 288, 298 •" Meistersinger von Niirn- berg. Die," opera by Wag- ner, 137, 146, 152, IS3. IS9, 166, 176, 186, 187, 205, 206, 210, 215; in Italian, 216, 219, 250, 252, 258, 261, 276, 281, 297, 319. 361, 390 IMelba, Nellie, 232; debut and career, 234 ; an estimate, 235, 236, 241, 243, 259, 260, 266, 269, 270, 272; injures her voice in " Siegfried" 273 ; 274, 280, 281, 287, 328, 365, 371, 373; portrait, 238 Mendelssohn, " Rondo capric- cioso," 284 Mercadante : See " Eliso e Claudio " and " II Giura- mente " Mercantile Library, 15 Merimee, Prosper : See " Car- men " "Merlin," opera by Gold- mark, 166, 176 Mertens, William, 261, 298 Messalina, Roman Empress, 310, 311. 381 " Messaline," opera by De Lara, 307; first perform- ance, 309, 319 "Merry Wives of Windsor, The," opera by Nicolai, 136, 137, 140, 143, 211, 247, 319 Mestress, contralto, 122, 162 Metropolitan English Grand Opera Company, 298 Metropolitan Opera House, v, vi, 16, 19, 47 ; its genesis, 85 ; built, 86; description, 86 et . seq.; cost of, 86; the orches- tra pit, 88; first season of opera, 88 et seq.; rivalry with the Academy of Music, 88 et seq., 107; Abbey re- tires, 91; his losses, 91, 107; the first performance of " Faust," 92 et seq.; merits of the first season, 107; repertory of season 1883-84, 108, 109, no; benefit ten- dered to Mr. Abbey, in ; ne- gotiations with Gye and Ab- bey, III, IIS; German opera proposed by Dr. Damrosch, IIS; the first German com- pany, 117 et seq. ; the first Ger- man season, 121 et seq.; trou- bles over the succession to Dr. Damrosch, 144; second Ger- man season, 146 et seq.; 152 et seq.; financial statement, 153; season 1886-87, 160; Patti "Farewells" in 1887, 160; English opera by the National Opera Company, 163; German season 1886-87, i6s ; repertory and financial showing, 165, 166; the pe- riod 1887-90, 175 et seq.; stockholders weary of Ger- man opera, 177; season 1887- 88, 177 et seq.; repertory 424 INDEX 1888-89, 186; financial state- ment, 186; season 1889-90, 187 et seq.; Wagner's dramas performed in chron- ological order, 187; change in orchestra pit, 188; season of Italian opera, 1890, 194, 19s; last season of German opera, 1890-91, 197 et seq.; leased to Abbey and Grau for 1890-92, 197, 203; mone- tary success of the Wag- nerian list, 198; popular pro- test against abolition of Ger- man opera, 204; genesis of the anti-German feeling, 205 ; last performance of the German season, 206 et seq.; stockholders vote to con- tinue German opera, 208; objections to a darkened auditorium, 209, 210; ill-bred box-holders rebuked, 210; Wagnerian statistics, 212 ; return of Italian opera, 213; season 1891-92, 213 et seq.; unpaid assessments, 213 ; in- jured by fire, 225; no opera for a year, 226, 228; reor- ganization of the owning company, 228; a new lease to Abbey and Grau, 228; fi- nancial results from 1893 to 1896, 229; statistics of the season 1893-94, 231 ; season 1894-95, 240 et seq.; demon- stration for German opera, 240; German opera under Walter Damrosch, 252 et seq., 258, 265; refused to Walter Damrosch for 1896, 259; Damrosch season of 1897, 263 et seq.; regular season 1895-96, 265 et seq.; season 1896-97, 272 et seq.; Grau's administration, 277 et seq.; an interregnum, 279; owners subscribe to Maurice Grau Company, 280; season 1897-98, 280 et seq.; funeral of Anton SeidI, 282 ; Metropolitan English opera seasofi, 298; Mascagni's visit, 320 et seq.'; leased to Heinrich Conried, 326; season 1903-04, 329 et seq.; collapse of bridge in "Carmen," 335; "Salome" prohibited, 34s ; season 1906- 07, 357 et seq., 365, 366, 367; Gatti-Casazza and Dippel appointed managers, 360 (see Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, etc.) ; picture, 336 Meyerbeer (see " Africaine," " Dinorah," " Robert le Diable," "Huguenots," "Prophete"), 41, 103, 131, 159. 199. 201 Meysenheim, Mme., 270 Mielke, Antonia, ig8 Migliara, Italian singer, 160, 162, 194 " Mignon," opera by Ambroise Thomas, 97; its denouement allemand, 99, 108, 216, 219, 276, 299, 319, 362, 368, 369 "Mikado," operetta by Gil- bert and Sullivan, 299, 340 Milan Grand Opera Com- pany, 122, 141 Milan Royal Opera Company, 285 Miller, Josef, 120, 127 Mills, D. O., 346 Milwaukee, Sangerfest at, 14& Minneapolis, opera in, 299 Mirate, singer at the Acad- emy, 79 " Mireille," opera by Gounod, 90 " Missa Solennis," Beetho- ven's, 81 Mittelhauser, German singer, 187 Mittenthal Brothers, 320 Mixed languages in opera, 232 " Moise," opera by Rossini, 42 Monsigny, his "Deserteur," 4 Montanari, 285 Montariol, 215 Montressor, tenor and man- ager, 17, 18, 19, 30, 35 Moore, Chauncey, American, singer, 298 Moore, Prof. Clement C, 34 INDEX 425 Moore, Laura, American singer, 163 Moore, William, 21 Moran, Miss, sings in " Par- sifal," 332 Morand, Eugene, librettist of " Messaline," 310 Moran-Olden, Fanny, 187 Morena, Berta, 329, 359; por- trait, 356 Morensi, Mile., wife of Brig- noli, 82 Morgan, John Pierpont, 346 Morichina, Mauricia, 373, 385 Morrison, Lauterbach and Spitgarn, 278 Morse, Fraulein, 132 Morton, Levi P., 86 Mosenthal : See " Konigin von Saba" Moszkowski : his opera " Bo- abdil," 253, 364 Mottl, Felix, 327, 329, 360 Mounet-Sully, French actor, 229 Moulton, J. F., 21 Mount-Edgecumbe, Lord, on Malibran's debut, 27 Mozart (see "Don Giovanni," "Magic Flute," " Nozze di Figaro," " Cosi fan Tutte," " Entfiihrung aus dem Se- rail"), 2, i8s, 247, 287, 301, 30s, 317, 378 Miihlmann, Adolf, 288, 296, 308, 313, 3^, 332, 342, 344 Murgef,-286,-388 "Muette de Portici, La," opera by Auber, a historical note, 131, 132, 136, 138, 166, 176 Mugnoz, Luigi, 373, 381, 38s. 399 Musical Mutual Protective Union of New York, 325 " Musical Reminiscences " by Mount-Edgecumbe, 27 Musin, Ovide, 148 " Nachtlager von Granada," opera by Conradin Kreutzer, 136, 398 Nassau Street Theater, 4 National Opera Company, 162, 189 National Theater in New York, 15 Naval, Fran, 328 " Navarraise, La," opera by Massenet, 269, 276, 369, 371, 375 Navarrini, Francesco, basso, 321, 329, 342, 3S7 Nero, Roman Emperor, as an operatic character, 164; hires himself to manager, 164 "Nero," opera by Rubinstein, first production in America, 163 ; an estimate, 164, 190 Nessler, Victor, composer and conductor, 147 (see " Trompeter von Sakkin- gen") Neuendorff, Adolph, 128, 132, 134; gave first performance of "Lohengrin," 134, 193, 221 Neumann, Angelo, his Richard Wagner Theater, 147 Nevada, Emma, 67, 79, 122, 123; sued by Mapleson, 123, 140 New Imperial Opera Com- pany, 270 New Orleans, opera in, 100, 123 New York Theater (new)^ 335 New York Theater (old), 9, 10 Niblo's Garden, 10, 11, 64, 65, 263 Niblo, William, builds Niblo's Garden, 11, 50; puts dog- show in Astor Place Opera House, 52 Nicolai {see " Merry Wives of Windsor"), 250 Nicolini, tenor, husband of Patti, 73, 90, 109, 122 Nicolini, minor singer, 246 Niemann, Albert, 166, 167, 168; an estimate of his art,, 168 et seq.; studies " Gotter- dammerung," 168; his per- 426 INDEX formance of the mature Siegfried, _ 169 ; anecdotes, 169, 170 ; his performance as Siegmund, 170 ; farewell* 172, 178, 180, 185, 238; por- trait, 168 Nietszche, 352 .Nikisch, Arthur, conductor, 147 J^ilsson, Qiristine, 79, 81, 88, 89; her association with Gounod's " Faust," 92 ; re- ceives a gift at opening of Metropolitan, 93, 95; in the opera " Mignon," 97 et seq., 100, loi; in " Mefistofele," loi, 102, 107; championed by the directors of Metropoli- tan Opera House, iii, 112, 122, 138, 140, 144, 160; por- trait, 90 *" Nina," Dalayrac's opera, 4 Nordica, Lillian, 67; debut in New York, no, 194, 215, 230, 264, 266, 267, 270, 272, 281, 288, 296, 328, 371, 373, 376; portrait, 268 ■" Norma," Bellini's opera, 91, 149. ISO, 176, 194. 216 North American Sangerbund, 148 ""No Song, no Supper," 6 Nossig, 314, 315 Novara, basso, 90, 93, 102, 160, 194. 224 " Nozze di Figaro," opera by Mozart, 2, 7, 29, 108, 249, 273, 276, 318, 361 "" Oberon,'' opera by Weber, 91 Offenbach {see " Contes d'Hoffmann"), 279 " Old Hundredth, The," intro- duced in opera, 263 Olivieri, tenor, 270 Opera Comique, Paris, 99, 100, 243 Opera Houses in New York: See Theaters and Opera Houses "Opera Managers, misfortunes of, 19; why do men become managers? 19 Operatic toilets in 1847, 46 Oratorio Society of New York, organized by Damrosch, 117, 134, 262 " Orestes," 223 "Orfeo" (Orpheus), Gluck's opera, 216, 270, 276 "Orpheus" ("Orfeo"), 143, 216, 276 " Otello," Rossini's opera, 246 "Otello," Verdi's opera, 108, 137, 177; first performance, 190; a criticism, 192, 194, 19s, 216, 248, 276, 319. 398, 399 Pacini, his ppera " Gli Arabi nelli Gallie," 22 Packard, Frederick C., Ameri- can singer, 67 Paderewski, I. J. {see "Manru"), 313, 3I4. 3IS. 316, 317 Pagliacci, Leoncavallo's opera, 223, 276, 299, 319, 361, 369, 375 Paisiello : his opera " Bar- biere," 4, 25 Palmo, Ferdinand {see Pal- mo's Opera House), his " Cafe des Milles Colonnes," 38; his ruin, 43, 44 Palmo' s Opera House, 38 et seq.; picture, 40 Panon, Mr., 21 Papavoine, " Le vieux Co- quet," 247 Pappenheim, Eugenia, 91, 109 Parepa, Mme., 79 Park Theater, i, 6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 25 ; picture, 8 Parodi, singer, 54, SS Paroli, sings in " Fedora," 342, 344 Parsi, Mme., 270 " Parsifal," Wagner's drama, 118, 188, 205, 248, 320, 329, 330 et seq.; in English, 33S, 343, 360, 361 Pasta, Giuditta, 27, 78 Patti, Adelina, 44; last visit to America, 70; her debut, 71 ; an anniversary celebra- INDEX 427 ■tion, 72; a kiss for Maret- zek, 74; describes Maple- son's persuasive manner, 75; becomes a creditor of ier manager, "JT, becomes a .sister-in-law of Maurice Strakosch, 78, 79, 88; goes to Europe, 89; revisits America for the first time, •89; failure of a concert tour and organization of an opera company, 89; a story ■of two fees, 90; a tour de force in " Dinorah," 97, loi, 107, 109, 1 10, 122; twenty- fifth anniversary, 124; an appreciation, 125 ; operatic concerts of 1886, 160; her " farewells," 160, 196, 214 ; operatic concerts, 224, 235, 366; portrait, 126 Tatti, Amalia, 78 Jatti, Carlotta, 44, 69 Patti, Salvatore, 44, 47, 49 Pattini, singer, 109 Paull, Wm., 298 ■"Pecheurs de Perles," Bizet's opera, 269, 276 Tedrotti, Signorina, a singer, 17, 18, 40 Peladan, Sir, 322 ■"Pelleas et Melisande," De- bussy's opera, 372, 374, 375; first performance at the Manhattan, 393; criti- cism, 393 et seq., 403 Pemberton-Hincks, Mrs., in " Cavalleria Rusticana," 221 Pergolesi : See " Serva Pa- drone " Perier, Jean, 373, 393 Peri, composer, 301 Peri, Maria, soprano, 122 _ Perkins, Jules, American basso, 67 Perotti, Julius, 194 Persiani, 247 Perugini, G. (John Chatter- ton), American tenor, 67, 90, 109, 194 Petrella: his opera "lone," 162 Pettigianni, Signora, 194 Pevny, Olga, singer, 288 Pfeil (Fyle, File, Files), puta- tive composer of " The President's March," 6 "Phedre," Racine's, 3S8 Philadelphia, opera in, 4, 108; concerts and festivals in, 118, 234; opera in, 258, 259, 360, 374 / "Philemon et Baucis," Gou- — nod'* opera, 253, 276 Philharmonic Society of New York, 281 Phillips, Adelaide, 67, 163 Phillips, Mathilde, American singer, 07, 163 Phryne, the courtesan, 310, 381, 383 . Piccolomini, 71 ; Chorley's criticism, 71, 79; portrait, 84 Pierson, Bertha, 163, 190 Pierson, J. G., 21 Pinero, 310 Pinkert, Regina, soprano, 365 Pinto, basso, 162, 270 "Pirata, II," Bellini's opera, 19 Plangon, Pol, 233, 266, 275, 288, 296, 328; portrait, 234 Poe, Edgar Allan, 377, 379 Pogliagno, 44 PoUini, manager, 162, 260, 261 Ponchielli {see " La Gio- conda"), 114; influence on contemporary composers, 222, 293 Ponzano, Mile., 270 Popovici, Demeter, bass, '261 Porto, manager, 22, 23, 24, 36 " Postilion de Lonjumeau," opera by Adam, 140, 189 Potter, the Rt. Rev. Horatio, 135 Powell, Maud, 194 Prandi, Mile., 162 Prevost, Abbe, 338, 339 Prince Henry of Prussia, Gala performance in honor of, 307 Pringle, Lempriere, 288, 298 Prinz Regenten Theater, Munich, 329 428 INDEX " Prophete, Le," opera by Meyerbeer, io6, io8, 130, 136, 137. 153, 156, 165, 176, 186, 202, 206, 216, 319, 376 Pruette, Wm., 221, 298 Puccini {see " Manon Les- caut," "Madama Butterfly," "Tosca," "La Boheme"), 103, 248, 303, 304; visit to America, 322, 337, 358 "Puppenfee," ballet, 187, 188, 361 Purcell, music to " The Tem- pest," 6 " Puritani," Bellini's opera, 42, 94, 97, 108, 269, 369, 370 " Purse, or American Tar, The," 6 " Pygmalion," Rousseau's, 4 "Queen of Sheba " : See " Kotiigin von Saba " Rachel, actress, 41 Racine, " Phedre," 358 Raimondi, sings in " Adriana Lecouvreur," 357 " Rakoczy March," influence on Hungarians, 316 Ranelagh Gardens, 10 Randacio, tenor, 270 Rappold, Marie, 329 " Ratcliff," Mascagni's opera, 320, 321 Ravelli, tenor, 80, 141, 194 Ravels, The, 12 Ravogli, Giulia, 215 Ravogli, Sophia, 215 Ray, Robert, 21 Reichmann, Theodor, debut of, in New York, 188, 198 Reil, Hedwig, 187 " Reine de Saba," Gounod's opera, 159 Reiss, Albert, tenor, 296, 306, 308, 328, 332, 340, 344 Rejane, French actress, 229 Renaud, Maurice, 365, 368, 370, 371. 373, 377, 380, 381, 38s; portrait, 366 Repertories : Park Theater, 1825-26, 13; Palmo's first season, 42; second season, 43; Astor Place Opera House, 1847-48, 47; Acad- emy of Music, 1883-84, 91 ; 1885-86, 141 ; Metropolitan Opera House, 1883-84, 108 j first German season, 136; 1885-86, 153; 1886-87, 165; 1887-88, 177; 1888-89, 186; 1889-90, 187; 1890-91, 205; 1891-92, 216; 1893 to 1897, 276; 1898-1900, 318; 1903 to 1908, 361 ; American Opera Company, 1886, 143; Na- tional Opera Company, 1887, 164; Manhattan Opera Com- pany, 1906-07, 369; 1907-08, 375 Requiem, Verdi's : See " Man- zoni Requiem" Reschiglian, Vincenzo, 373, 381, 38s, 399 Reuss-Belce, Mme., singer, 318 " Review of the New York Musical Season," by Kreh- biel, 234 Reyer, Ernest, his opera, " Salammbo," 295, 305, 306 " Rheingold, Das," drama by Richard Wagner, 176, 186; first performance in New York, 187; 318, 361 Ricci brothers : See " Cris- pino e la Comare " Ricci, Luigi, his opera " Chi- ara di Rosemberg," 43 Ricci, Mathilde, 162 Ricetti, Signora, singer, 122 " Richard Coeur de Lion," opera by Gretry, 4 " Richard Wagner Theater," Angelo Neumann's, 147 Richmond Hill Theater, 10, 18, 30; picture, 10 Richter, Hans, recommends Seidl to Wagner, 146 Ricordi, publisher, 371 " Rienzi," opera by Wagner, 136, 153, 166, 176, 187 Ries, Hubert, 116 " Rigoletto," Verdi's opera, 91, 100, 104, 108, 131, 136, INDEX 429 192, IQS, 216, 269, 276, 301, 319. 329, 361, 369. 370, 371. 375, 392 IRinaldini, tenor, 142, 246 " Ring des Nibelungen, Der," tetralogy by Wagner, 132, 137, 146, 147. 171, 17s, 181, 186, 209, 264, 288, 307 "Rip Van Winkle," Bristow's opera, 263 Ristori, 278 Ritter-Goetze, Marie, 198 Ritter, Peter, his opera "Fal- staff," 247 Rivafinoli, opera manager, 21, 22, 34. 35 Rix, Julian, 282 " Robert le Diable," opera by Meyerbeer, 100; a ludicrous ballet, 100, io8, 269 " Roberto Devereux," Doni- zetti's opera, 47 " Robin Hood," McNally's opera, 6 Robinson, Adolf and Frau, 120, 127, 131, 132, IS7, 167, 169, 170, 174, 178, 180, 182, 186 Rocco, recommended by Da Ponte, 37 Rogers, Francis, 299 " Romeo et Juliette," Gou- nod's opera, 91, 107, 108, 216, 217, 234, 241, 247, 276, 287, 297, 299, 318, 361, 376 Ronconi, basso, 41, 78 Roosevelt, James, 86 Rosa, Carl, 112, 190 Roslyn, Juliette, 309 Rossi, 328 Rossini (see " Cenerentola," "Donna del Lago," " Gazza ladra," " Italiana in Al- gieri," "Moise," " Otello," " Siege de Corinth," " Tan- credi," " Turco in Italia," " Semiramide," " Barbiere di Siviglia," "William Tell," " Edoardo e Cristina,'' " Ma- tilda di Shabran"); his music used by Da Ponte for " L'Ape musicale," 35, 42, 132, 191, 287 Rothmtihl, Nicolaus, 225, 257, 281 Rothwell, Walter, 340 Rousseau, his " Pygmalion," 4; "Devin du Village," 4 "Roy d'lys, Le," opera by Rousseliere, tenor, 329 Lalo, 177, 211 Rubinstein (see " Nero," " Bal costume"), 159, 278 Ruggles, S. B., 21 Rullman, Frederick, 280 Rummel, Franz, 148 Russ, Giannina, 365, 373 Russian folk-song, 400, 402, 403 Russitano, G., 241, 246 Sacchi, manager, 22, 23, 24 Sanger, Emil, 167 Saint-Saens, Camille (see " Samson et Dalila," "Henri VIII," "Helene" ), 246 " Salammbo," opera by Reyer, 295, 300, 304, 305 et seq.; 310, 319 Saleza, Albert, 288, 304 Salignac, tenor, 281, 308 " Salome," opera by Richard Strauss, 158, 337. 343 et seq., 360, 362 " Salome," Wilde's play, music by Bemberg, 244 Salvi, tenor, 41, 59, 60; Rich- ard Grant White's praise, 62 Salvini, Tommaso, 41, 278 Salvinoni : his opera " Casa do Pendere," 22 Sammarco, Mario, 371, 373, 399; portrait, 286 "Samson et Dalila," opera by Saint-Saens, 276 Sanderson, Sybil, 241, 245, 382 San Francisco, opera in, 123, 299; earthquake in, 336 Sanger, Frank W., 182, 280, 317 Sanquinco, basso and man- ager, 44, 47, 49 "Santa Lucia, A," opera by Tasca, 223 Sapio, Romualdo, 194 43° INDEX Sardou, French dramatist: See " Tosca " Sauret, violinist, 69 Savage, Henry W., 287, 297, 298, 33S> 340 Saville, Frances, 266, 288 " Savonarola," opera by C. Villiers Stanford, 113, 114 Scalchi, Sofia, 90, 92, 93, 97, 102, 112, 122, 124, 160, 190, 21s, 217, 232, 246, 266, 270; portrait, 80 Scaria, Emil, German basso, 118, 214 " Scarlet Letter, The," opera by Walter Damrosch, 261 et seq. Scharwenka, P., 264 Scharwenka, Xavier : See " Mataswintha " Scheflf, Fritzi, 299, 313 Schermerhorn, Peter, 21 Schiavazzi, Pietro, tenor, 321 Schiller, Friedrich von, 50, 290 Schmitt, Henry, 282 Schoeflfel, John B. (see Abbey, SchoefiFel and Grau), 91, no, 214, 229, 231 "Schone Minka," a Russian folk-song, 402, 403 Schott, Anton, 119; von Billow calls him a " military tenor," 119, 127, 130, 131, 132, 144, 166, 173, 254 Schroeder-Hanfstangl, Marie, her career, 118; her Ameri- can debut, 129, 130, 131, 142, 145 Schuch, Hofrath von, Ger- man conductor, 199, 297 Schueler, A., pall-bearer at Seidl's funeral, 282 Schumann-Heink, Ernestine, her first appearance, 287; 288, 296, 308, 371, 373, 376; portrait, 292 Schumann, Robert, his reti- cence, 116, 283 Schurz, the Hon. Carl, 282 Schwarz, Franz, 255 Scolari, Giovanni, 285 Scotti, Antonio, 296, 300, 304, 308, 338, 340, 357, 382; por- trait, 302 Scribe, French dramatist, 357' Sedlmayer, Wilhelm, 187, 188, 194 Seidl, Anton, 119, 145; his. career, 146 et seq.; praised, by Wagner, 154, 160, 166, 167, 178, 180, 187, 188, 193, 206, 207, 211, 241; rivalry with Damrosch, 254, 255,. 256, 26s, 266; his taciturnity, 282; anecdotes, 284; death of, 281; funeral, 282, 333 ^ portrait, frontispiece Seidl-Krauss, Auguste, 119, 130, 132, 14s, 160, 168, 178, 180, 182 Sembrich, Marcella, 40, 88, 89 ;, debut in New York, 94; pre- vious career, 94; criticism by the author in the Tribune newspaper, 95; singer, pian- ist, and violinist, 95; her early life, 96, 99, loi, 107;. engaged in Madrid, 96; 287, 288, 296, 306, 308, 309, 313, 328, 329; gives benefit for musicians who suffered from the San Fran- cisco earthquake, 336; por- trait, 96 " Semiramide," opera by Ros- sini, 13, 160, 161, 19s, 276 Senger-Bettaque, Katti : See Bettaque Seppilli, A., conductor, 299, 307 Serbolini, basso, 122, 215 " Serva padrone. La," opera by Pergolesi, 4, 103 Setti, Corradi, barytone, 59 Serverina, Gina, 373, 385 Seygard, Camille, 281 Shakespeare, his anachro- nisms, 400 (see Locke's " Tempest," " Macbeth," " Otello," " Henri VIH," " Merry Wives of Wind- sor," "Taming of the Shrew"), 246 et seq. Sheehan, Joseph F., 08, 299, 340 Shireff, Seguin and Wilson Opera Company, 12 INDEX 43 1- " Siberia," opera by Giordano, 374. 37S, 397; first per- formance and criticism, 399 et seq. Sidonia, singer for Maretzek,6i " Siegfried," lyric drama by Wagner, 150, 151, 165, 176, '177, 178; unconventionality of, 178, 186, 187, 194, 205, 206, 258, 261, 264, 272, 274, 276, 281, 318, 361 " Siegfried's Death," tragedy by Wagner, 181 Sieglitz, Miss, 174 Sigrist, Ludmilla, 373, 385, 393 Sizes, minor singer, 304 Slach, Anna, 120, 127, 130, 132 " Slava," Russian song, 403 Smareglia, Anton, his "Va- sal! von Szigeth," 199 Smyth, Ethel, her opera "Der Wald," 318 " Songe d'une Nuit d'Ete, Le," opera by Ambroise Thomas, 99 " Sonnambula, La," opera by Bellini, 43, 91, 100, 108, 141, 195, 216, 218, 270, 361, 369 Sontag, Henrietta, 40, 58, 68 Soubeyran, tenor, 329 " Spanish Barber, The," 4 Spanuth, August, 282 Speyer, James, 282, 346 " Spia, La," opera by Max Maretzek, 263 SpinelH, his opera, " A Basso Porto," 223, 297, 3S8 Spontini : See " Ferdinand Cortez " Stagno, Roberto, tenor, 90, 96, loi, 102 Stanford, C. Villiers, his opera " Savonarola" 113, 114 Stanton, Edmund C, 145, 146; his rebuke to Alvary, 151, IS4, i6s, 167, i8s, I9i> 198, 202, 204, 206, 260; portrait, 112 Staudigl, Gisela, 281 Staudigl, husband of the above and barytone, 120, 130, 132, IS9 SteflFanone, soprano, 54, 59, 60^ 79 Stehmann, Gerhard, 261, 264 Steinberg, Albert, 282 Steinway and Sons, 148 Steinway, William, 72; at a Patti dinner, 74; reorganizes Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau (Ltd.), 229; dies, 229, 272 Stender, Frieda, 298 Stengel, Prof. William, 96 Sterling, Emily, 163 Stern, Anna, 120, 127, 132 Stetson, Nahum, 72 Stettheimer, Albert, 282 Stiner, utility singer in " Sa- lome," 344 St. Louis, opera in, 108, 123. Stoddard, Alonzo E., 163 Stoppani's Arcade Baths,^ turned into Palmo's Opera House, 39 Stracciari, barytone, 329 " Stradella," opera by Flotow,- 189 Strakosch, Ferdinand, 79 Strakosch, Maurice, 58, 69 r his musical training, 78; as- sociated with his brothers, 79; with Pollini, 79; death, 79; loses money in Italian opera, 79, 97 Strakosch, Max, 79 Strakosch, Phoebe, singer, 298^ " Straniera, La," opera by Bel- lini, 23 Strauss, Tohann : See "Fleder- maus, " Zigeunerbaron " Strauss, R. (see " Salome,'" "Guntram"), his " Sym- phonia domestica," 350, 353 Street cries of Paris, 391, 392 Stritt, Albert, 146, 151, 159 Strong, Susan, 67, 270 " Studies in the Wagneriatf Drama" by H. E. Krehbiel, 159 Sucher, Rosa, 255, 258 Sylva, Eloi, tenor, 156, 190 Sylvestre, Armand, librettist of " Messaline," 310 "Sylvia," ballet by Delibes,, 143 ' 432 INDEX Symphony Society of New York, 117 Synnerberg, Hortense, 194 Szamosy, 340 Tamagno, Francesco, 82, 112, 194, 241, 242, 246; portrait, 224 " Taming of the Shrew," opera by Goetz, 143, 211 " Tancredi," opera by Ros- sini, 13 Tango, conductor, 270 " Tannhauser," opera by Wag- ner, 120, 131, 132, 136, 137, 153, 158, i6s, 173, 176, 179. 183, 186, 187; in English, 190, 198, 202, 206, 252, 254, 258, 261, 268, 269, 270, 276, 281, 287, 299, 300, 308, 309, 318, 361, 375 Tasca, composer, 106; his opera " Santa Lucia," 223 Tavecchia, 306 Taylor, English manager, in Fleet prison, 43, 113 Tedesco, 59, 60; White's opinion, 62 " Templer und Jiidin," opera by Marschner, 211 " Tenors a disease," 120 Ternina, Milka, 260, 296, 300, 308, 332; portrait, 300 Terzi, basso, 270 Tetrazzini, Eva, 190, 271, 398, 399 Tetrazzini, Luisa, 376, 392, 393, 395, 403; portrait, 392 "Thais," opera by Massenet, 372, 374, 375; criticism, 381 Thais, the courtesan, 310 Thalberg, Sigismund, pianist becomes manager, 70, 78 Thalia Theater, 139, 189 Theaters and Opera Houses in New York: See Nassau Street Theater, on Cruger's Wharf, in Chapel Street; John Street Theater, Park Theater (old), Park Theater (new). New York Theater (afterwards the Bowery), Richmond Hill, Niblo's Gar- den, Castle Garden, Italian Opera House, Astor Place Opera House, Academy of Music, National Theater, Metropolitan Opera House, Burton's Theater, Harlem Opera House, Manhattan Opera House (first), Man- hattan Opera House (sec- ond), Wallack's Theater, Germania Theater, Thalia Theater, Casino, Lenox Ly- ceum, Grand Opera House, Carnegie Music Hall, Daly's Theater, Irving Place Thea- ter, New York Theater, Garden Theater, Madison Square Theater, Lyceum Theater, Palmo's Opera House Theatre lyrique of Paris, 92, 99, 118 Thomas, A. Goring : See " Es- meralda " Thomas, Ambroise (see "Hamlet," "Mignon," " Songe d'une Nuit d'Ete"), 237 Thomas, Theodore, 55, 81, 117, 143, 163, 189, 193, 214, 281 Thompson, Fanchon, 298 Tietjens, Theresa, loi Tiffero, Emil, 120, 127 " Tilda," opera by Cilea, 223 Tillinghast, William H., 86 " Tobia Gorrio," 104 Tolstoi, 401 Torri, Isolina, 131 "Tosca," opera by Puccini, 104, 300; a criticism, 300 et seq., 319, 338, 341, 361 Townsend, E., 21 Tracy, Minnie, 67, 298 Training schools at opera houses, 66 Trajetta, Filippo, 17, 35 Traubmann, Sophie, 180, 187, 188 " Traviata, La," opera by Verdi, 91, 95, 99, 108, 161, 192, 19s, 232, 246, 269, 270, 276, 281, 287, 299, 301, 308, 318, 361, 369, 371, 375, 392 INDEX 433 Trebelli, Mme. (Bettini), 62, 90, 97, 106, 156 Tredwill, E. P., 87 Tremelli, 112 Tremolo, a vocal vice, 40 Tremont Theater, Boston, 231, 280 Trentini, Emma, 373, 381, 385, 399 Tribune, New York, author's connection with, v; quoted, 31, 48 ; its critics, 49 ; quoted, 67; on Nordica, no; on opera in the vernacular, 115; quoted, 125, 170, 203, 204, 225, 233, 282, 344 " Tristan und Isolde," drama by Wagner, 118, 137, 165, 166, 167, 169, 176, 178, 179, 185, 187, 206, 252, 258, 261, 266, 268, 269, 270, 276, 287, 302, 318, 352, 359, 361, 37S, 397 " Trompeter von Sakkingen," opera by Emil Kaiser, 140; opera by Nessler, 79, 140, 176; first performance, 182, 183, 187, 194 " Trovatore, II," opera by Verdi, 96, 108, 141, 176, 186, 187, i8g, 192, 194, 216, 224, 269, 270, 276, 299, 319, 361, 369, 375, 376 " Troyens, Les, opera by Ber- lioz, 305 Truffi, 54 Tschaikowsky, his " Sym- phonie pathetique," 356 Tuckerman, H. R, author of a sketch of Da Ponte, 34 " Turco in Italia," opera by Rossini, 13, 22 Twombly, H. McK., 346 Udvardi, tenor, 120, 130 Ughetto, basso, 270 Ullmann, Bernard, impresario, his Barnumesque methods, 71 ; mere showman, 78 "Undine," opera by E. T. A. Hoffmann, 378 Valda, Giulia (Miss Julia Wheelock), 162 Valerga, Mile., 160, 162 Valero, tenor, 220 Valleria, Alwina, 67, 90, 100 Van Bandrowski, Alexander, tenor, 313 Van Cauteran, Miss, 308, 309 Vanderbilt, William K., 346 Van der Stucken, Frank, 193 Van Dyck, Ernest, 287, 296, 308; portrait, 308 Vanni, utility tenor, 246, 308, 309 Van Rooy, Anton, 328, 332, 344; portrait, 288 Van Studdiford, Grace, 298 Van Zandt, Jennie, 67 Van Zandt, Marie, 215, 218; debut and career, 218 "Vasall von Szigeth, Der," opera by Smareglia, 199,200, 206 Vauxhall Gardens, 10 Vecchi, Orazio; 354 Verdi (see " Nabucco," " Lom- bardi," " Ernani," " Due Fos- cari," "Luisa Miller," "Tro- vatore," "Traviata," " Ve- pres Siciliennes," " Ballo ia Maschera," " Forza del Des- tino," "Macbeth," "Doii Carlos," " Aida," " Man- zoni Requiem," " Falstaff," "Otello"), 40, 41, 103, 104, 114; descriptive titles of his operas, 192, 201 ; his de- velopment, 248, 293, 301, 305,. 317. 322 Vestvali, contralto, 79 Venturini, Emilio, 373, 385, 399 " Vepres Siciliennes, Les," opera by Verdi, 305 Verismo, Italian school of, 106, 223 Verplanck, Giulian C., 34 Vianesi, conductor, 87, 188, 215 Viardot-Garcia, Pauline, 119 Vincini, Cleopatra, 90, 109 Vincini, tenor, 122, 160, 162, 194 434 INDEX Victoria, Queen, 200 Vienna Court Opera, 333, 359 "Vienna Waltzes" ("Wiener Walzer"), ballet, 167 Viette, contralto, S9 " Vieux coquet, Le," 247 Vigna, Arturo, conductor, 340 Vignas, Spanish tenor, 233 Vinche, basso, 215 Viviani, 285, 300, 309 Voghera, sings in "Fedora," 342 Von Bulow, Hans, on Anton Schott, 1 19 ; characterizes tenors, 120, 144 Von Doenhoff, Helen, 221 Von Milde, Rudolph, 167, 174, 178, 180, 182, 186 Von Suppe, 200 Wachtel, Ferdinand, 139, 140, 146 Wachtel, Theodore, 139, 140, 146, 189 Wagner, Cosima, protests against performance of " Parsifal," 330 Wagner Festival in New York, 132 Wagner, Richard {see " Ri- enzi," " Fliegende Hollan- der," "Tannhauser," "Lohen- grin," " Tristan und Isolde," " Meistersinger," " Rhein- gold," "Walkiire," "Sieg- fried," "Siegfried's Tod," " Gotterdammerung," " Par- sifal"), 41, 103, 113, 114, 132; engages Seidl, 146; his praise of Seidl, 147; popu- larity in New York, 175 et seq.; excisions in his dramas, 181 ; artistic relationship to Weber, 184 ; performance of his dramas in chronological order, 187, 192; financial re- sults from his operas, 197; Wagner and Verdi, 249; agitation for his operas, 254, 255, 282, 293, 300. 301, 303; demands of his music, 305 ; Wagner and R. Strauss, 34S, 390; Wagner and Debussy, 397 Wagnerian singing and sing- ers, 170 Wagner Society in New York, 255 "Wald, Der," opera by Ethel Smyth, 318, 319 Walker, Edyth, 68, 328 Walker, Leslie, 299 "Walkiire, Die," drama by Wagner, first, performance in New York, 132, 135, 136, 137. 138, 153, 156, 165, 176, 183, 186, 187, 206, 254, 258, 261, 269, 270, 276, 281, 287, 318, 359, 361 Wallace, William Vincent : See " Maritana " Wallack, James W., 24 Wallack, John Lester, 24 Wallack's Theater, 24, 183, 285, 338 Wallnofer, Adolf, 266 Ward, Samuel, 2, 34 Warren, George Henry, 86 Washington, opera in, 108 Washington, George, Presi- dent of the United States, 6 Weber, Carl Maria von {see " Freischutz," " Oberon," " Euryanthe ") , 1 14 ; artistic relationship to Wagner, 184, 378 Weber, Oscar, 282 Weed, Marion, 68, 328, 344 Wegener, William F., 299 Weimar Grand Ducal Thea- ter, 50 Weingartner, Felix, .333 Weiss, Eugen, 187 "Werther," opera by Mas- senet, 232; first perform- ance in New York, 240; a note on, 240, 276, 385 Wheatley, Julia, American singer, 68 Wheelock : See Valda Whitehill, Clarence, 68, 299 White, Richard Grant, on the Park Theater, 7, 16; on Garcia, 7; on Malibran, 9; on Niblo's Garden, 12; on INDEX 435 Castle Garden, 13, 14; de- scription of the first Italian Opera House, 20, 38, 41, 46, 68; on Brignoli, 83, 125 Whiting, Virginia (Signora Lorini), American singer, 68 Whitney, Myron W., 163 " Widerspanstigen Zahmung, Der " : See " Taming of the Shrew " Wieniawski, Henri, 278 Wilde, Oscar : See " Salome " "Wilhelm Meister," Goethe's, 98 Williamsburg, Va., opera m, 4. S "William Tell" (" Guillaume Tell") opera by Rossini, 130, 131, 136, 137, 138, 142, 176, 186, 187, 195, 276 Winant, Ejnily, 194 Winkelmann, Hermann, 118, 214 Winter, William, 74 Winthrop, H. H., 346 Wolf, Ludwig, 120, 127 Wood, Mrs., 40 Wright, the Rev. Merle St. Croix, 282 Yorke, Josephine, 67, 109 Ysaye, Eugene, 282 Ziccaria, Emma, 373, 399 " Zanetta," opera by Auber, 42 " Zanetto," opera by Mascagni, 320, 321, 323 Zardo, barytone, 194 " Zauberflote," opera by Mo- zart: See "Magic Flute" "Zemire et Azor," opera by Gretry, 4 Zenatello, Giovanni, 371, 373> 399; portrait, 374 Zeppilli, Alice, 373, 380, 38s» 399 " Zigeunerbaron," operetta by Johann Strauss, 334. 336» 360, 362, 379 " The most important biographic contribution to musical literature since the beginning qf the century, with the exception qf Wagner's Letters to Frau Wesendonck. ' ' — H. T. FiNCK, IN THE New York Evening Post. (Circular with complete review and sample pages on application.) Personal Recollections of Wagner By ANGELO NEUMANN Translated from the fourth German edition by Edith Livermohe. Large 19mo. 318 pp., with portraits and one of Wagner's letters in facsimile. $9.50 net; by mail $9.65. Probably no man ever did more to make Wagner's music dramas known than Angelo Neumann, who, with his famous " Wagner Travelling Theatre," carrying his artists, orchestra, scenery and elaborate mechanical devices, toured Germany, Hol- land, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Russia, and with another organization gave "The Ring" in London. But the account of this tour, interesting as it is, is not the main feature of his book, which abounds in intimate glimpses of Wagner at rehear- sals, at Wahnfried and elsewhere, and tells much of the great conductor, Anton SeidI, so beloved by Americans. Among other striking figures are Nikisch and Muck, both conductors of the Boston Symphony orchestra, Mottl, the Vogls, Von Bulow, Matema, Marianna Brandt, Klafsky, and Reicher-Kindermann. It is doubtful if any book gives a more vivid and truthful picture of life and " politics " behind the scenes of various opera houses. Many of the episodes, such as those of a bearded Brynhild, the comedy writer and the horn player and the prince and the Rhinedaughter are decidedly humorous. The earlier portions of the book tell of the Leipsic negotia- tions and performances, the great struggle with Von Hiilsen, the royal intendant at Berlin, Bayreuth and " Parsifal." Many of Wagner's letters appear here for the first time. ILLUSTRATIONS.— KiCHAKo'WAasj^K: Bust by Anton zur Strassen in the foyer of the Leipsic Stadttheater. — Angelo Neu- mann : From a picture in the Kiinstlerzimmer of the Leipsic Stadttheater.— Anton Seidl : Bas-relief by Winifred Holt of New York. Replica commissioned by Herr Direktor Neumann. — Hedwio Reicher-Kindermann — Facsimile of letter from Wag- ner to Neumann, received after the news of Wagner's death. If the reader will send his name and address the publishers will send information about their new books as issued. HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY Si WEST SSrd street NEW YORK "The best single help to the study of Parsifal with which I am acquainted ... for its purpose, the boolc has ■o adequate fellow."— H. E. KREHBIEL in the Introduction. KUFFERATH'S WAGNER'S PARSIFAL Translated by Louise N. Henermank. XVIII H- 300 pp., l2mo, f 1.50, net (by mail, |l.6l). Thii remarkably comprehensive book contains an Introduction by H, S, KREHBIEL ^ eight full-page illustrations in halftone of the scenery at the Metropolitan Opera House i The Motif s in Musical Notation^ Chapters •n The Legend, History and Poetry; The Perceval of Chretien de Troies; The Par9aval of Wolfram Von Eschenbach; The Drama {WagH&*i^ The Genesis of Parsifal; The Bayreuth Performance; The Score, MR. KREHBIEL further says in his Introduction ; "The production of ''Parsifal ** in New York was the most notable occurrence compassed by the annals of the lyric stage in America. '* Parsifal '* stands apart, not only from all other operas, but also from the lyric dramas sprung from the same creative mind. It is not easy tofindtheproperest frame of mind in which to approach it. ... If any work of dramatic art invites study and is likely to repay it, it is " Parsi&d.** It was necessary that a scholar should gather intoa com> pendium the most important things discovered by the investigation of specialists, which throw light on Wagner's work, add to its charm, and present it lucidly, entertainingly and convincingly to the many. This M. KufEerath has done. His book stands quite alone in the field of Wagneriana. . . . KuSerath makes many a pretty walk into by- f»aths which Wolzogen never knew . . . more voluminous, more de- ightful than the one on the score, and eqaally valuable, are the chap- ters devoted to the vicissitudes of the Grail legend before Wagner seized upon it as dramatic material ; the story of how the work grew in Wagner's mind; the account of its first performance; the exposi- tion of the philosoijhy of pity and its relation to Wagner's personal character and religious speculations; and, finally, the exposition of the drama itself. . . . Kufferath's German origin lent him serious- ness of purpose, sympathy with Wolfram Eschenbach's poem, and the capacity for patient research ; his French breeding and literary train- ing, deftness of touch and skill in narrative; his musical learning, capacity to understand and facility to expound Wagner's music, and k>ve for Wagner's art, fired him with an enthusiasm which JUumines nearly every page." HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK. WAGNER'S ART. UFE. AND THEORIES Selections from his Writings translated by E. L. BuRUNGAME, with a Preface and drawings of the Bayreuth Opera House, etc. Revised Edition, jth printing: nmo. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.62. The contents includes The Autobiography— The Love Veto, being the Story of the First Performance of an Opera— A Pil- grimage to Beethoven— An End in Paris— Der Freisohiitz in Paris — The Music of the Future— Tannhauser in Paris— The Purpose of the Opera— Musical Criticism— The Legend of the Nibelungen. WAGNER'S RING OF THE NIBELUNG By G. T. DIPPOLD. Revised Edition, btk printing: $1.50. The mythological basis is explained. (76 pp.) Then the stories of the four music dramas are given with translations of many passages and some description of the music. (160 pp.) BANISTER'S MUSIC A small but comprehensive book on musical theory, itk printing. i6mo. 80 cents net. " One would have to buy halt a dozen volumes to acquire the contents of this one little book."— i\^. Y. Times. 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KREHBIEL, covering Richard Strauss, Cornelius, Goldmarlt, Klenzl, Humperdinck, Smetana, Dvorak, Cliarpentier, Elgar, etc. LAVIGNAC'S Music and Musicians Translated by WILLIAM MARCHANT. With additional chapters by HENRY E. KREHBIEL on Music in Amekica and The Pkesent State or the Art of Music, With 94 Illustrations and 510 examples in Musical Notation. 518 pp., izmo, £1.75 net. By mall, ^1.91. ^ A brilliant, sympathetic and authoritative work cover- ing musical sound, the voice, musical instruments, con- struction aesthetics and the history of music. A veritable musical cyclopedia, with some thousand topics in the index. Circular with sample pages on application. W. F. APTHORP in the Transcript : — Admirably written in its way, capitally indexed, and of genuine value as a liandy boolc of reference. It contains an immense amount of condensed information on almost every point connected witli the art ivliich it were well for the intelligent music-lover to know. . . . Mr. Marchant has done his hard task of translating exceedingly well. . , . Well worth buying and owning by all who arc interested in musical knowledge. W. J. HENDERSON in the N. Y. Times !— A truly wonderful production; . , . a long and ex'haustive account of the manner of using the instruments of ^ne orchestra, with some highly instructive remarks on coloring, . . Harmony he treats not only very fully, but also in a new and intensely interesting way. . . . Counterpoint is discussed with great thoroughness. ... It seems to have been his idea when he began to let no interesting topic escape. . . . The wonder is that the author has succeeded in making those parts of the book which ought naturally to be dry so read" able, ... A style which can be fairly described as fascinating. ... It will serve as a general reference book for either the musician or the music-lover. It will save money in the purchase of a library by filling the places of several smaller books. ... A complete directory of musical literature. . . . One of the most important bonks on music that have ever been published. HENRY HOLT & COMPANY, NEW rORK. CHICAGO, 4th Printing DRAMATISTS OF TO-DAY Rostand, Hauptmann, Sudermann, Pinero, Shaw, Phillips, Maeterlinck By Prof. EDWARD EVERETT HALE. jR„of Union College. With gilt top, $1.50 net. (By mail, $1.60.) An informal discussion of their principal plays and of the performances of some of them. A few of those considered are Man and Superman, Candida, Cyrano de Bergerac, VAiglon, The Sunken Bell, Magda, Ulysses, Letty, Iris, and Pelleas and Melisande. The volume opens with a paper " On Standards of Criticism," and concludes with "Our Idea of Tragedy," and an appendix of all the plays of each author, with dates of their first performance or publication. Bookman : " He writes in a pleasant, free-and-easy way. . . . 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The book is divided into five headings, representing chrono- logically the distinct periods which marked German dramatic literature during the nineteenth century : (i) The German drama at the end of the eighteenth century ; C2) The German drama from 1800-1830 ; (3) The German drama from 1830-188S ; (4) The German drama from 1883-1900 ; (5) The product of the century. Kleist, Grillparzer, Hebbel, Ludwig, Wildenbruch, Sudermann, Hauptmann, and minor dramatists receive attention. HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Recent Poetry of Distinction HERO AND LEANDER By Martin Soh&tzb of the University of Chicago. Probable price, $1.25 net. A poetic drama of unusual merit. While several authors have tried this theme, probably no one before has brought these ill- starred lovers so close to our sympathies. Professor Schiitze has imagined new and striking episodes, and minor characters who lend added life and body to the original slender legend. RAHAB A Poetic Drama in Three Acts. 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The author is already very favorably known by his D&irdre Wedded and Other Poems. " Full of magnificent things." — ^William Archer. "Unique as 'The Ancient Mariner.' " — C. K. Chebtsrton in the Daily News. "Deep with thought; deep with si^ificance." — Georoe Meredith. " Here at length is an Englishman singing from the heights which Goethe reached." — Frank Harris in Vanity Fair. Arthur Colton's HARPS HUNG UP IN BABYLON Some forty poems, many of which first appeared in The Atlattiie, Century, Scribner's, etc. $1.25 net. By mail, $1.30. *' His opening lyric is as lovely a bit of melody as one will find in recent poetry. Mr. Colton's work . . . has a touch of its own and a charm of personality." — Miss Jessie B. Rittenhouse in Putnam's Monthly. '* He has grace, scholarship — his adaptations of Horace are excellent — and unfailing optimism." — The Spectator (London). HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 5^^"fo\"l FIVE DELIGHTFUL ANTHOLOGIES POEMS FOR TRAVELERS Compiled hj Mabt R. J. DuBois. 16mo. 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