CHAPTER VI

OPERA IN THE UNITED STATES. PART I: NEW YORK

The New York opera as a factor of musical culture--Manuel García and his troupe; da Ponte's dream--The vicissitudes of the Italian Opera House; Palmo's attempt at democratic opera--The beginnings of 'social' opera: the Academy of Music--German opera; Maretzek to Strakosch--The early years of the Metropolitan--The Grau régime--Conried; Hammerstein; Gatti-Casazza; Opera in English; the Century Opera Company.

The vogue of English ballad opera, as we have seen, began to lose some of its hold on New York audiences during the first years of the nineteenth century. Symptomatic of an awakening desire for other forms of operatic entertainment were the adaptations of _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, _Le Nozze di Figaro_, _Der Freischütz_, and similar favorites of the contemporary European stage. There existed in New York at that time a society of some brilliance, wealth, and culture--a modest replica of the upper circles of London, Paris, and Vienna. In these latter cities the opera flourished as a social function; it was one of the most important foci of fashion. Obviously New York could not remain long without such an addition to its fashionable life. Nor could English opera serve the purpose, for English opera had ceased to be the thing in London. Society had taken up Italian opera, and only Italian opera was then _de rigueur_. Why New York did not have Italian opera at an earlier date it is difficult to say. Possibly the field did not seem sufficiently tempting to the European _entrepreneurs_; possibly New York society had not yet affected that cosmopolitan air which had come to be the distinguishing mark of the socially elect elsewhere.

Whatever factors operated to keep Italian opera out of New York, the situation had altered sufficiently in 1825 to tempt Manuel García[38] over with an opera company in that year. To be sure, García was past his prime as a singer and, except for his daughter, Maria, and the basso Angrisani, his company was worse than indifferent. But his coming marked the beginning of an epoch in the operatic history of this country. He gave New Yorkers a first taste of the best in contemporary opera and inaugurated a fashion which on the whole has been productive of very brilliant results. In spite of the fact that opera is not and never has been in New York a diversion for the proletariat; in spite of the fact that it has been to a large extent a vehicle for ostentation; in spite of the fact that its conduct has not always been guided by broad artistic ideals--in spite of all these and other drawbacks New York has set for itself a standard of operatic achievement which is scarcely surpassed by any city in the world. The value of this standard in the promotion of musical culture is questionable; that it subserves the best interests of art is not certain. But at least New York must be awarded the credit of doing such operatic work as it has chosen to do in a finished and magnificent manner.

I

The foundation of this work was laid by Manuel García at the Park Theatre in 1825. This house was opened in 1798 and was rebuilt in 1820 after its destruction by fire. It was the house of English opera as well as of the spoken drama prior to the García invasion. Apparently the _pièce de résistance_ on García's contemplated program was an authentic version of Rossini's _Barbiere di Siviglia_, and it does not seem that he had in project anything more exacting than this and other light examples of the reigning Italian school. But in New York he ran foul of the old idealist, Lorenzo da Ponte, librettist of Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, _Le nozze di Figaro_, and _Così fan tutte_, now condemned to the obscure fate of a small merchant and teacher of Italian.[39] Da Ponte persuaded García to put on _Don Giovanni_ and succeeded in obtaining the necessary reinforcements to make such a production possible. The production of _Don Giovanni_ was really an event, but whether the people of New York accepted it as such we cannot say. García also presented Rossini's _Barbiere di Siviglia_, _Tancredi_, _Il Turco in Italia_, _Sémiramide_, and _La Cenerentola_, besides two operas of his own composition entitled _L'Amante astuto_ and _La Figlia dell'Aria_. The beauty, art, and magnetism of the youthful Maria García made the season a success and started the fashion of operatic idols which still influences to a large extent the success or failure of that form of art. Otherwise the season was undistinguished.

García went to Mexico in 1826, but his daughter remained in New York and sang in English opera at the recently erected New York Theatre. She also sang in the choir of Grace Church--a strikingly unusual proceeding for an artist who had already won international renown. For over five years there was no more Italian opera in New York, nor was there, indeed, a regular operatic season of any kind. English ballad opera, however, again came into favor for a time and there were also performances in English of such works as Auber's _Masaniello_, Boieldieu's _La dame blanche_, and Mozart's _Il flauto magico_--all wretched adaptations of the originals. Seemingly the operatic managers of that time had all the peculiar vices of the musical comedy producer of to-day. The scores of Mozart, Auber, Rossini and other masters were subjected to incredible mutilations, and inapt interpolations of every kind were used to catch the popular taste. If the following picture of musical life in New York is not overdrawn it certainly paints an extraordinary state of affairs. It is taken from a letter written by a visiting German musician to the _Cæcilia_, a musical journal of Mayence.[40]

'Here the musical situation is the following: New York has four theatres--Park Theatre, Bowery Theatre, Lafayette Theatre, and Chatham Theatre. Dramas, comedies, and spectacle pieces, also the Wolf's Glen scene from _Der Freyschütz_, but without singing, as melodrama, and small operettas are given. The performance of a whole opera is not to be thought of. However, they have no sufficient orchestra to do it. The orchestras are very bad indeed, as bad as it is possible to imagine, and incomplete. Sometimes they have two clarinets, which is a great deal; sometimes there is only one first instrument. Of bassoons, oboes, trumpets, and kettle drums, one never sees a sight. However, once in a while a first bassoon is employed. Oboes are totally unknown in this country. Only one oboist exists in North America and he is said to live in Baltimore.

'In spite of this incompleteness they play symphonies, and grand overtures, and if a gap occurs they think this is only of passing importance, provided it rattles away again afterward....

'Performances take place six times a week in these theatres. Sunday is a day of rest. The performances commence at half past seven, and last until twelve, sometimes till one. Rope-dancers, or one who is a good clown--even if he be able to execute only tolerably well a few jumps that resemble a dance, and can make many grotesque grimaces,--or one who plays (all by himself) on the barrel-organ, cymbals, big drum, Turkish pavilion,--these are the men that help the manager to fill the treasury, and these people earn enormous sums.'

At this ebb-tide of music in New York there stood out in bold relief the venerable figure of Lorenzo da Ponte, the old idealist, the type of the world's dreamers, whose achievements are rarely recorded.

'World-losers and world-forsakers On whom the pale moon gleams Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems.'

Da Ponte had a dream. It was of a permanent Italian opera in New York, with himself as poet. The dream was not realized, but it had an important influence. After five years of endeavor da Ponte succeeded in inducing a French tenor named Montressor to undertake a season of opera at the Richmond Hill Theatre. The season opened in October 6, 1832, but failed after thirty-five performances. On the whole, it would seem that the company was a very good one, and it is hard to explain its failure except on the ground that New York audiences were still lacking in the faculty of appreciation. The orchestra was supposed to be the best that had yet been heard in the city, and, fortunately for New York, most of its members settled there after the failure of the enterprise. The operas performed during Montressor's season were Rossini's _Cenerentola_ and _L'Italiani in Algieri_, Bellini's _Il Pirata_, and Mercadante's _Elisa e Claudio_.

Notwithstanding Montressor's failure, da Ponte still remained undaunted. He now determined that the thing really needed was an Italian opera house decked out with the same social halo as adorned the brilliant institutions of London and Vienna. He was right. The Metropolitan Opera House of to-day is just the sort of institution that da Ponte forecasted, and its success proves that the old dreamer was no bad prophet. Through his influence the Italian Opera House was built on the corner of Church and Leonard Streets at a cost of $150,000, and with the coöperation of many of the most eminent citizens. Evidently it was designed to appeal to the cream of the _beau monde_. We quote from the diary of Philip Hone, Esq., sometime mayor of New York:

'----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 equalled. I have one-third of box No. 8; Peter Schermerhorn one-third; James J. Jones one-sixth; William Moore one-sixth. Our box is fitted up with great taste with light blue hangings, 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.'

This resplendent institution was opened on November 18, 1833, under the joint management of da Ponte and the Chevalier Rivafinoli--the latter being, according to da Ponte, 'a daring, but imprudently daring, adventurer, whose failures in London and in Mexico and Carolina, were the sure forerunners of his failure in New York.' The season was advertised for forty nights, but there was a supplementary season of twenty-eight nights. In addition there were fifteen performances given in Philadelphia. Socially and artistically the season was a distinct success, but financially it was a failure. The operas performed were Rossini's _La gazza ladra_, _Il barbiere di Siviglia_, _La donna del lago_, _Il Turco in Italia_, _Cenerentola_ and _Matilda di Shabran_, Cimarosa's _Il matrimonio segreto_, Paccini's _Gli Arabi nelli Gallie_, and an opera called _La casa di Pendere_, by the conductor, Salvioni.

During the same season there was also a period of English opera at the Park Theatre, where 'Cinderella,' 'The Barber of Seville,' 'The Marriage of Figaro,' 'Artaxerxes,' 'Masaniello,' 'John of Paris,' 'Robert the Devil' (adapted and arranged), and other works were produced with Mr. and Mrs. Wood as principal singers. 'The house,' according to the 'American Musical Journal,' 'was crowded nightly.' The management of the Park Theatre certainly presented a much more varied and catholic program than was furnished by the Italian Opera House; but we suspect shrewdly that variety was its chief distinction.

When Rivafinoli's enterprise collapsed, the Italian Opera House was taken over by Porto and Sacchi--the latter treasurer and the former one of the singers of the Rivafinoli company. The season opened on November 10, 1834, with Bellini's _La Straniera_, and during its short life Rossini's _Eduardo e Christina_, _L'Inganno felice_, _L'Assedio di Corinto_, and _Mosé in Egitto_ were also produced. It collapsed with the sudden disappearance of the _prima donna_, Signora Fanti. The Signora's defection, however, was rather the occasion than the cause of its untimely end. One is tempted to say that the Italian Opera House suffered from too much Rossini. But the real secret of its failure lay in the fact that it was not in the fashionable section of the city. The lure of art, reinforced by rich silk ornaments and paintings in fresco, by 'superb classical designs' and 'exceedingly commodious' sofa seats did not prove sufficiently strong to draw society from the strictly defined path of its appointed orbit. The valorous old da Ponte pleaded eloquently, but in vain. _Abyssus abyssum invocat_, as he truly complained.

II

After a year of vacancy the Italian Opera House went to James W. Wallack, father of the famous John Lester Wallack, and after a year of the spoken drama it went up in smoke. For ten years Italian opera in New York was as dead as the English queen whose demise is her chief title to fame. But New York was not wholly barren of opera during those years. In 1837 came Madame Caradori-Allan from England to sing in oratorio, concert, and opera in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. She gave some operas at the Park Theatre in 1838, including Balfe's 'Siege of Rochelle,' Bellini's _La Sonnambula_, Rossini's _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, and Donizetti's _Elisir d'amore_, all in English. Also in 1838 a company which Dr. Ritter calls 'the Seguin combination' gave some operatic performances at the National Theatre. He tells us that Rooke's opera, 'Amalie, or the Love Test,' was performed for twelve consecutive nights before crowded houses.[41]

Noteworthy were the efforts of an English company who in 1839 gave performances of Beethoven's _Fidelio_, Rossini's _La Cenerentola_ and _La Gazza ladra_, Bellini's _La Sonnambula_, Auber's _Fra Diavolo_, Donizetti's _Elisir d'amore_, and Adam's _Postilion de Lonjumeau_.

This was by far the choicest operatic menu that had ever been placed before New Yorkers. The performances were in English and we are not enlightened as to their quality; we know only that the venture was not a success. In 1840 the Woods returned with a season of operas in English, including _La Sonnambula_, _Fidelio_, and--sublime bathos--the 'Beggar's Opera'! Later the singer and composer, Braham, beloved of Englishmen, appeared at the Park Theatre in 'The Siege of Belgrade,' 'The Devil's Bridge,' 'The Waterman,' and 'The Cabinet.' Except for the visits of the New Orleans opera companies, of which we shall speak in another chapter, these were the only operatic treats vouchsafed to New Yorkers between the years 1834 and 1844.

In the meantime a gentleman named Ferdinand Palmo was making quite a reputation as a cook and proprietor of the _Café des Mille Colonnes_ on Broadway, near Duane Street. Mr. Palmo suffered from that ancient delusion known as 'opera for the people,' and under its influence he spent the accumulated profits of the _Mille Colonnes_ in remodelling Stoppani's Arcade Baths, on Chambers Street, into a popular opera house. There, in 1844, he opened a season of Italian opera with Bellini's _I Puritani_. Mr. Palmo was certainly determined to give New Yorkers the best that could be obtained. He had Madame Cinti-Damoreau, whom Fétis described as one of the greatest singers the world had known; he had a great tenor in Antognini, whom Richard Grant White compares as a singer to Ronconi and as an actor to Salvini; he had a very good soprano in Borghese. In addition he had an orchestra of 'thirty-two professors.' He survived the first season, but in the middle of the second the 'thirty-two professors' went on strike for their wages and the sheriff's minions descended on the box office receipts, the _Mille Colonnes_ and everything else attachable that Mr. Palmo possessed. The attempt at a democratic opera was a fine and courageous one, but the time was not ripe for such an effort.[42]

After Palmo's failure his theatre was taken over by a new company which included among its principal members Salvatore Patti and Catarina Barili, the parents of Carlotta and Adelina Patti. It had a very brief existence and in 1848 Palmo's Opera House became Burton's Theatre. In the meantime, however, New York had been enjoying an assortment of other operas, presented by various visiting companies. The most important of these was a French company from New Orleans which, in 1843, presented _La fille du régiment_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, _Norma_, and _Gemma di Vergy_--in French, of course. There were also several English companies, notably the Seguins, who gave opera in English at the Park Theatre and elsewhere. In 1844 the Seguin company produced Balfe's 'Bohemian Girl' for the first time in America.

It has frequently been the lot of New York to be visited by Italian opera companies from Cuba, Mexico, and South America. These companies were sometimes very bad, sometimes indifferent, sometimes very good. Of the last-named category was the company brought from Havana by Señor Francesco Marty y Tollens in 1847. Señor Marty was backed in his enterprise by James H. Hackett, the actor, and William Niblo, proprietor of the famous gardens. He had a very good company, notable chiefly for the fact that its conductor was Luigi Arditi, composer of _Il Bacio_--the 'Maiden's Prayer' of aspiring coloraturas. A season was given at the Park Theatre, after which there were a number of extra performances at Castle Garden. The repertory included Verdi's _Ernani_ and _I due Foscari_, Bellini's _Norma_ and _Sonnambula_, Paccini's _Saffo_, and Rossini's _Mosé in Egitto_. Señor Marty returned in 1848,1849, and 1850, with a company which Max Maretzek described as the greatest ever heard in America. The famous contrabassist, Bottesini, was musical director and Arditi remained as conductor. Among the operas performed were Verdi's _Attila_ and _Macbeth_, Meyerbeer's _Huguenots_ and Donizetti's _La Favorita_.

Opera in English was still given frequently but without any regularity at various theatres. Madame Anna Bishop appeared in a number of operas in 1847, and during the same year W. H. Reeves, brother of the famous Sims Reeves, made his operatic _début_. Among the novelties produced was Wallace's _Maritana_. In 1850 Madame Anna Thillon appeared in Auber's 'Crown Diamonds' at Niblo's and two years later Flotow's 'Martha' was produced.

III

In the meantime, however, New York had launched one of the greatest of operatic enterprises, a direct successor to the Italian Opera House conceived and carried out by the old dreamer da Ponte. Palmo's splendid experiment had only served to show that da Ponte was right. Democratic opera was a delusion. Opera in Italian or in any other language foreign to the mass of the people was foredoomed to failure. Only the glamour of social prestige could save it. And, just as opera needed society, so did society need opera. It was out of the question, of course, that persons of social pretensions should patronize Palmo's or Niblo's or Castle Garden or any other place geographically outside the social sphere and appealing largely to the common herd. Society is a jewel which shines only in an appropriate setting. Hence one hundred and fifty gentlemen of New York's social (and financial) _élite_ got together and guaranteed to support Italian opera in a suitable house for five years. On the strength of this guarantee Messrs. Foster, Morgan and Colles built the Astor Place Opera House, a theatre seating about 1,800 persons. 'Its principal feature,' said the slightly malicious Maretzek, 'was that everybody could see, and, what is of infinitely greater consequence, could be seen. Never, perhaps, was any theatre built that afforded a better opportunity for a display of dress.' The Astor Place Opera House was opened in 1847, with Messrs. Sanquirico and Patti, late of Palmo's, as lessees, and Rapetti as leader of the orchestra. They produced during the season Verdi's _Nabucco_ and _Ernani_, Bellini's _Beatrice di Tenda_, Donizetti's _Lucrezia Borgia_, and Mercadante's _Il Giuramento_. In 1848 the house was taken over by E. R. Fry, an American, who brought over Max Maretzek as conductor and gathered together a fairly good company, including M. and Mme. Laborde. The operas given were Verdi's _Ernani_, Bellini's _Norma_, and Donizetti's _Linda di Chamouni_, _Lucrezia Borgia_, _L'Elisir d'amore_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, and _Roberto Devereux_. Fry made a complete failure, and, judging by his list, one is impelled to say he deserved it.

In 1849 Maretzek became lessee of the house and began that chequered career as an _impresario_ which ended only when the Metropolitan so to speak shut its newly made doors in his face. Most of his singers were taken from Fry's company, but he also had some new ones, among them the Signora Bertucca, who was included in the famous list which, according to Mr. H. E. Krehbiel, the redoubtable Max invariably checked off on his fingers when recounting his services to opera in New York. Maretzek remained at the Astor Place Opera House until 1850, and during three seasons gave _Lucia_, _L'Elisir d'amore_, _Don Pasquale_, _Il Barbiere_, Rossini's _Otello_, _I Puritani_, _Belisario_, _Ernani_--the list is tiresomely familiar.[43]

In the meantime the Astor Place Opera House was leased to William Niblo, the backer of Señor Francesco Marty y Tollens. Niblo's idea in leasing the opera house was to eliminate it as a competitor. In pursuance of this idea he engaged one Signor Donetti, and his troupe of performing dogs and monkeys, whom he presented to the aristocratic patrons of the institution. The patrons obtained an injunction against Niblo on the ground that the exhibition was not respectable within the meaning of the terms upon which the house was leased. 'On the hearing to show cause for this injunction,' says Maretzek, 'Mr. Niblo called upon 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 upon to dispute.' Thus the ambitions and exclusive Astor Place Opera House ended as a joke. The building was used later as a library.

There is a peculiar resemblance between opera houses and human beings. High hopes and ambitions mark the beginnings of both; but the corrosive influences of life's practical everyday soon tarnish the shining metal of their ideals until finally they are reduced to the dull commonplace that marks the end of all created things. And, it may be added, in the majority of cases the most powerfully corrosive influence is money. An instance in point occurred in New York in 1852. It was another dream of democratic opera--or rather, democratic music--a dream of a great new institution adapted to American conditions wherein would germinate and grow to a brilliant flowering the seeds of a national musical art. Truly a beautiful dream, and one which, it might seem, should easily materialize in a country so rich, so young, so eager, so progressive. A charter was obtained from the state of New York authorizing the establishment of an 'Academy of Music for the purpose of cultivating a taste for music by concerts, operas, and other entertainments, which shall be accessible to the public at a moderate charge; by furnishing facilities for instruction in music, and by rewards of prizes for the best musical compositions.' American music-lovers were naturally gratified and Mr. D. H. Fry, a prominent musical critic, ventured to hope that it might 'yet come to pass that art, in all its verifications,' would 'be as much esteemed as politics, commerce, or the military profession. The dignity of American artists lies in their hands'--meaning, we presume, the hands of the Academy promoters.

The dignity of American artists lay in very incompetent hands--incompetent as far as the dignity of American art was concerned. The commodious new Academy was leased to Max Maretzek, who sub-leased it to J. H. Hackett, and it was opened in October, 1854, with a company headed by Grisi and Mario. The showman exploitation of great artists existed long before P. T. Barnum exhibited Jenny Lind. The appearances of Henrietta Sontag at Niblo's in _La fille du régiment_ in 1850 and of Grisi and Mario at Castle Garden in 1854 were purely and simply showman enterprises.

In January, 1855, Ole Bull, the Norwegian violinist, took over the management of the Academy, with the earnest intention of carrying out the high purposes for which it was founded. As a first step to that end he offered a prize of one thousand dollars for the 'best original grand opera, by an American composer, and upon a strictly American subject.' The phrase has become almost a formula. It is unfortunate that idealistic enterprises in America always seek to fly before they can walk. There was no American composer capable of writing an original grand opera on any subject, neither was there a public opinion cultivated enough to support such an enterprise as the Academy. Within two months of Ole Bull's announcement, 'in consequence of insuperable difficulties,' the Academy was forced to close and the original grand opera by an American composer never saw the light. The season was completed by the Lagrange company from Niblo's, managed by a committee of stockholders, with Maretzek as conductor.

III

A bright rift in the cloud that hung over operatic New York at that time was the coming to Niblo's in 1855 of a German company, with Mlle. Lehman (not, of course, the more famous Lilli Lehmann) as star. Among the operas presented were Flotow's 'Martha,' Weber's _Der Freischütz_, and Lortzing's _Czar und Zimmermann_.

In the following year the German company added Mme. Johannsen to its forces, with Carl Bergmann as conductor, and presented, among other operas, Beethoven's _Fidelio_. Bergmann remained as conductor for several years and did an amount of pioneer work for German opera in New York the importance of which has been curiously ignored. It may be mentioned here, though a little in advance of our narrative, that he introduced Wagner's _Tannhäuser_ for the first time in America at the Stadt Theatre, New York, in 1859. The chorus was supplied by the Arion Männergesangverein.[44]

In 1855 Maretzek produced Rossini's 'William Tell' and Verdi's _Il Trovatore_ at the Academy. He had a good company which included the soprano Steffanone--one of Señor Marty's singers--and the tenor Brignoli, who became a great favorite with New Yorkers. A Mr. Payne opened a season of forty nights there in the fall of 1855 and in the following year Maretzek again became lessee. He soon quarrelled with the proprietors of the Academy and went to Boston. In January, 1857, Maurice Strakosch opened a season of Italian opera with an indifferent company, but in March Maretzek reappeared and set up an opposition at Niblo's. The next few seasons were marked by an amount of activity in which control of the operatic field was a consideration paramount to artistic achievement. Maretzek, Strakosch, and the latter's aide, Bernard Ullman, were the principals in an amusing campaign which, on more than one occasion, saw the rival impresarios acting as partners. Strakosch and Ullman opened the Academy season in the fall of 1857 with the fascinating Emmilia Frezzolini in _La Sonnambula_. Carl Anschütz, later of the Arion, was conductor. It was really a good season and, though it saw no novelties, it was redeemed from the usual hurdy-gurdy category by the production of _Les Huguenots_ and _Robert le Diable_. In March, 1858, 'Leonora,' by the American composer W. H. Fry, was produced at the Academy under the bâton of Carl Anschütz.

Maretzek, in the meantime, was in Philadelphia with a company headed by the famous buffo, Roncone. In 1858 he returned to New York and opened a season at the Academy, while Strakosch took up a stand at Burton's Theatre. Ullman came from Europe in October, bringing with him the saucy and winsome Maria Piccolomini, whom he advertised as a lineal descendant of Charlemagne and the great-granddaughter of Schiller's hero, Max Piccolomini. As a showman Ullman was second only to the great Barnum. Maretzek and Ullman joined hands at the Academy in the fall of 1859 and presented Adelina Patti in _Lucia di Lammermoor_.

For several years following there is nothing much to note. The operatic situation was summed up in the alternate quarrels and reconciliations of Maretzek, Ullman, and the brothers Maurice, Max, and Ferdinand Strakosch, all of whom at various times have taken occasion to speak of the sacrifices they made for Italian opera in New York. As a matter of fact, opera was to all of them what the green table is to the confirmed gambler. Yet they accomplished much, and, though they relied mainly on the hackneyed list of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, they introduced New York opera-goers, during the sixties and seventies, to a number of novelties. Among these may be mentioned Meyerbeer's _L'Africaine_, _Le Pardon de Ploërmel_, and _L'Étoile du Nord_, Verdi's _Aïda_, Gounod's _Faust_, Thomas's _Mignon_, Wagner's _Lohengrin_, and the _Crispino e la Comare_ of the Ricci brothers--all in Italian. Maurice Strakosch was responsible for the presence in America of Christine Nilsson and of Italo Campanini, both distinguished artists who held a high place for many years in the affections of New Yorkers.[45]

By far the most noteworthy operatic event of the sixties was a season of German opera given by Carl Anschütz at the old Wallack Theatre on Broadway and Broome Street in 1862. The principals of the Anschütz company were mediocre, though they included Mme. Johannsen, but there was a good orchestra and a well-trained chorus. The list of operas included Mozart's _Die Zauberflöte_, _Don Juan_, and _Die Entführung aus dem Serail_, Beethoven's _Fidelio_, Weber's _Freischütz_, Auber's _Le Maçon_, and Flotow's _Martha_ and _Stradella_. Unfortunately, no social glamour was attached to the enterprise, nor were the times especially propitious to it, and it soon failed.

In the seventies there was a great vogue of the Offenbach _opéra bouffe_, and such airy trifles as _La belle Hélène_ and _La grande duchesse_ occupied the public interest to the exclusion of more serious musical fare. As is usually the case in America, the interest reached the intensity of a mania and it was necessary that public curiosity be satisfied by a sight of the composer himself. Accordingly Offenbach came over in 1875. But as soon as the people had satisfied their curiosity they lost all interest in him and his tour was a complete failure.[46]

In 1876 Mlle. Teresa Tietjens came to America under the management of Max Strakosch and appeared at the Academy of Music with great success, especially in _Norma_ and _Lucrezia Borgia_. Two years later a short season of opera was given at the Academy by a German company headed by Mme. Pappenheim and Charles Adams. It was far from successful, but during its brief existence New Yorkers had an opportunity of hearing Wagner's _Lohengrin_, _Tannhäuser_, _Der fliegende Holländer_, and _Rienzi_, Halévy's _La Juive_, and Gounod's _Faust_.

In 1878 Max Strakosch, with a company that included Clara Louise Kellogg and Annie Louise Cary, ignored the Academy of Music and settled down at the Booth Theatre. There he gave a season of three weeks, presenting _Aïda_, _La Traviata_, and _Il Trovatore_. The directors of the Academy, in the meantime, turned to Colonel James H. Mapleson, one of the most famous of operatic _impresarios_, who, as manager of Her Majesty's Theatre and of Drury Lane, London, had for some time been engaged in a lively operatic war with Frederick and Ernest Gye at Covent Garden. Mapleson was a most astute manager and a devoted protagonist of the 'star' system. During his first season in 1878-79 he brought over a brilliant company which included Minnie Hauck, Etelka Gerster, and Italo Campanini, with Luigi Arditi as conductor. His list of operas was less impressive. The only novelty was Bizet's _Carmen_. On the whole, the season was moderately successful and Mapleson made a contract with the stockholders of the Academy for the seasons of 1879-80, 1880-81, and 1881-82. Nothing occurred in any of those seasons which calls for special mention. They presented the same old list of operas in the same old way. Italian opera in New York was getting into a rut and was losing its hold on the people. The Academy was becoming more and more unsuited to the growing demands of New York Society. Everything was, in fact, ripe for the inauguration of a new epoch.

IV

It must be confessed that the evolution of opera in New York has been determined more by social than by artistic factors, and a history of New York society would be almost a necessary background for a complete narrative of its operatic development. Here it is necessary to mention that the Vanderbilt ball of 1882 marked the culmination of a social revolution in New York. During the early years of the nineteenth century there was an absolute ascendancy of that social element which is known by the name of Knickerbocker. It was composed, in the main, of old families with certain undeniable claims to birth, breeding, and culture. They constituted a caste which was not without distinction. But about 1840, with the rapid material development of the country, began the influx of a new element armed for assault on the social citadel with the powerful artillery of wealth. Gradually this new element widened a breach in the rampart of exclusiveness which the Knickerbocker caste had built around itself, and at the above-mentioned Vanderbilt ball the citadel finally surrendered. The effect on the operatic situation was immediate. There was not sufficient accommodation in the Academy for the newly amalgamated forces, and a box at the opera was, of course, a necessary badge of social distinction. Consequently, in 1883, the Metropolitan Opera House Company (Limited) was formed by a number of very prominent gentlemen for a purpose sufficiently indicated by its title. The very prominent gentlemen were James A. Roosevelt, George Henry Warren, Luther Kountze, George Griswold Haven, William K. Vanderbilt, William H. Tillinghast, Adrian Iselin, Robert Goelet, Joseph W. Drexel, Edward Cooper, Henry G. Marquard, George N. Curtis, and Levi P. Morton. This, financially speaking, impressive list is important because it helps us to understand the true nature of the enterprise upon which these gentlemen embarked.[47]

The Metropolitan Opera House was leased for the season of 1883 to Mr. Henry E. Abbey and was opened on October 22 with Gounod's _Faust_. In the cast on the opening night were Mesdames Nilsson and Scalchi and Signor Campanini, while Signor Vianesi acted as musical director. The season lasted until December 22, with regular subscription performances on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Two performances missed from the regular subscription series were given after the return of the company from a trip to Boston on January 9 and 11. A spring season, begun on March 10, lasted until April 12. The operas given between October 22 and April 12, with order of their production, were: Gounod's _Faust_ (in Italian), Donizetti's _Lucia di Lammermoor_, Verdi's _Il Trovatore_, Bellini's _I Puritani_, Thomas's _Mignon_, Verdi's _La Traviata_, Wagner's _Lohengrin_ (in Italian), Bellini's _La Sonnambula_, Verdi's _Rigoletto_, Meyerbeer's _Robert le Diable_ (in Italian), Rossini's _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, Boïto's _Mefistofele_, Ponchielli's _La Gioconda_, Bizet's _Carmen_, Thomas's 'Hamlet,' Flotow's 'Martha,' and Meyerbeer's _Les Huguenots_ and _Le Prophète_. Apart from Mme. Nilsson and Signor Campanini, the principal artists engaged were Marcella Sembrich--probably the greatest coloratura soprano since Patti--who afterward became very familiar to New Yorkers; Mme. Fursch-Madi, a French contralto, who had already sung in New Orleans; and M. Capoul, French tenor, who had appeared at the Academy under Maurice Strakosch in 1871. The company gave fifty-eight performances in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Washington, and Baltimore. Mr. Abbey's losses on the season have been estimated at more than $500,000. He had no ambition to undertake another one.

Colonel Mapleson, in the meantime, was holding on at the Academy, where he still retained Patti as the chief attraction, assisted by the fresh-voiced Etelka Gerster, then on the threshold of her career, Mme. Pappenheim, whom we have already met in German opera, Signor Nicolini,[48] a mediocre tenor, and Signor Galassi, a good baritone.

During this season, also, there occurred under his management the American operatic début of Mrs. Norton-Gower, afterward known as Mme. Nordica. The operas performed were Bellini's _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_, Rossini's _La Gazza ladra_, Donizetti's _L'Elisir d'amore_ and _Linda di Chamouni_, the Ricci brothers' _Crispino e la Comare_, Gounod's _Faust_, Flotow's _Martha_, Meyerbeer's _Les Huguenots_, and Verdi's _La Traviata_, _Rigoletto_ and _Aïda_.

In 1884 Leopold Damrosch submitted to the directors of the Metropolitan a proposition for a season of German opera under his management, and, _faute de mieux_, the directors acceded. Dr. Damrosch secured a very strong company, including Amalia Materna, who, in Bayreuth, had created the part of Kundry in _Parsifal_; Marianne Brandt, also known in Bayreuth; Marie Schroeder-Hanfstängel of the Frankfort Opera, a pupil of Mme Viardot-García and the chief coloratura singer of the company; Auguste Seidl-Krauss, wife of Anton Seidl, then conductor of the Stadt Theater in Bremen, and Anton Schott, a tenor of considerable reputation in Wagnerian rôles, whose explosive methods led von Bülow to describe him as a _Militärtenor_--_ein Artillerist_. The list of operas given included Wagner's _Tannhäuser_, Beethoven's _Fidelio_, Meyerbeer's _Les Huguenots_, Weber's _Der Freischütz_, Rossini's 'William Tell,' Wagner's _Lohengrin_, Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, Meyerbeer's _Le Prophète_, Auber's _La Muette de Portici_, Verdi's _Rigoletto_, Halévy's _La Juive_, and Wagner's _Die Walküre_. It is not surprising that the season was a pronounced success. The receipts up to the middle of January were double those of the corresponding period in the previous year, though the prices had been reduced considerably. But the season was brought to a tragic close and the cause of German opera in New York was set back many years by the unexpected death of Dr. Damrosch on February 15, 1885.

During the previous year a season of Italian opera had been given at the Star Theatre by James Barton Key and Horace McVicker with the Milan Grand Opera Company, recruited from Italian singers who had been stranded by the failure of operatic ventures in Mexico and South America. The only interesting feature of the season was the production of _Il Guarany_, a Spanish-American opera by Señor Gomez. Colonel Mapleson started his seventh season at the Academy on November 10, 1884. He still retained Patti and had annexed Scalchi and Fursch-Madi from Abbey's disbanded forces, but his season presented nothing of interest while it gave every evidence that his operatic reign in New York was drawing to a close. The season of 1885-86 was his last with the exception of a short attempt in 1896. He had lost Patti but he still presented a strong company, which included Alma Fohström, Minnie Hauck, and Mlle. Felia Litvinoff, better known as Madame Litvinne. The season ended in a dismal failure after twelve evening and four afternoon performances. With the exception of _Carmen_, _Fra Diavolo_, and _L'Africaine_ there was no variation from the stereotyped program of which New York must have been intensely sick. During a short return engagement, however, Mapleson's company gave Massenet's _Manon_ for the first time in America (Dec. 23, 1885).

A very much better showing was made by the German company, which gave a season during the same time at the Thalia Theatre under the management of Gustav Amberg and the conductorship of John Lund, a chorus master and assistant conductor under Dr. Damrosch at the Metropolitan. The repertory included _Der Freischütz_, Adam's _Le Postilion de Lonjumeau_, Nicolai's _Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor_, Victor Nessler's _Trompeter von Säkkingen_, and Maillart's _Les Dragons de Villars_ Germanized as _Das Glöckchen des Eremiten_. A light program, of course, but very refreshing. During the same season an American opera company made a loud attempt to do something, but it blew up with a bad odor of scandal before it went very far. Its artistic director was Theodore Thomas, and during its short existence it gave Goetz's 'Taming of the Shrew,' Gluck's _Orpheus_, Wagner's _Lohengrin_, Mozart's 'Magic Flute,' Nicolai's 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' Delibes' 'Lakmé',' Wagner's 'Flying Dutchman,' and Massé's 'Marriage of Jeanette'; Delibes' ballet 'Sylvia' was also performed. Considering this fine start, it is a very great pity the American Opera Company could not keep its head straight.

After the death of Dr. Damrosch the directors of the Metropolitan sent Edmund C. Stanton and Walter Damrosch to Europe to organize a company for a second season of German opera. The result was perhaps the finest operatic organization New York had yet seen. It included Lilli Lehmann, the greatest of all Wagnerian sopranos; Marianne Brandt, Emil Fischer, the inimitable 'Hans Sachs,' Auguste Seidl-Krauss, and Max Alvary, who set the matinee-idol fashion in operatic tenors. Anton Seidl was conductor and Walter Damrosch assistant conductor. The operas produced were Wagner's _Lohengrin_, _Die Walküre_, _Tannhäuser_, _Die Meistersinger_, and _Rienzi_, Meyerbeer's _Der Prophet_, Bizet's _Carmen_, Gounod's _Faust_, and Goldmark's _Die Königin von Saba_.

In the fall of 1885 there was a short season at the Academy of Music by the Angelo Grand Italian Opera Company. Angelo was a graduate of the luggage department of Mapleson's organization. His season lasted two weeks, during which he presented Verdi's _Luisa Miller_, _I Lombardi_, _Un Ballo in Maschera_, and _I due Foscari_, as well as Petrella's _Ione_. The American Opera Company, in the meantime, had been reorganized as the National Opera Company, which, still under the directorship of Theodore Thomas, gave performances in English at the Academy, the Metropolitan, and in Brooklyn. Among the interesting features of their program were Rubinstein's _Nero_, Goetz's _Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung_, Delibes' _Lakmé_, and a number of ballets, including Delibes' _Coppelia_. In the spring of 1887 Madame Patti appeared at the Metropolitan in a 'farewell' series of six operas under the management of Henry E. Abbey. She continued to make 'farewell' appearances for over twenty years.

The most notable features of the Metropolitan season of 1886-87 were the productions of Wagner's _Tristan und Isolde_, Beethoven's _Fidelio_, Goldmark's _Merlin_, and Brüll's _Das goldene Kreuz_. Notable, also, was the appearance of Albert Niemann, histrionically the greatest of all Tristans.[49] The season of 1887-88 saw the production of Wagner's _Siegfried_ and _Götterdämmerung_, besides Nessler's _Der Trompeter von Säkkingen_, Weber's Euryanthe, and Spontini's _Ferdinand Cortez_. There were two consecutive representations of the entire _Ring des Nibelungen_ during the season of 1888-89, the only novelty being _Das Rheingold_. _Der fliegende Holländer_, _Un Ballo in Maschera_, _Norma_, and Cornelius's _Der Barbier von Bagdad_ were added to the list in his season of 1889-90.

Outside the Metropolitan there was a season of German opera at the Thalia Theatre in 1887, the prima donna being Frau Herbert-Förster, the wife of Victor Herbert. The list of operas offered was commonplace. In 1888 the National Opera Company, without Theodore Thomas but with a distinguished tenor in Barton McGuckin, gave a short and unsuccessful season at the Academy of Music. A notable event of the same year was the first performance in America of Verdi's _Otello_ by a company brought from Italy by Italo Campanini. The enterprise failed, partly owing to the incompetence of the tenor, Marconi, who was cast for the title rôle, and partly owing to the fact that New Yorkers, for some peculiar reason, seem constitutionally incapable of appreciating Verdi in his greatest and least conventional works. Eva Tetrazzini, sister of the more famous Luisa, was the Desdemona of the occasion.

The only performance of Italian opera in New York during the season of 1888-89 was a benefit for Italo Campanini at which he appeared with Clémentine de Vère in _Lucia di Lammermoor_. During the season of 1889-90 some performances of opera in English were given by the Emma Juch Opera Company at Oscar Hammerstein's Harlem Opera House, which was also the scene of a short postlude to the Metropolitan season by a company conducted by Walter Damrosch and including Lilli Lehmann. The Metropolitan in the meantime was occupied by a very strong Italian company under the management of Henry E. Abbey and Maurice Grau. The company included Patti, Albani, Nordica, and Tamagno,[50] with Arditi and Romualdo Sapio as conductors. Tamagno's presence meant, of course, the production of _Otello_, and this was the only interesting feature of the repertory. Patti was still singing a 'farewell' in the old hurdy-gurdy list.

The season of 1890-91 proved to be the end of German opera at the Metropolitan for some years. _Der fliegende Holländer_, _Tannhäuser_, _Lohengrin_, the _Ring_ operas (except _Das Rheingold_), _Tristan und Isolde_, and _Die Meistersinger_, Beethoven's _Fidelio_, Cornelius's _Der Barbier von Bagdad_, Bizet's _Carmen_, and Meyerbeer's _Le Prophète_, _Les Huguenots_, and _L'Africaine_ were chosen from the regular repertory, while the novelties were Alberto Franchetti's _Asraël_, Anton Smareglia's _Der Vasall von Szigeth_, and _Diana von Solange_ by His Royal Highness Ernest II, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The two first-named novelties were of slight account, while the last-named was so trivial as to lend color to the innuendos that the justly famed liberality of His Royal Highness in the matter of decorations was being exercised for the benefit of some persons not unknown at the Metropolitan.

V

For the season of 1891-92 the Metropolitan was leased to Messrs. Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau. The lessees brought together a brilliant company, including Lilli Lehmann, Emma Eames, Marie Van Zandt, Giula and Sophia Ravogli, Lillian Nordica, Emma Albani, Jean and Édouard de Reszke, and Jean Lassalle. Vianesi was conductor. Meyerbeer, Gounod, Bizet, Verdi, and the older Italians supplied the list of operas for the season, while _Lohengrin_, _Die Meistersinger_, _Der fliegende Holländer_, and _Fidelio_ were given (in Italian) as a sop to the 'German element.' The only novelties were Gluck's _Orfeo_ and Mascagni's _Cavalleria rusticana_, the latter having been given previously by two companies in English. A supplementary season in 1892 featured Patti in _Lucia_ and _Il Barbiere_. In the same year the Metropolitan was partially destroyed by fire.

The Metropolitan Opera House Company was reorganized in 1893 as the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company and made a new lease with Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, which, through various vicissitudes, lasted until Heinrich Conried took over the reins in 1902. Abbey died in 1896 and Grau remained at the head of affairs until Conried's advent. The season of 1893-4 presented nothing new except Mascagni's _L'Amico Fritz_, which did not make a sensation. There was, however, a sensation in the fascinating shape of Emma Calvé, whose _Carmen_ is an imperishably piquant memory with New York opera-goers. With Nellie Melba and Pol Plançon she was the chief newcomer of the season. A supplemental season presented Massenet's _Werther_. Otherwise there is only to note the _Carmen_ craze provoked by Calvé and a _Faust_ craze induced by the coincidence of Emma Eames, Jean de Reszke, and Plançon. The latter was so pronounced as to lend point to Mr. W. J. Henderson's witty characterization of the Metropolitan as the _Faustspielhaus_.

Calvé did not return for the season of 1894-5 and in her place came Zélie de Lussan, whom New Yorkers refused to accept as a suitable embodiment of Mérimée's heroine. Francesco Tamagno and Victor Maurel were the other noteworthy newcomers, while Luigi Mancinelli was the principal conductor. The important event of the season was the first performance of Verdi's _Falstaff_, and there was a new opera, _Elaine_, by the Argentine composer Herman Bemberg, a distinct anti-climax.

In the meantime, there were signs that a new order of things at the Metropolitan was much desired of a large section of the New York music-loving public. The Metropolitan had practically a monopoly of opera in the city and a few serious attempts had recently been made to break that monopoly. Oscar Hammerstein and Rudolph Aronson had rushed to the front with immature performances of _Cavalleria rusticana_ in 1891. The former, apparently, had already been inoculated with the managerial virus and in 1893 he opened his Manhattan Opera House on Broadway and Thirty-fourth Street. Moszkowski's _Boabdil_ and Beethoven's _Fidelio_ were the features of a season of two weeks which saw the beginning and end of that particular enterprise. Some performances in English were given at the Grand Opera House, beginning in May, 1893, and in the same year the Duff Opera Company presented an English version of Gounod's _Philémon et Baucis_.

There was, however, a demand of which these flimsy ventures took no account, and the credit for realizing it sufficiently to take chances on it goes to Walter Damrosch and Anton Seidl. The former took advantage of the presence in New York of Amalia Materna, Anton Schott, Emil Fischer, and Conrad Behrens to give representations of _Die Walküre_ and _Götterdämmerung_ at the Carnegie Music Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House, respectively. Further evidence of the strong Wagnerian tendency in New York was the success of an improvised performance of _Tannhäuser_ by the German Press Club. The next symptom of the movement was the organization of a Wagner Society to support a season of Wagner operas at the Metropolitan. Unfortunately Seidl and Damrosch were rivals and could not agree on a plan by which they might give German opera together. Damrosch was able to secure subscriptions enough to insure him against loss, and, after the close of the Metropolitan season of 1894-95, he gave seventeen performances of opera with a middling company which included Johanna Gadski, then a novice, Marie Brema, Max Alvary, and Emil Fischer. The enterprise was devoted altogether to Wagner and was an immense success. Denied the use of the Metropolitan for another season, in 1896 Damrosch established himself at the Academy of Music with a strong company which numbered among its members Milka Ternina, Katherina Klafsky, Johanna Gadski, Max Alvary, and Emil Fischer. Besides the Wagner repertory he presented _Fidelio_, _Der Freischütz_, and his own opera, 'The Scarlet Letter,' based on Hawthorne's romance of that name. The second Damrosch season was a failure.

Before returning to the Metropolitan season of 1895-6 it may be mentioned that, on October 8, 1895, Sir Augustus Harris, of Covent Garden, presented at Daly's Theatre some 'beautiful music composed for the occasion' by 'Mr. Humperdinckel.' Sir Augustus was referring to Humperdinck's _Hänsel und Gretel_.[51] The Metropolitan season of 1895-96 was distinguished by an announcement that 'the management [had] decided to add a number of celebrated German artists and to present Wagner operas in the German language, all of which operas will be given with superior singers, equal to any who have ever been heard in the German language.' The 'number of celebrated German artists,' however, materialized into three, of whom only Marie Brema could even by poetic license be characterized as 'superior.' Calvé returned to glad the hearts of _Carmen_ lovers, and, except for the addition of Mario Ancona, a sterling bass, the other principals remained the same as in the preceding season. Anton Seidl was conductor. Unquestionably the event of the season was Jean de Reszke's presentation of Tristan in the soft-toned vesture of _bel canto_. De Reszke, of course, was too great an artist to turn the character into an Italian stage lover, but he did present a vocally mellifluous Tristan and his methods have influenced all subsequent interpreters of the rôle. Two acts of Bizet's _Pêcheur de Perles_, Massenet's _Navarraise_ (with Calvé), and Boïto's _Mefistofele_ were other interesting features of the season.

In the fall of 1896 Colonel Mapleson made a short reappearance at the Academy of Music. He still retained his bad taste in choosing a répertoire, but he provided one novelty in the shape of Giordano's _Andrea Chénier_. After the opening of the Metropolitan season he moved to Boston, where his orchestra went on strike and his American career ended forever. The loss of Mme. Nordica by disagreement and of Mme. Klafsky and Mr. Alvary by death was a handicap to the Metropolitan in the beginning of its season of 1896-97. Before the season had closed Melba injured her voice singing Brünnhilde and had to retire; Eames was compelled to undergo an operation, and Castelmary fell stricken with heart disease during a performance of _Tristan und Isolde_. In spite of which the season managed to run its allotted span. The only novelty was Massenet's _Le Cid_.

There was no Metropolitan season in 1897-98, but Walter Damrosch and Charles A. Ellis gave a series of German and Italian operas at that house in January and February, 1898, with an excellent company, which included Melba, Nordica, Gadski, Marie Mattfeld, Emil Fischer, David Bispham, and Giuseppe Campanari. In May of the same year the Milan Royal Opera Company, of La Scala, recruited chiefly from Mexico and South America, introduced New York to Puccini's _La Bohème_. The opera was again produced later in the year at the Casino by another Italian company and in English at the American Theatre by Henry W. Savage's Castle Square Opera Company.

Melba and Sembrich came back to the Metropolitan for the season of 1898-99 and among the newcomers were Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Suzanne Adams, Ernest Van Dyck, Albert Saleza, and Anton Van Rooy. Nordica, Eames, Lehmann, Mantelli, the brothers de Reszke, Pol Plançon, David Bispham, and Andreas Dippel were also in the company--altogether a very brilliant assemblage. The only novelty was Mancinelli's _Ero e Leandro_. Antonio Scotti was a newcomer in the season of 1899-1900, which was also distinguished by a visit from Ernst von Schuch, director of the opera at Dresden, who conducted two performances of _Lohengrin_. Before the opening of the following season the Metropolitan English Grand Opera Company, promoted by Henry W. Savage and Maurice Grau, gave a series of operas in English with a tolerably good repertory and a very good list of singers. Savage's Castle Square Company had already brought forward earlier in the year a novelty in the shape of Spinelli's _A basso Porto_, and at the Metropolitan he produced for the first time Goring-Thomas's 'Esmeralda.'

For the season of 1900-01 Milka Ternina came to the Metropolitan and New York was introduced to Louise Homer, Lucienne Bréval, Fritzi Scheff, the inimitable and much-lamented Charles Gilibert, Imbart de la Tour, Robert Blass, and Marcel Journet. Mancinelli was still conductor. The novelties were Puccini's _La Tosca_ and Ernest Reyer's _Salammbo_. Of the newcomers for 1901-02 the only one that calls for mention is Albert Reiss, whose Mime and David still delight New York Wagner lovers. Isidore de Lara's _Messaline_ and Paderewski's _Manru_ were the novelties, and there was also a gala performance in honor of Prince Henry of Prussia, which was one of the most elaborate displays of snobbery ever staged in America. Walter Damrosch, Signor Sepilli, and M. Flon were the conductors. Alfred Hertz came over as conductor of German opera for the season of 1902-03, and has remained a distinctly reliable asset to the Metropolitan ever since. The only novelty of that season was Ethel Smyth's _Der Wald_, though Verdi's _Ernani_ and _Un Ballo in Maschera_ had been strangers for so long that they were novelties in effect. Before the opening of the season Mascagni favored New York with a visit and produced at the Metropolitan his own operas _Zanetto_, _Cavalleria rusticana_, and _Iris_. His enterprise was not successful.

VI

Maurice Grau was compelled through ill health to retire from the management of the Metropolitan during the season of 1902-03 and before the opening of the next season the reins passed to Heinrich Conried, a native of Austria, who had already made an enviable reputation as manager of the German theatre in Irving Place and of various German and English comic opera companies. Conried was an excellent impresario. For his first season he annexed Enrico Caruso, Olive Fremstad, and Otto Goritz, and brought over Felix Mottl as conductor, besides retaining Sembrich, Eames, Calvé, Homer, Scotti, Plançon, Journet, Campanari, and other Grau stars. Everything else he did before or since, however, was overshadowed by his production of _Parsifal_ on December 24, 1913. Whether his action was artistically and ethically justified or whether, as many believed, it was a violation of the sacred shrine of Bayreuth, is not a question pertinent to this narrative. But there is no doubt that his motives in staging the opera were purely commercial and the manner in which he advertised it was productive of unfortunate results which cheapened Wagner's solemn art-work beyond expression. For purposes of record it may be noted that in this first American production of _Parsifal_ Milka Ternina was the Kundry, Alois Burgstaller the Parsifal, Anton Van Rooy the Amfortas, Robert Blass the Gurnemanz, Otto Goritz the Klingsor and Marcel Journet the Titurel. Alfred Hertz conducted. Prompted by the tremendous publicity given to _Parsifal_, Henry W. Savage hawked it in an English version all over the country. A much-touted novelty; a variant from the small-time vaudeville, from the eternal stock company, from eternal boredom; a cross between a church meeting and a circus! Such was _Parsifal_ to the shirt-sleeved communities of America from coast to coast. It was a sad spectacle--the saddest perhaps in the artistic annals of this country.

In his second season Conried staged a rather too elaborate production of Strauss's _Die Fledermaus_, which he followed up in his third season with _Der Zigeunerbaron_. The production of _Hänsel und Gretel_ in the presence of the composer and the revival of Goldmark's _Königin von Saba_ were creditable features of the third season. In 1906-07 Mr. Conried outshone himself and, whatever his motives, he stirred operatic New York then as it had perhaps never been stirred. To begin with, he produced Richard Strauss's setting of Oscar Wilde's _Salome_. Such a fluttering in the moral dovecotes has rarely been seen. Ever meticulously careful of its spotless purity, New York protested violently against the 'shocking exhibition' and, after the first performance, the directors of the Metropolitan issued the following notice: '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.'

However, the bad taste left by _Salome_ in the mouths of the Metropolitan Opera House patrons was presumably removed by the gala productions of Puccini's _Manon Lescaut_ and _Madama Butterfly_ in the presence of the composer. The former had already been given by an Italian company at Wallack's Theatre in 1898 and the latter in English by Savage's company at the Garden Theatre in 1906. Other novelties of the season were Berlioz's _La Damnation de Faust_ and Giordano's _Fedora_. In the season of 1907-8 the only novelty was Francesco Cilea's _Adriana Lecouvreur_. The season was otherwise notable for the presence of Gustav Mahler, then conductor of the Court Opera, Vienna, who gave extraordinary readings of _Don Giovanni_, _Fidelio_, _Tristan und Isolde_, and _Die Walküre_.

Conried resigned from the Metropolitan management in February, 1908. His managerial career was certainly extraordinary; he thoroughly stirred New York's turgid operatic waters. The list of artists introduced by him is a brilliant one. Besides the names already mentioned it includes Bella Alten, Lina Cavalieri, Geraldine Farrar, Marie Mattfeld, Bessie Abbott, Marie Rappold, Berta Morena, Carl Burrian, Allessandro Bonci, Riccardo Martin, and the great Russian basso, Theodore Chaliapine.

In the meantime Oscar Hammerstein, who had made various immature attempts to break into the operatic field, built a new Manhattan Opera House, which he opened in December 3, 1906, for a season of opera which closed on April 20, 1907. His high sounding promises were not taken seriously by musical New York, but the achievements of his first season changed that attitude materially. True, the list of operas brought forward is not inspiring. It included _I Puritani_, _Rigoletto_, _Faust_, _Don Giovanni_, _Carmen_, _Aïda_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, _Il Trovatore_, _La Traviata_, _L'Elisir d'amore_, _Gli Ugonotti_ (_Les Huguenots_), _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, _La Sonnambula_, _Cavalleria rusticana_, _Mignon_, _I Pagliacci_, _Dinorah_, _Un Ballo in Maschera_, _La Bohème_, _Fra Diavolo_, _Marta_, and _La Navarraise_. But the significant fact is that Mr. Hammerstein had the courage to start a season of opera on an elaborate scale in opposition to the Metropolitan and without the support of 'society.' His success demonstrated the feasibility of such an enterprise and gave an impetus to the growth of public interest in opera, of which others are now reaping the benefit. He was rather unfortunate in his repertory, but he was more fortunate in his selection of artists. Among them were Melba, Calvé, Regina Pinkert, Bressler-Gianoli, Giannina Russ, Eleanora de Cisneros, Allessandro Bonci, Maurice Renaud, the greatest of French baritones, Charles Dalmorès, Charles Gilibert, Mario Ancona and Vittorio Arimondi. He was additionally fortunate in securing Cleofonte Campanini as conductor.

For his second season Mr. Hammerstein added to his forces Lillian Nordica, Mary Garden, Emma Trentini, Alice Zeppilli, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Giovanni Zenatello, Amadeo Bassi, Mario Sammarco, Hector Dufranne, Adamo Didur, and several others of lesser note, besides retaining his principals of the preceding season, with the exception of Calvé and Bonci. Before the season closed he also presented Luisa Tetrazzini. The first production in America of Charpentier's _Louise_ and Debussy's _Pelléas et Mélisande_ were notable results of a new policy which was to make the Manhattan Opera House _par excellence_ the home of French opera in New York. Other French operas on the list for the same season were _Carmen_, Berlioz's _La Damnation de Faust_, Offenbach's _Les Contes d'Hoffmann_, a revival, Gounod's _Faust_, and Massenet's _Thaïs_ and _La Navarraise_. The Italian list departed from the hackneyed a little by the inclusion of Giordano's _Siberia_ and _Andrea Chénier_ and of the Ricci brothers' _Crispino e la Comare_.

After the resignation of Mr. Conried from the Metropolitan, Giulio Gatti-Casazza and Andreas Dippel were appointed managers. The former had been director of La Scala in Milan, and the latter for several years had been a prominent and versatile member of the Metropolitan company. Apparently the design in conjoining them was to give equal representation to the Italian and German sides of the house. The results for the season 1908-9 were very pleasing and there was a good admixture of Italian and German operas, without any startling revolution in the general character of the repertory. The novelties were d'Albert's _Tiefland_, Smetana's _Die Verkaufte Braut_, Catalini's _La Wally_, and Puccini's _Le Villi_, while there were revivals of Massenet's _Manon_, Mozart's _Nozze di Figaro_, and Verdi's _Falstaff_. The most notable addition to the Metropolitan forces was Arturo Toscanini, who came from La Scala as conductor of Italian opera. Hertz and Mahler remained as conductors of German opera, though Toscanini led performances of _Götterdämmerung_ and _Tristan und Isolde_ with apparent gusto and brilliant success. Among the new singers were Emmy Destinn, Frances Alda, Bernice di Pasquali, Marion Flahaut, Pasquale Amato, Adamo Didur, and Carl Jörn.

In the same season Mr. Hammerstein brought forward a number of interesting novelties, including Saint-Saëns's _Samson et Dalila_, Massenet's _Le Jongleur de Notre Dame_, and the _Princesse d'Auberge_ of Jan Blockx. He also had the hardihood to produce _Salome_, and its success seems to indicate that the squeamishness of New York's moral stomach had, by some strange process, entirely disappeared. Except for _Otello_ there was nothing else of particular interest in his list. During the season of 1909-10 he produced Strauss's _Electra_ and Massenet's _Hérodiade_, _Grisélidis_, and _Sappho_. In addition he made experiments with _opéra comique_, presenting Maillart's _Les Dragons de Villars_, Planquette's _Les Cloches de Corneville_, Audran's _La Mascotte_, Donizetti's _La Fille du Régiment_, and Lecocq's _La Fille de Madame Angot_. The most notable acquisitions to his forces in this season were Madame Mazarin, a French dramatic soprano of fine talent, Lina Cavalieri, and John McCormack, the Irish lyric tenor. He no longer had the services of Campanini, his principal conductor being the Belgian de la Fuente. After the close of the season he sold out to the Metropolitan interests and entered into an agreement with them not to give grand opera in New York city for ten years.

The season of 1909-10 at the Metropolitan had a number of unusual features. The most prominent of them was the appearance of a Russian troupe of dancers headed by Anna Pavlova and Mikail Mordkin. Another departure was a series of performances at the New Theatre, a beautiful house originally designed to give drama under somewhat the same auspices as prevailed at the Metropolitan. The operas given at the New Theatre were, on the whole, works of a light and intimate character, such as _Fra Diavolo_, _La Fille de Madame Angot_, Flotow's _Stradella_, Lortzing's _Czar und Zimmermann_ and Pergolesi's[?] _Il Maestro di Capella_. Nineteen operas, three ballets, and a pantomime were presented at this house. At the Metropolitan thirty-seven were produced, the chief novelties being Franchetti's _Germania_, Tschaikowsky's _Pique Dame_, Frederick S. Converse's 'Pipe of Desire' (the first production of an American opera at the Metropolitan), and Bruneau's _L'Attaque du Moulin_. There was a splendid revival of Gluck's _Orfeo ed Eurydice_ under Toscanini.

After the close of the season Mr. Dippel left the Metropolitan to assume the direction of the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company, which was formed chiefly of artists from Mr. Hammerstein's disbanded forces. During the season of 1910-11 he gave a subscription series of French operas at the Metropolitan on Tuesday evenings from January to April. The novelties of the series were Victor Herbert's _Natoma_, Wolff-Ferrari's _Il Segreto di Susanna_, and Jean Nougues' _Quo Vadis?_ The regular Metropolitan season saw the first production on any stage of Puccini's _La Fanciulla del West_ and Humperdinck's _Königskinder_, in the presence of their respective composers. Dukas' _Ariane et Barbe-Bleue_ had its American première and there was also a brilliant revival of Gluck's _Armide_.

The seasons of 1911-12, 1912-13, and 1913-14 at the Metropolitan have been notable chiefly for the first performance in America of Horatio W. Parker's 'Mona,' which was awarded the prize offered by the Metropolitan directors for the best opera by an American composer. Thuille's _Lobetanz_, Wolff-Ferrari's _Le Donne Curiose_, Leo Blech's _Versiegelt_, Walter Damrosch's _Cyrano de Bergerac_, Victor Herbert's _Madeleine_, Moussorgsky's _Boris Godounoff_, Strauss's _Rosenkavalier_, Charpentier's _Julien_, Montemezzi's _L'Amore dei tre re_, and Wolf-Ferrari's _L'Amore medico_ were the other novelties. Among the new singers engaged for those seasons were Lydia Lipkowska, Frieda Hempel, Margarete Ober, Lucrezia Bori, Margarete Matzenauer, Hermann Jadlowker, Leo Slezak, Carl Burrian, Jacques Urlus, Hermann Weil, Heinrich Hensel, and Giovanni Martinelli. During 1914-15 Melanie Kurt, Wagnerian soprano, and Elisabeth Schumann were added to the list of singers, and the novelties were Giordano's _Madame Sans-Gêne_ and Leoni's _L'Oracolo_. The season's sensation was a revival of _Carmen_ with Farrar.

* * * * *

In 1913 a project was launched through the initiative of the City Club of New York to establish a regular stock opera company which would provide good opera at popular prices. The project was supported by the Metropolitan directors--especially by Otto H. Kahn, chairman of the board--and a guarantee was secured sufficient to cover any deficit which the company might suffer in the beginning. As there was considerable doubt whether New York would support opera in English it was decided to make the experiment of giving operas in their original language and in English on different nights. Messrs. Milton and Sargent Aborn were entrusted with the management of the new enterprise and they were assisted materially by the coöperation of the Metropolitan in the matter of scenery and other accessories. The company was selected on the principle of securing a good, well-balanced ensemble and avoiding any approach to the 'star' system.

Rarely has an operatic enterprise been launched under more favorable auspices. It had the enthusiastic and unanimous endorsement of the press, the lively interest of the public, the backing of many of the wealthiest and most influential men in New York, as well as the quasi-official support of the city itself through the City Club. Finally, it was installed in the beautiful Century (formerly New) Theatre. Naturally, its first season was to a large extent an experiment and there was every reason to suppose that the faults disclosed would quickly be remedied. But the Century enterprise quickly succeeded in proving two very important facts, viz., that there is in New York a large public eager for good opera at popular prices and that this public wants opera in the English language.

The season was not far advanced before it became apparent that what we may call the Opera-in-English nights were more extensively patronized than the performances of operas in their original language, and the management accordingly reduced the performances in a foreign language to one a week. The success of the enterprise was sufficiently indicated by the public demand which was so unexpectedly great--especially for the cheaper seats--that after the close of the season the capacity of the house had to be increased to 1,800 seats.

The répertoire of the Century Opera Company during its first season included _Aïda_, _La Gioconda_, 'Tales of Hoffmann,' _Il Trovatore_, _Thaïs_, _Louise_, _Faust_, _La Tosca_, _Lucia_, 'Samson and Delilah,' 'Madam Butterfly,' 'The Bohemian Girl,' 'Romeo and Juliet,' _Rigoletto_, 'Haensel and Gretel,' _Cavalleria rusticana_, _Pagliacci_, _Manon_, _Lohengrin_, 'The Secret of Suzanne,' 'The Jewels of the Madonna,' _Tiefland_, 'Martha,' and 'Natoma.' The conductors were Alfred Szendrei and Carlo Nicosia. For its season of 1914-15 the Century considerably strengthened its forces, and particularly the orchestra, and it added a number of experienced singers to its roll. Most of its artists, it may be remarked, were Americans. The new conductors were Agide Jacchia, late of the Montreal Opera Company, and Ernst Knoch, who was formerly assistant to Richter, Bolling and others at Bayreuth. Jacques Coini, probably the most artistic stage director New York has had in connection with opera, was engaged in that capacity by the Century Company. The répertoire was largely that of the first season with the addition of _La Bohème_, 'Carmen,' and 'William Tell.' Of the entire list, ten were chosen by popular vote. Altogether the quality of the performances was considerably improved, most of the crudities of the first season being eliminated. But financially the enterprise, like all preceding efforts in the same direction, was not successful and the general support did not warrant the continuance of Mr. Kahn's subsidy, and consequently performances were suspended in the spring of 1915. Some sort of revival of the enterprise is devoutly to be hoped for.

W. D. D.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] This was Manuel del Popolo Vicente García, father of Manuel García, the famous teacher, and of Maria Felicita García, who became Madame Malibran.

[39] Da Ponte was the first professor of Italian at Columbia University, though he bore the title only by courtesy. He really did valuable work in promoting the study of Italian literature,

## particularly of Dante, in this country. His part in the promotion of

Italian opera in New York was also far from a small one, as we shall see.

[40] Translated and quoted by Dr. Ritter, _op. cit._, Chap. X.

[41] William Michael Rooke was the son of a Dublin tradesman named Rourke or O'Rourke and was to a large extent a self-taught musician. For a time he taught the violin and pianoforte in Dublin--among his pupils on the former instrument being Balfe--and later he was chorus-master at Drury Lane under Tom Cooke, leader at Vauxhall under Sir Henry Bishop, and a conductor of oratorios at Birmingham. 'Amalie' was produced with success at Covent Garden in 1837.

[42] The operas given during Palmo's first season were Bellini's _I Puritani_, _Beatrice di Tenda_, and _La Sonnambula_; Donizetti's _Belisario_ and _L'Elisir d'Amore_; and Rossini's _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_ and _L'Italiana in Algieri_. During the second season were given Donizetti's _Lucia di Lammermoor_, _Lucrezia Borgia_, and _Belisario_; Rossini's _Sémiramide_ and _La Cenerentola_; Bellini's _Il Pirata_; and Luigi Ricci's _Chiara de Rosenberg_.

[43] The novelties were Strakosch's _Giovanna di Napoli_ and Donizetti's _Parisina_ and _Maria di Rohan_, while there was an oasis in the desert in the shape of _Freischütz_. When his lease at the Astor Place house expired Maretzek continued his operatic career in a more or less irregular way at Castle Garden and Niblo's. He produced Verdi's _Luisa Miller_ for the first time in America at the former place and at the latter he introduced Meyerbeer's _Prophète_.

[44] Bergmann became conductor of the Arion in 1859. The society was formed in 1854 by seceding members from the Deutscher Liederkranz.

[45] Campanini, in the opinion of Philip Hale, was a greater tenor than either de Reszke, de Lucia, or Tamagno. He was a brother of Cleofonte Campanini, recently musical director of the Chicago Opera Company. Nilsson came here in 1870, after having made a big reputation in Europe. A winsome personality and a voice of sweet quality, great compass, and even register, but of moderate power, were her chief assets. 'Elsa,' 'Margaret,' 'Mignon,' and 'Donna Elvira' were her most successful rôles.

[46] Offenbach has described his American experiences in his _Notes d'un musicien en voyage_, 1877.

[47] There is, of course, no intention of belittling the splendid operatic achievements which followed the action of these gentlemen in founding the Metropolitan company. But we have serious grounds for questioning the ultimate value of an artistic enterprise undertaken by a group of financiers as a sort of luxurious toy.

[48] Nicolini was Patti's husband and she refused to sing when he was not also engaged. There is a story that she had two prices: one for herself alone and another about 25 per cent. less for herself and Nicolini.

[49] Niemann sang Siegmund at the first Bayreuth festival.

[50] Francesco Tamagno was to a large extent a one-part tenor. He created the title rôle in _Otello_, and in that rôle he has never been surpassed.

[51] We have the authority of Mr. H. E. Krehbiel, who is our guide for much of this chapter.

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