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.