Complex sentence: The Irving's performance was sufficiently prominent in its first decade and a half of existence to prompt the "Ithaca Daily Democrat" to lament its "decline" under mechanical and engineering students pursuing "technical" interests in the mid- 1880s.
Split into simpler sentences: The Irving's performance was prominent in its first decade and a half of existence. So prominent that the "Ithaca Daily Democrat" lamented its "decline" under mechanical and engineering students pursuing "technical" interests in the mid- 1880s.