The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-11-18

rho -Four Great Opcrstfc Ccntres-The
Metropolis in tho Background
New York, the metropolis Of the country,
has been surpassed In opera by the city OF
Chicago, which has sprung up as quickly and
blossoms as beautifully as a prairie flower. In
stead Of ranking with London, Paris and St.
Petersburg az one Of the four great 0peratic
centres of the world, we are forced to assume
q secondary position. and . comparatively in
significant Western town pushes boldly for
ward into the front rank. Although we are
the centre Of civilization, Of refinement, of COM
merce, Of business, Of society and Of the arts,
We are temporarily eclipsed in operate
matters by q city Of yesterday, mush-
room municipality, that suddenly starts
ahead Of us and leaves US far in the
background. We are thus disgraced, not only
in our own eyes, but In the eyes of Europe. 1t
il useless to endeavor to conceal the facts Of
the case, and we shall gain moro credit
abroad by frankly admitting them and
by diligently attempting to retrieve the
rank we have lost. What the enter
prise Hberality and tact Of single
i,auessario have done for Chicago we can
only Offset by the display Of equal energy and
ability. We must either offer Manager Grau
such inducements as will attract him to the
metropolis next season and retain him here
permanently, or we must create some other
manager, as we created Grau, to revive and
reform the opera In this city, and provide us
not only with first class artists and with good
- ~ hoIlo tu Int until
opera houses of convenient and comfortable
size and free from the pest and nuisance OF
couple Of hundred stockholders, who monopo-
lie all the best seats under pretence Of en-
couraging art
The criticisms by telegraph which we pub
lish from day to day show that the good people
Of Chicago know how to appreciate Manager
Grau and his triple company. They attire
themselves in full dress-that is to say, they
put on their best clothes-and crowd their new
opera house nightly. Our critic reports that
the building is in every way beautiful and ad-
mrably adapted for opera, and that it has but
one stockholder-a gentleman named Crosby
who erected and furnished the edifice out of
his own private means. According to the same
excellent authority the company which Man.
ager Crau has imported from Europe is one Of
the best ever heard in this country. Five
prima donnas, two contraltos, four tenors,
three baritones, four bassos and two con-
ductors, besides full orchestra and chorus,
make up very strong and efficient force
when, as in this case, they are all good actors
and good looking, and their voices are all
young and FRESH No wonder that the citizens
Of Chicago eagerly rush to see such singers
and to hear such singing. If troupe Of that
quality were to appear in this metropolis.
where we have grown 80 weary Of worn-out
organs and automaton artists, they would
cause q positive Juror. A few months ago the
people Of New York were very anxious for
opera. It was wittily remarked that they could
not be kept out Of the Academy even though
sticks were employed. But brief experience
convinced them that il was better to do with
out opera altogether than to undergo the
fatigue Of listening to execrably bad music,
and they are now obliged to envy the more
fortunate fashionables Of Chicago and endure
as best they can the modification Of being
outshone by the denizens Of the prairies So,
while New York is In the operate dumps, and
London is too busy with Fenianism to care
about opera, and the Empress Eugene and her
oeurt charitably desert their favorite amuse-
ments to visit the sufferers from the cholera,
and St Petersburg has not been heard from,
operatically, since the government withdrew
Its subvcntion, Chicago gallantly sustains her
self as one of the four great operate centres,
and with her new opera house, its liberal and
independent manager and bis triple company,
fairly carries of the palm and merits the
numerous compliments she receives.
II the striking contrast in operate affairs
between this metropolis and the leading city
of the West produces its legitimate effect, New
York will not be in the background very much
longer. Chicago has at least one citizen who
can afford to build an opera house out of his
own pocket and New York is certainly not
destitute OF equally wealthy and enterprising
gentlemen. As may be seen by an account
which we publish In another column, the
Messrs. Turner, Of Dayton, Ohio-a city Of not
moro than twenty-five or thirty thousand peo-
ple--have erected a similar ediHce without
calling upon the public for subscriptions. In
fact, opera houses are springing up all through
the West, and il we do not seize time by the
forelock and provide ourselves with comps-
tent artists and buildings to acoommo-
date them our operate inferiority will
become permanent Within the coming year
three or four new Hrst class theatres will be
opened, and lovers Of the good old English
drama and the lively and sparkling French
comedy will thus be amply gratihed; and there
Is no reason why two or three new opera
houses should not be- erected within the same
time II Chicago or Dayton can support one
opera house New York ought to support ct
least three The difficulty, however. would be