New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-29
at wise ends, and deserving Of the most asre
full consideration OF thoughtful citzons.
VAR AT TILE WINGS.


relsome. The manager has been cross. Tho
public has been cold Every possible mishap
seems to have followed the enterprise. The
proverbial jealousies Of rival prima dODnas and
competing tenors have ragged with unwonted
fury. Torriani laughs at Missions sore throat,
and Campanini and Capoul boot at each other
from the boxes And then into the midst of
this pretty row rushes tho Chicago reporter,
notebook in hand, asking everybOdys private
opinion of everybody else, and printing conf
dential conversations with that charming dis
regard of consequences and contempt Tor
prOpriety which have given the American in
teryiewer 80 brilliant q reputation from
one end of the world to the other. We need not
say that this ingenious person has added fuel
to the flames, and stirred up enough envy,
hatred, and unchartableness to mako the
green-room a perfect pandemonium-ifi it were
the custom of opera singers to frequent that
dismal and much misunderstood place. Mr.
Strakosch complains Of the WITNESSES OF
Madame Nilsson, and describes her al "a
"shrewd business woman who counts the
tickets from the box" to be sure that she is
not cheated. She ruined the season in Phila-
delpha; and az for NJ. Rouzeaud, he is insult
ferable. Husbands are fifty times as trouble
"some "a ACCOMPLISHMENTS always excepted.
"Tbe agent makes trouble but he is not an
"ass.r All this goes into the paper-tO the
great delight, Of course, of M and Madame
Rouzeaud-and both those persons are then
invited to give their private opinion OF MIR.
Strakoscb. NJ. Rouzeaud says little, but that
little ia unpleasant Madame Nilsson Rouzeaud
accuses Mr. Strakosch of breaking faith with
the public, by announcing that she would APP
pear when he knew that she would not MIR.
Strakosch replies that it is no such thing. Then
somebody starts O rumOr that the manager
has been seen brandshing chair over the
head of Mile. TOrriani, and of PUSHES
breathless reporter to interview the young
lady at the Grand Pacific Hotel There IL no
truth in the chair; but Mile. Torriani has
much to say about the troublesome disposition
of Mime. Nilsson and the shocking rudeness OF
the manager, and concludes with the opinion
that Mr.. StIakOsch is a "plag guard" by way
of making things comfortable all around, this
conversation is published also; and we now
wait for the opinion of Strakosch on the
manners and personal appearance OF Torrlanl.
Campanini detests Maure, Nannetti and Del
Puente hate the diva. French will not speak
to Italian, and Italian ridcules French. The
one member of the troupe who speaks no evil
and whom everybody likes is Miss Cary. Dir.
Strakosch calls her jewel, and the persistent
reporter after buzzng her for whole even
ING. cannot extort from her single ILL
natured remark.
This wretched lot of falsehoOd, scandal and
gossip began with the Nilsson interview re-
ported in The Chicago Times, from which we
gave an extract last week. A great deal OF
the interview was pure invention, but out OF the
mass of lies and malice we did extract some
thing valuable, to wit, Madame Missions opin-
ion of her own Marguerite and MignOn so,
too, out of the subsequent quarrels and imper-
tipepces we gather few interesting obserVa-
lions by Mr.. StrakOSch upon management as
a business He makes a ,grotesquely exagge-
rated statement of the weekly expenses OF his
opera company. which he sets at S1o.55O, but
az he no doubt exaggerates the receipts IN
equal ratio that makes very little difference.
II il evident that the margin of profit Is small
in comparison with the risk, and that the
cost of prima donna Is absurdly
out of proportion to the other ex-
penses. Mr.. Strakosch tells us for instance
that Adelina Patti is to receive when she
comes to America 10000 francs for every per-
formance, besides the travelling expenses of
six persons If this is done, we may depend
upon it that Madame Patti will sing with
cheap company there will be no money left
for tenors, bartOnes, BASES, chorus, orchestra,
or properties; we shall have shabby and care
less and mutilated representations, - exhibit
tions of a single star, rather than decent ana
conscientious opera. This is the system which
Mr.. Strakosch pursued in 1912 and Mr.
Maretzek in 1928, and they both made
money. This season Mr.. StrakOsch tried to
do something better, and he has lost. Of
course the panic is partly responsible for his
misfortunes; but after all due allowance has
been made for the effect of the commercial
depression, the fact remains that the demands
of great soprano singers nowadays are tax
which the opera can hardly bear except under
unusually favorable conditions, upon which no
man has a right to count.
There seems to be disposit ion now on the
part of managers to combine in their own
defense. The Strakosch brothers, in partner
ship with Merelli, already control four or five
of the best paying opera houses In the world,
and they make no secret Of their purpose, as
soon as some further arrangements are COM
pleted, to cut down the salaries Of prima
donnas. When they are masters of Paris, St.
Petersburg Moscow, Vienna, New-YOrk, and
few smaller places, they can dictate their
own terms. London will not compete with
them. because the season of opera there is the
Spring and early Summer, and moreover eye
and Mapleson in London are understood to
purpose relying much more hereafter upon
Young and cheap artists than upon the great