The record-union., 1897-06-13

aters take in in the season? l can't
say; no one can. 1 am willing to make
a guess, however Let us try TO go
about this problem in a systematic way
We will, for the sake of convenience,
divide the theaters into four classes
Broadway, combination, variety and
miscellaneous.
BY Broadway houses 1 mean the
aters of the very first class on or ad-
jacent to Broadway. There are thir-
teen of these, and their seating capac-
ity runs from T57 to 1000. In my opln-
ion, five have been very successful, four
have done fairly we'll and four poorly
The theatrical season in this city is OF
about thirty-five weeks duration.
"One of the houses / mention, by long
odds the most successful will probably
average receipts of $4,000 a week. The
least successful has averaged, say SZ'
200 This estimate l expect will souno
small to those who are not in posi-
ton to know the real condition OF al
fairs, but I believe it is very nearly
right.
THE theaters of the second class,
that is. the combination houses, Where
the bill is changed every week, nave
averaged about 81, 500. About ten come
under this heading. The estimate mere
given would be considerably higher eX-
cent for the fact that one or two or
these houses have played to very poor
business and have steadily lost hloiieS-
..The class comprising the music halls
and variety theaters Is not 50 easy u
dispose of off hand. Some of them nave
done remarka bly, we'll, and others nave
hardly paid expenses. Another Iactor
comes in play here-the sale OF drinks
and cigars-and in certain houses thls
is very material. knowing the cohul-
tions. | should guess that the average
business done at these places of amuse-
ment would be in the neighborhood
of So, 500 a week.
..This average is struck between
twelve theaters that are on the bow
cry and on Eighth avenue, as well as
more fashionable thoroughfares. Inc
music halls are very deceptive, and
their press agents worse.
This brings US to the miscellaneous
class. and in its wide range II includes
grand opera, concerts, German the-
aters. Hebrew theaters, roof gardens
and other summer shows. benefits and
the like. With a little lightning calcu-
lation and keen knowledge of math-
ematics you will find that $6,O0OOUO
is not an unreasonab bic estimate for the
years business-this years, you under
stand"
Some years ago the late Max Maret-
eek related the following in news
INT The first time | saw
Adelina Patti was when she was
years old She came now and then
to concerts where her mother sang. l
remember one occasion when Norma
was played; Patti Barrili sang Norma,
Amalia Patti sang Adalgesa, and little
Adelina sang one of the babies. Five
or six years later, when Jenny Lind
was all the rage, Adelina knew almost
all her songs. One day l had re-
hearsal for a concert at Tripler Hall,
where the Grand Central Hotel now
stands / suggested to Patti Barili to
let little Adelina sing a few songs of
Jenny Lind's. She overheard me. "Will
I get a -hatful of bonbons if / go on and
sing, Mr. MAXI" she asked. l said
Yes" and Adelina was happy. When
the evening of the concert came and
the time for little Adelina to go ar
rived, l had forgotten all about the
bonbons The girl had not forgotten.
Where are my candies, Mr.. MAXI" 1
said had forgotten them; 1 would
give. them to her next day. No,
she wouldn't go on without those bon
bons l was in despair. 1t was late.
The candy stores were closed. Finally,
I ran to neighbOring hotel, where
the pastry cook gave me some of the
sweets that were as necessary to make
Patti go on then as checks proved
necessary in later years. l returned
and Adelina took the candies. Hold
them for me, mamma, she said, and on
she went and sang. This was in 1853,
and I think this was Adelina PATHS
first appearance.
According to a communication to the
"Magazin fur Literatur" by ]. V. Wild
mann. the late Johannes Brahms was
in 1880 and in later years seriously con-
sidering the advisa bility of writing an
opera. He felt specially attracted to
some of Gozzi's comedies, notably ''An
Open Secret" When Widmann called
his attention to the difficulty created
by the playful acrostic verses Brahms
replied that this very difficulty tempted
him to make a trial. He believed that
the acrostic gambols could be initiated
in tones and thus made more obvious
than they are in the spoken drama. He
preferred Gozzis version of the open
Secret" to Calderon's original, and be-
lieved that, turned into a libretto, it
would resemble MoZart's Figaro" in
style
A friend of Brahms asked him one
day how he went about inventing melo-
dies. Il should like to know that my
self" he replied; Il suddenly find in
my head the germ of melody 1 pay
no attention to it. But it grows and
grows and presently the song is there.
But all this goes on so unconsciously
that I often have to ask myself wheth-
er l really invented the melody"
The French critics speak in fatter-
ing terms of Mr.. Nikisch and his or
ehestra. The Temps" affects surprise
at the absence of a certain German
ponderation, which had been expected,
and attributes this absence in part to
the NiNHElHS eHect OI the HdflS atmOS-
phere % and in part to the magnetism
of the conductor, whose passion
seems to be Ito discover this and that
detail in the musical woof which is
usually overlooked" The first Nikisch
concert took place Immediately after
the recent catastrophe in Paris The
programme included the "Eroica" sym
phony, and in view of that sad event
Nikisch made his men stand up while
playing the funeral marcia mark Of