The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-10-18
TO bar MASCAGNI PLAYERS
MCSTCAL UNION ASKS WTLLIiNS
10 PT 'YN or.
They're Isborers. Not Artists. ana should
BE Departed. says the nion- Made
One Conductor Tear His Hair Load
Of &nidH,its Tell ~ Other Awful Effects

Immigration Z cfniil- ~ err NiInAiil- may
have 10 stte'd Mascagni performanc"
a. tho Metropolitan Opera HOUSE, 10 decide
for himself whether the seventy foreign
musicians in the Italian composers on
chestra are artists or day laborers who must
I've derorted He has received stack of
affidav,s To the effect tina, the players are
not artists hut mere yiolat ora of the Ca
tract Llbor law. One Of th"se sworn state
nent. is to IN" effect that the PLAYING Of
Masca gni's men has caused not ID musician
10 throw up hi- hands I ar his hair AID
utter loud ordinations Of disgust.
But of course. there is anot her side To the
story, ard on Monday the Ellis Island ferry
boa, will take to commissioner Williams
oargo Of counter affidsy's 10 the effect that
every man in Mascag,i orchestra j. an
artist of the first clas- aud soloist of re-
novn in his own country. II the evidence
of the two patches of sworn stat one7t. j.
too conflicting. Commissioner Williams
will then 20 and hear the music himself
Tie AFFIDAVIT already filed are from mem
bprs of thN m steal lion, who have re-
tanned as counsel 10 fight the foreign fddlers.
and, il possible. have them deportod, Eu-
gene Trcadwsl of the law firm Of Hoadly,
Iautprl,sch 4 johnson
Treadwen Yesterday. were brought here
under contract by Mittenthai Bros 4
kronherg. and they are here in violation
OF the Alien Contract Lqhor law Their
first attempt at rehearsal under a tenn
porary Leader. before Mascagni arrived.
convinced all musical people who heard
them that they were utterly incompetent.
The re~ul, was that Mittonthal Bros.
prr,ra1a1 Ia Sahup Erankn aud p,aIa "a
written agreement for him to furnish GER
tain players That agreement wa. not
kept 10y Mascacui's manager. You see,
Mascagni', life, when he goes back to Italy.
would hardly bo safe if the Italian players
who had been brought over here were
thrown out, But so far a. artistic results
were concerned Mascagni would have
much preferred American players He
has said as much
one of the statements in Nahan Franko's
afi iayit l. that when he was asked by
httenthal Bros To engage certain PLAYERS,
he wa- told 10y the manager that h" must
charge his players not To disclose what
salary they We're TO get for their work
under MaSrdgni
M,tenthal Bros told me-" adds Frankie
in his affidavit, that II would not do for
the Italian PLAYERS to know how much
more money tho Americans We're getting,
because if they did they'd strike"
That statement from tranko, said Mr.
Trcaiwcll yesterday. il significant because
u shows that these Italians are not artists
but u.derpaid, common laborerS who have
lcen brought here 10 compete with native
musicians II that sOr' OF thing il TO be
allowed for a single season this country
will be without any native orchestra~
PLAYERS over here cannot live on the prices
paid to these incompetent foreigners, who
arc in no respect different from the common
laborers in the mines and on the streets.
We think everything of Mascagri a. a com
poser and leader We are sorry that he
has such managers.
Outside of MasCagni himself evervthin &
about the performance is cheap. Why.
even a stage carpenter al the Metropolitan
Opera House said Of the rehearsal: My
God! They drove mo mad There was one
riccolo player wanted tot throw my hammer
The would-be hammer thrower hasn't
fled an affidavit vet
The difficulty in this case" continued the
counsel for the native musicians. lis that
these work-a-day laborers got into the
country before we knew what they really
were. They should never have been al
lowed TO land. But the law provides that
the Secretary of the Treasury may deport
rioiators of The Alien law any time within
year after their arrival, and we'll try
10 have him put this lot out
IN addition To the afidavits Of musicians
We have fled with Commissioner Williams
tho ''icisms published in most of the
New York papers on the dav after he first
performances We have offered the criti
cisms in THE SrS and The Tribune as com
"0'ont arpert opiriors 49, - ,,uaIity
of the music. All Of these criticisms We're
favorable 10 Mascagni himself and 10 his
music. bur they were practically unanimous
In heir adverse crit iciSms Of the orchestra"
Ono Of the affidavits fled j. by Henry
schroeder, who. after qualifying an eN-
PER- by saving that he has been a musician
for many years under Thomas. DamroSch
and Seidl. declares that the import ed
musicians ARE not only not art lists, but
wav below tho average Of routine players
and are very Young and inexperienced
PLAYERS
L. F.. Monolv. former president Of the
New York symphony Orchestra. deposas:
saw them AZ rehearsal under Senior
Iacchia Senior Jacchia was so dissatis-
fed and excited that he threw mp his hands
pulled M his hair and uttered loud excla-
nations Of disgust and di-approval
There are several similar affidavits.
Leon Laski is counsel for Mittenthal
BIOS 4 kronberg He notified Com
missioner Williams YESTERDAY that he would
hav" a lot Of counter affidavits ready "a
file on Monday In the meantime the
foreign musicians will not be molested
The provision of the Contract Labor
aw under which the musical union hopes 70
have all Of Mascagnis players sent back
to Italy l..
II shall he unlawful for any one 10 prepay
= . TRANSFORMATION, or In any wav assist OF
encourage the iWrortation or migration NJ
an" alien, &c. into the United states
under contract or agreement made previotI N
'unor'atiou or migration Of such alien, 10
perform labor or services Of any kind in the
rtcd states
according o another section professional
actors, artists, lecturers or singers" are
exempt. So the settlement of the row
depends on Commissioner Williams's opinion
OF The Foreigners performance
Aubrey Mittenthal said last night that
the ATTEMPT TO make trouble for MascaCni's
orchestra was due 70 the jealousy Of Frank
and the other native players and wasn't
worth Worrying about