The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-09
NOT FOR HIS HEALTH.

MT. Grau in Opera for Business-Never | Discovered a Great Voice or Ex- plotted a New Opera.
 Maurice Grau, the retiring manager
 of the Metropolitan Opera House, spoke
 with amusing frankness to a represen- tative of the New York Herald in re- gard to himself and the work. He said: T shall die leaving enough money for
 my funeral expenses. Every other opera manager has been buried by his l friends. Yes, opera Is a game that has ! bankrupted others financially, but it l has bankrupted me physically. and l am inclined to think mine the greater | loss"
 MT. Grau frankly owned to his limita- tions:
 What ever success have achieved think is due to the fact that I have l treated grand opera as a commercial
 proposition and handled it as a business enterprise. I never could see why it
 should not be so handled. I am busi-'
 ness man, not musical critic. With
 no desire to exaggerate my own ignor- | ance, I frankly confess that I have voice, and I do not think I am musician enough to know one if I should hear ! it. It has never been my lot to en-
 counter the gifted young girl of 15 or
 IS and to develop her into a phenomenal soprano or contralto. I have never given the first production of an opera | and never examine scores. know by limitations, and there are things I deem ! it wise to leave to persons better quail ! lied than I. I have never encountered | an unproduced opera which has so ap- pealed to me that I have said to my self, Here is something which I must give the public I am content to give l the best possible rendition, with the best possible talent, of that which the pub- | lie has proved already and has stamped with the seal of it's approval. I sell dom attend rehearsals of my own pro- auctions. It would be waste of time for me to do so. My place is here at the desk of business management. To me opera is little else than cold. calcula- | ting business. Some persons have said that I make it bargain counter busi- ness. Let it go at that, if that means that have reduced it to purely com- mercial basis"
 It is interesting to see what different sense is put upon the same words by different kinds of people. To the artist "commerciar' is term of reproach; to the business man 1t is word of praise. When thing pays for itself it is on a commercial basis. Now the artist does not object in the least to getting his money, but he hates that part of the
 business which insures his getting it. So he talks indignantly about com-
 mercialism, not realizing that to the commercial man commercialism means only what is good. MT Grau confirmed what most opera-go must have sus- pected, that singers are worth most commercially after they are in their prime:
 Let me tell you little professional secret in this connection. Most of these very highpriced musical artists when they were really in their prime received about one-half the salaries they are get ting now. The largest sums are fre- quently paid to singers after they are in their decline. Though Jean de Reszke may be much greater artist to-day than he was when he was in his prime, it would not be reasonable to suppose that his voice is as fresh or as clear as it was 10 or 15 years ago. But