The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-22
rich will decrease and opera will Ian
ot1iSb

ricn VIII decrease and opera will Ian
guish.
Although the patronage of the
wealthy New Workers is making all of
Grau's highly paid singers rich, it is
an open secret that they are all very
critical in their attitude toward our au-
diences.
Only in New York. of all the worlds
great cities, say the singers, is there
such ignorance of music as here. Only
here is there the lack of culture and
pohteness among the patrons of
opera that sanctions such tardy arri-
val OF the bulk of the audience as to
spoil the first act of nearly every opera
sung and such early departures as to
ruin the last act. Only here are the
box holders so rude as often to dis
turb, with laughter and conversation,
those who wish to hear the singing.
and sometimes to upset the singers as
we'll.
Naturally the singers do not say
these things openly. When on parade
and in print they present sugar pIums
IN great packages to the dear Amer
lcan.' But among themselves, to their
compatriots and even to Americans
with whom they are intimate, they are
unsparing in their denunciation of
Yankee boorishness," american
crudity," and the like, sometimes US
ing much stronger phrases.
There is rumor that one of the
highest paid of this years tenors wrote
letter not long ago to Frau Wagner
at Baireuth, the home of modern Ger
man opera, reciting all that he had
suffered at the hands of the pigs"
who make up New York's opera audi
ences, adding that, while he was de-
lighted with the big pay he was draw
ing, he feared his artistic soul couldn't
stand the strain much longer.
Frau Wagner's reply shows that she
has an eye to the main chance as we'll
as to art-as, indeed, she we'll may
have, since she has become enormous
ly rich out of opera. She wrote: Sing
your roles, take your money and be
silent which is only another way of
saying Saw wood and say nothing"
Heinrich Conried is very popular
withaall who know him. He is the
antithesis of Maurice Grau, whom he
is to succeed, in many ways.
Grau, though not of American birth,
has almost the American lack of per-
sonal polish Conried is all politeness
in all circumstances.
Grau knows little of the artistic side
of things and says so frankly, attrib-
uting his success wholly to his power
of judging correctly the commercial
value of given singer or a given OPP
era. Above all things, Grau does not
possess the artistic temperament"
whatever that may be. Conried is de-
clared by all who know him to be es-
sentially an artist. He has often ap-
peared upon his own stage with dis
tinction, and he is said to be bubbling
vito
Grau is no scholar and seemingly glo-
ries in it. Conried, above all men, save
Joseph Jefferson, engaged in catering
to the amusement of the people, has
been most highly honored by the uni
versities. He has lectured at Column
bia and his company of actors has
made special appearance at both Yale
and Harvard in classic plays.
Though foreign born, Grau delights
to talk United States" mostly. Con-
ried is in receipt of a special medal
from the German Emperor for his eff
forts to perpetuate and spread the use
of the German language in this coun-
try.
Walter Damrosch, who may be as
ISOLATED with Conried in the opera
house management after all-in which
case some predict much brighter pros
poets for the enterprise-has the dis
tinction of being the son of DIR. Leopold
DamroSch, who was one of the pioneers
of music in America, and of being the
husband of James G.. Blaines daugh-
ter.
Quite aside from these circumstances,
Walter Damrosch is entitled to fame in
a musical way, however. He has had
charge of the New York Philharmonic
Society with great success ever since
his father died some years ago, and has
done better with his operatic ventures
than any one in America save Grau,
Damrosch, as well as Conried, has the
artistic temperament" He is likewise
scholarly, and is himself an artist,
though like Grau, he also has a keen
perception of commercial values in mu-
steal matters.
A curious thing about Walter Dam
rosch is the lack of what are termed