The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-12

that title was to fit future directors of
orchestras. The Philharmonic Society
OF this city has just afforded to the great
public an opportunity to learn how sound
Herr Won BUELow's prophecy was, by
engaging a conductor who is to receive
approximately 81 900 for every concert
in which he is employed. This is said to
be the highest figure ever paid to a con-
ductor of an orchestra for a regular en-
gagement.
High salaries Of singers used to be
considered a menace to operate enter
prise until it was seen that the most
expensive artists in the world of music
could be engaged and have their
names spell wealth instead Of bank
ruptcy for their managers. The reckless
and impoverished impresario to-day is
as much out Of style as the poorly
paid conductor Of an orchestra. The
manager Of an opera house in New York
needs only to engage the first singers in
the world and then await the golden
tide that sets his way.
1t may be argued that the orchestras
which engage eminent and popular con-
ductors are going to have the same re-
ward for their enterprise. If the Phil
harmonic Society pays its new conductor
more than five times as much as any OF
his predecessors e received, the pub
lie support should also be proportionately
greater, and there should still be COM
pensation for the risk that is taken. If
the business of presenting symphonic
orchestras to the public we're the same
as the business Of opera, this comfortable
result might follow. Unluckily, the two
cases are quite different. The services
Of the high priced conductor will not be
paid for by the public, His salary will
come from the pockets Of the few rich
men who are willing and able to allow
their wives the luxury of hearing con-
certs under the direction OF the con-
duotor they like most.
1t is a principle Of operate enterprise
that no price is e~xtravagant for asoprano
or a tenor as long as a singer brings into
the house audiences large enough to
pay the managers expenses and allow
some profit. The difference in the case
of an orchestra may be well understood
when a conductor is engaged with no
idea that he will ever be able to attract
to the concert hall the amount of money
he costs. Such a state of affairs would
under all other circumstances be taken
to indicate that there was no real public
demand to hear this conductor, and that
he was not worth his salary. Such a
businesslike principle, however, seems
to have no place in the management of
orchestras to-day. The new conductor
will come to the Philharmonic Society
and receive a salary SO long as the
g%uarantors are willing to contribute it.
When they are tired new contributors
must com forward or the high priced
conductor must go. In accordance with
previous experiences, it is much more
probable hat there will be a new prima
donna Of the baton on the horizon by
the end of that time, and that the fund
will be raised by a new group OF admir-
ing women for this celebrity.
When it is recalled that such dis
tinguished conductors of the Philhar-
HlOIlC DOClcll do lhEObOnE hoNlN dliN
ANTON SEIDL were content to receive
less than $1,000 for their seasons labors,
it will be seer how great was the in
crease in the salary of the latest con-
| ductor engaged. These other men stood,
however, in a wholly different relation
to the society. They were there to earn
| their salaries and help the members Of
the orchestra to come prosperously
through the season. Now the conductor
is assured of his salary, nearly six times
as large as his most noted predecessors
received, whether the general public
comes to hear him or not. Arrangements
so destitute of any business principle are
made possible through the efforts of
admirers of these musicians. The ad-
mirers are willing to raise any necessary
amount so long as they can hear the
conductor they want. 1t would not be
human for the conductor to refrain from
asking as much as he thought he could
possibly get.
This enthusiasm for conductors has
always the same ultimate result. Three
wears from now there will be nothing
gained in the way of musical progress or
permanency in orchestral conditions. A
large amount of money will have been
spent and the admirers will have had the
pleasure of hearing a certain conductor,
Whatever may happen by that time, it
will first be necessary to pass around the
hat again.
What is the effect Of these guarantee
funds in other cases? An orchestra plays
in a hall two-thirds empty, with a strong
probability that half the audience came
in gratuitously, Such a proceeding
would be impossible II the organization
relied or the, support Of the public. The
money comes from a guarantee fund
raised in all probability by some COM
mittee of women admirers. Orchestras
from other cities, supported by the con
tributions Of wealthy men, come here to
exhibit in halls either empty or crowded
with d~eadheads the degree OF their pro-
ficiency as compared with metropolitan