New-York tribune., 1908-07-19

Opera House was known long before tne CLOSE VI
the first Before the spring representations
began he made answer TO the proposal Of the d.
rectors of the Metropolitan Opera Company by say
ing that ne would act their manager without
compensation for the next year provided they
would pay the losses which the first season would
entail upon him. The directors had agreed in their
original contract TO save him whole TO the extent
OF ssnoo-a pitifl tenth part Of what according to
Mr. Schceffel. the losses finally aggregated am
tncined think. however that Mr. Schoefe has
included the losses made in the other cities visited
by the compsny. There were only sixty-one repre-
eentations at the Metropolitan Opera House, ana
it is inconceivable that they averaged deficit OF
5000 each They could not have cost that
each, and many of the performances ofew
superb houses which at the prevailing prices must
have yielded handsome returns Whatever the sum
which loomed UP prospective loss however, II
was great enough 10 dissuade the directors from
adopting Mr Abbey's suggestion Instead they
made ap their sninds oheerfuly to pay their own
loss and the beginning OF the spring season. al
negotiations having come TO an end, sent MI Ao-
hey letter which read as follows;
Metropolitan Opera House. New York.
secretary's Office, March IA. 1854
My Dear SIR 1t gives me much pleasure to say say
yeu the of the Opera House on April 2l 1851
5o .sppsss my hope that the results benet
may In some measure be cormensura.e WIN 'ne 1
Say that it viii give great pleasure 70 do any.
thing can to ala in making the benefit great
SUCCESS -. 'IsI EpMuND (. STANTON Secretary.
To Henry E Abbey. -
Meanwhile. negotiations had already begun look
ans the transfer of the house for the next season
to Mr.. Ernest Gye. who was manager at the time
of Covent Garden, London These negotiations
were continued till deep in the summer and came
to nausht at the end OF the reasons for the fail
several became known to the public One was
the unwillingness Of the directors 10 give Mr. Gye
free hand in the engagement Of artists The di-
rectors who were active in determining the policy
of the opera were all devoted admirers OF Nine.
Nilsson they were in fact the donors of the laurel
wreath of gold which she received on the first
night Of the season. They were desirous that she
should be re-engaged. though the weight of her
contract had done much break Mr. Abbey's
financial back and they were also little fearful
that Mr. eye. the husband of Nine. Albani. would,
not unnaturslly. seek to put that singer in Nine
Nilsson's place. Meanwhile. the opera season at
Ccvent Garden came to close, and though MI
s5ye had not had Colonel Maplescn at Her Majestys
Theatre cope with, as in former seasons, out
vnlv English opera at Drury Lane under the direc-
ton of Carl Rosa, the financial outcome was such
as TO suggest that Mr.. eyes attitude toward opera
at the Metropolitan something like that which
the Germans describe cat walking about
dish hot porridee.
At intervals bits of gossip reached New York by
cable but none of them Of a comforting char
scter. One week il was said TO be the exornitance
of Nine Nilsson's demands which gave Mr.. Gye
pause and the next the difficulty of finding tenor
worthy Of succeeding signor Campanini and capable
Of satisfying the captious critical and fastidious
people Of New York There We're suspicious. too,
that some of the eu1barra which confronted
Mr. Gye and the Metropolitan directors were due
TO the Vaccinations Of that sly and persuasive OLD
dog Colonel. Mapleson- Nilsson had but one rival
AND she was Nine. Patti Her Colonel Mapleson
secured and not only her. but report said. scalchi,
Trerelli and Tamagno also Nine Scalchi had
beer strong prop the first Metropolitan season.
and Tremeili and Tamagno. though they had not
been heard in America had names to conjure with
,rremelr never came. and il was not until 1890.
when Mr.. Abbey was again in the traces OF an
Italisn opere manager, and was exploiting both
Nine Patti and Mime. Alban, that Tanasno was
heard in New York
Failures of such magnitude those OF Mr.. Gye
sr London Colonel Mapleson al the Academy Of
niusir and Mr.. Abbey at the Metropolitan Opera
HOUSE naturally set the boards of the wiseacres
s-~agging. Clearly the world Of opera was out of
Sont and a prophet with a evansel seemed to
he needed set ft right In New York the efforts
had been made along old lines but Mr. Gye had
-ventured on experiment which suggested the
polyglot scheme which became the fixed policy Of
The Metropolitan Opera House some ten years later
Along with the old Italian list Mr.. Gye gave some
ls,f waener's lyric dramas in German, and even
Sentured an English opera done into German-C
vi1liers stanford's "Savonarola." Was Italian
opera dead? So il almost seemed: but the Incl
dents attending its demise were familiar 10 oper-
Htlc history dnG as Olu az ltalidn opera III loluon
snd New York When the art form making
its first struggles for Mobilization in the British
metropolis Addison thought the spectacle so anus
Sne that ne essav in which he pictured
The anazenent Of the next generation on learning
that in the days of its predecessors English men
End women had out entire evenings listening
so an entertainment in foreign tongue And
he said in that essay many other excellent things,
the truth and force Of which just as deserving
pf appreciation tand just needfuD now as they
in the time Of the writer
The consciousness Of the absurdty of Italian
opera transported in the original package 0o
epeak commercially TO England and America seems
to have been constant with the Anglo-saxon peo-
ples. OF this the legion Of managerial wrecks
which strew the shores Of Time from Handel's
cay 70 ours bear witness. Bankers, manufactur-
and noblenen have come TO the rescue of am
bitious managers, or became ambitious managers
themselves, only to go down in the common dsas-
Ter. Mr.. Delsfield wrote his name high among his
fellows across the water by losing half million
Of dollars 81 sinAe season-a feat which man
eouslled till Mr.. Abbey came. Taylor got himself
into the Kings Bench Prison by his venturesone-
ness and once there, found consolation in philos
orhy which taught him that of all places in the
world the properest one for an opera manager
was prison for no man rash enough to embark
an operate enterprise ought to be left at large
and prison walls kind protection against
the opportunities END complaints Of singers At
tenpts explain why managers followed the Ital-
ian willie -o'-tbe-wisp into financial quagmres year
sffer year always have led into labyrinth of con-
tradictions A great change had come over opera
since Eandels day. Time when the popular
taste found complete satisfaction in the melodies
81 the Italian composers. Time when the de-
sire for novelty in the operate field could be sat
isfied only 10y importstions from Italy Time was
when Germans Frenchmen and Enslishmen went
to Italy to study operatc composition and wrote in
the Italian manner Italian texts. All this had
GAanged at the period of which writing
Erencilsnen and EIlglishrlen had