New-York tribune., 1908-10-04
GERALDINE FARRAR.

All of vTr C,nr,ed's artistic energies his second
season were expended on the production OF Die
Fledermaus" which he gave for his own dement,
under the circumstances already referred TO- On
February IS The season lasted fifteen weeks and
consisted OF ninety-hve performances OF tnIrtT
operas and two ballets. outside Of the supplement
ary season. which. let repeat are not IN
cIuded in the statistics which am giving An
incident OF the second season was the collapse OF
the bridge which is part Of the first scene OF CaI-
men," and the consequent injury OF ten chorisuors-
The accident happened the night OF January q
1895, while the performance was In progress FOl'
unately nobody was killed
The visit Of Engelbert Humperdinck TO attend
the first German performance OF his Hansei una
Gretel' on November o. a strike OF the cnords
which lasted three days, revival OF Goidmarks
''xoniEin Won Saba which had been the chier
glory OF the second German season twenty years
before and squanderlng OF thousands Of dollars
and so mucn time that nearly all Of the operas IN
the repertorv suffered for lack OF rehearsals on
single production Of Strauss operetta, Der
Ziceunerbaron'' were the chief incidents of the
season of 1sO0-Os. That s to say, the chief local
incidents Out IN San Francisco the company was
overwhelmed by the catastrophe OF the earthquake
which sem it back physical and financial wreck
The calamity tested the fortitude and philosophy
of Mr. Conried we'll the artists. but through
the gloom there shone a cheering ray when Nine
Sembrich herself of the chief sufferers from
the earthquake, postponed her return to her Euro
pean home long enough TO give concert Tor the
benefit OF the minor members OF the company ard
distributed s. SCI musicians who had lost their
instruments and 80 435 to the chorus and technical
staff.
The season OF 19O5-'07 marked high water in the
artistic activities Mr. Conried's institution. II
was he wear Of "Salonle'' and the coming OF
Slgnor Pucclni give ecat the production OF his
operas Outside OF ''Salome" thera was only one
real novelty In the seasons Tepertory. and that
Fedora" might easily have been spared but the
current list Of the house was augmented by no
less than seven works. namely Fedora. La
Damnation de- Faust. "1Ikms' (Which had been
absent from the list for many years.. 'L'Afri-
caine" "Manon bescaut.' ''3Iadama Futte-ny-'
and "Salome.'' Beriiozs dramatic legend. La
Damnation.' had been popular concert piece
since its first production by DR.. Leopold Dam
rosch at a concert of the Symphony Society
than twenty-five years before. and its novel feat
ures were those which grew out OF the abortive
effort OF Raoul Gounsberg TO turn II into stage
play. Puccnrs 'Mancn Lescaut" more OF
novelty though It had been performed a couple OF
times by d vagrant italian company at wallack's
Theatre in May. 1895. ''Madama Butterfly" in the
original Italian had been anticipated b. a long
series Of English performances by Mr.. Savage's
company at the Garden Theatre, beginning on No
vcrlbe~ - This production is deserving OF record
Walter Rothwen the conductor. and the prin-
clpal singers in the cast were Eliza Szsnosy.
Hungarian, Cto- -Cio-San: Harriet Behne as Su-
zuki. Joseph F. sheehan as Pnkerton and WInfred
Gon as ShaT pess. The opera reached the Metro
pCltan Opera House on FeDruary II, t9Ni. when IL
was sung in the presence OF the composer by the
following east:
Ci1-CiN -s.-adi-@
ri1i,eTtUv
s,oro S,rop'e'' 81 ST.. u
Conductor Arturo VisDa
o.iordano's Fedora first performed on pecern-
Der s. 1908. given with this distribution cG
parts:
,Her frst appearance
eEl bH = Aicen
Dtmltt MARI Ns-tr -
IN piccolo Savoiardo. Josepnns js"oHf
tfoFs ipAno" t.rrtcS ,arit
lle SlrleA AStcn.0 S'otti
II Bsrone Rouvel..
Desire
firtllo NJ Rke-ak
Mr IN
HItecHl Nj Dufricas
IN'HN~aN GsztnsNl VT N0~H-f
I0rek. Mr. H1vArrin
Conductor. Arturo Vi-pe.
tn" op "a e an t't.rnr-t tr
familiar play by Sardou: utterly futile sftsmpt.
4 more sluggish and intolerabls first than th-
legal inquest IL would be difncult to imagine
BrasmAots of inoonssSusntiAl tunes doAt along