Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-01-15
CRISIS REACHED IN
NEW YORK OPER A

"1HAT the whole land, including
Salt Lake. had gone frenzied on
the building of theaters. every
one knew. but few people ex-
pected that the earliest signs of dis
tress would come from the two great
oneratic rivals In New York What cut
throat competition can do in the amuse-
ment line, however. as we'll as in the
purely commercial, IS we'll shown by
the following from last weeks Musical
America:
A crisis has been reached in operatc
Affairs in New York city, owing to a
number OF causes, some of which nave
,sen foreseen for some time past by
those intimately acquainted with the
.nner workings of operatic affairs In
Jn,,. York While the subscription at
he METROPOLITAN has broken all rec
.rds. and some of the performances
nave been crowded, it Is learned from
-.Iiable sources that the receipts VIII
,till fall so far below the expenditures,
which have been enormous, that AT the
nd of the season the directors VIII be
ace to face with deficit OF nearly
1illlOn dollars, OF HiOic thSii Noo"iS
he deficit of last season.
on the other hand. Mr.. Hammerstelh
,as formally admitted that so far this
.e,son he is a quarter of a million out
# racket though he hopes to recoup
so,na of this loss now that the holidays
,ro over and theatrical and muSlcal
fairs generally will improve.
During the past few days there have
,,een ali kinds of rumors afloat of pos
;ihle mergers between the TWO opera
,ouses one rumor stated that Mr.
Iammeystein had been oftered NIL
ION dollars by the directors OF the Met
-opolitan to quit the field. Inns was
,facjalIv denied on behalf of the Metro
oitan directors.
IT has been pretty definitely estap-
Iished however, that negotiations haVe
boen pendIne between Arthur Hammer
stein. the impresario's son and otto n.
f<ann. of the Metropolitan board. look
ing toward combination of interests
According to young Mr., Hammerstein.
these negotiations were very favoraoiy
received by Mr.. Kahn, who participated
IN several conferences on the subject
'rhe general plan of these conferences
was to establish a "gentleman's under
standing" between the two houses
whereby the extravagant Increase OF
salaries and the constant trouble caused
by artists in both companies threaten
ing to join the opposition forces unless
unreasonable demands were granted.
could be obyiated.
The causes of the deficit at the Metro
politan are due. as some state, to the
laudable efforts of the directors to give
opera such as had never been given
before in New York. which resulted In
Messrs. Gatti-Casazza and Dippel. and
the other gentleman Interested in the
management of the company getting
practically carte blanche to make such
engagements and eXpend such sums
es would secure the desired results.
Another cause of the strain upon the
management of both our leading opera
houses Is due to the competition be-
tween the two houses, which has re-
suited in boosting" the salaries of
singers about 500 to 600 and even 700
per cent of what the same singers re-
ccive in Europe. In the case of the
Metropolitan. 1t has also resulted. ow-
Ing to the large plans of the manage
ment.s of more artists than could be
profltably employed. so that 1t has been
calculated that the Metropolitan Opera
House is paying out each week about
$4,000 in the way of salaries over and