Omaha daily bee., 1911-10-29
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year,-have you heard of the Milan
Monopoly?
That Is the latest and greatest of the
Big Interest trusts and Mr.. Trust Buster
Blumenberg is after IT with hot shot
and columns Of lead in the Musical Cour-
Ter
1t seems that the Metropolitan opera
Compsty OF New York can produce ltal-
ian opera only and by virtue of purchas-
ing. each season, one new monopoly
manufactured opera. whether it wants
It or notl
In order to get what it needs. It has
10 buy what it does not want and can
not use
1t seems that Mr.. Gatti-Casazza and
Mr.. Toscanini of the Metropolitan sub
mitted to the Milan Monopoly Associa-
tion Limited, as it were and Mir. Henry
Russell Of the Boston Opera Company
followed suit because he was unable to
defy the malignant mammOnism Of the
monopoly, which he might have been able
TO do had the Metropolitan possessed as
much nerve as its has financial backing.
Mr.. Russell, we are told, Is through
with the Girl Of the Golden West" thank
you, but even in these days Of easy di-
Russell just has to keep his Girl, whether
he wants to or not. He has to take
seventeen Italian Operas, five being
Pucclni's and five Verdrs: in order to
get Aida" and "Otello," which the Bos-
ton management needs, the Boston man
agement has to take number that It
does not need, paint scenery which it does
not want, make costumes not needed,
eli "a
must pay money for the permission to
produce operas which it does not want,
in order to get the operas it does want.
A nice little dish OF spaghetti, indeedl
And now there is a tendency to sit up
and observe whether the Boston public
and the New York public is hungry for
this particular kind Of spaghetti, served
in this way, la Milanese. The style is
certainty hot.
1t seems that this matter amounts up
into the tens Of thousands" of dollars
paid to the Milan Monopoly
As in the other trust problems, which
we have been assured are in existence,
and which have been carefully diagnosed
with much skill and care by our great
est specialists, so in this trust, there
comes UP that unfortunate unforeseen
complication" to wit-the Rebate.
Mr.. Dippel pays four hundred dollars
on a Saturday night, for example, for
the right to perform Madame Butterfly
in Chicago. The Aborn English Opera
Company for the same opera, for the
sa Pc night, for the same city, pays one
hundred dollars2 What is the reply?
1t is stated that Mr.. Russell paid five
years ago $50 for each performance of La
Boheme. To-day, Mr.. Dippel would have
to pay about $500!
All Of which brings us to Mr.. Dippel.
Mr.. DippeI is the manager Of the Chi
cago Grand Opera who is to go out and
slay the dragon
He insists that the production of opera
in this country is possible without the
manacles of the Machiavellian Monopoly.
And as Mr. Oscar Hammersten, formerly
OF New York, now Mr.. Hoscar 'Ammer-
stein Of London, acted practically on the
same lines as those laid down by Mr..
Dippel it is probable that Mr.. Dippel VIII
win out. 1t is interesting to say the least.
Leoncavallo Hammerstein and others
have expressed opinions as to the control
of the corporate interests of the myopic
monopoly of Milan, and again comes the
question of Copyright!
Again the question of Publisher
The composer does the work, the pub
Usher gets the profits! The composer
owns the land, sows the seed, puts in the
labor; the ''reaping g-machine-company"
comes along at harvest time, and lends
the machinery it owns, for few days,
and takes about 20 percent of the profits!
and says, as it drives away, IF you did
not pay that you could not get your
harvest in at ALL for 1 have gentle
manly agreement with other reaping
companies and no one would reap for
you. Good-by. l think we are going to
have fine weather. / am glad to see the
country looking prosperous. I'll be back
next year"
This is somewhat the way it looks to
a farmer who has just western ideas
about. those things.
Composers do not often get rich. but
publishers often do. You do not often see
a composer in his elegant and luxurious
touring car but publishers sometimes
have them. All, well! Let us not be
hopeless. We still have Richard Strauss
with US, and the publishers had better
beware.
This example should be a moral en-
couragement.
Meanwhile why does Omaha receive no
more visits from such organizations as
Henry w. Savage? It seems impossible
to believe that once we had the Metro,
politan Grand opera company in the
Auditorium under Mr ConTieds manage
ment, with Mir Clement Chase in the i'm
mediate local foreground If one remem-
bers rightly, and we had Sayage's But
terfly'' and "Parsifal" and where are they
all? Are we going TO have them no
more?
.
Ernest Newman one Of England's fore
most critics, observes wise observations
indeed, in an article on Sir Edward Ell
gRrs new symphony dedicated 70 the