Evening journal., 1911-12-06
new NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Trick Of Trade That
Made a Famous 0peratiC
Success
By Holland.
By Holland.

was given ltS premier IN faflS IN tno
late fifties Of the last century, all Of
the operate impresarios and critics
who heard it were united in the be-
lief that it was a failure. That is, all
except one the late Col. James H..
Mapleson, who for many years was the
leading operate impresario of the
English-speaking world, and who had
Travelled from London TO Paris to be
present at the first production of
Faust" He was confident that the
opera would succeed if only Gounod
could be prevailed upon to write a
piece of march music with which the
returning soldiers, under command Of
Marguerite's brother, would be able
to come rejoicing upon the stage. At
Colonel Maplesons earnest solicita-
tion, Gounod wrote for and incOrporat-
ed in the opera what speedily became
famous as the soldiers chorus from
Faust And during the thirty years
that Colonel Mapleson gave the opera
i'm this country and England his total
receipts from IL amounted to consider
ably more than million dollars,
Faust" being far and away the most
profitable opera he ever produced
This Faust" anecdote which / told
in detail recently. | can now supple
ment with another just related to me
by a son of Colonel Mapleson, Mr.. Ar
thur Mapleson who is a banker in
New York city
Il often heard my father tell as you
told it the story of the decidedly unfa-
vorable reception by the critics of the
first production of Faust, and how he
prevailed upon GounOd to write into it
the soldiers chorus" said Mr.. Maple
son. Il can tell you, however, some
thing about the first production of the
opera in London which for a long time
was very close family secret and to
this day is known to only few of my
fathers more intimate friends who are
still living.
Reports had reached London to the
effect that Gounods Faust had not
succeeded very we'll in Paris, and my
father was afraid that these stories
would cause q very light attendance al
/ the first London performance Almost
everything depended in London at thai
! time upon the first impression; be-
| sides, the mere announcement tha
Her Maiesty's Theatre, which my
| father controlled, was crowded on th'
first night of an operatic performance
always served to stimulate curiosity II
the opera.
We'll, as the time drew near for tn,
first London production of Faust, m,
/ father realized only too we'll that the
/ Paris tales about the opera had haC
their eifect-only a few applications
for tickets for the first performance
had been received at the box Office
In something like desperation, 1
bright idea seized him. We went t.
tho box Office and took out ticke
for every seat IN the house for th'
first two performances of the opera
| excepting, of course the few that hat
been sold. Then he advertised tina
on account Of the great demand TO
tickets for the opera, he had decidel
to continue its production indeinitel'
that he had arrived at this decision
when he made the discovery that tn
house had already been sold out 70
the first two nights.
with great skill my father dis
tributed the tickets he had taken on
of the box office, so that when tn
curtain went up on the first perform
ance. and also the second, the hous
and the boxes were filled. Yet onl
half dozen tickets had been sold 70
the first night, and none at all for th
second. But because of my father
strategy. il was announced in the pa
pers that at these two performance
the opera house was filled to overflow
ing; and, in addition, and equally i'm
portant to the ultimate success Of tn
opera, those who heard it on thos
two nights went away carrying wit
them the most enthusiastic opinion
of Faust
The result was that for the pei
formance on the third night the dc
mand for tickets was so great that q
last it was necessary TO put up notice
in the lobby that every seat had bee
sold. And that statement was true
every seat in the house was sold a
the high prices then charged-and tn
audience was riotiously enthusiastic
demanding many encOres. After ths
Faust was never billed at He
Majesty's Theatre without causin
every ticket to be sold. That wa
my fathers experience, also, in tn
United States; he never produce
Faust except to overfiowing houses.
! Copyright, 1911, by Z. ]. Edwards
All rights reserved.)
|
I L. i. In