New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-15

mixed voices might be performed. So
IN 1894 fourteen members Of the older
society resigned and organized the
/ Arion, which soon grew 20 be the for
midable rival TO the Liederkranz which
+ 1t remained up 10 a few years ago.
/ Both societies continued TO be active
/ promoters Of musical culture, but on
lines which diverged as soon as the
field OF part songs for mems voices was
left behind. The Liederkranz added
/ cantatas and oratorios 70 its list, the
Arion operettas. These latter works
we're given for the entertainment Of
/ the members and their families (the
/ inclusion OF the family is one Of the
most amiable features Of German club
life, but it is one Of the bright pages
in the annals of the Arion that II took
part in the first public performance in
America of an opera by Wagner. This
was "Tannhauser," which was heard
for the first time on this side of the
Atlantic, at the Stadttheater, in the
Bowery, on August q, 1889 Carl Berg
mann, then musical director Of the
Arion, conducted. His significance in
the development Of musical culture in
New York has frequently been set
forth in the histories Of the Germania
Orchestra, German operas and the Phil
harmonic Society. Two operettas COM
posed by him were performed by the
Arion -" Mordgrundbruck" and Der
Gang yum Eisenhammer" The society
was at the zenith OF its popularity,
fame and activity when it sent a chorus
OF sixty singers on tour through Ger
many and Austria in 1892. Frank van
der Stucken was its conductor at the
time. He, like Dr. Leopold Damrosch
who came in 1870, was imported from
Europe, though he was born in Texas
Carl Bergman and Carl Anschdtz were
German conductors found here. For
many years the public mask balls Of
the Arion were at once the strong
financial prop of the society and the
scandal Of the town. no doubt the
wives and daughters of the members
had much to do with their abandon
ment, which was a progressive step
taken in spite Of the reactionaries.
When Mr.. Ziegler, the executive sec
rotary of the Metropolitan Opera Com
pany, remarked that the attitude Of the
German Stage Society in announcing
that German singers who accepted
contracts in America would be boy
cotted by the German Society for FIVE
years was a purely academic one, he
may or may not have remembered that
similar action thirty years ago did
not prevent the Metropolitan Opera
House from engaging all the German
singers needed here. From all points
of view the action just now is mere
brutum fulmen, for if German singers
wanted 10 come to America they could
not. It was an open secret during the
German regime at the Opera House
that singers who wanted 10 accept
engagements here found no difficulty
in doing so. Mr. Stanton, the Met
ropolitan director, had a plan which
worked 70 a charm. He engaged
the singers from the German Inten-
danteu and paid salaries of such
generous amounts that the Tntend1nten
could retain so per centum of the
contract price and still have enough
for the singers 10 act as an irresistible
lure, if lure beyond fame were needed.
Only two Of the German singers ever
suffered in consequence. Emil Fischer
was engaged before Mr.. Stanton had
evolved his plan and began legal pro-
ceedings against the King of Saxony
for reinstatement as a member Of the
Court Opera at Dresden. Whether or
not he won his case / do not recall,
but he returned to Europe and became
a director in Holland, holding the po-
sition until he felt again the irresisti-
bic call 70 New York. Nine. Lilli Leh-
mann broke her contract with the
Royal Opera al Berlin. and Of her own
voltion paid the prescribed penalty
Nevertheless, she was boycotted by the
Cartellverband for several years until
the Royal Tutendant found that the
Operas need of her was greater than
her need of the Opera. Then she went
back in triumph, with only the loss Of
/ her money 10 deplore. Apropos Of Mr..
Stanton's methods, it used to be told
with amusement by members Of the
/ inner brotherhood in the days Of the
German regime that the American di-
rector, to become persona GrGtd with
+ his German confreres, used 90 play
poker with them, with an understand
ing between himself and his com
panion, always some one associated
with him in the New York enterprise,
to permit Themselves TO be bluffed out
by their opponents or to bet heavily on
weak hands. 1t was some time before
Mr.. Stanton discovered that Count Per
fall in Munich, was as keen a hand at
draw poker as his American colleague
and did not need TO have the latter
throw the game to enable him to line
his pockets.
Mrs. Sol Smith Saw
IS Years of Stage Life