New-York tribune., 1918-08-18

she did not come to it's stage till
the third year of the Conried
regime
Though Mr.. Conried was fire.
quently in financial straits while
manager of the Irving Place Thea
tre his estate was officially ap-
praised after his death at $240,000.
The Metropolitan Company paid his
widow $4,000 in settlement of the
claims which she held against the
company on the contract of sale and
life insurance.
Mr.. Dippel's appointment and Mr..
Mahler's retention were obviously
made, no doubt in good faith, to al
lay the fears Of a large contingent
of the operas patrons that the Ger
man branch Of the repertory al
ready IN the shadow, was to suffer
a total eclipse. The manner in which
his Italian associate WAS introduced
to the public was not calculated to
quiet suspicion. Mr.. Otto II. Kahn
invited reporters for the newspapers
to the opera house and introduced
to them Count" Centanini, who de-
scrlbed the new general manager as
a gentleman to whom was due ap-
preclation of Wagner's dramas in
Italy, that appreciation having fol-
lowed his production at the Scala of
Die Meistersinger," "Siegfried"
and the entire Nibelung tetralogy.
The services of Mr.. Gatti in behalf
of German art in Milan were incon-
testable, but the claims advanced in
this manner were preposterous. Mr..
Gatti had been director of the Mi
lanese theatre ten years, while near
~ all Of Wagner's operas and
dramas had been performed in Italv
from ten to twenty years before he
went to Milan. Thus "Rienzi" was
produced in Venice in 1874, in Bo-
logna in 1876, in Florence in 1877,
in Rome in 1880; The Flying
Dutchman" had its first perform.
ance in Bologna in 1877, "Tannhau-
ser" its first representation in the
same city in 1872, "Lohengrin" was
heard in Bologna in 1871 (the year
of its first performance in New
York;; Florence heard the opera in
1872, Rome in 1878, Genoa in 1880,
Venice and Naples in 1881. For the
rest the records of La Scala dis
close that "Die Meistersinger" had
been brought forward on it's stage in
1890 and received sixteen perform.
ances; "Tannhauser" IN 1898, also
receiving the same number of GER
formances. "Lohengrin" was in the
repertories of the seasons 1873.
1888, 1889 and 1891, and up to 1898.
when Mr.. Gatti came, had bad forty
eight representations. "Die Wal
kure' was given fourteen times in
1894, THE Flying Dutchman" eight
times in 1893 and "Gotterdamme-
rung" fourteen times in 1897 More.
over, the entire Nibelung tetralogv
had been produced in 1888 by An
gelo Neumann's German company.
conducted by Anton Seidl in Venice
Bologna and Rome. Mr.. Gatti's pio-
neer work consisted of Italian per-
formances of "Das Rheingold" and
"Siegfried" in Milan. These facts I
made public in The Tribune at the
time and their critical point was not
blunted when it became known that
Count" Centanini (''Mr. Centan nj
ls' believe, count, although he
does not faunt his title" remarked
Mr. Kahn to Tribune reporter)
was an operate coach who had been
accompanist to some of the singers
at the Metropolitan Opera House
and was the husband of Nine. Noria
MISS Ludwig), who had sung in
Mr. Savage's American COMPANY
and peripatetic troupe calling itself
'ne San Carlo Opera Company, of
which Mr.. Centanini had been as