The sun., 1919-08-10

this man born in Germany had but
little admiration for German singers.
"They all want too much money"
he used to say, whatever he felt Of
admiration for the great Wagner, He
knew little indeed of musical history
and confined himself to two or three
modern composers, French and italian
but his outspoken contempt for the
"old masters" found warrant in the
taste of the public.
His first operatic season bore out
his Judgment. At the start OF III.
second, "Thals- on It's first night at.
tracted a house of curiosity. It drew
real admirers before the first week was
done and the same may be said Of
other modern scores first introduced
by Hammerstein. But while his judy
ment of what the public wanted in
opera in those days hit the bulls eye,
his triumph is not properly to be at.
tributed to chance. 1t is a great task
to summon from nothing fine CON-
pany for opera, great orchestra, the
6CtHeS, Illt iIiNioru " cfo'V
the setting merely in house without
tradition is a task that would staggef
most imaginations. Hammerstein car.
ried 1t out in cold blood.
How He Bought an Opera.
He meant first of all to triumph
and the cause of music, Il 1t were TO be
furthered, came secondary. His doubts
about "Pelleas and Melisande" as eX-
pressed by himself and the CONNER
cial decision he rendered in the case
Of That's" would prove that no care
was to be omitted which should at
tract people to his opera. He had never
| heard a certain new opera, but while
| waiting in the drawing room OF Cava'
lieri in Paris as she was running over
some new music with a tenor, Ham
merstein jumped to the conclusion tns
the piece was the much herslded score
and cutting snort his interview with
| the diva he rushed to the composer
! sign contract for the exclusive rlcnt'
Tor America.
"But will you not hear my musc'
asked the famous Massenct.
"AfterwaId Afterward repiedtns
! busy Hammerstein.
! Following that eventful first year
when all signs had failed ard only the
audacious impresario had won, Ham
merstein became In outward appear
ance and manner a changed man. hH
| mien now lived up TO what he though
was the true impresario model Cons
were the shirtsleeve days and silent
| the hoarse voice singing its own
| strange compositions. Now in imIna''
ulate garb under the famous hlsh nav
Hammerstein demanded and receiver
the homage OF his singers and ms
Difference of the public. Accepte1-S'
an arbiter of music. he turned MS CIV
ical faculties to other arts beside 10
did not hesitate to pass upon DUN
or a picture. He was OF the modetns
in all these things. Listen to tniHs
he often said. for 1t is illuminating u
the man:
HIS scorn of the Classics
what do we need OF the art ana
literature and music OF dead peope'
These were made for their own aso
and race by the men whose names Wv
read on tombstones. They new
thought OF America or the tWenueu
century when they composed ana w
hear them here like eavesdroppers
The Richard Strauss operas are ..
our day and we can hear them
without eavesdropping. appafenW
Hammerstein presented "Saome an ~
Electra" as II their composer Hso
thrown his scores at the public ~
Hammerstein's last year at the ma 20
haitian Opera House he offered a We
made OF both these ultra moue's
scores. Such generosity stunned "'
public. ,.
Now came the moment when HAN
mersteir was to he bribed 10 sheh'e'
A cold million and two hundred wv :,
sand dollars took him for penou
years out of the character he uea'"
loved to play. In explaining inc
rangement he made with the drew
Of the Metropolitan Opera House Wv
impresario laid stress on the bad ih-, o,
cal year he had endured IN oo',,.-
with the elder house and his olo ~,
pointment in Philadelphia and LonO'''
and his need OF rest, A..
Most men would have taKcn !.
money and enjoyed life on It NOV !,
Hammerstein. Or rather Just so Iia ~.
merstein. His way of enjoying VI ~.
was to produce; he could not rns', ~ a,
spent large part Of the mohey "a
building the Lexington Avenue oFISo
House and he lived waiting ioF Ar ,1
20, 1920, to come around. whico VT S",
remove the legal restraint thar A, ,Iy
him from producing opera. As ne %.
on his dying bed in the Lenoh ~
nue. Hospital, without fearing thas
was his dying bed, he outlined IVY
|. lgreat plAnA