Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-03-24
WHY OPERA IS COSTLY.

Press dispatches tell us that tho sum-
mer grand opera season in London
which has been a feature OF city life
there for over a hundred. years. may
have to be abandoned this year. In
Paris the grand opera, house. which
formerly was never profaned by even
movies on off nights to mako up the
deficit OF three quarters of a million
francs which is facing tho directors
The reasons? American impresarios
have bid so. bigh for song-birds that
they have caused the price of such
music to go sltyrocketing.
| For many years the municipal operas
In Germany. Italy, and France were able
| to maintain first class troupes on
nominal sums. Those organizations
| served as feeders for Berlin. Covent
| Garden. the Paris opera, and that at
Monte Carlo. which was Kept on a par
| with the others. In those days, back
in the eighties and nineties. prima
donna at first class European house
received about as much as their maids
do today.
But when Oscar Hammerstein began
TO fight the metropolitan, and when
other large companies were formed in
America, prices which before had been
undreamed of were offered the leading
singers in England and on the CONT
nent. Then commenced general move
ment of singers toward America, which
has never stopped.
Artists today jump from the Bava-
rtan opera. or La Scala. or that excel
lent little troupe at Toulouse. France.
directly to the boards OF the Metropoli-
tan, or the Chicago company. London
and Paris have TO bid against our forces.
and even IL they win. the victory is only
a temporary one If the singer in ques-
ton ranks with the great. The lure of
the American dollar eventually ensnares
them for us.
But the joke is on us in the long run.
In our laudable desire to hear the great
est among the great. we are forced TO
pay salaries out of all reason. The re-
suit IS that our operas generally face
huge deficits each year. which have to
be paid by a few public spirited guar
antors.
In certain sense we have defeated
our own desires. so far as making opera
accessible TO the masses. The phono-
graph has popularized the better grade
Of music but no city today can main
tain a self supporting opera. The cost
is too prohibitve. Nearly every city
Of a hundred thousand or more on the |
Continent has its own opera troupe |
and the average one can be heard for |
the equivalent of. say. dollar in Amer
lean money.
There is hope for both the Paris, the |
London. and the minor operas. but It |
Is a hope which we do not believe VIII |
ever be fulfilled. II q big league Of op- |
era impresarios was formed, and an |
agreement made by which only so many |
players were carried. and a fixed salary |
list was agreed upon. then every town |
would have a chance TO retain its stars /
But some American would smash such |
a scheme in short order. Imagine Ca |
ruso being informed that henceforward |
he would sing three, instead of two /
times a week. and that his salary for |
each appearance would be only $500, |
instead Of exactly five times that sum.
After the tumult and the shouting had /
subsidized, some shrewd promoter would /
offer the master more money than ever.
form an outlaw opera troupe. and garner |
in quite a few shekels for while any
way There is little hope for Paris
or London. as long as America is will
ing to pay the highest prices. That
cruel old law. supply and demand. acts
upon the just and the unjust alike.