Evening star., 1949-11-20
Met Is Marking
TOhnSOn'S Last
Year at Helm
By Alice Eversmea

l. Ndl az l. 1N1111
By Alice Eversmea
The opening of the Metropol-
itan Opera season tomorrow night
in New York will mark also the
beginning of Edward Johnson's
final year as general manager Of
the Met. When Mr.. johnson
retires at the conclusion Of
the season, he will have COM
pleted Is years at the helm Of the
greatest opera company in the
world. His tenure of office will
be the second longest in the his
tory of the company, outranked
only by that of Gatti-Casazza
which lasted q years.
At his side, on the opening
night, will be Rudolf Bing, who,
next season, will take over full
control as Johnson's successor.
He comes with the success Of the
Edinburgh Festival as his most
recent achievement, although his
experience with opera manage
ment dates back nearly 20 years.
He will spend the next few months
in studying the situation at the
Met under Mr.. Johnson's guid-
ance. This is all the more neces-
sary since Mr.. Bing Is not an
American nor is he familiar with
the new trend in the operas
policies introduced by Mr.. john
son.
In fact. the choice of someone
so slightly acquainted with the
increasing desire to make the
Metropolitan a more thoroughly
American institution while main
tanning its international aspects.
has aroused considerable criticism.
Weathered Period of Stress.
The position Of general man
ager of the Metropolitan Opera
is one of the most difficult In the
world. It was particularly diff
cult during Mr.. Johnson's regime
when changing economic condi-
tions increased the responsibilities.
He has not only weathered these
storms, not the least Of which
was a threatened complete close
down last year, but has MODERN
lied every department and sue
ceeded in bringing about a more
workable basis among the various
factions. Not a minor duty OF
the manager, besides solving in
Vulnerable business problems and
satisfying a large and exacting
public, is the appeasing OF the
volatile temperaments of the as
sorted artists in his company.
The comparatively peaceful at
mosphere during the past decade
and a half is all to Mr.. Johnsons
credit.
It was thirteen years after his
debut at the Met that MIR. john
son took over the reins Of govern
ment. This was quite an under
taking for a tenor famed as In
terpreter Of romantic roles. It
was prophetic when, at his debut
in "L'Amore del Ire Re-" q re-
viewer wrote: What he did last
evening seems to assure the value
of his membership in the COM
pany." It was those many seasons
as a leading artist Of the company
that gave him the inside knowl-
edge and experience that he has
put to such good use since assum-
ing the dictatorship.
Created Numerous Roles.
As q singer, Mr.. johnson has
the reputation, of creating more
roles than any other living tenor.
Besides singing the tenor title role
in the first Met performance OF
"Pelleas ct Melisande," he was as
signed the leading parts In the
premieres of Spontini's La Yes
tale" Rimsky-Korsakoff's "Sadko,
Deems Taylor's 1.-THE Kings
Henchmen" and his Peter Ibbet-
son." to mention q few. He was
in the cast also when Grace Moore
and Ezio Pima made their debuts
at the Met.
In addition to creating q new
role at least once year during
the period of his engagement. no
sang with consistent success those
of the regular repertoire such as
Rudolfo in la Boheme," Romeo
in Romeo ct Juliet" and Faust.
A few weeks before the retire.
ment of Gatti- the Metro
politan was saved from financial
disaster through the assistance
given it by the Juilliard Musical
Foundation. Because OF the steep
terms of the contract, many felt
that the Met had signed over its
independence" One Of the i'm
mediate results was the appoint-
ment of Herbert Witherspoon, q
member of the Juilliard faculty, to
succeed Gatti-Casazza and Ed
ward johnson as assistant general
manager, specifically in charge OF
a lower priced supplementary sea-
son that had been agreed upon.
Mr.. Witherspoon's death occurred
two weeks after his appointment
and Mr.. johnson took over the
post.
New Policies Put Into Effect.
The situation he faced was very
difficult. New policies. dictated
in part by the foundation, were
to be put into effect, certain sec
tions of the company had to be
built up and the deficit dimin-
ished. All these were met and over
come to some degree in his first
season as manager. Other prob
lens came up each year, including
world war that played havoc
among the operas personnel. The
encouragement of American Tai
ent, which began with the sup
Elementary season for which he
was originally engaged, has con-
tinued, together with the pro-
d,,ction of operaS sing in English.