Year: 1876

italian Opera fin New York.


This evening Mile. Titiens will repeat the
title role of the opera of Norma at the
Academy of Music with the same cast and
accessories with which the work was given on
Monday night. We trust that the good for
tune of her initial performance will come to
her also and that her success will increase
with each successive appearance she is to
make during the short season for which she
is engaged. At the same time we cannot
overlook the fact that works Like Norma"
at their best, even but more especially when
cast and sung as this was on Monday night,
are not the kind Of opera for which the New
York public is anxious and is willing to pay.
1t is true the orchestra was passably good,
and the chorus was better than is usual on
such occasions ; but these may always be
obtained in New York, and it would have
been discreditable had it not been possible
to speak of them in terms of kindness Apart
from these and from the great artist who
bore the burden of the evenings entertain
ment, there was nothing in the perform
ance that calls for commendation and much
that suggests a regret that better policy
was not adopted. The tenor was totally in
adequate to n great tragic role and Miss
Beaumont as Adalgisa was excellent under
the circumstances but she is not yet such
an artist as the requirements of Italian
opera demand when it is ftly and worthily
represented. All these considerations force
upon us the conclusion, which will be gen.
orally accepted by the public, that the opera
Mr.. Strakosch is now giving US is not opera
at all in any proper sense, but only operate
concert, adorned by the embellishments of
the lyric stage. Even as such we welcome
it, but the very success which attends it
only goes to prove that the American public
will sustain higher class of performances
and that perfection of ensemble and mise en-
scene is the way to the prosperity and per-
manency of Italian opera in New York.


1t is impossible to review the history of
operate ventures in this city without find
ing that the same stumbling block has been
in the way of all our managers Either they
have made money rapidly or lost it in equal
ratio. In word, opera with us has always
been speculation instead of business.
Under such circumstances failure must be
inevitable or success merely phenomenal In
theatrical management we have seen the
same thing from year to year, and that, too,
in spite Of the fact that the admirable man
agement of Wallacks Theatre has been for
nearly quarter of century an illustration
of the value of the application of business
principles to the business of q theatre. Good
plays, we'll mounted and well cast, are the
simple vehicles which have brought success
to that model house. The public goes to
Wallack's because there is certainty of an
excellent play excellently acted and the
same public would sustain the opera with q
like alacrity if there was the same certainty
at the Academy. Mr.. Strakosch can find no
better proof of this than in his own ex-
perience. When he brought worthy COM
pany to America, including among its men,
bers artists like Nilsson, Campanini and Ca
poul, he found his doors beseiged whenever
to profit from the lesson which he was the
first to teach with Practical effect it has been
because he has had greater respect for the
traditions of operatic management than for
his own experience. He must not imagine,
however, that because he is willing to forego
the wisdom Of his own teachings the
lesson is lost upon others Some manager
will vet be found who will apply true bus1-
ness principles to operate management, and
when such manager takes the reins he will
be able to hold the New York public with as
firm hand as Mr. Wallack has held them
now these many years.


Let us not mistake the issue which is
forced upon us by this Titiens opera season.
It is the success of operate concert en-
forcing the greater success which awaits real
Italian opera. We want in 1S76-77 repeti-
ton of the famous season of 1894, and we
want it not for its own sake alone, but as the
foundation for permanent Italian opera in
this country. A great company at the Acad-
emy will be welcomed and sustained not by
the New York public only, but by the music
loving people of every city in the land. Mr..
Strakosch can do for the lyric what Mr.. Wal
lack has done for the dramatic stage but il
he fails to do it some other manager will be
found to profit from his opportunity.





SAVINGS BANKs. 1t is understood that O
resolution will be offered in the Assembly ai
an early day ordering the Committee on
Banks to institute an inquiry into the man.
agement of the Banking Department by
Superintendent Ellis with view of ascer-
tanning whether proper measures were taken
to prevent the recent disasters to the depos-
itors in the broken savings banks of this city
In some of the cases it is alleged that the
| hanks continued To receive deposits lonc