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Musical Courier 1892-09-28: Vol 25 Iss 657, 1892
110 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. Printed page 6. See the scan on archive.org.
1him see how one can be a disciple of the German masters and yet write in a new national style.
3It will not do to say that Dvorák had an easier task than the American because he has a large store of old folk songs to draw upon, while the latter has none. As a matter of fact he never borrows folk songs directly; the alchemy of genius has simply enabled him to distil perfumes which recall the fragrance of the wild blossoms of the Bohemian forest. Are not our forests, mountains, prairies, vaster, grander, more beautiful than those of Europe? Have not our men of letters created an American literature without having any folk songs to guide them? Then why should we not have an American style of music? What that style should be is not for us to say. If the coming American composer can translate into tones the obvious peculiarities of American emotional life, resulting partly from our climate and surroundings, partly from our internationalism or cosmopolitanism, if he can write pieces which will make us exclaim at once, "This is American," he will be hailed as a genius and ranked with the great European masters.
5Dr. Dvorák will make his first appearance in America as conductor and composer on October 21, when a new choral work of his is to be produced at the Music Hall. During the winter several of his other works will be produced under that personal supervision which insures correctness in the spirit as well as the letter of a performance. Next year all the American composers will have an opportunity to come into contact with the eminent Bohemian at the Columbus exhibition in Chicago, which they will no doubt all attend for professional purposes. In the meantime Dr. Dvorák's influence will be felt at the National Conservatory in this city, which is one of the best institutions of its kind in the world, as can be seen by comparing the list of instructors with those of foreign conservatories.
7What has been lacking heretofore has been a creative musician at the head of the faculty. In Paris the leading composers consider it an honor to be connected with the faculty of the conservatoire; the same is true in German cities; and New York has now fallen into line by securing a composer who is not outranked either in France or in Germany, and who is still in his best creative period. There are very few musicians in this country—or abroad either—who could not learn much from Dr. Dvorák, especially in the mastery of form and the art of instrumentation, in which he has had no rival since Wagner died. If our American composers neglect the opportunity of securing at our national conservatory during the next three years what only personal contact with genius can give they have only themselves to blame.
9It will be interesting to observe what effect, if any, American life will have on Dr. Dvorák's future compositions. He has already expressed his desire to write an opera on an American subject, and it is to be hoped that he may be able to secure a libretto worthy of his genius. The task of supplying his demand ought to tempt our leading authors and playwrights. There is a mine of national subjects which have never been put to musical uses. It would be odd if this Bohemian composer, with his great faculty of assimilation, should succeed in writing the first really American opera. Our native composers should bestir themselves.
11OPERATIC POSSIBILITIES.
13THE prediction made by THE MUSICAL COURIER immediately after the burning of the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House has been more than verified. There will be no opera this season at the above named establishment, but there are strong chances of operatic performances being given the fall and winter season of 1893. Here is a batch of news on the subject culled from the "World," "Sun," "Herald" and other dailies:
15The "World" says:
17Mr. John B. Schoeffel, of the operatic firm of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau, arrived in the city last week from Boston.
19"There will be no opera in America the coming season," he said, "under our management. This is final and is the result of a consultation held by Mr. Abbey and Mr. Grau yesterday in Rotterdam. I got a cable from them to-day. Evidently the question as to whether we are bound to keep our contract with the singers engaged has been settled in the negative, although I felt sure it would be, for a fire always nullifies such contracts. With Irving or Bernhardt the contract is for a tour, but operatically it means virtually singing at one place, and if the place is burned the contract is off. We contemplated playing or rather giving Chicagoans two weeks of opera during the holidays, but everything is cancelled, of course.
21"We have engaged the Auditorium there for spectacle, and that, of course, will be given. The American people will miss this year hearing the greatest operatic artists Europe has produced. The ensemble was really remarkable. The sopranos—or sopranis, to use the Italian plural—were Mrs. Melba, who has just been divorced from her husband, Captain Armstrong, and whom the Duc d'Orleans admires so much; Miss Emma Eames and Miss Calvé. Then there was Nordica, and among the men Lassalle, the De Reszkes, Montariol and a veritable host of others. It's too bad, really. However, one can't always tell what the next year will bring forth."
23"Is it probable, Mr. Schoeffel," asked the reporter, "that the opera house can or will be bought in by outside parties who could rebuild the structure and freeze out the 'regulars' who have been the patrons of opera for the past five years and virtually create a new list of boxholders?"
25"I know more than I care to say," replied Mr. Schoeffel, "but this I am willing to state, that the house will be purchased by or for some of the present directors and rebuilt in time for the opera season next year. The confessed judgment for $101,000 recorded yesterday in favor of Earl Clinton Potts was the result of a suit brought in the Supreme Court on the part of W. K. Vanderbilt, Luther Kountze, W. C. Whitney, Edward Cooper, Henry G. Marquand, J. A. Roosevelt and others to recover on promissory notes given for $7,500 each by the company to those people. There is also an $11,000 claim, I am told, for money loaned by J. A. Roosevelt & Son. The opera house will be sold under foreclosure, and I presume this judgment will take precedence, giving these people, who are stockholders at present, first claim.
27"As I say, there are things I cannot divulge, but this is positive—the place will be kept in the hands of some of its present owners and rebuilt."
29Another gentleman who is a member of the board of directors said:
31"Although it has been positively stated that the present stockholders will not rebuild the opera house this year, and that no movement on the part of the present holders of stock to rebuild later on is contemplated, the statement is erroneous. The fact that the board of directors voted to rebuild and were overruled by the majority of the stockholders shows nothing, for I know positively that while the directors apparently acquiesced in the stockholders' view of not building, a movement, secret to be sure, is being made, and is in fact consummated. This movement means that a number of the directors will see that the opera house is rebuilt, and in fact will do it themselves. Socially the best people in the city are behind it. They couldn't afford to let the opera house be rebuilt by Tom, Dick and Harry and the best boxes be occupied by the parvenus and nobodies who might have money, but nothing else.
33"New York society is too powerful a thing to allow its crowning social gathering place to get into the hands of the philistines. I happen to know that now that Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau have shown that no assessments need be levied and that opera can be be made to pay for itself, enough people are ready to go in for it. Mr. Abbey's firm will be given the lease, too. Next year you will see everything as it used to be, with an improved home and probably the same singers who were to have been with us this year."
35Abbey and Grau were interviewed by a "Sun" reporter at London as follows:
37LONDON, September 22.—Henry E. Abbey arrived from Ostend this morning and Maurice Grau from Paris. They met ex-Judge A. J. Dittenhofer, of New York, at the Savoy Hotel, and with him visited George Lewis of the London law firm of Lewis & Lewis. A long conference was held upon two legal points raised by the burning of the Metropolitan Opera House, the liability of the Metropolitan Opera House directors to Abbey and Grau and Abbey and Grau's position with regard to the artists who had been engaged for the opera season.
39A "Sun" reporter saw Mr. Abbey this evening. He said that as a result of the conference the artists had been notified that Abbey and Grau were unable to fulfill their contracts for the opera season.
41"Do you apprehend any legal trouble on this point?" the reporter asked.
43"No," replied Mr. Abbey, "I do not. It is absolutely impossible for us to carry out our contracts since the destruction of the Metropolitan, as our entire opera plans were based upon the New York production."
45"Do you consider that you have any legal redress against the directors of the Metropolitan Opera House?"
47"That is a question that we shall consider further," Mr. Abbey replied.
49Mr. Abbey bore himself with his usual nonchalance of manner, but he said:
51"This is the heaviest blow I have yet suffered. I have undergone greater financial reverses, but this is the first time I have ever been compelled to announce that I was unable to carry out my own contracts."
53Sheriff Gorman said that, in pursuance of the judgment for $102,218.50, which was secured on Wednesday against the Metropolitan Opera House Company by Earl Clinton Potts, he had levied on the Opera House, music, furniture, properties, &c., and would advertise the property for sale in a few days unless legally restrained by the defendants.
55Lawyer George C. Kobbe, Mr. Potts' counsel, expressed surprise when told that the sheriff had levied on the opera house proper.
57"I shall wait a reasonable time for the judgment on the promissory notes held by Mr. Potts to be paid," he added, "and if the account is not settled I shall instruct the sheriff to advertise a sale."
59Francis R. Rives, counsel for the Metropolitan Opera House Company, is out of the city. James A. Roosevelt, president of the board of directors, was also absent from his office, but his son said that a meeting would probably be called to consider the matter.
61"The building and land," he continued, "are worth about $1,500,000. There is no scenery in the opera house, and I doubt if the music, wardrobe and furniture in the house are of enough value to satisfy the judgment. So far as I know there are no other claims against the company."
63President Roosevelt of the Metropolitan Opera House Association summed up the opera situation in this city as follows:
65"Musically speaking, the affairs of the opera are at a standstill. They will remain so until the foreclosure of the mortgage in sixty days. After that the company will probably be reorganized by some of the present directors and others who are in favor of a continuance of grand opera in New York city."
67Action on the judgment obtained against the company will probably be postponed until another directors' meeting has been held.
69In the "Herald" the following rumor was published last Sunday:
71There was a rumor in musical circles last Saturday to the effect that the National Conservatory of Music, of which Mrs. Jeanette M. Thurber is the president, was after the Metropolitan Opera House and was going to make a very strong bid for it, backed by a large amount of money.
73According to the rumor Mrs. Thurber is anxious to get the house and use it both as a conservatory and opera house, embodying as far as possible the relations of the Paris Conservatoire and grand opera. She is said to have begun steps for the formation of a syndicate to take the house and to have secured sufficient money for her undertaking. In case she succeeds Mr. Stanton will again have charge of the business at the house, and Mr. Dvorák will probably have charge of the music.
75As may be seen by the above things operatic are, indeed, to quote President Roosevelt, at a standstill.
77THE London "Musical News" editorially treats the question of the "Parsifal" copyright thus in a recent issue:
79There is much concern in the Wagnerian inner circles at the knowledge that next year the copyright in "Parsifal" expires, so far as Austria is concerned. As the saying goes, there is money in this last remarkable work of the Bayreuth master. Considering how many persons are eager to hear it and what a quantity of money they are ready to pay for the privilege, there is every chance that some far seeing impresario will strive to produce the opera in the Austrian capital. This would certainly be a terrible blow for Bayreuth, for, despite all the romancing to the contrary, "Parsifal" can be made to sound quite as well outside as inside Bayreuth. It is rumored that so alarmed is Mrs. Cosima Wagner at the possibility of the reduction of her profits that she has appealed to Dr. Hans Richter not to associate himself with any such scheme or conduct it at the Imperial Opera House. It is further said that an attempt will be made to get the Austrian Legislature to alter the copyright act and to make the law in conformity with that of other countries, where authors' rights endure for a longer period. However, it is not likely any such change will be made or any special indulgence be conceded, in favor of Wagner's heirs. But if Dr. Richter is ready to discourage any such performance in Vienna his action is not binding on others.
81If suitable singers can be found, and the project offers a fair measure of success, some smart impresario is pretty sure to take it up and Bayreuth be robbed of its glory. The ubiquitous and ever active Sir Augustus Harris might take on the task. The Dragon in "Siegfried" is of English manufacture; there would be no difficulty in our scene painters and mechanics supplying all that is needed, and efficient singers can certainly be found who could be induced to undertake the soli parts. A monopoly is at all times objectionable; in the case of a work which we have been told is to revolutionize the operatic stage, and endure for all time, it would seem that when the composer and his heirs have taken their dues reward the sooner such a work is given freely in all civilized countries the better for enlightenment of the people and the advance of an art so peculiarly cosmopolitan as is that of music.
83THE MUSICAL COURIER heartily agrees with the above opinion. Cosima Wagner has demonstrated her inability to cope with the artistic provisions made by Richard Wagner about the Bayreuth performances, so by all means let the world at large enjoy "Parsifal."
85How the News of the Burning of the Metropolitan Opera House Was Received in Walhalla.
87LOGE (with a telegram)—Wotan! Fricka! Siegfried! Siegmund! Brünnhilde! Here is some news for you. Well, well! they have made a nice mess of it.
89THE RHINE DAUGHTERS—Why, what is the matter?
91LOGE—The Metropolitan Opera House of New York burnt down and the directors refuse to rebuild it.
93WOTAN—Good gracious! and what is to become of us?
95Fricka is forever bothering me for a new dress (when I received the last bill I almost lost my only remaining eye with astonishment). Those eight Valkyries are a troublesome lot—always needing something for their horses. And where is all the money to come from if we don't get any employment this season? We haven't had any work for one winter as it is, thanks to the Duke of Coburg and that devil of a fellow Asrael.
97LOGE (in an undertone to Wotan)—I wouldn't let Fricka boss me if I were you; and, as far as your daughters, the eight Valkyries, are concerned, you could get some bicycles cheap at wholesale prices. Bicycles would serve the same purpose.
99[Loud] The trouble down below is some of the directors are perfectly willing to reorganize, but the others, the kickers, maintain that they have lost sufficient money. I have reason to think that the kickers are the gentlemen who have been organizing the new vaudeville company which is to give light opera bouffe. Of course we fellows up here wouldn't stand the ghost of a chance next to Jupiter, Helen, Paris, Menelaus and all that crowd.
101WOTAN (furiously)—That man Jupiter has always been my greatest competitor from remote antiquity down to the present time. [Meditatively] Perhaps if Siegfried could be induced to play "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay" instead of that monotonous stuff he always toots on his horn, or if we could prevail upon Brünnhilde to take a few lessons of Lottie Collins in order to introduce a little skirt dancing, Loge, don't you think we might have a show?
103LOGE—Never! Genevieve de Brabant's two gendarmes will knock out your two giants, Fasolt and Fafner, any day. And then again, look at the immorality of our set! I won't speak of your little peccadilloes, Wotan—they are too well known; but take for instance the case of Siegfried and Brünnhilde. Siegfried marries Brünnhilde. The nuptial knot is tied by—well, by no one in particular. Siegfried leaves Brünnhilde to go on a little fishing expedition and arrives at the court of Gunther. Siegfried sees Gutrune. Gutrune offers Siegfried a glass of champagne, whereupon Siegfried, the true man that he is, immediately tumbles in love with Gutrune and deserts Brünnhilde. I reckon if Siegfried were to come within the jurisdiction of a United States court he would immediately be indicted for bigamy, pure and simple, and justly so. Then again, take the case of Siegmund and Sieglinde. Siegmund accepts Hunding's invitation to stay for dinner. After dinner he sings one of those irresistible spring songs and then runs off with his host's wife in the most nonchalant manner. Talk to me about your Walhalla morality! Why, it couldn't be worse in one of Zola's novels.
105HUNDING—You're right, Loge. Where is that scoundrel Siegmund? Let me go for him.
107LOGE—Never mind now, Hunding. It is rather late in the day, besides we don't care for the Deacon act just now. The only Abeille needed under the circumstances is Henry E.
109WOTAN—I am inclined to think that you are exaggerating matters somewhat. Regarding the directors of the Metropolitan Opera House I must acknowledge that they acted handsomely during my reign. They always paid the deficit without a murmur and applauded liberal-
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