Books › Musical Courier 1907-03-20: Vol 54 Iss 12, 1907 › scan 22
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Musical Courier 1907-03-20: Vol 54 Iss 12, 1907
33 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 23. See the scan on archive.org.
1MAURICE GRAU DEAD.
3(By Cable to THE MUSICAL COURIER.)
4PARIS, March 14, 1907.
6Maurice Grau died today of heart disease at his apartments here, No. 53 bis Rue Jouffroy. B.
8The entire American musical world, and a portion of the European as well, received the sad news of Maurice Grau's death with genuine sorrow and with a sense of loss in many cases peculiarly personal. Grau was not only the foremost operatic manager of our time, but in addition to establishing successful business relations with the greatest artists of the period, he also won their friendship, and everybody who had ever been under Grau's management retained for him always a warm feeling of love and admiration. The man's personality was so engaging, his manner so genial, his disposition so magnetic and generous that during all his long career he made not a single serious enemy. To that fact may be attributed much of his success, for his singers and the public adored him, and the press of New York was ever willing to lend its strong voice in support of anything and everything undertaken by that prince of good fellows and impresarii, Maurice Grau. His own Opera directors treated him not as a paid employee or as a necessary commercial evil attached to the business end of the Opera, but as one of themselves, and he had easy access to the most exclusive clubs of the city and all of the fashionable mansions. Wherever Grau went, men were glad to see him, but in spite of his unequaled personal popularity and his world-wide fame, he retained always his modest demeanor and the unassuming bearing of a democratic American gentleman. Although risen from lowly sources—Grau was a libretto boy in his early days—he possessed innate good breeding and refinement, and never in his career was there about him the faintest vestige of the upstart or the noisy megalomaniac.
10Modern grand opera, as we know it today in New York, is the sole invention and product of Maurice Grau. He "discovered" all the great singers who are most famous in America at the present time, and he was the managerial genius who realized New York's typical desire for "star" opera—typical, because of this city's mad lust for the "biggest, best and boundless" in every phase of metropolitan life. Grau introduced Jean de Reszké to this country, and when that tenor no longer cared to come, it was Grau again who engaged Caruso, and provided a satisfactory substitute for the great Jean. With his tried and established scheme for operatic organization and maintenance, and his perfect system of executive control, Grau left an easy path for his successor, and when the Caruso engagement is considered as well, the man who followed Grau at the Metropolitan came into what may truthfully be termed a sinecure. The proof of this argument lies in the fact that Grau's successor announced on his accession that he would "reform" opera, abolish "star" casts, and give "ensemble" opera of the kind known on the German stages. No one who follows musical history need be told here how the new impresario threw his schemes overboard precipitately after a short trial and reverted to the brilliant Grau methods, which now are established more firmly than ever at the Metropolitan. The present season of 1906-7 was only another reminder to emphasize the superlative managerial merits of Grau. How differently he would have fought the "opera war," and how differently he did fight the opera war of 1883-4 when with Nilsson and Sembrich he battled against the old Academy of Music with Patti and Gerster. Grau showed his fine mettle in that contest, for although his fight was for the time being a financial failure, it demonstrated his real quality, and gave the Academy of Music what quickly proved to be its deathblow. From that time on the success of Grau, with only slight failures dotting it here and there, proved to be steady and sensational. There is only one manager today who in his methods and irresistible manner at all resembles Grau, and that one is Oscar Hammerstein. His success with the Manhattan is such a success as Grau made in his day with the then new Metropolitan.
12Maurice Grau was born in Brünn, Austria, in 1849, and was brought to this country when five years old. Destined for the profession of law, after finishing a public school course and graduating from the College of the City of New York, Grau entered the Columbia Law School and later was employed for a while in the office of the noted lawyer-politician, Edward Lauterbach. The young man's uncle, Jacob Grau, was at that period a well known impresario, and it was through his sudden incapacitation, owing to a stroke of paralysis, that Maurice Grau unexpectedly found himself precipitated into the managerial business. He had learned its technic and its intricacies by working in his uncle's office during spare hours and vacation months, even performing such elementary services as selling librettos and taking tickets. Jacob Grau's mishap came to him at the moment when he had secured Wieniawski and Rubinstein for an American tour, and he offered his nephew the contracts, provided the latter could raise the necessary money. Where others would have refused or at least hesitated, Maurice Grau proved himself to be made of sterner stuff. He secured the late William Steinway's financial assistance, and at once the engagements of Jacob Grau passed into the hands of the new impresario.
14In 1872 took place the memorable tour with Rubinstein and Wieniawski, which afterward led to a combination between Theodore Thomas and Maurice Grau, whereby the orchestra, with the two eminent soloists as the main attraction, gave concerts in the principal cities of the United States, creating a furor from ocean to ocean, and proving to be a big money success for its promoters.
16Using this capital as a basis, with unceasing activity and unfailing courage, Grau spent the next few years in managing Salvini, organizing and presenting the Clara Louise Kellogg English Opera Company, securing Ristori for an extended dramatic tour, and, in 1876, inaugurating a series of thirty orchestral concerts, with Offenbach, the opera bouffe composer, as director. The last named venture was Grau's first distinct failure, but his unconquerable determination recognized in ill luck only a spur to further zeal.
18In 1879 he brought to this country the greatest French opera company which had ever been heard here up to that time. Paola Marie, Capoul and Angele were among the members. He took this aggregation all over the United States and South America, reaping one of the most gigantic financial successes known in the history of opera. Grau's "starring" of Aimée and Duplan, and particularly the sensational triumph of the former, still are vivid memories of musical old timers in New York.
20When, in 1887, he became associated with Abbey and Schoeffel, Grau reached a decisive epoch in his career. Together, Abbey and Grau made musical history. Abbey was the visionary, Grau the worker of the combination. Under the management of the firm the following artists appeared: Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Sarah Bernhardt, Adelina Patti, Mary Anderson, Etelka Gerster, Lily Langtry, Christine Nilsson, Coquelin, Jane Hading, Josef Hofmann, d'Albert, Sarasate, Réjane and Mounet-Sully.
22In 1891, Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau were chosen to manage the Metropolitan and opened the season with a company of which some of the members were Eames, Lilli Lehmann, Nordica, Scalchi, the de Reszkés, Albani, Lassalle and Van Zandt. In 1892 there was no opera, owing to the fire which almost destroyed the house, but in 1893 the regime was resumed. While the firm made money at the Metropolitan, they lost on outside ventures, and finally were forced to make an assignment. After Abbey's death, the Maurice Grau Opera Company was organized in 1897, with the man after whom the enterprise was named as president and managing director. Thenceforward failure was no part of Grau's experiences until his health failed him in 1903 and he was compelled to resign his position and seek rest and medical treatment abroad. He went to Croissy, near Paris, where he made his home together with his wife and daughter.
24The failure of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau proved that there were many who appreciated Grau's personal achievement during the ten years of his affiliation with the great managerial organization. The world of sympathy and encouragement extended him reached its culmination when Sir Augustus Harris died in London, and Grau was elected his successor as director of the Covent Garden Opera.
26Grau's extraordinarily successful management of the two seasons abroad, 1897 and 1898, has not yet been forgotten in the English capital. As one of the eloquent mementoes of his triumph in London, Grau treasured a large photograph of Queen Victoria, beautifully framed and inscribed with the royal autograph, presented to him on the occasion of his being received as a guest by the Queen at Windsor Castle.
28Among other artists and enterprises Grau managed at various times during his career were Judic, Theo, the Coralie-Geoffroy Opera Bouffe Company, the Emily Soldene English Opera Bouffe, the Lyceum Theater (now known as the Fourteenth Street Theater), Melba, Calvé, Suzanne Adams, Plançon, Maurel, Alvarez, Ancona, Sigrid Arnoldson, Bispham, Bréval, Burgstaller, Giuseppe Campanari, Kirkby-Lunn, Saleza, Scotti, Van Dyk, Van Rooy, and Schumann-Heink, Sembrich, Nordica and Tamagno.
30In 1899 Grau was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French Government, and the cross was conferred on him by M. Delcassé, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
32George G. Haven, president of the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, sent the following cablegram to Mrs. Grau on receipt of the news of her husband's death: "The directors of the
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