The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888 Volume Ii Part 13

Lablache; "Carmen" (a Gipsy), Mdme. Minnie Hauk.

The incidental divertiss.e.m.e.nt supported by Mdme. Malvina Cavalazzi and the Corps de Ballet.

This was followed by an excellent performance of _Trovatore_, in which Mdlle. Litvinoff, a charming Russian soprano from the Paris Opera, made a successful appearance, supported by Lablache, De Anna, the admirable baritone, and Giannini, one of the favourite tenors of America, who after the _Pira_ was encored and recalled four times in front of the curtain. I afterwards introduced Mdlle. Alma Fohstrom, who had made such a great success during my London season at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden.

On the occasion of my attempting a rehearsal two days afterwards of _L'Africaine_, I found the stage built up with platforms to the height of some 30 feet, which were occupied by full chorus and orchestra.

Remonstrance was useless, the Secretary of the Academy being "out of the way," whilst the conductor, Mr. Theodore Thomas, was closed in and wielding the _baton_ with such vigour that no one could approach him. I said nothing, therefore. In spite of formidable obstacles, the march and the procession in the fourth act of the opera had to be rehea.r.s.ed under the platform, and, as good luck would have it, the opera went magnificently.

Rehearsals of _Manon_ had now to be attempted; but whenever a call was put up, so surely would I find another call affixed by the rival Company for the same hour; and as they employed some 120 choristers, who had about an equal number of hangers-on in attendance on them, the reader can guess in what a state of confusion the stage was.

The public has but little idea of the difficulties by which the career of an opera manager is surrounded. An ordinary theatrical manager brings out some trivial operetta which, thanks in a great measure to scenery, upholstery, costumes, and a liberal display of the female form divine, catches the taste of the public. The piece runs for hundreds of nights without a change in the bill, the singers appearing night after night in the same parts. The _maladie de larynx_, the _extinction de voix_ of which leading opera-singers are sure now and then, with or without reason, to complain, are unknown to these honest vocalists; and if by chance one of them does fall ill there is always a subst.i.tute, known as the "understudy," who is ready at any moment to supply the place of the indisposed one.

The public, when it has once found its way to a theatre where a successful operetta or _opera bouffe_ is being played, goes there night after night for months, and sometimes years, at a time. The manager probably complains of being terribly over-worked; but all he has really to do is to see that some hundreds of pounds every week are duly paid in to his account at the bank. To manage a theatre under such conditions is as simple as selling Pears' Soap or Holloway's Pills.

The opera manager does not depend upon the ordinary public, but in a great measure upon the public called fashionable. His prices are of necessity exceptionally high; and his receipts are affected in a way unknown to the ordinary theatrical manager. Court mourning, for instance, will keep people away from the opera; whereas the theatre-going public is scarcely affected by it. The bill, moreover, has to be changed so frequently, so constantly, that it is impossible to know from one day to another what the receipts are likely to be.

What would one give for a prima donna who, like Miss Ellen Terry or Mrs. Kendal, would be ready to play every night? Or for a public who, like the audiences at the St. James's Theatre and the Lyceum, would go night after night for an indefinite time to see the same piece!

Finally, at a London Musical Theatre the prima donna of an Operetta Company, if she receives 30 or 40 a week, boasts of it to her friends.

In an Italian Operatic Company a seconda donna paid at such rates would conceal it from her enemies.

CHAPTER XI.

HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF--REV. H. HAWEIS ON WAGNER--H.R.H. AND WOTAN--ELLE A DeCHIRe MON GILET--ARDITI'S REMAINS--RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO.

To return to my difficulties at the New York Academy of Music, I was at length compelled to rehea.r.s.e where I could; one day at the Star Theatre, another at Steinway Hall; a third at Tony Pastor's--a Variety Theatre next door to the Academy.

In the midst of these difficulties I caught a severe cold and found myself one morning speechless. I was surprised that afternoon to find a bottle of unpleasant sticky-looking mixture left with the hall-keeper, accompanied by a letter strongly recommending it from an admirer, who had heard, with sorrow, that I had taken cold. Not liking the smell of it, I sent it to an apothecary's for a.n.a.lysis, when it was found to contain poison. Fortunately I had not tasted it.

Finding myself so heavily handicapped, I decided, pending the preparation of _Manon_, to get ready Auber's _Fra Diavolo_, which had to be rehea.r.s.ed under the same difficulties. I, however, succeeded in producing it on the 20th November, and an excellent performance we gave.

Fohstrom was charming as "Zerlina," and in the _roles_ of the two brigands, Del Puente and Cherubini were simply excellent. I have seen many performances of _Fra Diavolo_ in London with Tagliafice and Capponi, whom I considered admirable; but on this occasion they were fairly surpa.s.sed in the brigands' parts by Del Puente and Cherubini. The part of "Fra Diavolo" was undertaken by Ravelli, and the scenery and dresses were entirely new; the former having been painted on the roof of the theatre, either late at night or early in the morning, with the finishing touches put in on the Sundays.

The majority of my stockholders were careful to remain away, thus leaving a very bare appearance in the proscenium boxes. They, too, were siding with the enemy, or had not quite recovered from the three-dollar a.s.sessment which they had been called upon to pay for Patti the previous year. All these intrigues, however, marked in my mind the future downfall of the Academy and its stockholders, the house being now "divided against itself."

I will quote from the _Evening Post_, a paper hostile to my enterprise, a criticism on the _Fra Diavolo_ performance:--

"_Fra Diavolo_, as presented at the Academy last evening, was by far the most enjoyable performance given by Mr. Mapleson's Company for a long time. There was an element of brightness and buoyancy in the acting and singing of all the princ.i.p.als that admirably reflected the spirit of Auber's brilliant and tuneful score. Next Monday, when the season of German Opera opens at the Metropolitan with _Lohengrin_, there will be doubtless hundreds who will be unable to secure seats. All such we earnestly advise to proceed straight to the Academy next Monday, where _Fra Diavolo_ will be repeated; not only because they cannot fail to enjoy this performance, since it is an entertaining opera entertainingly interpreted, but because Mr. Mapleson ought to be encouraged, when he undertakes to vary his old repertory.... Ravelli sang admirably last evening, and so did Fohstrom, who acted her part with much grace and dainty _navete_. Lablache, Del Puente, and Cherubini were unusually good and amusing. The Academy, we repeat, ought to be crowded on Monday next."

The production of _Fra Diavolo_ gave great satisfaction. Meanwhile, I made another attempt to continue my rehearsals of _Manon_. Not only was I excluded from the stage by the hammering and knocking of this new Anglo-German Opera Company, but they turned one of the corners of the foyer into a kind of business office, where their chatterings greatly interrupted my rehearsals with pianoforte. These, at least, I thought, might be managed within the theatre.

On ordering an orchestral rehearsal at Steinway Hall the following morning I was surprised to find that Mr. Thomas and his orchestra had actually gone there before me; and I had to dismiss my princ.i.p.al singers, chorus, and orchestra for a couple of hours, when with difficulty I was enabled to make a short rehearsal.

This went on day after day much to my annoyance. The Directors now began troubling me to pay the rent; to which I replied that I would willingly do so as soon as they performed their portion of the contract by allowing me to rehea.r.s.e.

About this time I was challenged to meet the Rev. H. Haweis, author of _Music and Morals_, in a discussion on Wagner to be held at the Nineteenth Century Club, at which a great number of the fashionables of New York were present. After a brief introductory address, Mr.

Courtlaudt Palmer, President of the Club, introduced the Rev. Mr.

Haweis. His paper was a running series of anecdotes about Wagner, many of them keeping the audience in a continual laugh. He then made an onslaught on Italian Opera, a.s.suring the audience that its days were numbered, that Wagner for the future was the one composer of dramatic music, and that every support should be given to his works now being represented at the Metropolitan Opera-house.

When he had concluded I rose and said, "You have told us much about Wagner, but nothing about his music. I trust I am not unparliamentary when I say that if he is to be judged by the effect of his works on the public--works that have now been for years before the world--Wagner is an operatic failure, and that what the Rev. Mr. Haweis has told us about his operas is sheer nonsense. One question he puts to me is: 'Did I ever lose money by Wagner?' I say emphatically, 'yes.' I once brought over all the material for his trilogy, the _Ring des Nibelungen_, from Munich to London, where it was to have been produced (according to one of the conditions of the agreement) under the supervision of Wagner himself.

The master did not come; but his work was produced under a conductor of his own choice, and when the series had been twice given about six thousand pounds had been lost.

"My time will come yet. I labour under many difficulties now; but when New Yorkers are tired of backing German and American Opera, and will only subsidize me with one per cent. of the millions they are going to lose, I will return and give them Italian Opera."

I remember an interesting and, I must admit, not altogether inexact account of my production of the _Ring des Nibelungen_ being given in the _Musical Journal_ of New York.

"The series," wrote the American journalist, "was given under the special patronage of the Prince of Wales, who loyally remained in his box from the rising to the going down of the curtain, although he confessed afterwards that it was the toughest work he had ever done in his life. When Wotan came on the darkened stage and commenced his little recitative to an accompaniment of discords the Prince took a doze, but was awakened half-an-hour later by a double forte crash of the orchestra, and, having fallen asleep again, was startled by another climax fifteen minutes afterwards, when he found Wotan still at it, singing against time. At the end of five weeks Mapleson's share of the losses was 30,000 dollars; and the Prince told him confidentially that if Wotan appeared in any more operas he should withdraw his patronage."

By dint of perseverance, together with the aid of various managers, I succeeded in producing Wallace's _Maritana_. I first performed it over in Brooklyn, where it met with the most unqualified success, nearly every piece of music being encored, while Ravelli roused the audience to frantic enthusiasm by a finely-delivered high C from the chest at the conclusion of "Let me like a soldier fall." On a third encore he sang it in English. I then returned to the New York Academy with this opera, thus fulfilling the second of my promises in the prospectus.

It wanted now but nine days to the conclusion of my season, and as I had given to the public, despite the grumbling and cavilling, all the singers announced in my prospectus, I strained every nerve to produce the last of my promised operas, which caused more difficulty than all the others put together. This was _Manon_, which I succeeded in placing on the stage with entirely new scenery and dresses, and with a magnificent cast.

Glad indeed was I to shake the dust off my feet on leaving the Academy, where during a course of some eight or nine years I had given the New York public every available singer of eminence, including Adelina Patti, Etelka Gerster, Albani, Fursch-Madi, Scalchi, Campanini, Aramburo, Mierzwinski, Gala.s.si, De Anna, Del Puente, Foli, and other celebrities.

I confess I was not chagrined when I gradually saw after a couple of seasons had pa.s.sed the downfall of the Anglo-German-American Opera Company, which from the very beginning had failed to benefit musical art in any way. Not a single work by an American composer was given, the repertory being entirely made up of translations of German operas. I also read without any deep regret of the total break-up of the Academy with all its belongings. It is now the home of a "variety show."

This New York season of 1885 was a most disastrous one financially, as it necessitated my closing for nearly a fortnight in order that the promised productions should all be given. It was with great difficulty that I could start the tour, as every combination seemed to be against me.

However, I opened at Boston with _Carmen_ early in January, 1886, to a crowded house; the other performances of that week being _Fra Diavolo_, _Manon_, _Maritana_, _Traviata_, and _Carmen_ for a _matinee_, the receipts of which exceeded even those of its performance on the previous Monday.

During the second week _Faust_, _Don Giovanni_, _Rigoletto_, _Martha_, etc., were performed. We left the next day for Philadelphia, where we remained until the middle of the following week. From there we went on to Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburg, Chicago, opening in the last-named city very successfully with a performance of _Carmen_; when a violent scene occurred during the third act from which may be said to date the disastrous consequences which followed throughout the whole of the route; one paper copying from another, with occasional exaggerations, so that in every town we visited the public expected a similar disturbance.

Hence a general falling off in the receipts.

It was in the middle of the third act, when "Don Jose," the tenor (Ravelli), was about to introduce an effective high note which generally brought down the house, that "Carmen" rushed forward and embraced him--why I could never understand. Being interrupted at the moment of his effect, he was greatly enraged, and by his movements showed that he had resolved to throw Madame Hauk into the orchestra. But she held firmly on to his red waistcoat, he shouting all the time, "_Laissez moi, Laissez moi!_" until all the b.u.t.tons came off one by one, when she retired hastily to another part of the stage. Ravelli rushed forward and exclaimed, "_Regardez, elle a dechire mon gilet!_" and with such rage that he brought down thunders of applause, the people believing this genuine expression of anger to be part of the play.

Shortly afterwards, on the descent of the curtain, a terrible scene occurred, which led to my receiving this letter the following morning:--

"Palmer House, Chicago,

"February 9th, 1886.

"DEAR COLONEL MAPLESON,

"The vile language, the insults, and threats against the life of my wife in presence of the entire Company, quite incapacitate her from singing further, she being in constant fear of being stabbed or maltreated by that artist, the unpleasant incident having quite upset her nervous system. She is completely prostrate, and will be unable to appear again in public before her health is entirely restored, which under present aspects will take several weeks. I have requested two prominent physicians of this city to examine her and send you their certificates.

Please, therefore, to withdraw her name from the announcements made for the future.

"As a matter of duty, I trust you will feel the necessity to give ample satisfaction to Miss Hauk for the shameful and outrageous insults to which she was exposed last night, and Mr. Ravelli can congratulate himself on my absence from the stage, when further scenes would have occurred.

"I fully recognize the unpleasant effect this incident may have on your receipts, more especially so should I inflict upon him personally the punishment he deserves.

"I am, dear Colonel Mapleson,

"Very truly yours,

"(Signed) E. DE HESSE WARTEGG."