Bob’s
World of
J. Massenet

Reviews — The New York Times

From the New York Times March 29, 1908

Even Through a Winter of “Hard Times” Two Opera Houses Have Enjoyed Record-Breaking Attendance…Where Receipts Go.

     The new Manhattan Opera House, which, it was predicted, would give New York surfeit of opera, seems to have had the opposite effect. New York is opera mad, and in this season of financial depression, when the regular theatres have had difficulty in attracting audiences, both Opera Houses have, as a rule, been crowded. The amount of money paid for opera this season is likely to exceed the total last year by over $300,000. Over 15,000 people each week have visited each Opera House.
     While it is not possible at this time to secure exact figures, it is estimated that the total amount paid into the two Opera Houses this season will be in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. Last season the Metropolitan books showed a total of $750,000. Mr. Hammerstein’s expenses had been so great that he barely paid expenses. This season, however, it is likely that he will make a few thousands, although until January, when “Louise” was produced and Mme. Tetrazzini appeared on the horizon, his losses amounted to $108,000. Since then he has had an almost unbroken succession of crowded houses.
     In many ways it costs more to give opera at the Metropolitan, as the company is larger, and includes an extra set of singers for the German music dramas, but, on the other hand, Mr. Hammerstein has spent more money on new productions. The company at the Metropolitan is so large that many of the singers are paid for a large number of performances which they never sing. For instance, Mme. Gadski left New York with $5,000 in her purse for guaranteed performances in which she had not appeared. Many of the singers are paid by the week, what Alfred Hertz, the German conductor, has cleverly called “hush money.”
                                              Paid Whether They Sing on Not.
     How few times have Bella Alten, Felia Dereyne, Rita Fornia, Marion Weed, Marie Rappold, Frida Langendorff, appeared this season? And yet they must all draw their weekly salaries. Mme. Cavalieri and Mme. Fremstad have by no means sung their promised number of performances. In fact, the only singer at the Metropolitan who is sure of his full number is Enrico Caruso, for he is paid so much and draws so well that the management plans to have him sing as many times a week as possible. As Mme. Eames, Mme. Sembrich, and Miss Farrar sing most of the soprano rôles in the operas of his repertoire they are heard more frequently than other sopranos at that house.
     Mr. Hammerstein also has many singers who are being paid for performances in which they do not appear. And he has had the additional expense of putting on more operas for the first time. At the Metropolitan this year is as follows: “Mefistofele,” “Iris,” “Der Fliegende Holländer,” “Adriana Lecouvreur,” “Aïda,” and “Fidelio.” Mr. Hammerstein has mounted this season “Louise,” “Thaïs,” “La Damnation de Faust,” “[Les] Contes d’Hoffmann,” “Pelléas et Mélisande,” “Siberia,” “Crispino et la Comare,” “Andrea Chenier,” “[La] Gioconda,” and “Ernani.” The production of “Thaïs” cost about $30,000. “Pelléas” was almost as expensive, and “La Damnation de Faust” and “Louise” cost a great deal of money before they were ever sung.
     To the layman it may appear strange that a production with so many changes of scene as “Pelléas” should be less expensive than “Thaïs.” The explanation is that the “Thaïs” scenery is all ancient architecture and required a special artist, while the “Pelléas” scenery is practically all out-of-door wood and park scenes, for which it is easier to find a painter. One back drop in “Louise” alone cost over $1,000. This is the scene which depicts Paris at night. Another small fortune was invested in the scenery for “La Damnation de Faust,” which did not draw, and was given only three times. “Gioconda,” with its lavish Venetian scenes, was another expensive production.
     At the Metropolitan “Iris” and “Fidelio” were the most costly of the productions. The Japanese opera was produced with very beautiful pictures. The “Fidelio” scenery was copied exactly from the Vienna production, which was designed by Prof. Roller. The scenes are all within prison walls, and the effect of height and space and thickness of walls was admirably portrayed. The back drop of Florestan’s dungeon was painted on black velvet to give the gloomy effect desired.
     So much for scenery, Mr. Hammerstein has been good enough to prepare a table for The Times showing the expenses in some other departments at the opera besides the scenic department. This is probably the first table of the sort ever published, and gives somewhat of an idea of the enormous weekly drain on the impressario’s pocket.

Permanent Expenses.
These figures are for any week of the season:
Orchestra                                                               $4,500
Stage band                                                                  500
Chorus and ballet                                                      2,200
Musical director, two conductors                               1,700
Two pianists, two chorus masters
Stage manager, two assistant stage managers                 450
Master machinists and assistants, eighty stage hands    2,000
Chief electrician and twenty assistants                             300
Scene painter and assistants                                           200
Customer and assistants                                                 200
Wigmaker and hairdresser                                             250
Doorkeepers, stage doorkeepers, cleaners                     150
Hauling of scenery to and from warehouse                      200
Heating and lighting of stage and auditorium                    600
Advertising                                                                  2,500
Box office men, telephones,
   press agent, ticket printing &c.                                 1,500
Singers’ salaries                                                        27,000
                                     Total                                  $45,000
     The passages of singers to and from Europe each season must be paid by the impressario, and these usually amount to about $15,000.
     To this table, of course, must be added the cost of scenery mentioned above and the interest on the mortgage of the property.
     “Before I start in with a season,” said Mr. Hammerstein recently, “I figure that it may cost me a million dollars, and it is up to me to make it bring in as nearly a million dollars as I can. Miss Garden’s illness and the failure of Mme. Nordica at the beginning of this season cost me a great deal of money which I had not counted on losing. Before Christmas I was $108,000 the loser. Something had to be done. Well, I did it, and I think I shall be able to pull through this season with money on the right side of the ledger. Not that that will make me careless about next season. Precedent counts for nothing. Even things that I have done myself in the past I wouldn’t care to repeat.
     “If you would be a success you must be different, be peculiar. If you find out that somebody has done a thing a certain way that is reason enough for you to do it some other way. Never, under any circumstances, take advice. Theses are maxims which I follow, and they have brought me a measure of success.
     “ ‘Louise’ and Mme. Tetrazzini have brought me beautifully through this season, to say nothing of ‘Pelléas,’ which was an unexpected success. I brought that subtle lyric drama out because I thought there was a certain portion of the American public which ought to see it. I had never thought to make money with it. Lo and behold, the opera house sells out for ‘Pelléas’ quicker than for anything else!
     “I shall not stop. I shall go ahead. I have already ordered 60,000 yards of canvas to be shipped from Belfast, and scenic painters will get busy early in the Summer. I intend to be abroad but a short time this Spring, and then I shall return with my full plans for next year and commence to get to work on them. I shall go further even in the way of new and expensive productions than I have this year. All I wanted was the support of the public to show that I was appreciated in what I am doing for New York, and, now that I have that, the public will get opera of a sort which it never dreamed of. Just at present we are giving opera here which makes one smile at opera in the foreign capitals, but wait until you see what I am going to do!
     “The financial part of opera is sickening. But it is a necessary part of it, and I don’t leave my business affairs for some one else. I am here every morning a 8 A.M., and I never leave until after midnight. For some years I have been sleeping at the Victoria Theatre, which is not far, and I like it better up there. Thirty-fourth Street is so lonesome after the opera. But at Forty-second Street I can open the window and see people all night long.
     “To revert, the question of giving singers their full number of performances besides keeping everybody else paid, is a puzzling one. A singer is paid so much a performance, and is guaranteed a certain number, usually ten, performances a month. He is paid for these whether he sings or not. And all this financial responsibility is mine alone; I have no one back of me and no one to make up deficits. On the other hand, I have no one to bother me, or tell me to do things, or to share in the profits. There never will be any profits in this opera house, however, as I shall sink all the receipts into new productions. The more money I make the more money I shall spend.”
     The salaries of opera singers are usually of a size to compete with those of bank Presidents, and yet they are rarely as large as they are represented to be. The two highest paid singers on the operatic stage to-day are, of course, Luisa Tetrazzini and Enrico Caruso.
                                                Eighty Performances at $2,500.
     The tenor is guaranteed eighty performances a year by the Metropolitan Opera Company, which controls his entire year, at $2,500 a performance. Recent developments in the operatic world may make it possible for Signor Caruso to demand more in the future.
     Mme. Tetrazzini is said to receive $3,000 a night. At any rate, her remuneration is a large one, and she deserves it, for she fills the Manhattan Opera House to suffocation every time she sings. Mme. Melba drew a large salary when she appeared here last season, as she has every season that she sung in New York. This soprano is a very rich woman.
     Mary Garden probably receives about $1,200 a performance, which is a modest sum, considering her popularity. Messrs. Zenatello, Bassi, and Dalmorès are three high-priced tenors. Mr. Renaud costs $800 every time he sings, which is very expensive for a baritone. Besides these, Mme. de Cisneros, Bresslier-Gianoli, and Gerville-R‚ache, and Messrs. Arimondi, Sammarco, and Ancona must be paid.
     At the Metropolitan Geraldine Farrar probably gets a very much smaller sum than she will draw when she signs her next contract, but she is able to take in enough money at that so that she could retire at the end of a season or so if she felt disposed to live on a rather limited income. Mme. Fremstad is paid a large sum; so is Mme. Sembrich, and Mmes. Cavalieri and Eames draw large weekly stipends. Besides Mr. Caruso, Mr. Bonci is a high-priced tenor, and Messrs. Scotti and Plan‡on demand a large amount each time they sing. Mr. Chaliapine draws the top-notch salary for a bass, $1,600 a performance.
     An operatic contract is carefully guarded. The singer insists that it be written in his native language, so that he knows exactly what he is signing, and it always provides that a certain sum be deposited to his credit in some foreign bank, so that he may draw against it if certain conditions are not fulfilled. This deposit, as a rule, amounts to what the singer would receive for three performances under his contract. By an arrangement peculiar to operatic contracts, it is a guarantee not for the first three but the last three performances to be given under the contract. This is to prevent the manager from breaking his agreement, the penalty being the forfeiture of his deposit to the singer. For a large operatic company like either of those in New York the guarantees deposited months before the singers make their appearance amount to nearly $100,00.
     The Metropolitan Opera House as an institution has been in existence since 1883. It is supported by the wealth and fashion of New York. Many of the members of the Smart Set are on its Board of Directors. In spite of these facts Oscar Hammerstein, who stands alone, and who, up to the present, has not had a large subscription list, stands a good chance of selling his house out entirely by subscription during the next two seasons. It has been so difficult this year to get seats for Garden and Tetrazzini performances that many people will prefer to buy their seats at the commencement of the season. If Mr. Hammerstein could sell every seat in his house at every performance he could take in a total of $1,500,000 during the season. The Metropolitan Opera House, with a larger seating capacity, could take in almost $2,000,000. These are box office receipts which have not come in yet. They may happen some time in the future. Just at present the receipts reach about half these sums.
     It is the most expensive stars who make the most money for their impresarios. This was a fact discovered by Mr. Grau when he commenced to give star performances. Although Enrico Caruso and Mme. Tetrazzini are paid much more than any other singers, whenever they sing the theatre is packed. It is a peculiar fact, however, that even these most popular singers are more popular in certain operas. For instance, Mme. Tetrazzini can fill the theatre any time singing in “Lucia.” “Traviata” is almost as popular, but “Rigoletto” shows a great falling off in the receipts, while the public will not have this singer in “Dinorah” at all.
     It is the same with Mr. Caruso. When he sings in “Trovatore,” “Tosca,” “Faust,” or “Butterfly,” the theatre is packed, but hear him in “Fédora,” “Iris,” “Adriana Lecouvreur,” or “Manon Lescaut.”
     Interest in opera has never before been at the white heat that it is now. Mr. Hammerstein’s venture with the new French school has brought an entirely new public to the Opera House. Whereas in the past an operatic impresario was always regarded as a man who was sure to lose a great deal of money as well as his health, it now begins to look as if grand opera in New York is to become the most popular [form] of entertainment. There have even, been rumors that the season would be lengthened from twenty weeks to extend into the Spring hereafter. It is a vast speculation, and, like all other speculations, the winnings are commensurate with the amount stacked.

Last updated December 29, 2006