III
A bright rift in the cloud that hung over operatic New York at that time was the coming to Niblo's in 1855 of a German company, with Mlle. Lehman (not, of course, the more famous Lilli Lehmann) as star. Among the operas presented were Flotow's 'Martha,' Weber's Der Freischütz, and Lortzing's Czar und Zimmermann.
In the following year the German company added Mme. Johannsen to its forces, with Carl Bergmann as conductor, and presented, among other operas, Beethoven's Fidelio. Bergmann remained as conductor for several years and did an amount of pioneer work for German opera in New York the importance of which has been curiously ignored. It may be mentioned here, though a little in advance of our narrative, that he introduced Wagner's Tannhäuser for the first time in America at the Stadt Theatre, New York, in 1859. The chorus was supplied by the Arion Männergesangverein.[44]
In 1855 Maretzek produced Rossini's 'William Tell' and Verdi's Il Trovatore at the Academy. He had a good company which included the soprano Steffanone—one of Señor Marty's singers—and the tenor Brignoli, who became a great favorite with New Yorkers. A Mr. Payne opened a season of forty nights there in the fall of 1855 and in the following year Maretzek again became lessee. He soon quarrelled with the proprietors of the Academy and went to Boston. In January, 1857, Maurice Strakosch opened a season of Italian opera with an indifferent company, but in March Maretzek reappeared and set up an opposition at Niblo's. The next few seasons were marked by an amount of activity in which control of the operatic field was a consideration paramount to artistic achievement. Maretzek, Strakosch, and the latter's aide, Bernard Ullman, were the principals in an amusing campaign which, on more than one occasion, saw the rival impresarios acting as partners. Strakosch and Ullman opened the Academy season in the fall of 1857 with the fascinating Emmilia Frezzolini in La Sonnambula. Carl Anschütz, later of the Arion, was conductor. It was really a good season and, though it saw no novelties, it was redeemed from the usual hurdy-gurdy category by the production of Les Huguenots and Robert le Diable. In March, 1858, 'Leonora,' by the American composer W. H. Fry, was produced at the Academy under the bâton of Carl Anschütz.
Maretzek, in the meantime, was in Philadelphia with a company headed by the famous buffo, Roncone. In 1858 he returned to New York and opened a season at the Academy, while Strakosch took up a stand at Burton's Theatre. Ullman came from Europe in October, bringing with him the saucy and winsome Maria Piccolomini, whom he advertised as a lineal descendant of Charlemagne and the great-granddaughter of Schiller's hero, Max Piccolomini. As a showman Ullman was second only to the great Barnum. Maretzek and Ullman joined hands at the Academy in the fall of 1859 and presented Adelina Patti in Lucia di Lammermoor.
For several years following there is nothing much to note. The operatic situation was summed up in the alternate quarrels and reconciliations of Maretzek, Ullman, and the brothers Maurice, Max, and Ferdinand Strakosch, all of whom at various times have taken occasion to speak of the sacrifices they made for Italian opera in New York. As a matter of fact, opera was to all of them what the green table is to the confirmed gambler. Yet they accomplished much, and, though they relied mainly on the hackneyed list of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini, they introduced New York opera-goers, during the sixties and seventies, to a number of novelties. Among these may be mentioned Meyerbeer's L'Africaine, Le Pardon de Ploërmel, and L'Étoile du Nord, Verdi's Aïda, Gounod's Faust, Thomas's Mignon, Wagner's Lohengrin, and the Crispino e la Comare of the Ricci brothers—all in Italian. Maurice Strakosch was responsible for the presence in America of Christine Nilsson and of Italo Campanini, both distinguished artists who held a high place for many years in the affections of New Yorkers.[45]
By far the most noteworthy operatic event of the sixties was a season of German opera given by Carl Anschütz at the old Wallack Theatre on Broadway and Broome Street in 1862. The principals of the Anschütz company were mediocre, though they included Mme. Johannsen, but there was a good orchestra and a well-trained chorus. The list of operas included Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Don Juan, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Beethoven's Fidelio, Weber's Freischütz, Auber's Le Maçon, and Flotow's Martha and Stradella. Unfortunately, no social glamour was attached to the enterprise, nor were the times especially propitious to it, and it soon failed.
In the seventies there was a great vogue of the Offenbach opéra bouffe, and such airy trifles as La belle Hélène and La grande duchesse occupied the public interest to the exclusion of more serious musical fare. As is usually the case in America, the interest reached the intensity of a mania and it was necessary that public curiosity be satisfied by a sight of the composer himself. Accordingly Offenbach came over in 1875. But as soon as the people had satisfied their curiosity they lost all interest in him and his tour was a complete failure.[46]
In 1876 Mlle. Teresa Tietjens came to America under the management of Max Strakosch and appeared at the Academy of Music with great success, especially in Norma and Lucrezia Borgia. Two years later a short season of opera was given at the Academy by a German company headed by Mme. Pappenheim and Charles Adams. It was far from successful, but during its brief existence New Yorkers had an opportunity of hearing Wagner's Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, Der fliegende Holländer, and Rienzi, Halévy's La Juive, and Gounod's Faust.
In 1878 Max Strakosch, with a company that included Clara Louise Kellogg and Annie Louise Cary, ignored the Academy of Music and settled down at the Booth Theatre. There he gave a season of three weeks, presenting Aïda, La Traviata, and Il Trovatore. The directors of the Academy, in the meantime, turned to Colonel James H. Mapleson, one of the most famous of operatic impresarios, who, as manager of Her Majesty's Theatre and of Drury Lane, London, had for some time been engaged in a lively operatic war with Frederick and Ernest Gye at Covent Garden. Mapleson was a most astute manager and a devoted protagonist of the 'star' system. During his first season in 1878-79 he brought over a brilliant company which included Minnie Hauck, Etelka Gerster, and Italo Campanini, with Luigi Arditi as conductor. His list of operas was less impressive. The only novelty was Bizet's Carmen. On the whole, the season was moderately successful and Mapleson made a contract with the stockholders of the Academy for the seasons of 1879-80, 1880-81, and 1881-82. Nothing occurred in any of those seasons which calls for special mention. They presented the same old list of operas in the same old way. Italian opera in New York was getting into a rut and was losing its hold on the people. The Academy was becoming more and more unsuited to the growing demands of New York Society. Everything was, in fact, ripe for the inauguration of a new epoch.