CHAPTER VI

THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC

Operatic Warfare Half a Century Ago
The Academy of Music and Its Misfortunes
A Critic's Opera and His Ideals
A Roster of American Singers
Grisi and Mario
Annie Louise Cary
Ole Bull as Manager
Piccolomini and Réclame
Adelina Patti's Début and an Anniversary Dinner Twenty-five
Years Later
A Kiss for Maretzek

CHAPTER VII

MAPLESON AND OTHER IMPRESARIOS

Colonel James H. Mapleson
A Diplomatic Manager
His Persuasiveness
How He Borrowed Money from an Irate Creditor
Maurice Strakosch
Musical Managers
Pollini
Sofia Scalchi and Annie Louise Cary Again
Campanini and His Beautiful Attack
Brignoli
His Appetite and Superstition

CHAPTER VIII

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

The Academy's Successful Rival
Why It Was Built
The Demands of Fashion
Description of the Theater
War between the Metropolitan and the Academy of Music
Mapleson and Abbey
The Rival Forces
Patti and Nilsson
Gerster and Sembrich
A Costly Victory

CHAPTER IX