[51] We have the authority of Mr. H. E. Krehbiel, who is our guide for much of this chapter.
CHAPTER VII
OPERA IN THE UNITED STATES. PART II
San Francisco's operatic experiences—New Orleans and its opera house—Philadelphia; influence of New Orleans, New York, etc.; The Academy of Music—Chicago's early operatic history; the Chicago-Philadelphia company; Boston—Comic opera in New York and elsewhere.
I
During the greater part of the nineteenth century New York was unquestionably the metropolis of opera in America, and to trace operatic performances outside that city is a complicated and difficult undertaking. Generally speaking, other cities obtained their opera by grace of visiting companies from New York and, on the whole, that grace was not abundant. Exception must be made in the case of New Orleans and San Francisco. The latter city never enjoyed what might be called a permanent operatic institution such as was familiar to New York from the days of da Ponte, but it had the advantage of frequent visits from opera troupes on their way to and from Mexico.
The first opera given in San Francisco, as far as we can discover, was Ernani, which was produced by George Lover in 1853. Later, attempts to establish Italian opera there were made by Lanzoni and Lamperti. In 1857 Signor and Signora Bianchi gave a season with a very good company and in opposition to another company brought together by Thomas Maguire. Those were the days of flowing gold in California, when the raw yellow metal was thrown on the stage in moments of enthusiastic appreciation. It cannot be said that artistic conditions were ideal. Madame Anna Bishop was in San Francisco in 1858-59, but she seems to have taken part only in operatic concerts. A Spanish opera company and a company known as the Bianchi Troupe appeared at the old Metropolitan Theatre in the early sixties, producing Norma, La Sonnambula, La Favorita, Belisario, Linda di Chamouni, Ernani, Nabucco, Il Trovatore, and other works of the same type. La Traviata was produced at a benefit for Signora Brambilla in 1866 and three years later Parepa Rosa appeared in Don Pasquale. In 1870 there were three opera companies playing San Francisco at about the same time. Alice Oates' Popular Opera Bouffe Company gave La Périchole, Petit Duke, La Fille de Madame Angot, and Giroflé-Girofla with great success, while similar works were presented by a French company with Marie Aimée. At the Bijou Theatre Campobello's troupe gave Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Favorita, and other compositions of the same school. In the same year Theodor Wachtel, the famous coachman tenor, appeared—presumably in Le Postillon de Lonjumeau—and Mme. Mez Fabbri also gave a series of operas.
For several years following we can find no definite information about opera in San Francisco beyond the fact that Mme. Zeiss-Dennis, the famous contralto, made operatic appearances during the early seventies. In 1876-77 Marie Rose, Annie Louise Cary, and Clara Louise Kellogg gave English representations of Carmen and Die Zauberflöte, and in 1878 the two last-named appeared in a season of opera at the Baldwin Theatre. At the same theatre earlier in the latter year Catherine Lewis sang in opéra bouffe of the Giroflé-Girofla type. The redoubtable Colonel Mapleson brought Her Majesty's Opera Company to San Francisco in 1881, and in the following year the Emma Juch Opera Company gave a season at Baldwin's Theatre. Mme. Eugénie Pappenheim, whom we have already met in New York, appeared with the German and Italian Opera Company in 1884, and in 1884-85 there was a season of light opera at the Tivoli Theatre, among the operas produced being 'Little Red Riding Hood,' Boccaccio, and 'H. M. S. Pinafore.' The appearances of Etelka Gerster, Adelina Patti, and Emma Abbott were other features of operatic life in San Francisco in 1884.
From this time on San Francisco enjoyed opera in large quantity and of occasionally high quality. Light opera was especially in evidence, with the Tivoli Theatre as its favorite home. Offenbach's 'The Georgians,' as well as Lucia di Lammermoor, 'Martha,' 'Cinderella,' 'The Mikado,' 'Nanon,' 'Nell Gwynne,' 'Olivette,' 'The Three Guardsmen,' and 'Princess Ida' were produced in 1885. In the same year Amalia Materna, Emma Nevada, and Sofia Scalchi made their San Francisco débuts. The ill-fated National Opera Company and Emma Abbott's troupe were the chief purveyors of opera in 1887. The latter remained for a few years. In 1889 came Paston and Canteli's Madrid Spanish Opera Company, which produced Il grand Mogul, La Mascota, Galatea, Il Ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, and La Zaroule. Tamagno in Otello was the most noteworthy event of 1890, and 1891 is remarkable for the appearance of a Jewish opera troupe which gave operas in the Jewish language. There is nothing particular to record for the years 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895. The presence of the Tavery Opera Company was the chief event of 1896, while in 1897 the predominant feature was the appearance of Puccini's Opera Company in La Bohème, La Traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, Faust, and other works.
The subsequent history of opera in San Francisco is chiefly the recital of visits by opera troupes from various quarters. Apart from the Emma Abbott Opera Company, which was more or less a fixture, there has been no permanent operatic organization there; but San Francisco is an eager supporter of opera and has never lacked a generous supply of it. Comic opera has been especially well supported and the Tivoli Theatre has perhaps seen more of that form of entertainment than any other house in the United States.