Article on the current lack of opera in New York City

“It would seem as if Opera houses were built to excite public derision. Every important city in the Union has its Academy of Music; but, so far as we know, there is not one that can boast of a company to play in it. We have got everything necessary for opera except singers and fiddlers and managers, and people with money who are willing to spend it. Particularly is this the case in New-York. We have a brand-new Academy of Music, which has never yet been filled, and we have a resplendent house in the Eighth-avenue called Pike’s Opera House, which is never likely to be filled until times get better. Neither of these houses is now open for opera. If we would hear opera we must go to an establishment that was not built for the purpose of presenting this form of entertainment, namely, the French Theatre. Here we have Mr. Bateman and his French company of singers reveling in opera-bouffe, and to all appearances doing extremely well in that pursuit. The Academy is silent and forgotten, save when a wild howl echoes through its deserted halls on the subject of its one hundred and ninety-nine and a half stockholders. The calculation is from the pen of a contemporary, whose dance of victory round the doomed building is really amusing. At Pike’s Opera House there is a fair prospect for next season. Wallace's ‘Lurline’—a work which combines scenic effect with very charming music—is in the way of production. But scenery takes time to paint, and two or three hundred dresses cannot be made in a day. It will be the first of September before ‘Lurline’ can be brought out in the way contemplated by Messrs. Pike and Harrison.

For the moment, then, Mr. Bateman has the field entirely to himself. It seems, indeed, as though he were likely to monopolize permanently much of the musical attention of the City. The kind of opera which he gives is a novelty with our public, and it has taken. ‘La Belle Hélène’ is played nightly to crowded audiences. It may be neither so good nor so popular as ‘La Grande Duchesse,’ but it certainly pleases. But here again we are nonplused, for the house having been rented to Mr. Grau, there will be an end of opera-bouffe after the present week.

Mr. Bateman, whose enterprise has met with so prompt and liberal a response, is to be the recipient of a complimentary benefit on Saturday evening next. It is tendered to him be a large committee of gentlemen, who seek in this way to mark their esteem for a manager who has worked hard and successfully in the public behalf. The occasion will be unusually interesting. Portions of ‘La Grande Duchesse’ and ‘La Belle Hélène’ will be performed—sufficient in themselves to insure the success of the entertainment, and to introduce all the artists of Mr. Bateman's company. In addition to this, Mr. Bateman himself will perform; in English, of course, but in a piece wherein there will still be a flavor of French. The benefit takes place at the Academy of Music, and will bring Mr. Bateman's regular season to a close.”