Article on the spring campaigns of Lincoln and Maretzek

Event Information

Venue(s):

Manager / Director:
Max Maretzek

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
16 May 2016

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

12 Mar 1863

Program Details



Citations

1)
Article: New York Herald, 12 March 1863, 4.

“Before Buchanan’s administration resigned the reign of power, it arranged a few happy combinations to embarrass President Lincoln. Our ships of war were dispersed all over the world. Our little army was distributed along distant frontiers. Our arsenals were emptied of cannon and muskets. Buchanan’s Cabinet was resolved that if Buchanan could not save the Union nobody else should. Upon the same dog-in-the-manger principle Manager Grau made up his mind that nobody else should give Opera in New York. Pressing engagements called him to Boston and other country towns, as the charms of nature called Buchanan to Wheatland; but he was determined to have no successor in New York. Maretzek announced himself ready to take Grau’s place here, just as Lincoln was prepared to step into Buchanan’s shoes; but Grau, like Buchanan, was in no mood to allow such a rotation in office if he could prevent it. Consequently he hit upon a brilliant strategic idea. He bought up all the chorus singers and divided them between Boston and Philadelphia, as Buchanan scattered our ships, our armies and our munitions of war. An opera without a chorus was an impossibility. Grau felicitated himself upon having checkmated Maretzek so cleverly.

            But Maretzek, like Lincoln, is a man not only of rare good nature, but also of extraordinary powers. If we were to have an operatic dictator he would be the very person for the situation. He arrived here as quietly as President Lincoln entered Washington, but not in a Scotch cap and long military cloak. He brought his generals with him, as Lincoln did; but he found himself without a chorus, as Lincoln was without an army and navy. Investigations soon disclosed the astounding fact that the chorus, like Lincoln’s army, was distributed far and wide over the the country, and that many of the singers had gone over to the rebels, under Grau, who is now the operatic Jeff. Davis. But Maretzek, like Lincoln, was undismayed; and, without waiting for the return of the old army, he proceeded to raise a new one. Seventy-five thousand volunteers were demanded. They came like the rush of the tempestuous sea. They besieged the box office of the Academy, and stopped up the passages at the stage door. Maretzek soon had a chorus as much larger than the old one as Lincoln’s volunteer army was larger than the regular force. Then came the prepatory drills and rehearsals and dress parades. Who were the Scott and the McClellan of Maretzek’s troupe we are not informed. Able and experienced disciplinarians they must have been, for the chorus was remarkably efficient. The ladies, in their window curtain dresses, sang loudly and sweetly. The men in their impossible pants and improbable jackets, growled steadily and deeply. Maretzek met no Manassas. He led his own troops, as Lincoln should have done, and took New York captive as easily as Lincoln will soon capture Richmond.

            Both in the field and at the Academy the prospects are excellent for a splendid spring campaign. President Lincoln has a large, well drilled and finely equipped army, and Maretzek has an equally splendid troupe. The people are as anxious for the success of the war as for the success of the Opera. They will support the one as heartily and cordially as they support the other. The few copperheads in our midst are of no more account to Lincoln than the deadheads to Maretzek. The people’s purse is at the service of both popular favorites. While Lincoln has the best army ever marshaled on this continent, Maretzek has the best company that has appeared here since the time of Malibran. Medori is to Maretzek what the Goddess of Liberty is to President Lincoln. Mazzolini is as full of fire and dash as Rosecrans himself, and, like that celebrated pupil of McClellan, he is always acting, always on the qui vive and always successful. Almost equal praise may be bestowed upon the other artists. Maretzek has no Fremont in his band. He gives idlers and incompetents the cold shoulder, and the President will do well to adopt the same policy. Maretzek has a much better cabinet than President Lincoln, however. His Secretary of the Treasury is backed by the Marti gold mine, full of Spanish doublooms, and the artists are paid in gold, as our soldiers and sailors ought to be. We wish Maretzek’s treasurer would have a talk with Secretary Chase and convince him of the feasibility of specie payments. Chase has a Marti mine in Colorado and Idaho, if he only knew it. As for Stanton, Halleck and Welles, we can find no parallels for these three worthies in Maretzek’s troupe. Indeed, we doubt if their equals are to be encountered in this wicked world. Nature exhausted her stock of imbecility in manufacturing this trio. If the President would rid himself of them and recall General McClellan his Cabinet would compare better with that of Maretzek. Little Max is his own ‘Little Mac.’ In all other respects, however, Lincoln and Maretzek are in equally good condition for the spring campaign. We hope and predict for them the same success. Jeff. Davis, like Grau, will soon discover that the country air is necessary to his health; but unlike Grau, he will prefer the air of some other country than this. Then, when the Stars and Stripes wave proudly ever the stars and bars, we ask no greater treat than to listen to Maretzek’s grand orchestra saulting the Union millennium with ‘Hail Columbia,’ while President Lincoln dances with joy, like David before the ark, to the music of ‘Hail to the Chief.’”