Articles on Feud between Maretzek and the New York Herald

      This article is part of the feud between Maretzek and the Herald.  “The present season of Opera has been very successful.  Manager Maretzek has made plenty of money, and the public have been pretty well satisfied.  Generally speaking, the Academy has been more crowded than ever, and with some few exceptions, the operas have been admirably sung and excellent placed upon the stage.  The announcement for last evening, however, was by no means up to the mark.  La Figlia del Regiments [sic] has been done to death in this country, both in Italian and in English.  Its music, long ground out by barrel organs, wearies the ear, and there is nothing in its scenery and costumes to delight the eye.  Under these circumstances, this opera can succeed only when great artists are included in the cast.  Were Madame Zucchi less splendidly tragic in her style and presence, or were little Patti here to charm us with her exquisite vocalization and delirious coquetry, the furor to hear La Figlia del Regimento would be immense.  But Zucchi will not sing the role of Marie, and we have not a Patti among us; so that the refusal of Massimillani to appear as Tonio leaves the present cast anything but strong, either in a musical or a popular point of view.

      The irrepressible Faust, which is almost as troublesome as the irrepressible negro, will be repeated in Brooklyn this week, and will probably be forced upon the New York public at a matinee.  The Brooklyn people would greatly prefer La Traviata.  Indeed, if that opera could be revived in a style of Parisian splendor, with gorgeous scenery and magnificent spectacular effects, we know of few works which would be more popular.  La Traviata is certainly famililar to the public, but it has always been produced here in a mean manner, and it has not been well sung in a very long while.  Faust, on the other hand, is too constantly upon Maretzek’s bills.  Faust, and more Faust, and always Faust is his programme.  Faust is a very good thing, but we have had too much of it.  People tire of the best jokes when too often reiterated, and it is quite natural that they should tire of Faust.  An impresario, like a professional humorist, ought to comprehend the fact that variety is the spice of life.  President Lincoln understands this, and varies his Cabinet.  Artemus Ward understands it, and varies his lecture.  Artemus Ward Beecher understands it, and varies his sermons.  Why cannot Maretzek understand it, and vary his Faust?  Too much Faust, too much Don Giovanni, and now too much of the stale Figlia del Regimento combine to invite the patrons of the Opera to stay away.  These operas will thin the houses as decidedly as the incendiary conspiracy thinned the hotels and theaters.  Artistically considered, Faust is not cast so well this season at the Academy as it was last.  The tenor and the basso, who contributed so greatly to its success, have left us.  Perhaps it is better sung now by Grau’s traveling troupe, who have made it quite familiar in the provinces.  The city people have had enough of it, and the country people have heard it in all their little cities, towns, and villages, and do not want to hear it again, at second hand.  For city people and country people both, Don Sebastian is now the attraction, and it should be allowed to have its run.

      The “toujours perdrix et Faust” of the Acadmy bill of fare is all the more inexcusable because of the feast of novelty and flow of melody which Maretzek promised us in his inaugural message.  Besides Don Sebastian, we were to have Mireille, and La Forza del Destino, and the enlarged and improved Italian version of Fra Diavolo.  The fall season is over, the winter season is passing away, and we have only the first course of the promised banquet.  Don Sebastian is superbly placed upon the stage and equally well sung, and it has secured a genuine and deserved success; but it is only the first course, after all, and when Maratzek tries to take it away and substitute such empty dishes as Faust, Don Giovanni, and La Figlia del Regimento, everybody feels hungry and objects.  It seems to us that the true managerial policy in such a case is to run Don Sebastian until the public get enough of it, and then bring on Mireille, La Forza del Destino and the other novel dishes.  If Maretzek is not equal to such a programme, he has an assured success in the revival of Perella’s Ione, which is really a grand opera and will meet with a grand reception and another in La Traviata, which even in its usual shabby dress is a wonderful favorite with the Brooklynites.  But Maretzek is suffering from Faust on the brain, and is afraid of these other operas.  He forgets that he is in New York city [sic] and tries to manage the Academy like a country store, where they insist on selling off all their old stock before exhibiting more than a piece or two of new goods.  This is not the way to make opera permanently profitable in this metropolis.  Manager Maretzek should be sufficiently shrewd to offer the public so varied and attractive a programme that the temptation to go to the Academy every night will be irresistible.  Faust, Don Giovanni, and La Figlia del Regimento tempt people to stay at home or to go to the theatres, and sooner or later their influence will prove damaging to the purse and the reputation of our impresario.”

      “An editorial in the Herald, attacking certain popular operas, and suggesting that they be withdrawn for hackneyed works which have had their day, and are now justly giving way to novelties, or to the standard works of the great masters in music, has attracted the attention of other journals, as well as of the operatic manager. The World devotes a considerable space this morning to the matter; and the Times’s critic writes as follows: [quotes an excerpt from the NYT article].

      The Herald, we are told, has also personal reasons for not permitting the name of the baritone, Bellini, to be mentioned in its criticisms. Though he is the leading attraction in “Don Sebastian,” [sic] his name is never mentioned in the Herald notices of that opera. The readers of that paper have to go to more unprejudiced journals to learn that such a baritone as Bellini is at all connected with our opera company.

      Max Maretzek has replied to the Herald in the following dignified and conclusive note: [quotes Maretzek’s entire reply].

      “The Herald yesterday, in its usual editorial on the subject of operatic matters, went out of its way to attack ‘Don Giovanni,’ ‘Faust,’ and the ‘Daughter of the Regiment,’ supposing, with its customary fatuity, that these operas were played too often, and that ‘La Traviata’ would be a preferable substitute. Mr. Maretzek has written a reply, which we publish below. It is only necessary to add that the operas referred to are precisely those in which Miss Kellogg appears, and that the article is not aimed at Mr. Maretzek but at the lady in question.  Every two or three weeks the Herald slobbers out something about independent criticism—a subject with which it is totally unacquainted.  Miss Kellogg – the most talented and charming artist that America has ever produced – is the special victim which this valiant journal selects for its illustration of independence.  Her name is not allowed to be mentioned in the paper.  Afraid to attack her personally, the Herald thinks that by attacking the operas in which she is the acknowledged attraction, it will obtain its end.  We mistake the public and Mr. Maretzek if it have [sic] this effect.  At all events, we are glad that there is at last a chance of bringing up this matter to the bar of public opinion.  Properly discussed, we shall know why Miss Kellogg is not allowed to be mentioned in the Herald, and why Signor Bellini is never, by any accident, referred to in that valuable sheet.”

Maretzek’s response:

“To the Editor of the Herald: 

      In answer to your editorial this morning I take the liberty to state that, during the first eight weeks of this season of Italian opera, the following operas have been presented:  Trovatore, Traviata, Lucrezia, Lucia, Ballo in Maschera, Faust, Poliuto, Martha, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Linda, Don Sebastian, and Figlia del Reggimento.  As your critic has undoubtedly been in Europe, he will know that two or three of the above-named operas would have sufficed for the same space of time in many of the principal theaters, and in Italy would have done for an entire season.

      After five weeks of preparation, Don Sebastian has been produced in such a style, as would have taken as many months in the best established opera-houses in Europe, and even those where Government subvention prevails.  The other novelties promised by me in the inaugural programme are intended for the entire Fall, Winter, and Spring season, extending over seven months; and if the other new operas are also to be brought out with new scenes, dresses, appointments, etc. and are to be well rehearsed, no reasonable person can expect or believe that the necessary work can be accomplished without adequate time.

      Finally concerning the recommendation to give Traviata in preference to Don Giovanni and Faust, I can only say this is a question of taste.  The public, however, does not seem to share the preferences of your correspondent, if I may judge from the enormous difference in the receipts of the above-named operas, which sometimes, if not always, is the true standard of criticism with managers.

      Believe me, dear sir, yours very truly,

                                                            MAX MARETZEK”

      “The attack struck Mlle Kellogg directly. Do you know why this artist merited the enmity of the Herald? She simply refused to commit herself in a society where she judged herself misplaced. Surely, we are not passionate admirers of Mlle Kellogg, we have often criticized her, and everyone recognizes some talent in her, we don’t make her the queen of singers, but, without having the honor of knowing her, we can’t keep from conceiving a great esteem for her, in seeing the antipathy the Herald evidences toward her, and in considering the causes.

      Mlle Kellogg has been well defended in the American press, but some of her defenders have forgotten the axiom of Talleyrand: No zeal. [Goes on to cite a man who wrote to the World, complaining that]…not only did the young artist have to struggle against the enmity of the Herald, but also that she was not treated with enough respect by her colleagues….This enthusiast complains that MM. Lotti and Susini, for example, wouldn’t bend with good grace to the demands of the public, which made Mlle Kellogg repeat several numbers. He sees in this fact, very arguable, a proof of ill-will agains this young person, and he concluded that the Italian artists are jealous of the American singer. That’s a gratuitous accusation, which scarcely needs to be refuted. If its author were a bit [more] up-to-date with the internal story of the Opera, he would know that Mlle Kellogg is unanimously respected and liked, and that she is the first to rebuff similar insinuations. As for the dislike of artists toward repeating big numbers, we have already explained to ourselves that…the New York public is the only one possess of this mania to encore an ensemble piece or a tiring air, as well as a romantic couplet.”