HAMMERSTEIS
CONTRIBUTIONS
TO ART WORLD
^ i i . *
The chief claim to fame as an im
presario and theatrical manager, of
Oscar Hammerstein, who died a few
days ago, it has been said, will rest
in the fact that he set new records
for presenting grand operas of com
posers never before heard in America
and that he introduced to the West
ern musical world singers who after
wards won great names for them
selves.
Mr. Hammerstein was born in Ber
lin, Germany, in 1847, and came to the
United States in 1863, as he later
wrote, “to be free.” His father, an
austere man, Oscar said, tyrannized
his family and the boy ran away from
home. Arrived in New York he be
came a cigarmaker’s apprentice,
learned the trade, and subsequently
•tarted a tobacco trade journal which
proved unsuccessful.
“Music was my favorite study at
home,” said Mr. Hammerstein. “I
played the flute, the piano and the
violin all before I was 16. I always
had a great love for the theater.
Early in life I became associated with
Adolph Neuendorf, manager of a
Bowery theater. It was known as
the Stadt. I wrrote three plays about
1870, all of which w^ere produced
there. They were called ‘Solo Sixty,’ i
‘Our Poor Relations’ and ‘.antonio
Lobster.’ They achieved but little
popularity.”
Before this Mr. Hammerstein had
made a little money in Harlem real
estate and invested it wisely. Later
he became a silent partner of Neuen
dorf in the control of the Fourteenth
street theater where German plays
were presented. The first theater
he built in Harlem lost $200,000 in
three years, but the promoter never
lost heart. He built another one and
made money. Similar ventures were
undertaken and were successful. At
the time of the music hall craze Mr.
Hammerstein entered into partner
ship with Koster & Bial and retired
with increased fortunes. Then in
1895, he paid $1,000,000 for the site
of the Olymbia theater and put anoth
er million into the building. Yvette
Guilbert opened it and for a time it
was a big money maker but failed at
last.
During his experience with the
Olympia, a musical critic’s attacks
led Mr. Hammerstein to lay a wager
that he could write an opera, includ
ing the libretto, in 48 hours during
whiclr time he was a voluntary pris
oner in a hotel. He won the bet.
While engaged in writing operas and
finding new prima donnas and men
singers he utilized his spare time as
an inventor, some of his labor-saving
devices bringing him handsome roy
alties.
The Harlem opera house he built
in 1880. This was followed by the
erection of the Columbus theater,
Manhattan opera house, Olympia
(now New York theater), Victoria
theater, Belasco theater and the New
opera house. For many years the
Metropolitan Opera company had a
clear field, and on December 3, 1906,
when Mr. Hammerstein began as a
competitor with the Manhattan Opera
Co. he was met with many prophe
cies of failure.
The premier was Bellini’s “I Puri
itani,” in which the chief singers
were Alexander Bonci, Mme. Pink
ert, soprano, and Mario Tncona, bar
itone, who had been a Metropolitan
principal in former years. “Carmen,”
sung later, scored a distinctive ar
tistic triumph, and before the end ol
the season it had been presented 20
times wiith Bressler-Gianoli iin the
title role. Then followed “Aida,”
and other grand operas new and old
to American audiences.
The Manhattan produced a won
derful repertoire, including such op
eras as “Rigoletto,” “Traviata,”
“Lucia,” “Boheme,” Cavalleria Rus
ticana,’ ‘Navarriste,” in all of which
Emma Calve sang, ‘HDon Giovanni,”
“I Pagliacci,” “Thais,” “Louise,”
“Pelleas and Melisande,” “Siberia,”
‘>The Tales of Hoffman,” “Andrea
Chenier,” and “Crispinoe la Comare.”
A number of these had never before
been heard in America. Other pro
ductions were Massenet’s “The Jug
gler of Notre Dame,” Verdi’s “Otel
lo,” and “Dinorah,” and Blach’s
“Princess d’Auberge,” the last
named of which failed of success.
Still others were Straus’s “Elektra,”
“Griseledis,” “Sapho,” and “Herodi
ade.” The complete catalogue oi
Mr. Hammerstein’s operatic offerings
would make a good-sized book.
Among the opera singers he en
gaged, who were stars of the first
vocal magnitude at the time or be
came so later partly as a result of
Mr. Hammerstein’s leadership, were
Eduard de Reszke, Mary Garden,
Louise Tetrazzini, Eleanor de Cise
ros, Maurice Renaud, Marie Sammar
co, Nellie Melba, Iina Cavalieri,
Jeanne Gerville-Reach, Charles Del
mores, John MacCormack, M. Zena
tella and others.
In 1910, Mr. Hammerstein sold out
his Philadelphia opera house and
scenery and costumes of the Manhat
tan, together with all contracts with
his singers, for a sum said to have
been $2,000,000, to the Metropolitan
Opera Company, and as a result of
the agreement entered into at that
time, and which later was the sub
ject of litigation, the famous impres
ario was enjoined from producing
opera in New York until April 26,
1920.
‘I’m a curious man,” Mr. Hammer
stein once said to a friend. “I live
only for tomorrow. I don’t drink, 1
have never played a game of cards
in my life. When I find I have no
money in my pocket I go to the box
office and draw three dollars and it
lasts me so long that it really makes
me feel ashamed of myself. But I
have made and lost a lot of money. I
couldn’t possibly tell you how many
fortunes I have amassed and spent
in the past thirty-five years”
Underground Route for Japanese
Three thousand Japanese have ar
rived in Lower California, according tc
Mexican advices, with the evident in
tention of settling there. The Mexi
can newspapers add, however, that il
is believed that many of these immi
grant Japanese crossed the interna
tional boundary and made secret en
trance to the United States.
Best coffee in town at the City
Bakery. 2-61
Y.M.C.A.RAIDED
BY UNGRATEFUL
ITALIAN LABOR
— — ♦.—
FLORENCE, Italy, July 14 (Cor
respondence of Associated Press).—
' That the “Camera Del Lavoro,” as
the management of the recent Italian
strikes styles himself, is no respecter
of the property of other nations was
emphasized when the canteen of the
Young Men’s Christian Association,
serving almost exclusively the enlist
ed men of the Italian army, was com
mandeered and ransacked. The can
teen was under the direction of Harry
H. Holbert, of Tucson, Ariz., who told
the Associated Press correspondent:
“I am sure that it was not the sol
diers who did the work. The soldiers
were extremely grateful to us for the
work we have been doing. We had
been providing them with many of the
things they needed at greatly reduced
prices. The delegates of the “Cam
era Del Lavoro” vainly tried to in
fluence the soldiers themselves to
destroy the place.
“Failing to influence the soldiers,
the delegates took the matter in their
own hands and drove up one morning
in a large motor-truck, demanding
admission and ordering the loading
of all the supplies in the camion. We
lost more than $500 worth of supplies
by the incident.”
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