Italian opera has ceased to exist in New York, Paris, Berlin, Vienna,
and St. Petersburg, and even in Italy dramatic music of the modern
school is gradually driving out the old-fashioned lyric and florid
opera.
In New York, moreover, the press is almost unanimous in favor of
German opera, and the press, as a rule, is omnipotent in theatrical
matters. I am convinced, for instance, that one of the principal
reasons why Wagner was more rapidly acclimated in New York than in the
German capitals is that most of the leading German critics are old
men--too old to submit readily to Wagner's revolutionary tendencies;
whereas in New York all the critics are young men, who only needed to
hear a few good performances of Wagner's operas to be filled with an
enthusiasm for them, with which many of their readers could not help
being infected.
Still another important point must be borne in mind: the fact that
the vastness of the Metropolitan auditorium makes it impossible to
hear the weak voices and the thin scores of Italians to advantage.
_Ergo_, if this house remains the centre of music in New York, there
can be no question that, as I have just stated, the prospect for the
next decade or two is, either German Opera or No Opera.
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