If it were possible to secure half a dozen more singers like Lehmann,
Alvary, and Fischer, the operatic problem might be regarded as solved.
It is the scarcity of first-class acting vocalists that makes opera so
expensive, and prevents it from being self-supporting. The number of
first-class singers is so small that every manager competes for them,
and enables them to charge fancy prices, which are ruinous to any
manager who has no government or other support to fall back on.
It is a curious thing, this scarcity of good singers. We read so much
about all professions being over-crowded; and yet here is a profession
in which success literally means millions, and yet so few come forward
in it that managers are at their wits' ends what to do, especially in
the case of tenors. Herr Niemann obtains seven hundred and fifty
dollars for every appearance; Fraeulein Lehmann gets six hundred
dollars, and there are singers who are much better paid still because
they appear under the star system. Surely this ought to be a
sufficient bait to catch talented pupils. How many professions are
there in which one can make between five hundred and two thousand
dollars in three or four hours?--not to speak of the possibility of
winning the great prize--Madame Patti's four or five thousand?
It is sometimes said that the repertory is at fault; but I am
convinced that if there were plenty of good singers in the field, many
of the operas that were formerly in vogue might be revived
successfully--always excepting the flimsy productions of Bellini and
Donizetti.
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