More chapters of opera : being historical and critical observations and records concerning the lyric drama in New York from 1908 to 1918 . ough in small forms,proved to be abortive when applied to an extended drama,and was abandoned, so that Konigskinder as given atthe German Theater was merely a play with music speciallycomposed for it. It was so near an opera in spirit and themusical investiture which Humperdinck had given it, how-ever, that its complete translation was inevitable, and afterHerr Humperdinck had visited New York to witness thetriumph of Hansel und Gretel he gladly accepted a
More chapters of opera : being historical and critical observations and records concerning the lyric drama in New York from 1908 to 1918 . ough in small forms,proved to be abortive when applied to an extended drama,and was abandoned, so that Konigskinder as given atthe German Theater was merely a play with music speciallycomposed for it. It was so near an opera in spirit and themusical investiture which Humperdinck had given it, how-ever, that its complete translation was inevitable, and afterHerr Humperdinck had visited New York to witness thetriumph of Hansel und Gretel he gladly accepted a com-mission to make the operatic version and give the right offirst performance to the Metropolitan Company. It wasMr. Dippers plan that the opera should first be performedin an English version, but, as I have explained elsewhere,the need of hurry in order to save the privilege of a worldpremiere led to a retention of the original language, and tothe best of my memory it has had no English performanceas yet, though it was scheduled in the Century Companyslist for 1913-14. To the fact of a first performance I fancy* Op. cit., p. Geraldine FarrarIn Konigskinder THE DUBIOUS VALUE OF FIRST PERFORMANCES 215 a great deal more importance was attached than such anoccasion warranted, except from a business point of view,and this was minimized when the management put the Ger-man work at once in the subscription repertory after with-holding La Fanciulla del West for two special perform-ances at double prices. The proceeding disclosed a policyof the management which was promptly rebuked by the pub-lic, and it would have worked no harm to art, nor lessenedthe prestige of the company, to have permitted both operasto be presented in Europe before bringing them out in NewYork. It will be understood that I am speaking purely froman artistic point of view, having no desire to raise a dis-cussion of the validity of the commercial traditions of thetheater. There would have been a truer stand
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