User:MinorProphet/Draft subpages/Maurice Grau: Difference between revisions
MinorProphet (talk | contribs) →Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau: + {{main}} tag |
MinorProphet (talk | contribs) →John B. Schoeffel: ce, refs |
||
| Line 57: | Line 57: | ||
===John B. Schoeffel=== |
===John B. Schoeffel=== |
||
'''John B. Schoeffel''' (b. Rochester, NY, 11 May 1840 - d. Boston, 31 August 1918),<ref name="NYT_31_Aug_1918">{{cite news |newspaper=New York Times |date=31 August 1918 |title=John B. Schoeffel dies in Boston at 72 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B01E3DC1439E13ABC4953DFBF668383609EDE |accessdate=12 May 2017}}</ref> was an American theatre manager and producer, and hotel owner. As a partner in the firm of [[Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau]], he was involved in presenting grand opera at the New York Met during the 'Golden Age of singing' from 1891-1903. |
'''John B. Schoeffel''' (b. Rochester, NY, 11 May 1840 - d. Boston, 31 August 1918),<ref name="NYT_31_Aug_1918">{{cite news |newspaper=New York Times |date=31 August 1918 |title=John B. Schoeffel dies in Boston at 72 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B01E3DC1439E13ABC4953DFBF668383609EDE |accessdate=12 May 2017}}</ref> was an American theatre manager and producer, and hotel owner. He joined [[Henry Eugene Abbey|Henry E. Abbey]] as his business partner in 1876. As a partner in the firm of [[Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau]], he was involved in presenting grand opera at the New York Met during the 'Golden Age of singing' from 1891-1903. |
||
He joined [[Henry Eugene Abbey|Henry E. Abbey]] as his business partner in 1876 |
|||
He was resident Manager of the [[Park Theatre (Boston)|Park Theatre]], [[Boston]] when it was built, and manager of the [[Tremont Theatre, Boston (1889)|Tremont Theatre, Boston]] until his death.<ref name="NYT_31_Aug_1918" /> |
He was resident Manager of the [[Park Theatre (Boston)|Park Theatre]], [[Boston]] when it was built, and manager of the [[Tremont Theatre, Boston (1889)|Tremont Theatre, Boston]] until his death.<ref name="NYT_31_Aug_1918" /> |
||
Produced some plays at [[Daly's Theatre]] on Broadway in 1904 after Grau retired. [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/john-b-schoeffel-22635 John B. Schoeffel] on IDBD. One of these, ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'', |
Produced some plays at [[Daly's Theatre]] on Broadway in 1904 after Grau retired. [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/john-b-schoeffel-22635 John B. Schoeffel] on IDBD. One of these, ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'', starred [[Nance O'Neill]], a close friend of [[Lizzie Borden]]. |
||
[https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=54952831 Find A Grave memorial] |
[https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=54952831 Find A Grave memorial] |
||
In 1885 he married the Australian actress [[Agnes Booth]] (née Marion Agnes Land Rookes) (4 October 1841? - 2 January 1910), the widow of [[Junius Brutus Booth Jr.]], (brother of [[John Wilkes Booth]], POTUScide, and [[Edwin Booth]], owner of [[Booth's Theatre]]) as her second husband. |
In 1885 he married the Australian actress [[Agnes Booth]] (née Marion Agnes Land Rookes) (4 October 1841? - 2 January 1910), the widow of [[Junius Brutus Booth Jr.]], (brother of [[John Wilkes Booth]], POTUScide, and [[Edwin Booth]], owner of [[Booth's Theatre]]) as her second husband.{{sfn|James|James|Boyer|1971|pp=202-3}} |
||
Together they managaed the huge Masconomo hotel in [[Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts]] until her death in 1910. He purchased the property outright at public auction in 1911, which changed hands before its complete destruction by fire in 1919.{{sfn|Tolles|2008|pp=98-9}} |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
==Sources== |
|||
*{{cite book |
|||
|ref=harv <!-- {{sfn|James|James|Boyer|1971|pp=202-3}} --> |
|ref=harv <!-- {{sfn|James|James|Boyer|1971|pp=202-3}} --> |
||
|title=Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3 |
|title=Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3 |
||
| Line 80: | Line 85: | ||
|year=1971 |
|year=1971 |
||
|isbn=9780674627345 |
|isbn=9780674627345 |
||
|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&pg=PA203}} |
|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&pg=PA203}} |
||
*{{cite book |
|||
|ref=harv |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
|last=Tolles |
|||
|first=Bryant Franklin |
|||
|title=Summer by the Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950 |
|||
|publisher=University Press of New England |
|||
|place=Hanover and London |
|||
|year=2008 |
|||
|isbn=9781584655763 |
|||
|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HZie8msijuMC&pg=PA99}} |
|||
===Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau=== |
===Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau=== |
||
Revision as of 15:56, 22 May 2017
Rough notes at Maurice Grau draft
Maurice Hermann Grau (1849–14 March 1907), was an international theatre and opera impresario. Born in Brno, Moravia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Czech Republic), his family soon emigrated to the USA where he grew up in New York, and managed operetta companies there for over 20 years. He joined the partnership of Henry E. Abbey and John B. Schoeffel in around 1882 to form Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau. They leased the 'old' New York Metropolitan Opera House for a financially disastrous inaugural season in 1883-4, but by touring with Sarah Bernhardt, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Adelina Patti they had recovered enough to lease the Met again for grand opera from 1891. Grau was the manager of the 'Met' from 1891 to 1903, and of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 1897–1900.
After the operetta stars Marie Aimée and Madame Béjane[1], he brought many stars of the 'Golden Age of singing' to the USA, including the brothers Jean de Reszke and Édouard de Reszke, Victor Capoul, Emma Calvé, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Marcella Sembrich, Emma Eames, Nellie Melba, Milka Ternina, Johanna Gadski, and Lilian Nordica; the musicians Josef Hofmann, Anton Rubinstein, Henryk Wieniawski, Pablo Sarasate; and some of the great dramatic artists, among them Tommaso Salvini, Sarah Bernhardt, Ernest Coquelin, and Henry Irving.
Biography
Early life
_p363_CROSBYS%27_OPERA_HOUSE.jpg)
He was born in 1849 in Brno, Moravia, now Czech Republic, the son of Emmanuel and Rosalie Grau.[2] When he was 5 years old his parents emigrated to the USA, where they seem to have kept a boarding house in New York.[3] Emmanuel's brothers, Jacob and Hermann Grau were established impresarios in the musical theatre world.
Maurice Grau attended a public school and then attended the Free Academy (now New York City College) graduating in 1867 aged around 18.[4] He entered Columbia Law School where, as a freshman, he became friends with Edward Lauterbach who was in the senior class. He spent some time in the law office of Morrison, Lauterbach & Spitgarn.[5]
Grau's father may have, since after Emmanuel's death in c1868 Maurice swiftly gravitated towards the theatre. His uncle Jacob Grau (1817-1877) was the manager of the Theatre Francais, and opened Crosby's Opera House, Chicago, in April 1865 with his Grand Italian Opera Company from the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[6] Maurice started selling libretti in the foyer and taking tickets in Chicago in 1866 aged around 16, and joined his uncle in business in 1868.[7]
Opera bouffe
Maurice Grau's successful début as manager was on 22 October 1868 at the Theatre Francais, New York City with Geneviève de Brabant by Jacques Offenbach for 11 weeks and La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein, followed by Hervé's L'oeil crevé[8] on 11 January 1869. Offenbach's La Vie parisienne opened on 29 March 1869, with tickets at $3.00, double the usual price.[9] Aimée also starred in Barbe-bleue at Niblo's Garden in 1869. By 1870 Maurice Grau was the biggest importer of opéra-bouffe: both Aimée and Lucille Tostée featured in his 7½-month season that year at the Grand Opera House (previously Pike's Opera House).[10] Aimée was at the "fading Olympic Theatre" in October 1872 and from November to 11 January 1873; and in Charles Lecocq's La fille de Madame Angot on 25 August 1873 on Broadway.[10]
Under the management of Maurice Grau with his uncle Jacob and Charles A. Chizzola,[11] Tommaso Salvini, with an Italian theatre company, made his American début at the fashionable Academy of Music on September 16 1873, in Shakespeare's Othello in Italian supported by his brother Alessandro Salvini as Iago.[12][13]
The Clara Kellogg English Opera company, under C. D. Hess and Maurice Grau's direction, opened at the New York Academy of Music on 21 January 1874, in Lucia di Lammermoor which they followed with Martha by Flotow, Maritana by W. Vincent Wallace, Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl, The Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's Rigoletto and Gounod's Faust.[14]
Chizzola and 49 members of the French Comic Opera Company left for Havana, Cuba on the SS City of New York on 3 March 1874.[15] Grau and Chizzola presented Marie Aimée at the Lyceum (previously the Théatre Francais) in Léon Vasseur's La timbale d'argent from 24 August to 17 October 1874.[16], along with two more Offenbach operettas, fr:La Princesse de Trébizonde and La Périchole. Grau & Chizzola followed Aimée with Emily Soldene's Soldene Opera Bouffe Company, which arrived in New York in October 1874 on the SS Celtic (White Star Line).[17] During the season they produced (in English) Hervé's Chilpéric, La fille de Madame Angot, Offenbach's La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein; and the same composer's latest operetta, Madame l'archiduc, which had only just appeared in Paris (on 31 October 1874). A friend of M. Chizzola's brought over a vocal score, and in one week it was translated into English, scored, studied, learnt, rehearsed, and produced.[18]
On 11 January 1875, Grau & Chizzola presented their own company with fr:Coralie Geoffroy in François Bazin's Le Voyage en Chine and Lecocq's popular Giroflé-Girofla which played from 20 February until 20 March.[19] Marie Aimée starred at the Lyceum in Offenbach's La jolie parfumeuse on 31 March 1875, [19], and from 6 September 1875 Grau & Chizzola's troupe with Geoffroy presented Émile Jonas's Le canard à trois becs and Herve's Le petit Faust among other previous favourites.[20]
On 12 June 1876 Offenbach himself conducted Aimée at the US first night of La vie parisienne at Booth's Theatre.[19]
Aimée appeared in September 1876 in Lecocq's La petite mariée and Offenbach's La boulangère a des écus.[21] Emily Soldene, her opera-troupe and C. A. Chizzola arrived from England on 11 November 1876 aboard the SS City of Berlin.[22] The Brooklyn Theatre fire on 5 December 1876 led to generally reduced audiences for the season, and times were already hard for theatre managers.[23]
Aimée appeared in Lecocq's Marjolaine and La reine Indigo by Johann Strauss in October 1877. Jacob Grau died intestate on 14th December 1877, leaving personal property worth $10,050.[24]
Maurice Grau Opera Company
In 1879 Maurice Grau moved away from managing other people's operatic troupes and organised his own company with Marie Aimée as the star. The company was billed either as the Maurice Grau French Opera Company,[25] or as Maurice Grau's Opera-Bouffe Company. The latter played Lecocq's Le petit duc for a week at at Booth's Theatre (lessee and manager Henry E. Abbey) from 19 April 1879.[26][27]
- Abbey's New Park Theatre, 932 Broadway (21st St), New York, NY (1876-1882)
- Built for Dion Boucicault on the site of a previous theatre: but he pulled out before opening. Still, it opened in 1874 as the New Park Theatre, only to have its early managers suffer financial embarrassments and the burden of being shut down by the Sheriff on more than one occasion. In 1876, Henry E. Abbey managed it, achieving success by offering appearances by Lotta, a light-comedy star. She was one of the highest-paid actress in America, earning sums of up to $5,000 per week. In 1882, at the height of its success, the theatre burned down. Abbey's Park Theatre 1st theatre destroyed by fire in 1820 and reopened in 1821 as The New Park Theatre (2600 seats); destroyed by fire 1848; New Park Theatre opened in 1874 and in 1876 the name was changed to Abbey’s New Park Theatre – burned down in 1882 – demolished.[28]
- More: The Park Theatre, located on Broadway, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets, was built for Dion Boucicault at a cost of $100,000, and opened April 15, 1874, with William Stuart as manager. Light comedy, farce, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and the beginning of the combination of Robinson and Crane, helped make its history. November, 1876, Henry E. Abbey took over the management of the house and opened it as Abbey's New Park Theatre. October 6, 1882, the day it was to have presented Lilly Langtry as the attraction, the building was demolished by fire and never rebuilt.[29]
1879: Park Theatre (Boston), west side of Washington Street, north of Boylston Street. — Reconstructed from Beethoven Hall, and opened April 14, 1879, Henry E. Abbey, of the New York Park Theatre, manager. John B. Schoeffel, who was associated with Mr. Abbey in conducting the Park Theatre in New York, and various other theatrical en- terprises, including Sarah Bernhardt's professional visit to America, became connected with the Boston Park as associate manager, the firm title, Abbey & Schoeffel, first appearing March 8, 1880.[30]
John B. Schoeffel
John B. Schoeffel (b. Rochester, NY, 11 May 1840 - d. Boston, 31 August 1918),[31] was an American theatre manager and producer, and hotel owner. He joined Henry E. Abbey as his business partner in 1876. As a partner in the firm of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, he was involved in presenting grand opera at the New York Met during the 'Golden Age of singing' from 1891-1903.
He was resident Manager of the Park Theatre, Boston when it was built, and manager of the Tremont Theatre, Boston until his death.[31]
Produced some plays at Daly's Theatre on Broadway in 1904 after Grau retired. John B. Schoeffel on IDBD. One of these, Hedda Gabler, starred Nance O'Neill, a close friend of Lizzie Borden.
In 1885 he married the Australian actress Agnes Booth (née Marion Agnes Land Rookes) (4 October 1841? - 2 January 1910), the widow of Junius Brutus Booth Jr., (brother of John Wilkes Booth, POTUScide, and Edwin Booth, owner of Booth's Theatre) as her second husband.[32]
Together they managaed the huge Masconomo hotel in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts until her death in 1910. He purchased the property outright at public auction in 1911, which changed hands before its complete destruction by fire in 1919.[33]
Schoeffel died at Massachusetts General Hospital on 31 August 1918 after a stroke two weeks earlier.[31]
Sources
- James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S., eds. (1971). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3. Notable American Women Series. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674627345.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Tolles, Bryant Franklin (2008). Summer by the Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950. Hanover and London: University Press of New England. ISBN 9781584655763.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau
- 1880 - Sarah Bernhardt arrived NY 27 October 1880 for her first tour under Abbey & Grau - $1,500 per performance, managers wanted $4,500 per perf.[34] Continuing Jacob Grau's French-language theatre.
- In 1882 Henry E Abbey who had engaged Sarah Bernhardt and wanted the foreign field as well as England for his exploits sent for Maurice Grau and proposed that he become his partner. That partnership of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau continued until the death of Mr Abbey whose methods eventually cost him all his fortune and deprived Mr Grau as well of his savings[35]
Inaugural season at the 'old' Met.
- Put on the 1883-84 inaugural season of the brand-new New York Metropolitan Opera House with Henry Abbey: critical success but financially disastrous.
- Opening Night, conducted by Auguste Vianesi, was Faust with Italo Campanini, Christine Nilsson, Franco Novara, Giuseppe Del Puente, Sofia Scalchi, Louise Lablache (or more likely Emily Lablache), Ludovico Contini, et al.[36]
- Second night with Sembrich as Lucia.[37]
Apparently the Met stockholders had subsidized a $60,000 dollar guarantee for Abbey, who was required to personally indemnify all other costs not covered by the box office. [38] Oops - no-one came, the uppertens of the Academy of Music stayed away and the losses amounted to $250,000.[39] The Academy failed soon thereafter.
Recovery: Irving & Terry, theatres
- Went back to comic opera and the various Grau opera companies.
- G. R. Sims's melodrama The Lights o' London at the Grand Opera House (formerly Pike's).[40]
- "Maurice Grau's Opera Bouffe Company presented Victorien Sardou's farcial comedy, "Divorçons" with Aimée in October 1883 at the Fifth Avenue Theatre.[41]
.jpg)
- First Irving-Terry tour in 1884
- Henry Irving-Ellen Terry tour correspondence 1884-1896. NY Public Library archives. The Irving-Terry tour correspondence consists of letters, schedules, telegrams and clippings related to events and arrangements for their American tours. A large portion of the materials are legal papers concerning the controversy with Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau. In 1896, Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau, proprietors and managers of Abbey's Theatre in New York City, found themselves unable to honor their committments. The company was reorganized with the approval of its creditors, one of whom was the Lyceum Theatre Company. [lol - this seems to have been Daniel Frohman’s Lyceum Theatre Company at the Lyceum Theatre (Park Avenue South). ] Most of the correspondence is addressed to Irving's agent and business manager, Bram Stoker.
- 1887 - Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau took over Wallack's Theatre and the Star Theatre. [NB Wallack's moved from 844 Broadway to the corner of 30th Street and Broadway in 1881: 844 was taken over by Adolf Neuendorff with Heinrich Conried as stage manager and renamed Germania Theatre: it failed, Wallack took it over again and renamed it the Star Theatre in 1883.][42] Conried took over the management of the Met when Grau retired after the 1902-3 season.
- 1888 - built the Tremont Theatre, Boston[43]
- 1888 - Full season of grand opera at the Teatro Solis, Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1888 with Adelina Patti, conducted by Arnaldo Conti. This tour was managed by Henry E Abbey and Maurice Grau, their first grand operatic venture since their financially disastrous NY Met opening season of 1883-4. It may be interesting that Conti rarely (if ever) conducted again with Grau as manager. He didn't conduct at the Met, or Covent Garden, although he seems to have been certainly capable.
- 1889 - "GRAND OPERA AT ITS BEST.; THE FINE WORK OF MR. ABBEY'S COMPANY IN CHICAGO". New York Times, 12 December 1889. William Tell and Il Trovatore with Francesco Tamagno; Faust with Emma Albani; and Lucia di Lammermoor with Patti. What a feast!
- Lol - They succeeded wresting Patti away from Colonel Mapleson and did a tour in 1890 with Nordica, Albani and Patti in Chicago, Mexico City, SF, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Boston, and finally New York at the old Met. Nordica wasn't invited back to the Met in 1891.[44] Plus Nordica at ROH CG? in 1891 with Richter in the spring
- 1890 - special season of 21 performances at the Met.
- Lohengrin. "Grand Opera Under the Management of Mr. Henry E. Abbey and Mr. Maurice Grau: Libretto and Parlor Pianist : the Original Italian Or French Libretto, with a Correct English Translation, and the Principal Airs and Gems of the Opera".[45]
- The Pearl Fishers, An Opera In Three Acts (Grand Opera Under The Management Of Mr. Henry E. Abbey And Mr. Maurice Grau) [46]
Return to the 'old' Met.
.jpg)
- 1891 - Abbey, Grau and Schoeffel took over the Met again just as the popularity of bouffe was coming to an end.
- Chicago, Illinois, November 9, 1891: Lohengrin In Italian, conducted by Auguste Vianesi:
- Lohengrin Jean de Reszke [Debut]
- Elsa Emma Eames [Debut]
- Ortrud Giulia Ravogli [Debut]
- Telramund Antonio Magini-Coletti [Debut]
- King Heinrich Edouard de Reszke [Debut]
- Herald Enrico Serbolini [Debut][47]
- 1892 - Abbey's Theatre (now Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway) - foreign attractions[43]
- 1893 - Shakespeare's Henry VIII in November-December 1893 with Henry Irving and Ellen Terry at Abbey's Theatre (managers A,S&G).[48]
- 1893 - Metropolitan Opera House, Grand Opera under the direction of Henry E. Abbey and Maurice Grau. Wednesday evening, Dec. 6, Ambroise Thomas' opera, Hamlet (opera). Friday evening. December 8th, Gounod's Opera Roméo et Juliette. Saturday Matinee, December [?] at 2, Gounod's Opera, Philemon et Baucis and Cavalleria Rusticana.
- 1894 - managed Lilian Russell without success[43]
- 1895 - The firm of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau was in severe financial difficulties, asked for extension of time to meet their obligations. The indebtedness was completely paid off.
- 1896 - May 22 - company failed with unsecured liabilities of $369,419.36 and actual assets of $162,54.85. Abbey had been ill.[43]
- June 30 - directors of the Met. Opera and Real Estate Company renewed their lease and continued with their contract to produce grand opera. The creditors received 40% preferred stock and 60% in notes of the firm of Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, newly incorporated on July 1896 with $500,000 capital, of which $200,000 was preferred stock. The new organisation started free from debt.[43]
- Abbey died October 17, 1896
Covent Garden 1897-1900
- Grau & Schoeffel continued, Covent Garden 1897-1900.
- New National Theatre [Washington, D.C.]. Opera season, January 21 to 26 1901. Thursday evening, January 24 [1901]. Il Trovatore. Cast: Barron Berthald, Winfred Goff, Louise Meisslinger [sang in Die Walkure in 1903 under Richter], E.N. Knight, A. Horty, A. Barbara, Grace Golden, Della Niven.
- Il Trovatore, 1901 at the New National Theatre, Washington, on tour. W.H. Rapley, manager, T. Arthur Smith, treasurer. Metropolitan English Grand Opera Company, Maurice Grau, Henry W. Savage, managing directors, from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. "Il Trovatore," Verdi's grand opera in four acts. Conductor Richard Eckhold, stage director Edward P. Temple. [49] Lol, Temple was stage manager for the actors in The Miracle in New York in March-April 1913.
Retirement and death
A dinner was given in his honour by the Lotos Club, New York, on 1 March 1902.[50]
- Grau left the Met after the 1902-1903 season and retired to Paris a rich man, died 1907.
Succeeded by Heinrich Conried (1903-1908), who broke the ban on Parsifal outside Bayreuth in November 1904 after a court battle with Cosima. Lots more Wagner.
Character
"Personally he was the least pretentious of men. He was courteous and urbane in his relations to others, but very quiet and reserved. As far as the expression of feelings is concerned, he was literally a sealed book, for, if he was elated or depressed, if he was making money or losing money, he gave no sign. He was always studiously polite in his greeting, but made no more talk than was necessary. He was lenient in management, especially with his prima donnas, even when they violated their contracts by declining to sing, nor did he interfere with them more than was absolutely necessary...He was worth at the time of his retirement about half a million dollars. More of this was made in Wall Street, however, than In the Metropolitan Opera House.[51]
He had little sentimental interest in grand opera, and very little enthusiasm. He simply tried to give the public what it wanted, so far as he was able to find the public want. "I have never discovered a voice in my life," he is said to have remarked, " I have merely shown them the difference between singing at home for $2000 a year, and here for $25,000. I don't go around discovering operas, I am not musician enough for that. Opera is nothing but cold business to me."[52]
"Suave, multilingual, apparently conciliatory - and tough as nails - who could talk on the phone with his stockbroker while laying out [theatre] casts."[53]
"Mr Grau enjoyed great popularity among all who knew him in the opera house and his principal attribute in his business dealings apart from his honesty was his frankness. He was known to be a markedly truthful man and he believed in telling the facts however disagreeable they might be. He used this method with his artists as well as with the stockholders of the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company and never suffered any loss of their good will on account of it. His associates were also devoted to him and every anniversary that came in his career was celebrated in some way."[3]
Operas performed at the old Met 1898-1903
| Opera[55] | Composer | 1898-1899 | 1899-1900[56] | 1900-1901 | 1901-1902 | 1902-1903 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tannhäuser | Wagner | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| The Barber of Seville | Rossini | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Roméo et Juliette | Gounod | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| La Traviata | Verdi | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Die Walküre | Wagner | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Siegfried | Wagner | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Le Nozze di Figaro | Mozart | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Carmen | Bizet | 2 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| Lohengrin | Wagner | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Faust | Gounod | 7 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| Tristan und Isolde | Wagner | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Don Giovanni | Mozart | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Aïda | Verdi | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| Les Huguenots | Bellini | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Das Rheingold | Wagner | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Götterdämmerung | Wagner | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Martha | Flotow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L'Africaine | Meyerbeer | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rigoletto | Verdi | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Le Prophète | Meyerbeer | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ero e Leandro (*) | Mancinelli | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Lucia di Lammermoor | Donizetti | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Il Trovatore | Verdi | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Der Fliegende Holländer | Wagner | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mignon | Thomas | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Don Pasquale | Donizetti | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cavalleria Rusticana | Mascagni | 0 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Pagliacci | Leoncavallo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg | Wagner | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor | Weber | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fidelio | Beethoven | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| The Magic Flute | Mozart | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| La Bohème | Puccini | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| Mefistofele | Boito | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Le Cid | Massenet | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Tosca (*) | Verdi | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Salammbô (*) | Reyer | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| La Fille du Régiment | Donizetti | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Messaline (*) | de Lara | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Otello | Verdi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Manru (*) | Paderewski | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Ernani | Verdi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Un Ballo in Maschera | Verdi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Der Wald (*) | Smyth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
NB Jules Massenet's Manon had two performances with Saville and Van Dyck in the season 1898-'99; but both were outside the subscription.
Family tree
Rough notes at User:MinorProphet/Draft subpages/Die grauen Stunden
Maurice had a brother, two uncles and two cousins, all of who were involved in theatrical management. There has always been a certain amount of confusion between them in newspaper reports, even when they were alive.
- Jacob Grau (Brno, 1817 - 14 December 1877),[57] impresario who put on opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music c1861, then the Theatre Francais in New York, and opened Crosby's Opera House in Chicago with his Italian Opera Company.[7]
- Emmanuel Grau (d. c1871), apparently not involved in theatre
- Maurice Grau (Brno, 1849 - Paris, 1907) was perhaps the most famous, started his career selling libretti in Chicago for his uncle Jacob, later simultaneously manager of the NY Met and Covent Garden;
- Robert Grau (Brno, c1854 - Mount Vernon, NY, 9 August 1916), a dodgy vaudeville manager/impresario, later a writer on theatre and entertainment business.[58] Detested by Maurice.
- Hermann Grau (Brno, c1829 - fl. 1912 in aged 83) who ran the NY German Theatre, the Stadt theater in the Bowery, and put on the first US performances of Lohengrin there in 1871 with de:Theodor Habelmann in the title role, Louise Lichtmay as Elsa, and Karl Formes as the Herald.[59]
- Jules Grau (Brno, c1853 - NY, 11 Sept 1905) who ran the the Theatre Francais after his uncle Jacob.
- Matt Grau (Brno, c1862 - NY, 5 October 1952) another artiste manager/impresario
References
- Notes
- ^ She married one Purel, the Director of the Vaudeville Theatre, Paris
- ^ "Grau, Maurice". American National Biography Online. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Impresario Grau Is Dead". The Sun. New York City. 15 March 1907. p. 9a. NB The article says (incorrectly) that his father was Hermann Grau, and not Emmanuel.
- ^ Leonard 1901, p. 453.
- ^ Krebhiel 1911, chapter XIX.
- ^ Cropsey 1999, p. 363.
- ^ a b Cropsey 1999, p. 129.
- ^ L'oeil crevé on Youtube
- ^ Bordman & Norton 2010, p. 27.
- ^ a b Traubner 2004, p. 339.
- ^ Chizzola was an Italian manager-impresario based in Paris, managed Adelaide Ristori (Carlson 1985, pp. 56–8) and managed the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, in 1888.
- ^ Brown 1903, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Carlson 1985, pp. 49–52.
- ^ Brown 1903, p. 77.
- ^ "Curious Facts About Ships & Maritime Commerce to Habana: Performers". CubaGenWeb. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Soldene 2013, pp. 159.
- ^ Soldene 2013, pp. 150–1.
- ^ Soldene 2013, p. 162.
- ^ a b c Bordman & Norton 2010, p. 39.
- ^ Bordman & Norton 2010, p. 41.
- ^ Bordman & Norton 2010, p. 43.
- ^ The New York Clipper Almanac, 1876. New York: Frank Queen.
- ^ Bordman & Norton 2010, pp. 40–41.
- ^ "Jacob Grau's estate". New York Times. 30 December 1877. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Wilmeth & Miller 1996, p. 175.
- ^ "Theater program for "Le Petit Duc" at Booth's Theatre, every evening during the week, Saturday, April 19, 1879". WorldCat. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Libretto of Le petit duc performed by Maurice Grau's Opera-Bouffe Company. Opera-Comique in Three Acts by Charles Lecocq, libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. New York: Metropolitan Printing and Engraving Establishment, 1879.
- ^ Broadway and Off Broadway Theatres – M to Z]
- ^ p. 51 Dimmick, Ruth Crosby Our Theatres To-day and Yesterday The H. K. Fly Company New York 1913https://archive.org/stream/ourtheatrestoda00dimmgoog#page/n70/mode/2up
- ^ 378 THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON. Justin Winsor (1881), The memorial history of Boston, v.4, Boston: Ticknor and Company, OCLC 1838124
- ^ a b c "John B. Schoeffel dies in Boston at 72". New York Times. 31 August 1918. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ^ James, James & Boyer 1971, pp. 202–3.
- ^ Tolles 2008, pp. 98–9.
- ^ {Cite thing |Fisher, James; Londré, Felicia Hardison. The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism }
- ^ Sun obit? Anyway the date seems to be wrong, Bernhardt arrived in 1880 under their mgmt.
- ^ Faust {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/22/1883 Met Opera Archives.
- ^ Search results for New Production at the Met.
- ^ Herx, Stephen (1999). "Marcella Sembrich and Three Great Events at the Metropolitan". Opera Quarterly. 15 (1): 49–71. doi:10.1093/oq/15.1.49. (subscription required)
- ^ The New York Times & 18 October 1896, p. 25d.
- ^ Amusements: The Grand Opera-House. The New York Times, 26 August 1883.
- ^ "New York Theatres". The Sporting Life, Vol. 1, No. 26, Monday, 8 October 1883, p.8?
- ^ "Death of Henry E. Abbey". The New York Times. 18 October 1896. p. 25x. Retrieved 18 April 2017. NB Lots of detail about the Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau partnership. Grau is only mentioned by name as a partner.
- ^ a b c d e The New York Times & 18 October 1896, p. 25e.
- ^ Emerson 2005, p. 197.
- ^ Programme for Lohengrin, 1890.
- ^ Pearl Fishers libretto Publisher: Herman Grau (lol)
- ^ Met Performance CID:10000 Lohengrin {65} Chicago, Illinois: 11/09/1891
- ^ Programme for Henry VIII. Shakespeare Train. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ [Trovatore programme. WorldCat. Accessdate=18 April 2007]
- ^ Dinner in Honor of Mr. Maurice Grau by the Lotos Club, New York, Saturday, March 1st 1902 (Title page only) Goethe Universität, Frankfurt.
- ^ Upton 1908, pp. 169–171.
- ^ Lahee 1922, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Salgado 2003, p. 126.
- ^ Krebhiel 1911, Chapter XX.
- ^ (*) indicates first time at the Met.
- ^ Including operas performed during the supplementary season
- ^ "Jacob Grau's estate". New York Times, 30 December 1877, p. 1.
- ^ Chicago Examiner, Vol. 14 no. 199, 10 August 1916, p. 1b
- ^ Koegel, John (2009). Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840-1940. Eastman studies in music, Volume 62. University of Rochester Press. p. 50. ISBN 9781580462150. ISSN 1071-9989.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
- Sources
- Bordman, Gerald Martin; Norton, Richard (2010). American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199729700.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Brown, T. Allston (1903). A history of the New York stage from the first performance in 1732 to 1901. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Carlson, Marvin A. (1985). The Italian Shakespearians: Performances by Ristori, Salvini, and Rossi in England and America. Associated University Presses. ISBN 9780918016768.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Cropsey, Eugene H. (1999). Crosby's Opera House: Symbol of Chicago's Cultural Awakening. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 9780838638224.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Emerson, Isabelle Putnam (2005). Five Centuries of Women Singers. Issue 88 of Music reference collection. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313308109. ISSN 0736-7740.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Krebhiel, Henry Edward (1911). Chapters of Opera (3rd ed.). New York: Henry Holt and Co.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) (NB unpaginated plain text only, scan not available.) - Lahee, Henry Charles (1922). The grand opera singers of to-day; an account of the leading operatic stars who have sung during recent years, together with a sketch of the chief operatic enterprises. Boston: The Page Company.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Leonard, John W., ed. (1901). "Grau, Maurice". Who's Who in America 1901-1902. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Co.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Salgado, Susana (2003). The Teatro Solís: 150 Years of Opera, Concert and Ballet in Montevideo. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 9780819565945.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Soldene, Emily (2013) [1898]. My Theatrical and Musical Recollections. London: Forgotten Books.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Traubner, Richard (2004). Operetta: A Theatrical History. Routledge. ISBN 9781135887834.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Upton, George P. (1908). Musical memories; my recollections of celebrities of the half century, 1850-1900. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Wilmeth, Don B.; Miller, Tice L., eds. (1996). Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 175. ISBN 9780521564441.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)