GREAT SINGERS' SALARIES

NZ Truth, Issue 144, 21 March 1908, Page 7

GREAT SINGERS' SALARIES

THE RIVALRY OF GONRIED AND HAMMERSTEIN.

How Europe Drains America.

The situation m the musical world to-day is very remark-able.- Europe, though now producing some of the finest singers of any period, rarely has the opportunity of listening to them, for directly they achieve fame, they are pretty certain to succumb to the alluring contracts offered by American managers, and turn their 'backs upon their native countries. It is difficult to blame them. They have constantly before them the fear of losing their voices. America offers them, perhaps, the opportunity of making £5000 in -a few weeks, and so accumulating rapidly a substantial sum to lay by for the days when their voices no longer., have a value The resources at the disposal of the DIRECTORS OF EUROPEAN OPERA HOUSES cannot eomnaFe wvbh those oossessed

by Mr Conried and Mr Hammers tein of the Manhattan and the Metropolitan m New York. Disgusted, but 'quite helpless to prevent it, the musical directors of Italy, Germany and? Austria see these two opera impressarios of the United States robbing them of their best talent. The rivalry between Conried and Hammerstein, to whom money is of little account as long as one can defeat the other m the struggle for the services of the "star" of the moment, has led up to the most extraordinary salaries being paid. Not that big salaries arc confined to opera singers or great musicians, as ' WITNESS THE CASE OF HARRY LAUDER, who has just returned to England after a live years' engagement m New York, as the result of which he has been able to buy his son a £1000 motor-car, and is reported to have stated that, after paving expenses, he is £.1000 to the good. ' However, it is to the o.pera singers, violinists, and pianists that the bill!-: of the big money goes. America is beginning to wonder whether it is getting full value for its money. It has been estimated that America's yearly toll for music amounts to fully £1,200,000. An interesting statement as to how this estimate has been arrived at is as follows :— "THE FOREIGNERS COMPOSING THE OPERA COMPANIES at the Metropolitan and Manhattan divide between them something like £250,000 m the season. The concert singers, pianists, and violinists, including Paderewskd and Kubelik, carry away another £100,000. The royalties pa^d to foreigners for operas and sheet music, and the money spent for music by Americans m Europe mean £100,000 more. The £1,---200,000 tribute to musical art, too, is 'quite independent of the hundreds of thousands of pounds paid by Americans for musical comedies and 'popular' songs, and to their native musicians, composers and publishers. "The Americans studying music m Europe are spending £600,000 a year —pursuing a will-o'-the-wisp, perhaps/ but still voicing a national aspiration. Even the partial list of net profits made by the foreign artists this year MAKES A BILL OF £250,000. "These sums spent for music are not taken out of one pocket and put into another, for your musician is a thrifty 'soul, and makes no lavish outlay for living expenses. The highest paid of them are said to calculate their p.ure profits m percentages well beyond the third quarter ; and with these gains they go merrily away to Europe. If the American inquires too curiously whether lie gets the worth pE his money, he is forced to a negative conclusion ; at least, jwlgiiig by European standards. It is told that a Russian pianist was paid £50 a recital during a recent American tour, but at two recitals lately given m Paris his receipts were just 10s. The case of Signor Caruso is j stated m these words :— < | " 'I-Ic was recently quoted as saying he received £20,000 for 80 performances, £8000 more from the gra- j mophone people, and £8000 for sing- I ing .for wealthy persons m the States. This makes his receipts £36,000. Allowing Caruso £100 a week for his expenses during the 20 .weeks of the i opera season, he would leave £2400 ! of the £36, 000. behind him m America, and carry £33,600 to Europe with him,' "Paderewski's gross earnings for a season are calculated to reach £45,---000, and other pianists are likely to take away from £15,000 to £20,000 m American money. KUBELIK, THE VIOLINIST, is expected to depart with a clear £20,000. "The other foreign musicians 1 of the concert stage— singers, violinists, pianists, and 'cellists—performers like Josef Hofmaim, Richard Bub> Mg, Ha-nnbourg, Dr. Pacbman, Carreno, Bauer, Sohelting, Katharine Goodson, Olga Samaroff, Dudolph Ganz, Krcisler, Jan Munkacsy, Fol- \ desy, and Volpe— are engaged on terms so various that, the most. ac-. curate idea of the money they will take to Europe with them is obtained by a summary based on conservative estimates. Here it is : —

Pianists ... ... £20,000 Violinists and 'cellists ... 20,000 Singers : 40,000 "Odds and ends" _. ... 20..G00 Total ... ... £100,000

. "There, are also such submerged streams of revenue to Europe as royalties paid lor operas, oratorios, and cantatas, likewise for 'operatic material,' including scores and parts, m all amounting to £50,000 a year. It is even said that the Americans during the summer exodus are the heaviest supporters of music m Europe ; Germany last season not even furnishing so many patrons to the Wagner festival at Bayreuth."