OPIUM. 



direction Adclina 1'utti in.i 1- her ,1,1-nt in 1859. 

 Mme. Lurangv. Mm.- r'rcixolini. and I'arl Formes 

 i alto 10 but cumpuio I'M i. i Sir.4kos.-li Christine 



NUnon also came to the I'nited State.- in 1 -T". 



.[tempts were also made t> btrad*H opera 

 tune in !erm.iii to the American public, the first 

 probably in l>.'ni, when Meyerbeer's /Co&ert ./< '/',/./ 

 WM riven, with Carl Bergmann as conductor Carl 

 AlMchuU conducted licrman opera in New \ ork in 

 producing /'" XiniberniJtf, Doit Juan, Die 

 KntfuhrwiKj nut drat Serail, Fidelia, Dvr Frruchutz. 

 dear MM</ Zinimermtum, and other works. New 

 York had its first taste of Wagner when Bcrgmann, in 

 1869, brought out Tamibiiiurr at the Stadt Theatre. 

 A second attempt was made in 1870, in which ye .ir 

 Adolf Neuenrtorff brought a company from Europe 

 and produced Tuniihiiuiu-r and Lnhriiyrin. He later 

 gave also tin- M './//.-'/, and it was also he who 

 brought over Wathtal ami Paiipenheiui. During the 

 succeeding years Maretzck, tin- Strakosch brothers 

 (Maurice ami M.iM. I'llmann, Carl Rosa anil (Jrau 

 gave seasons of Italian opera, as did later Col. James 

 II. Mapleson, whose musical conductor was Luigi 

 Arditi, an excellent musician. It was to a great extent 

 tin- "Mar" system which eaused the final downfall of 

 the Italian opera. The enormous salaries paid to the 

 principal performers made it impossible to procure 

 competent performers for the minor parts and to put 

 the o penis on the stage in a complete and satisfactory 

 manner. When tin- Metropolitan Opera-House was 

 erected in New York, Henry A. Abbey became man- 

 ager, with a troupe that included Christine Nilsson, 

 Marcclla Sembrich. Sualchi, Trebelli, Valeria, Fursch- 

 Madi, Canipanini, Stagno, Capoul, Del Puente. ami 

 Kaschuiann. At the end of this season of Italian opera 

 t here was. as usual, a deficit. Abbey refused to under- 

 take another season, and the plan of giving German 

 opera ,, then seized upon as a last expedient (1884). 

 Leopold Danirosch became director, ana in one month 

 engaged his company, which comprised some of the 

 greatest Herman artists. With this he gave a series 

 of remarkable performances. Notable and novel was 

 the careful attention to details, every part being care- 

 fully presented. It was a tremendous blow struck at 

 the "star" system. Among the o penis given were 

 Wagner s Tannltiiiuer. Lohengrin, and Die Wafkiirr, 

 and Beethoven'* f'iililin. Some of these, as we have 

 seen, had been heard before in New York. Vet even 

 the efforts of Bcrgmann and Ncuendorff, though very 

 creditable, had left much to be desired. IVnnroscli 

 died in IS>.>, and was succeeded by Anton Seidl as 

 conductor. His son, Walter J. Dauirosch, who had 

 conducted the opera during hi.s father's illn. 

 appointed assistant director. In 1886, under the man 

 ageuient of Kdwin M. Stanton. Wagner's J/< //</- 

 tmfffr, I'ani/al, Jiirnzi. and Gotliriliinuin run;/ were 



vcn. and in 1SH7 Wagner's Trittan mui AK/</C. 



rull s (inhl.n Croat, Verdi's Aula, Goldmark's 

 Oiireii i if ,S'/i</,.; and Merlin, and al-o r'tnxt. The 

 Prtiphrt. Spontini's Fenliii' .. Nessler's Triim- 



f .SV/.y.-//,r/,./j, Halevy's Jeicexs, and Weber's 



ei 

 Tt 



, 



Tin: principal singers that have appeared 

 at the Metropolitan are Lilli Lehmann. HariuHM 

 Brandt. An.-i-te Scidl-Krauss, Albert Nieuiann, Max 

 Alvarj-. Kmil Fwcher, Adolf Robinson. Stritt, and 

 Staudigl. At this time there was also a company 

 foruicd under the name of the "American Opera 

 C.mpany." with Theodore Thomas as director. Itcom- 

 prixed some excellent singers, and operas were given for 

 MIIII. "canons in New York and in other cities, out with 

 indifferent success. ID the season of 1887-88 Italo Cam- 

 panini made an unsuccessful effort to revive Italian 

 opera. With a company that included Gulassi and 

 Sealohi he iravc Verdi's Otrll at the Academy. New 



A distinct operatic school docs not yet , \ist in 

 America, although a number of native composers have 

 tried their hands at that form of OMBpOBtM. Prob- 

 ably, the first "American" opera produced here was 

 "William Ihmlap's Archeri, brought out in 17%. 

 with music by Benjamin Carr. who came to Amer- 

 ica in IT'.'l. Dunlap'l \'int<it/r was produced in 

 17' 1 '.', with music by Victor Pelii. r. a I'n ii'-hman re- 

 siding in New York : who also wrote the music for 

 I'. II. Smith's i:</niii mui Ani/'liiin. ]iro<luced in 

 Another opera by Dunlap was brought out in 

 I si HI. widi music by .lames Hewitt, who, like Pelissicr, 

 was a well-known orchestral leader. More notable 

 efforts are AV/i 1 mi Winkle, by George F. Bristow, 

 produce*! in 1S.V>. and Leonora (1858) and Notre 

 !>.,,. ,!, l',irix (isc.l) by Win. II. Fry. These three, 

 .liiliu- KichU'rg's The Doctor of Alcantara 

 enjoyed a certain degree of success. The 

 number of operas by American composers is very 

 large, but most of them are of a light character, 

 modelled after the French operetta. They are, as a 

 rule, marked by no originality, and have met with 

 poor success. One of the latest native productions in 

 grand opera is Silas G. J'ratt's Zrnobia produced at 

 Chicago in 1SSJ. which, though good in parts, was not 

 very well received. 



America has produced a number of singers of note, 

 among them Clara lionise Kellogg, Adelaide Phillips, 

 Kinma .Inch. Minnie Hauek, Knima Ablxitt, Marie 

 Van Xandt. Km ma Nevada (Emma Wixon),and others. 



For fuller accounts of the opera in America see Frederic 

 Ix)ui8 Hitler's ,VM. in .Imcn'.vj New V.irk, 1883), Maurice 

 .Strakosdi's Sinirenim il'ini Imprrstiriii L'cl t-(l., 1'aris, 1887), 

 ami Max Maretrck' Crutchrtu <iml Qum-ers ( New York, 

 1855). Nunipmus inagnzine articles on this subject have 

 been written by Carl Rosa, Henry T. Finck, ami others. 



(F. L. W.) 



OPIUM is obtained from the capsules of the poppy 

 and is one of the most complex drugs 

 See Vol. XVII. ' 



p. 787 (p. 

 Am. Rep.). 



known to Mulirin Mniira. It has 

 9 been raised in the United States, but. 



on account of the price of labor and 

 the climate, without profit. The term "opium-eating." 

 by which the habit of using it is commonly designated, 

 is a misnomer, for in no proper sense is opium taken 

 by the eating process. Among opium -takers the 

 object, either for relief of pain or stimulation, is ob- 

 tained by one of four methods, viz.. draught, bolus, 

 injections, and pipe. Of the first, the best known ana 

 most popular preparations are morphine in solution, 

 laudanum, black drops, and paregoric. The second 

 method consists in swallowing a pill made of the crude 

 drug, or in combination with other narcotics. The 

 alkaloid-" mill salts extracted from opium come under 

 this head. The medicinal pilula- </>//. sulphate of 

 morphia, and codeia arc the principal forms in vogue. 

 The famous Mnxh Mluli (the great gift of God) and el 

 of the orientals may also be included in the 

 bolus method. The former, made of opium and aro- 

 matics, is fashioned into lozenges and much used in 

 Turkey. The latter is a conserve in which hyoscyamus 

 is the adjunct and is found principally in Cairo. The 

 third mode of placing the system under the desired in- 

 fluence is by injecting a solution of morphia by the 

 hypodermic svnnge, the place generally used Deing 

 the arm. This method has found favor among literary 

 and professional persons, perhaps because tlie drug 

 acts more quickly and a smaller quantity will suffice; 

 and it dc.es not leave the peculiar nauseating after 

 effect which is often ex|>ericnecd by the other methods. 

 Physician* invariably resort to the hypodermic syringe. 

 '['his plan is doubly dangerous, on account of the 

 liability at any time to picrrc a vein ; and becaii-i . 

 with many, tin-re i.s a certain fascination about tin 



. ------------- ----- ______ ... _____ , . 



York. Tin- performances showed the shortcomings instrument which renders it more difficult lor them to 



which always characterized representations of Italian IK: cuivd of tin- habit. The syringe very often pre- 



opera, and thin attempt emphasized more strongly the duee-, painful abscesses, and in every instance lea vcc 



uct that iu)iau opera had been driven ifou the field. SCUTS and murks which may never be obliterated. The 



