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Grand Opera Comes to the Zoo by Joseph E

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Grand Opera Comes to the Zoo by Joseph E Conductor Ralph Lyford led the Zoo Opera during its first five formative seasons, from 1920 to 1924. His firm leadership and artistic ability helped build the foundation for fifty successful seasons of grand opera at the Cincinnati Zoo. CINCINNATI ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN PROGRAM Sunday, August 6 to Saturday, August 12 Afternoon Concerts, 2:30 o'clock. Saturday Evenings, Ballet Divertissements with Concert Season of Grand Opera and Symphony Concerts Managing-Director of Opera, MR. RALPH LYFORD Conductor of Concerts MR. WALTER HEERMANJf Conductor for Saturday Evening Ballets MR. WILLIAM KOPI* Complete Opera Performances Every Night Except Saturday Sunday, August 6, 8 p. m., "FAUST:*1 (Last Time this Season) Monday, Wednesday, Friday, August 7, 0, 11, 8 p. m.. "LOCIA" Tuesday and Thursday, August 8, 10, lioublt Bill, 8 p. m.—"SECRET OF SUZANNK," Followed by "SAMSON AXD DELILAH," Acts 2 and 3 SEASON OF GRAND OPERA June 25 to August 19, 1922 RALPH LYFORD, Managing Director THE COMPANY MISS ELIZ -DEN SOPRANO MR. GUISKPPI AGOSTINI TENOR MME. EVE GRIPPON SOPRANO MR. CHARLES MILHAU TENOR MISS RUTH MILLER SOPRANO MR. GREEK EVANS BARITO'.IE MISS ELINOR MARLO MEZZO MR. MARIO VALLE BARITONE MISS HENR[ETTA WAKEFIELD CONTRALTO MR. ITALO PICCHI BASS MISS MAKC ;ES SOPRANO \ ' BASS MISS l'l . SOPRANO Mi •'i AN BASS MRS. CLAP ;!NN SOPRANO P.I KD TENOR MISS MART ,K SOPRANO MR. JOHN NILES TENOR MRS. MARGUERITE BENTEL CONTRALTO MR. EDWARD SHEARER TENOR MISS LUCY DE YOUNG CONTRALTO MR. LOUIS JOHNEN BARITONE MRS. NETTIE HOWARD CONTRALTO MR. ARTHUR TIPTON BARITONE MR. LAU; ON BASH itress. MI.LE. ELLA DAGANOVA. Full Chorus Grand diet of Sixteen. >r, Mr. Alexar : Conductor and Chorus Master, Mr. Paolo Full Orches r. New York City. ZOO OPERA COMPANY STAFF C. G. MILLER Business Manager ALEXANDER PUGLIA Stage Directo C. G. THORNQUEST Auditor I Master Carpcntc ERNST A. N Ticket AK<-nt ' •< Mastei of IVoperti. ••"••• ' Ticket ARCUI I. ZUBER Chief Elcctricia. PAUL TOEPFERT Chief Usher JOHN HERFURTff Scenic Artis MRS. SALLIE E. SPICER.. Special Press Representative MRS. J. LAMBERT Wardrobe Mistres HARRY V. MARTIN Press Representative J. ANTHONY BILL Official Opera Photographe INFORMATION FOR PATRONS Reserved seat tickets for the opera are on sale daily, except Curtain at 8:00 p. sharp. one week in advance. This office open from 9:30 a. m. to Ladies' reception and toilet rooms at first and second not. Sunday, at Straus's cigar store. Sixth and Walnut. of clubhouse. Maid in attendance. Tickets may be purchased (or any performance as far as Check rooms at entrance, at clubhouse, first floor, and at 5:00 p. m. daily, except Sunday. Dansant. Zoo single admission tickets and Zoo $5 coupon books, con- Autos may drive to clubhouse and pavilion to receive and tainhif?. twenty-five Zoo admissions, are also on sate at discharge persons on rainy nights. Called taxicabs may this office. drive to clubhouse and pavilion at any time. Phone reservations will be accepted at the Zoo, Avon 134, Persons finding lost articles should leave same at front and filled in the order received from the tickets unsold at entrance office or at clubhouse, where they may be re- the downtown office each day, and should be called for at covered by the owner. Zoo Pavilion Box Office between 7:00 and 8:00 p. m., but Inattention of employes should be reported to the Business wilt not be held longer than 8:00 p. m. Phone rescrva- Manager for correction. tions will also be accepted at Straus's. Canal 5950, and To Lady Patrons—The law of the State of Ohio requires filled in the order received. ladies to remove their hats or other headdress while wit- Office at the Zoo Pavilion open each evening at 7:00 nessing the performance. It is essential that this rule clubho he ed bv Childr, Pia furnished by the Starr Piano Company Grand Opera Comes to the Zoo by Joseph E. Holliday ver the centuries opera has traditionally been performed in truly elegant O settings —in halls with plush-covered seats, gleaming chandeliers, and velvet hangings. But the Cincinnati Summer Opera had no such setting for its first half-century. It was in the city's zoological garden, near elephants and monkeys, swans and tigers, lions and peacocks, that Cincinnati summer operas were staged, with the single exception of one season (1934), when the setting was the football gridiron in the University of Cincinnati stadium. The Zoo management has always taken a broad view of the other attractions it has featured in addition to viewing animals. Since the sixty-seven acres of gardens were opened in September, 1875, orchestra and band concerts, pag- eants, theatricals, balloon ascensions, and summer ice-skating troupes have been part of the entertainment offered at one time or another in the Zoo's history. A Germanic tradition of Cincinnati's population was the use of sum- mer gardens to which the entire family could go in the evenings and on Sundays for entertainment, to drink beer, and to enjoy a picnic. Since the 1880's Chester Park, Coney Island, and the Zoo have vied for such patronage. Chester Park, located on Spring Grove Avenue in Winton Place, offered amuse- ments, rides, vaudeville, and light opera. Coney Island, usually reached by boat, was chiefly a picnic ground. The Zoological Gardens had the unique attraction of exotic animals, but it also offered entertainment of a relatively high order. During the 1880 season, "Carnival Nights," utilizing then-new electric lights, were staged on the lagoon in the Gardens. A canvas back-drop, four hundred feet in length, painted by Matt Logan and Henry F. Farny, recreated Saint Marks Square in Venice, and "Venice, City of Song and Romance" was brought to Cincinnati.1 Probably the first production of opera in the Zoo was Gilbert and Sullivan's light opera, Pinafore, staged on "a real ship on the Zoo lake" during August, 1885.2 Soon after 1900 the Woodland Theater was built at the Zoo. It was first used by the Ben Greet Players, a company known to all cultural enthusiasts of that era, for a season of Shakespearian plays.3 Music was always part of the attractions at the Zoo. During the 1880's, orchestra concerts by the Cincinnati Orchestra, a forerunner of the present Symphony Orchestra, were well-established features of summer fare offered by the Zoo. In 1911, with the help of a three thousand dollar gift from Anna Sinton Taft, thirty-eight symphony players were engaged for a fifteen-week summer season;4 this arrangement continued for two decades. Thus it was possible for patrons to come to the Zoo early in the day to observe the animals, hear a symphony concert in the afternoon, enjoy a full-course dinner at the clubhouse for only $175, then hear an opera, and during the opera's inter- mission see Norwegian or Swedish stars and comedy teams skate in the late ice show. The Zoo was originally owned by a private non-profit stock company, but from its opening year it had financial difficulties. At one time it was necessary to sell some of its acreage for a new housing subdivision. By 1898 it was forced into receivership. In 1901 the majority of stock in the company was purchased by the Cincinnati Traction Company, which for nearly a decade and a half absorbed all operating deficits. By 1915 the company reached the decision that it could no longer continue to operate the Zoo. After wide public discussion over its civic value and the imminent danger of its dissolution, the Zoo was bought by Mary M. Emery and Anna Sinton Taft in October, 1916. Moreover, these two philanthropists agreed to underwrite its operating deficits over the next five years.5 In fact, they continued to do so until their deaths. Since both ladies were vitally interested in musical matters, particularly the Symphony Orchestra, they were willing to continue the orchestra concerts during the summer in order to keep the musicians employed for a longer season. After World War I they were ready to expand the summer season by adding opera performances, using the symphony players for the opera orches- tra. It was also hoped that by offering these operas at "popular prices" the clientele for the enjoyment of classical music would be expanded. Summer classical music seasons in the United States have not had a long history; band concerts have been about the only summer fare available. The earliest outdoor festivals were held at Ravinia Park, north of Chicago. Organ- ized by Louis Eckstein in 1911, the festivals first presented opera excerpts, alternating with concerts by the Chicago Symphony. Full-length operas, using stars from the Chicago Opera companies and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, were then produced, and a season of nine or ten weeks was finally established. Deficits occurred, but Eckstein and a small group of guarantors met these until 1931, when Ravinia Opera had to be abandoned for a time.6 Several other cities ventured into the summer music field toward the end of and immediately after World War I. The popularity of the Lewisohn Stadium Concerts in New York City demonstrated the widespread interest in summer music. These concerts, organized in 1918, consisted at first of orchestra con- certs by the New York Philharmonic; opera and ballet were not added until 19357 Another post-war venture was assayed in St. Louis in 1919 with great suc- cess. The first summer season of operettas and musical comedies in the Forest Park amphitheater was a triumph. Using local talent for choruses and orchestra, 8 Whether they came by streetcar or by automobile, people thronged to opera at the Zoo.
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