alogy (under
Seidl's direction) in Germany, Italy, and Belgium; and since that time
it has been successfully incorporated into the repertory of all the
leading German cities, and many smaller ones, such as Weimar,
Mannheim, and Carlsruhe.

In Germany the length of Wagner's and Meyerbeer's operas is not so
objectionable as here, because there the opera commences at seven, or
even at six thirty, and six, if it is a very long one; hence it is all
over shortly after ten, and everybody has time to take supper before
going to bed. But in New York, where it is not customary to sup, and
where the dinner hour is between six and seven, it would hardly be
advisable to commence the opera before eight. Nor is the interest in
the opera sufficiently general to inspire the hope that for its sake
any change will be made in the hour of dining. The danger rather lies
the other way: that the custom of delaying dinner till eight, which is
coming into vogue among the English (who care neither for music nor
the theatre), will be followed in this city.

Now consider the inevitable consequences of having excessively long
operas. America has plenty of poor loafers, but few wealthy _rentiers_
who spend their days in bed or in idleness, and are therefore
insatiable in their appetite for entertainment in the evening. The
typical American works hard all day long, whether he is rich or poor,
and in the evening his brain is too tired to follow for four hours the
complicated orchestral score of a music-drama. If he listens
attentively, he will be exhausted by eleven o'clock, and the last act,
which he might have enjoyed hugely if not so "played out," will weary
him so much that he will probably resolve to avoid the opera in the
future. Thus opera suffers in the same way that society suffers: the
late hour at which all entertainments begin prevents the "desirable"
men who have worked all day, and must be at their work bright and
early the next day, from attending parties, balls, and operas.

It must be said, on the other hand, in defence of long German operas,
that it is only while they are novelties to the hearer that they
fatigue his brain beyond endurance. After they have been heard a few
times they cease to be a study that calls for a laborious
concentration of the attention, and become a source of pure delight
and recreation. The difficulty lies in convincing people of this
fact. There are in New York hundreds of persons, who, having read of
th