Hammerstein, Oscar

Hammerstein, Oscar, celebrated German-American impresario, grandfather of Oscar (Greeley Clen-denning) Hammerstein II; b. Stettin, May 8, 1846; d. N.Y., Aug. 1, 1919. At the age of 16 he ran away from home. He spent some time in England, then went to America, where he worked in a N.Y. cigar factory. Possessing an inventive mind, he patented a machine for shaping tobacco leaves by suction; later ed. a tobaccotrade journal. At the same time, he practiced the violin, learned to write music, and dabbled in playwriting. In 1868 he produced in N.Y. a comedy in German and also wrote the libretto and music of an operetta, The Kohinoor (N.Y., Oct. 24, 1893). His main activity, however, was in management. He built the Harlem Opera House (1888), the Olympia Music Hall (1895), and the Republic Theater (1900), and presented brief seasons of plays and operas in all three. In 1906 he announced plans for the Manhattan Opera House in N.Y., his crowning achievement. The enterprise was originally planned as a theater for opera in English, but it opened with an Italian company in Bellini’s I Puritani (Dec. 3, 1906). Hammerstein entered into bold competition with the Metropolitan Opera, and engaged celebrated singers, among them Melba, Nordica, Tetrazzini, and Garden; among the spectacular events presented by him were the first U.S. performances of 5 operas by Massenet, Charpentier’s Louise, and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. The new venture heldits own for 4 seasons, but in the end Hammerstein was compelled to yield; in April 1910, he sold the Manhattan Opera House to the management of the Metropolitan for $1.2 million, and agreed not to produce grand opera in N.Y. for 10 years. He also sold to the Metropolitan (for $100, 000) his interests in the Philadelphia Opera House, built by him in 1908. Defeated in his main ambition in the U.S., he transferred his activities to England. There he built the London Opera House, which opened with a lavish production of Quo Vadis by Nougues (Nov. 17, 1911). However, he failed to establish himself in London, and after a season there, returned to N.Y. In contravention of his agreement with the Metropolitan, he announced a season at the newly organized American Opera House in N.Y., but the Metropolitan secured an injunction against him, and he was forced to give up his operatic venture.

Bibliography

V. Sheean, O. H, I: The Life and Exploits of an Impresario (N.Y, 1956); J.Cone, O. H.’s Manhattan Opera Company (Norman, Okla., 1966).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire