enery of this particular
opera house used to be famous. They were the first to have moons which
really rose about as slowly as the real one, and they are still unique
in possessing a wonderful clock-work sun, which contracts as it rises.
The _Ring_ dramas, with their complicated settings, are given without a
single hitch; the "Magic Flute" is presented with some nineteen scenes,
all dark changes; and this is one of the four theatres in the world
where Goethe's "Faust" is given entire, on four consecutive evenings.
The artist, Kempin, who is responsible for all new scenery, is a man of
considerable reputation, outside the town as well as in it, as a
painter. He does excellent things when he is allowed a free hand, as he
inclines very strongly toward modern _styliziert_ (conventionalized)
scenery _a la Reinhardt_. His production of "La Belle Helene" was worth
seeing, and his "_Gretchen's_ room" in "Faust" is one of the most
charming stage settings I have ever seen.

There is a large, thoroughly trained chorus, each with a repertoire of
over fifty operas, whose members are paid, as a rule, about 125 marks a
month ($26), everything but modern dress supplied. None receives more,
except those who fill small "speaking parts." In a ballet of forty the
dancers receive from 75 to 80 marks apiece with all costumes furnished.
Knowing these figures, as I do, it is hard for me to credit those I once
saw quoted in a music journal from a German book on the subject. The
author stated that the ballet girls in Hanover receive only 10 marks
($2.50) a month. Hanover, being a larger city and affiliated with Berlin
pays better salaries than this opera house of which I am writing. He
also said that the "leading lady" in Eisenach had only 15 marks a month!
As I, as a beginner and foreigner, in Metz, received $35 a month, I
cannot but think that he had forgotten to add the cipher and meant 150
marks! The costume expenses that he spoke of, are certainly a great tax
upon the German _actresses_ in smaller theatres; but I think I have
shown how greatly the wardrobe of a _singer_ in such a theatre may be
simplified, especially by a thrifty German woman, up to all the dodges
of different pairs of sleeves for the same gown. After all, costume
expenses are as high or as low as one makes them. None of our American
girls thinks of becoming an actress on the European stage, so these
costume expenses need not trouble her personally, and the majority of
Germ