e in October, and an
attempt at Sunday night concerts was made. Signor Mascagni's countrymen
labored hard to create enthusiasm for his cause, but the general public
remained indifferent. Having failed miserably in New York, Mascagni,
heavily burdened with debt, went to Boston. There he was arrested for
breach of contract. He retaliated with a suit for damages against his
American managers. The usual amount of crimination and recrimination
followed, but eventually the difficulties were compounded and Mascagni
went back to his home a sadly disillusionized man. [Footnote: The story
of this visit is told in greater detail in my "Chapters of Opera," as
is also the story of the rivalry among American managers to be first in
the field with "Cavalleria rusticana."]

"Zanetto" was produced along with "Cavalleria rusticana" at the
Metropolitan Opera House on October 8, 1902, and "Iris" on October 16.
Signor Mascagni conducted and the parts were distributed as follows
among the singers of the company: Iris, Marie Farneti; Osaka, Pietro
Schiavazzi; Kyoto, Virgilio Bollati; Il Cieco, Francesco Navarrini; Una
Guecha, Dora de Filippe; Un Mercianola, Pasquale Blasio; Un Cencianola,
Bernardino Landino. The opera was not heard of again until the season
of 1907-1908, when, just before the end of the administration of
Heinrich Conried, it was incorporated into the repertory of the
Metropolitan Opera House apparently for the purpose of giving Mme. Emma
Eames an opportunity to vie with Miss Geraldine Farrar in Japanese
opera.

CHAPTER XI

"IRIS"

"Light is the language of the eternal ones--hear it!" proclaims the
librettist of "Iris" in that portion of his book which is neither said
nor sung nor played. And it is the sun that sings with divers voices
after the curtain has risen on a nocturnal scene, and the orchestra has
sought to depict the departure of the night, the break of day, the
revivification of the flowers and the sunrise. As Byron sang of him, so
Phoebus Apollo celebrates himself as "the god of life and poetry and
light," but does not stop there. He is also Infinite Beauty, Cause,
Reason, Poetry, and Love. The music begins with an all but inaudible
descending passage in the basses, answered by sweet concordant
harmonies. A calm song tells of the first streaks of light; woodwind
and harp add their voices; a mellifluous hymn chants the stirring
flowers, and leads into a rhythmically, more incisive, but still
sustained,