In the meantime Oscar Hammerstein, who had made various immature attempts to break into the operatic field, built a new Manhattan Opera House, which he opened in December 3, 1906, for a season of opera which closed on April 20, 1907. His high sounding promises were not taken seriously by musical New York, but the achievements of his first season changed that attitude materially. True, the list of operas brought forward is not inspiring. It included _I Puritani_, _Rigoletto_, _Faust_, _Don Giovanni_, _Carmen_, _Aïda_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, _Il Trovatore_, _La Traviata_, _L'Elisir d'amore_, _Gli Ugonotti_ (_Les Huguenots_), _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_, _La Sonnambula_, _Cavalleria rusticana_, _Mignon_, _I Pagliacci_, _Dinorah_, _Un Ballo in Maschera_, _La Bohème_, _Fra Diavolo_, _Marta_, and _La Navarraise_. But the significant fact is that Mr. Hammerstein had the courage to start a season of opera on an elaborate scale in opposition to the Metropolitan and without the support of 'society.' His success demonstrated the feasibility of such an enterprise and gave an impetus to the growth of public interest in opera, of which others are now reaping the benefit. He was rather unfortunate in his repertory, but he was more fortunate in his selection of artists. Among them were Melba, Calvé, Regina Pinkert, Bressler-Gianoli, Giannina Russ, Eleanora de Cisneros, Allessandro Bonci, Maurice Renaud, the greatest of French baritones, Charles Dalmorès, Charles Gilibert, Mario Ancona and Vittorio Arimondi. He was additionally fortunate in securing Cleofonte Campanini as conductor. For his second season Mr. Hammerstein added to his forces Lillian Nordica, Mary Garden, Emma Trentini, Alice Zeppilli, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Jeanne Gerville-Réache, Giovanni Zenatello, Amadeo Bassi, Mario Sammarco, Hector Dufranne, Adamo Didur, and several others of lesser note, besides retaining his principals of the preceding season, with the exception of Calvé and Bonci. Before the season closed he also presented Luisa Tetrazzini. The first production in America of Charpentier's _Louise_ and Debussy's _Pelléas et Mélisande_ were notable results of a new policy which was to make the Manhattan Opera House _par excellence_ the home of French opera in New York. Other French operas on the list for the same season were _Carmen_, Berlioz's _La Damnation de Faust_, Offenbach's _Les Contes d'Hoffmann_, a revival, Gounod's _Faust_, and Massenet's _Thaïs_ and _La Navarraise_. The Italian list departed from the hackneyed a little by the inclusion of Giordano's _Siberia_ and _Andrea Chénier_ and of the Ricci brothers' _Crispino e la Comare_.