Boston, like most other American cities, has been until recently in the position of depending chiefly on New York for its operatic fare. It was the latest of the large Eastern cities to become acquainted with grand opera, having been introduced to that form of entertainment by the Havana company of Señor Marty y Torrens in 1847. Satisfied apparently with what was supplied to it from New York, it initiated no noteworthy operatic enterprises of its own until 1909, when the Boston Opera House was built through the munificence of Mr. Eben D. Jordan. The artistic direction of the new enterprise was placed in the hands of Mr. Henry Russell, who for some years previously had toured the country successfully with his San Carlo Opera Company. Since then Boston has been an operatic city of importance. In addition to excellent performances of the regular French, Italian, and German repertory made familiar by the Metropolitan and Manhattan companies, it has heard the first performances in America of Debussy's _L'Enfant Prodigue_, Raoul Laparra's _La Habañera_, Frederick Converse's 'The Sacrifice,' Zan-donai's _Conchita_, Erlanger's _Noël_, Kienzl's _Kuhreigen_, Bizet's _Djamileh_, Louis Aubert's _Forêt Bleue_, and Henri Fevrier's _Monna Vanna_. The Boston Opera Company is very closely affiliated with the Metropolitan and the principals of each are carried on the roster of the other. To a lesser extent there is a like exchange between the Boston and the Chicago-Philadelphia companies. Almong the more notable artists who have sung with the Boston company (excluding those belonging principally to the Metropolitan company) may be mentioned Carmen Mélis, Georgette Le Blanc-Maeterlinck, Leon Sibiriakoff, José Mardones, Florencio Constantino, Giovanni Zenatello, George Baklanoff, Lucien Muratore, Vanni Marcoux, and Eduardo Ferrari-Fontana. It would be impossible, within the limits of a chapter, to follow operatic activities in other cities of the United States. Nearly every city of importance has received more or less regular visits from the big New York companies, from the Chicago-Philadelphia company, and from lesser enterprises organized for touring purposes. There would be little point in citing a list of these enterprises, but mention may be made of the opera companies promoted by Henry W. Savage and the Aborns, which have done for the smaller cities of the United States what the Carl Rosa and Moody-Manners companies have done for the principal cities of Great Britain. In many of the more progressive musical cities--such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Cincinnati--the question of permanent operatic establishments has been strongly mooted, and undoubtedly the time is fast approaching when these and other cities will enjoy the advantages which now belong only to New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. V