By this time, however, comic opera had lost its hold on the fickle affections of the American people and frequent efforts to revive interest in it since then have met with no more than the success of a temporary curiosity. Much of the decline in the popularity of comic opera was due to the rise of the English musical comedy, beginning with 'Florodora' and 'The Belle of New York.' Except for occasional excursions into Orientalism, like 'The Geisha' and 'San Toy,' musical comedy rapidly ran into a set type of 'girl' show invariably characterized by inanity of plot, mediocrity of text and music, and a lavish display of feminine charms. For a time the success of Lehàr's 'Merry Widow' induced a vogue of Viennese light opera, of which traces still exist, and occasional revivals _de luxe_ of 'Erminie,' 'Robin Hood,' and the Gilbert and Sullivan operas aroused temporary interest. But since the old Casino days there has been no public in New York for comic opera and in that respect the fashion of New York has been followed by the rest of the country. No comic opera which has come before the public on its own merits and without the support of some such stimulus as the 'Soul Kiss' waltzes of the new Viennese school, has been able to win any measure of success. An instance may be cited in the complete failure of 'Veronique.' Attempts to reach a public educated above the musical attractions of the ordinary theatres have been no more fruitful. Oscar Hammerstein made a gallant and costly effort with French comic opera at the Manhattan and the Metropolitan followed his good example more eclectically at the New Theatre (now the Century). In neither case was New York interested. Even when the indomitable and persevering Mr. Hammerstein shifted to Broadway and to the vernacular, his productions of 'Hans the Flute Player' and 'The Firefly,' flavored with the _sauce piquante_ of Emma Trentini, failed to stimulate a lasting appetite in the New York theatre-goers. Andreas Dippel opened a series of comic opera productions in the season of 1914-15. How far and how successfully his plans will mature remains to be seen. But so far the lethargy of the public toward comic opera has triumphantly resisted every attempt to rouse it and the prospects of the enterprising impresario in that field are far from encouraging. The trouble seems to lie deeper than mere indifference to a particular genre of musical entertainment. It is presumably symptomatic of a general apathy toward good music, or rather of a general lack of intelligent æsthetic appreciation. That the faculty of intelligent æsthetic appreciation is somewhat rudimentary in the average American of to-day is a fact that the unbiased observer can hardly escape. W. D. D. FOOTNOTES: [52] 'The Beginning of Grand Opera in Chicago,' 1913. [53] See 'Reminiscences of Henry Clay Barnabee,' Boston, 1913.