Conried (real name, Cohn), Heinrich

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Conried (real name, Cohn), Heinrich

Conried (real name, Cohn), Heinrich, Austrian-American operatic impresario; b. Bielitz, Sept. 13, 1848; d. Meran, Tirol, April 27, 1909. He started as an actor in Vienna. In 1877 he managed the Bremen Municipal Theater, and then went to the U.S. in 1878 and took over the management of the Germania Theater in N.Y.; then was in charge of various theatrical enterprises. From 1892 he was director of the Irving Place Theater in N.Y, which he brought to a high degree of efficiency. From 1903 till 1908 he was the manager of the Metropolitan Opera and was instrumental in engaging numerous celebrated artists, including Caruso. During his first season he gave the first American production of Parsifal, despite the heated controversy regarding the rights of Wagner’s heirs. His decision to produce the opera Salome by Richard Strauss in 1907 also aroused a storm of protests. Conried resigned in 1908 because of dissension within the management of the Metropolitan, and retired in Europe. He was decorated by several European governments, and also received an honorary M.A. from Harvard Univ.

Bibliography

M. Moses, H. C. (N.Y., 1916).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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