Smithsonian Institution The William Steinway Diary: 1861-1896
Steinway & Sons Records and Family Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Heinrich Conried
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Heinrich Conried (b. September 18, 1855, in Bielitz [then] Austria; d. April 27, 1909, in Meran, Tyrol, Austria) was a German actor and stage director who immigrated to the United States in 1878. He worked at various positions involving German-American theater until the early 1890s, when he arranged with William Steinway to lease the Irving Place Theater (former Amberg Theater). In 1903, after ten years at the Irving Place Theater, he became director of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He resigned from the Met in 1908 and died in Austria in April of 1909.
Heinrich Conried was born and raised in a part of Austrian Silesia that is now in Poland. He was the son of a weaver.(6, p. 2) He began his career as an actor but over time became a stage director. In 1878, he came to New York to be stage director at the Germania Theater. One year later he moved to the Thalia Theater and for the next few years moved among various jobs.(4)(5, p. 127) In 1888 a new theater was built by Gustav Amberg on a site on Fourteenth St. near the Steinway property. Conried was involved in productions at the Amberg Theater, as it was then known, for a couple years, but was forced to leave in 1890 after financial difficulties. William did not own the building but came to have control over the leasing of it. (6, p. 77) In 1892, Conried approached William about leasing the theater.(Diary, 1892-03-30) William very much wanted the new theater, now called the Irving Place Theater, to be a success. The theater was refitted. It featured a German stock company that performed German opera and other theatrical productions, including plays and operettas. The new company, under Conried, presented its first production on September 30, 1893.(7)(8) Conried brought in famous performers of the day, but also substantially relied on the resident company. His target audience was the German-speaking community in New York.(3)
William reported in the diary that Conried renewed his lease of the theater at intervals over the next few years.(Diary, 1894-05-10, 1895-05-09, 1896-04-20) William also reported attending performances at the theater, sometimes bringing guests, and attendance at productions of Steinway family members.(Diary, 1893-11-02, 1894-12-18, 09-29)(2)(9) William last reported attending a performance at the Irving Place Theater on October 14, 1896, with many members of the Liederkranz, as guests of Conried.(Diary 1896-10-14)
In 1903, after ten years at the Irving Place Theater, Conried became director of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He also continued to direct at the Irving Place Theater. In 1908, he resigned his position at the Met.(5) He died in Austria on April 27, 1909, from the effects of a stroke.(4) His body was brought back to New York, and his funeral was held at the Metropolitan Opera House on May 13.(1)
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Sources:
1. “Conried Funeral To-Day,” The New York Times, May 13, 1909, p. 7.
2. “From the World of Theater,” New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, September 30, 1894, p. 12.
3. “German Actors and Plays: Some Reflections Suggested by a Course of Irving Place,” The New York Times, October 28, 1894, p. 13.
4. “Heinrich Conried Dies in Austria,” The New York Times, April 27, 1909, p. 1.
5. Koegel, John. Music in German Immigrant Theater, NY City 1840-1940. New York: University of Rochester Press, 2009, p. 135.
6. Moses, Montrose J. The Life of Heinrich Conried. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1916.
7. “Notes of the Stage,” The New York Times, September 3, 1893, p. 16.
8. “Season of German Opera,” The New York Times, September 15, 1893, p. 8.
9. “Theater and Music,” New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, November 2, 1893, p. 2.
