celebrated German-American impresario, grandfather of Oscar (Greeley Clendenning) Hammerstein, II; b. Stettin, May 8, 1846; d. N.Y., Aug. 1, 1919. At the age of 16, Hammerstein ran away from home. He spent some time in England, then went to America, where he worked in a N.Y. cigar factory. Despite his menial position, he was inspired to design and patent a machine for shaping tobacco leaves by suction. He later edited a tobacco trade journal. At the same time, Hammerstein practiced the violin, learned to compose music, and dabbled in playwriting.

In 1868 Hammerstein produced in N.Y. a comedy in German, and in 1893 he wrote the LIBRETTO and music of an operetta, The Kohinoor. His main activity, however, was in management. He built the Harlem Opera House in 1888, the Olympia Music Hall in 1895, and the Republic Theater in 1900, and presented brief seasons of plays and operas in all three.

In 1906 Hammerstein announced plans for the Manhattan Opera House, his crowning achievement. The enterprise was originally planned as a theater for opera in English, but it opened with an Italian company in VINCENZO BELLINI'S I Puritani that year. Hammerstein entered into bold competition with the Metropolitan Opera, and engaged celebrated singers, among them DAME NELLIE MELBA, LILLIAN NORDICA, LUISA TETRAZZINI, and Mary Garden. Among spectacular events presented by him were the first U.S. performances of five operas by JULES MASSENET, GUSTAVE CHARPENTIER'S Louise, and CLAUDE DEBUSSY'S Pelléas et Mélisande. The new venture held its own for four seasons, but in the end Hammerstein was compelled to yield. In April 1910, he sold the Manhattan Opera House to the management of the Metropolitan for $1.2 million, and agreed not to produce grand opera in N.Y. for ten years. He also sold to the Metropolitan (for $100,000) his interests in the Philadelphia Opera House, built by him in 1908.

Defeated in his main ambition in the U.S., Hammerstein transferred his activities to England. There he built the London Opera House, which opened with a lavish production of Quo Vadis? by JEAN NOUGUÈS in 1911. However, he failed to establish himself in London, and after a season there, returned to N.Y. Breaking his agreement with the Metropolitan, he announced a season at the newly organized American Opera House in N.Y. The Metropolitan secured an injunction against him, and he was forced to give up his operatic venture.