Edward Siedle

Edward Siedle (May 30, 1858 – March 30, 1925) was a British-American property master and technical director who worked mainly at the Metropolitan Opera.

[4] His son, Edward Vincent Siedle, served on the Mexican border in 1916 and in France as a captain in the 369th United States Infantry.

[5] Siedle was described as "a man large in frame, stooped, with a big cigar drooping from the corner of his mouth...

[7] His office was described as "cluttered with books, papers, boxes, wigs, and full of a truly startling and heterogeneous collection of furniture, hangings, materials, and odds and ends.

His honorary pallbearers included Jefferson de Angelis, William D. Lang, Philip Crispano, John Nash and Gustave A. Weldhaas.

[1] A play titled "Cupid Outwits Adam" at the Bijou Theatre in 1900 actually advertised a "mechanical effect by Edward Siedle" to help draw in audiences.

The scenery for the various operas was built and painted in Milan, Germany or Paris, as well as in New York by the Metropolitan's scenic artist, James Fox.

[22] The decision to place the production of scenery, properties, costumes and effects in the hands of Edward Siedle was reached at a conference in Paris held by Gatti-Casazza, Puccini, Tito Ricordi, and his New York representative, Mr.

[23] As technical director, Siedle was in charge of fifty stage carpenters, twenty property men, thirty electricians, five engineers, sixty wardrobe women.

[25] The storehouses of the Met held about one hundred complete productions, representing a total investment of $3,000,000[20] and employed an additional 12 workers.

[26] Under Siedle's reign, the technical department at the Met built up one of the finest musical and theatrical libraries in the US at the time.

[43] For the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, some of the decorations in the great hall of the Fifth Avenue Entrance were provided by Siedle Studios.

[50] While successful in New York[51] and praised for its music,[52] the writing of Siedle and Campbell was criticized for being "slow" and "weighty".