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Metropolitan Opera

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Metropolitan Opera
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Leading U.S. opera company, based in New York City. Founded by a group of millionaires who had failed to get boxes at the Academy of Music, it opened in 1883. The Met soon outlived its frivolous origin, becoming the American equivalent of La Scala in Milan and second to no opera house in the world in the quality of the singers it attracted. Originally sited at Broadway and 39th Street, it moved into its new home at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1966.

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Hoover's Profile: Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc.
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Contact Information
Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc.
Lincoln Center
New York, NY 10023
NY Tel. 212-799-3100

Type: Private
On the web: http://www.metopera.org
 Employees: 1,500

Italians and Germans alike desire an American debut at the Met. Well, their operas do, anyway. The Metropolitan Opera Association manages The Metropolitan Opera company, which presents more than 200 performances every year in its residence at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The Met is known for performing most works in their original languages and for producing regular Saturday radio broadcasts, which are aired throughout North America and in South America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region. In association with sponsors, the Met makes video and compact disk recordings of the performances and distributes them around the world. The Met was founded in 1883.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending July, 2008:
Sales: $63.5M

Officers:
Chairman: Christine F. Hunter
Assistant Manager Operations: Stewart Pearce
Director New Business Development: Laura Mitgang

Company History: Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc.
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Incorporated:1932
NAIC: 711110 Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters

Since 1932 the Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc. has run New York City's internationally acclaimed Metropolitan Opera. With an annual operating budget of approximately $200 million, the Metropolitan Opera stages more than 200 performances during the course of a season that runs 30 to 32 weeks. In addition to the more than 800,000 people who attend performances at the Opera's home in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, millions more across the world partake through weekly radio broadcasts and occasional television productions, as well as through touring shows and recordings. A separate organization, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, helps raise a significant portion of the approximately $70 million in contributions made to the Metropolitan Opera each year. The Guild also handles the Opera's merchandising. Because ticket sales only cover 40 percent of the Met's operating budget and government grants only account for less than 2 percent, fundraising and ancillary income are of paramount importance. After enduring many periods of financial struggle during its 120 years of existence, the Metropolitan Opera has never been healthier than it is today.

In the 1840s in New York as many as four theaters presented opera, creating what was deemed New York's first golden age of opera. With its opening in 1854, the Academy of Music, located near fashionable Union Square, became the leading opera house, the place where high society gathered to admire itself. As post-Civil War industry produced a generation of nouveau riche, however, the Academy's 18 boxes were unable to accommodate the newcomers who, in any case, were less than enthusiastically received by the old-line Knickerbocker aristocracy. The Academy's begrudging offer to build 26 additional boxes was considered inadequate, and in April 1880 the Metropolitan Opera was incorporated by several wealthy benefactors. In all, 70 shareholders were enlisted to provide the $1.7 million required to buy the land and build an opera house at 39th and Broadway. The mansions of the wealthy and the entertainment district, which had been marching uptown for many years, would soon leave the Academy in the backwaters of Manhattan. By 1886 it abandoned the field to the Met, as New York's reconstituted high society and new opera house reigned virtually unopposed for the next 20 years.

From the outset, the Metropolitan Opera house, which opened in 1883, was considered inadequate, despite its fine acoustics. The configuration of the building's property lines resulted in cramped dressing rooms, and limited rehearsal and storage space. In fact, scenery stored under the stage contributed greatly to a fire that in 1892 destroyed the interior of the theater. The expense of rebuilding also led to a new organization, the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, which would in effect act as landlord to the independent producers who actually ran the opera season, presumably at a profit. The shareholders of the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, who paid for taxes, maintenance, and repairs of the theater through a yearly assessment, received use of a box for every performance of the opera season in lieu of rent. It was this subsidy that would permit the producers to return a profit, or at least keep losses to a minimum. The Metropolitan Opera Company became the official producing entity in 1908.

For three seasons in the early 1900s the Metropolitan Opera faced stiff competition from a maverick impresario named Oscar Hammerstein and his Manhattan Opera House. Although Hammerstein did not curry favor with high society, his opera house, which featured exciting new French opera and fresh talent, began to draw fashionable patrons. In what was nothing less than an opera war, both Hammerstein and the Metropolitan Opera spread their operations to other cities. In the end, Hammerstein was choked by debt and on the verge of ruin, yet the Metropolitan Opera generously paid him $1.2 million to quit the business. Although grand designs of controlling opera in other major cities, including Chicago and Philadelphia, were never realized, the Metropolitan Opera firmly established itself as America's major producer of opera and a true international venue.

For 20 years, until the stock market crash of 1929, the Metropolitan Opera would enjoy a period of artistic achievement and financial stability. Until 1920 the major attraction was tenor Enrico Caruso. Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini became principal conductors at the Met, which presented the American premiere, and in some cases the world premiere, of many notable operas. Along with the U.S. economy, the Metropolitan Opera thrived in the 1920s, so much so that it could decline the offer of funding from the Juilliard Foundation, created by textile mogul and longtime Met boxholder A.D. Juilliard. The Met's lack of interest in meeting Juilliard requirements would free up the funding that would be used to establish the Juilliard School of Music. Rising production costs during this period were offset by increased ticket prices and new sources of secondary income: The Victor Talking Machine Company paid an annual fee to sign Met singers for recordings, and NBC paid for the exclusive right to bring Met singers to the radio. In addition, the Metropolitan Opera rented out its house, sold the rights to its concessions and programs (plus a share of advertising revenues), and earned $15,000 a year from a piano endorsement. Times were so flush that building a new opera house seemed almost a certainty. The collapse of Wall Street in 1929, however, would delay that dream for many years.

The high water mark during this affluent period for the Metropolitan Opera was the 1927-28 season, when the company realized a profit of $141,000, with subscription revenues that totaled $55,000 per week. The 1929-30 season would see the Met lose money for the first time in 20 years, despite record receipts. With the economy in shambles the Metropolitan Opera saw subscriptions drop and tours canceled. Otto Kahn, longtime president and chairman of the Metropolitan Opera Company, was replaced by his attorney Paul D. Cravath, who also represented Westinghouse and RCA. He quickly signed a generous radio contract for the Met, which received $5,000 for each of 24 live broadcasts of operas.

The first radio broadcast of a Met opera, Hansel und Gretel, occurred on Christmas Day 1931, and was carried by the largest network of stations ever assembled at the time. The entire Red and Blue Networks of NBC were augmented by shortwave transmission over the BBC as well as Canadian and Australian networks. By the 1933-34 season the Saturday afternoon broadcasts had found a sponsor, Lucky Strike Cigarettes. A year later Listerine would back the show. Aside from the much needed revenue that radio brought the Metropolitan Opera, it also lent the company national stature. No one was sure about the number of listeners until the Met appealed for contributions over the radio. The enthusiastic and widespread support of the broadcasts could now be measured in the tangible form of money.

As the losses mounted in the 1930s, the Metropolitan Opera had no choice but to change its approach to business. The concept that opera could be made profitable was abandoned; to produce a season was now a matter of funding, not investment. In 1932 Cravath reorganized the producing entity by creating the Metropolitan Opera Association, a nonprofit corporation that would be free of federal entertainment taxes. Because it was now deemed an educational enterprise, the Met was also able to apply for funding from the Juilliard Foundation. The 50th season of the Metropolitan Opera was only saved by a fundraising campaign that scraped together $300,000 from various sources, including $100,000 from the radio audience and $50,000 from the Juilliard Foundation.

In 1935 Mrs. August Belmont founded the Metropolitan Opera Guild to raise money for the Metropolitan Opera, as well as to develop an audience for opera through education. By 1937 regular matinee performances for students were held, and soon the Guild would bring opera to the schools. By the end of the century the Guild would contribute more than $75 million to the Metropolitan Opera. With an annual budget of approximately $17 million, the Guild would boast 100,000 members, becoming the largest organization of its kind.

Although it was far from healthy, the Metropolitan Opera saw its income steadily increase in the late 1930s, enough to ward off the very real danger of collapse as it waited for the U.S. economy to recover. Then in the summer of 1939 the Opera Association was informed that a number of boxholders that comprised the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company refused to pay the annual assessment levied on their shares. Therefore, the lease on the opera house would not be renewed when it expired on May 31, 1940, and the property would be put up for sale. Cravath's successor, Cornelius Bliss, is credited with saving the Metropolitan Opera by negotiating a selling price of $1.97 million for a property that was assessed for tax purposes at $5.4 million, and spearheading an effort to convince shareholders to accept the deal. He also initiated a million-dollar fundraising campaign to provide the financing. Thus, on May 31, 1940, the Metropolitan Opera Association assumed the title of the opera house itself.

Also in 1940 the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts finally landed a long-term sponsor in the Texas Company (Texaco), which had recently suffered bad press over its dealings, however legal, with Axis countries in the period before the United States entered World War II. Because a prominent display of philanthropy was deemed an appropriate public relations response, the oil company decided to back the Met. The goodwill that would accrue to Texaco over the next 60-plus years for sponsoring the weekly opera broadcasts cannot be estimated. Furthermore in 1940, the Metropolitan Opera would first turn to television, another medium in which Texaco would eventually serve as sponsor. An initial concert of selected material was telecast from the NBC studios. The first telecast from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera would be November 29, 1948, when ABC would present the season's opening night production of Otello.

World War II hurt attendance and, until New York State tax laws were modified, the Metropolitan Opera was burdened with heavy real estate taxes. Another public appeal for money was made in 1943-44, but with the end of the war and the resumption of touring and increased ticket sales, the Metropolitan Opera was able to post a modest $6,000 profit. The 1946-47 season would produce $3 million in income for the first time since the 1920s, yet the Metropolitan Opera lost more than $200,000. Even though scenery and costumes were becoming threadbare as operas that had been mounted 20 and 30 years earlier were recycled, rising production costs had clearly outstripped the amount of revenue that could be generated through ticket sales and ancillary income. Periodic fundraising appeals to the radio audience in order to avert pending disaster became a way of life at the Met.

The tonic that would restore the Metropolitan Opera to financial health, in the opinion of many, was a new opera house, offering not only increased seating capacity but storage facilities and updated technology. The idea had been advanced a number of times over the decades, but it finally took shape in the 1950s. Federal urban renewal legislation gave the government broad powers of eminent domain to seize property. Robert Moses, New York's legendary and autocratic builder of parks and roadways, was in charge of the 'Title I' program in the city. He identified a slum that was in the vicinity of Columbus Circle that he offered to make available to the Met. In the meantime it appeared that Carnegie Hall might be torn down and that the New York Philharmonic might be in need of a new home. The Met and the Philharmonic joined forces and turned to the Rockefeller family, whose foundation had already decided to fund the performing arts. The result would be Lincoln Center, Inc. and the building of a complex that not only included a 3,750-seat Metropolitan Opera and Philharmonic Hall (later named Avery Fisher Hall), but also a multipurpose theater (the State theater), a library, and an educational facility that would eventually become the Juilliard School of Music.

Plans for a new opera house had always assumed that the project would be funded by selling the old facility. Because of Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera Association would be able to raze the old building and lease its valuable mid-town property. It was not surprising that efforts to 'Save the Met' were not welcomed by the Association's management as it prepared to move into its new theater. In the end, the old opera house began to crumble on its own accord, and the Metropolitan Opera Association was able to sign a long-term lease for the property that would create an endowment fund the organization had never been able to accumulate. Rather than a contingency fund to meet deficits, the endowment was intended to expand the opera company's repertory and allow the production of new operas as well as the revival of older works that had limited box office appeal.

Although Philharmonic Hall was completed in 1962, the new Metropolitan Opera did not open until 1966. The finances of the Metropolitan Opera Association, however, were still not in sound shape. Banker George S. Moore became president of the organization in 1967 and began to put the Metropolitan Opera on a sound financial footing. Production budgets were adhered to and ticket prices raised. Moore cut costs, going so far as to postpone the opening of the opera season and canceling a production of Don Giovanni. When longtime general manager Rudolph Bing left in 1972, the Metropolitan Opera entered another crisis state. It lost star performers and attendance fell, as did contributions. To many observers in the late 1970s it seemed that only a massive government subsidy, as much as 30 percent of the Met's fundraising budget, would be able to keep the Met, and American opera, alive.

It was in 1977 that the Metropolitan Opera began regular telecasts on PBS, with Texaco serving as the sole corporate sponsor. The initial show, a production of La Bohème, was seen by some four million viewers. Not only were more people now exposed to opera through television, the Metropolitan Opera was exposed to more people. Aggressive marketing and fundraising, and tighter management would pay off in the early 1980s as the Metropolitan Opera achieved its best fiscal health since the 1920s. It was now in a position to begin work on a new $100 million endowment fund.

Unlike other prosperous times in its history, the Metropolitan Opera did not slip backwards; rather, it continued to thrive on its success. By 1989 merchandising sales alone would exceed $6 million, allowing the Metropolitan Opera Guild to contribute a record $4.1 million. In 1990 the Texaco-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network began to deliver live broadcasts to 22 countries in Europe, thus solidifying the Met's international presence. Also in 1990 the Metropolitan Opera Association was solvent enough to complete 82 capital projects at a cost of $15 million.

Named general manager in 1990, Joe Volpe, who began work at the Met in 1964 as an apprentice carpenter, led the Metropolitan Opera into a new century. Under his watch the Met strengthened its position, financially and artistically, at a time when other major opera companies around the world were struggling. Thus, Volpe became the most powerful man in opera, and his job the most coveted. When Lincoln Center began to make plans for a $1.5 billion renovation, Volpe and the Metropolitan Opera Association were in a position in January 2001 to withdraw from the project and begin their own renovation plans, which would include expanding the Met's lobby. Despite being the largest and richest occupant, contributing 30 percent of Lincoln Center's shared operating costs (and receiving 30 percent of common revenues), the Metropolitan Opera had no more say in the renovations than the smallest of the Center's 12 constituent groups. Volpe's surprise notice of resignation to Lincoln Center came just a week after the city committed $240 million to the project. Although the relationship between the Met and Lincoln Center had been occasionally contentious over the years, a 99-year lease would likely insure that the two parties would work out the details over the renovations. In any case, the Metropolitan Opera Association had reached a mature enough state to fund whatever work that needed to be done. Its financial outlook, at least in the near term, appeared quite solid.

Further Reading

Blumenthal, Ralph, 'Midlife Hits Lincoln Center with Call for Rich Face Lift,' New York Times, June 1, 1999, p. 1.

Blumenthal, Ralph, and Robin Pogrebin, 'Lincoln Center Renovation Plan Has Opera Houses at Odds,' New York Times, January 25, 2001, p. B1.

Briggs, John, Requiem for a Yellow Brick Brewery: A History of the Metropolitan Opera, Boston: Little, Brown, 1969, 359 p.

Eaton, Quaintance, The Miracle of the Met: An Informal History of the Metropolitan Opera, 1883-1967, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976, 490 p.

Kolodin, Irving, The Metropolitan Opera, 1883-1966: A Candid History, New York: A.A. Knopf, 1966, 762 p.

Mayer, Martin, The Met: One Hundred Years of Grand Opera, New York : Simon and Schuster : Metropolitan Opera Guild, 1983, 368 p.

Merkling, Frank, The Golden Horseshoe, the Life and Times of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York: Viking Press, 1965, 319 p.

'Mighty Joe Opera,' Forbes, June 15, 1998, p. 302.

Pogrebin, Robin, 'Making Waves Is Nothing New for Met's Maverick,' New York Times, January 25, 2001, p. B6.

------, 'Paying for Billion-Dollar Cultural Dreams,' New York Times, January 30, 2001, p. E1.

— Ed Dinger


Music Encyclopedia: Metropolitan Opera House
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The chief opera house in New York. It opened in 1883, on Broadway and 39th Street (cap.3625); the resident company was soon successful, with German opera under Leopold Damrosch. In 1891 the emphasis shifted to fine singing. Caruso first sang there in 1903; Mahler conducted Tristan in1908. That year, Gatti-Casazza (from La Scala) became director, bringing Toscanini with him; during his directorship (up to 1935) operas were given in their original language and several new American works were performed. Rudolf Bing (general manager, 1950-72) modernized the house, broadened casts and repertory and supervised the move to the new house (cap.3788) in Lincoln Center (1966). James Levine became artistic director in 1986.


Dictionary of Dance: Metropolitan Opera House
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New York's main opera house. It opened in 1883 in mid-town Manhattan and closed in 1966, when it moved uptown to a new building at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. American Ballet Theatre performs its New York seasons here, as do large visiting companies.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Metropolitan Opera Company
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Metropolitan Opera Company, term used in referring collectively to the organizations that have produced opera at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City. The original house, at West 39th Street and Broadway, was built by members of New York society who could not be accommodated with boxes at the Academy of Music. The first presentation, on Oct. 22, 1883, was Gounod's Faust. Among the early managers were Henry E. Abbey, Leopold Damrosch, Edmond Stanton, and Maurice Grau. A devastating fire prevented production of any opera during the season 1892-93, and rebuilding was undertaken by a new company, the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company. The first of the galaxy of great stars to make the house famous had already appeared. There was no resident company in the season 1897-98, but the Maurice Grau Opera Company was active from 1898 to 1903, and the period was brilliant with virtuoso singers. The Conried Metropolitan Opera Company was formed in 1903, with Heinrich Conried as manager.

In Nov., 1903, Enrico Caruso made his debut and by the following season had assumed his place as the dominant figure of the company. Conried retired in 1908, and the following season saw the coming of Giulio Gatti-Casazza as director and Alfred Hertz, Gustav Mahler, and Arturo Toscanini as conductors; the name was now Metropolitan Opera Company. Toscanini's departure in 1915 was a serious artistic loss for the company. In Feb., 1935, during Gatti-Casazza's final season, Kirsten Flagstad made her debut. Herbert Witherspoon was appointed in May, 1935, to succeed Gatti-Casazza but died only a few weeks later. Edward Johnson was appointed in his place. In 1932 the Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc., was formed, and performances were thenceforth underwritten by public subscription. In 1940 the association bought the house from the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, marking the final step in transference from private to public sponsorship. In June, 1949, Rudolf Bing was appointed to succeed Johnson. A controversial figure, he brought many noted singers to the company, including Marian Anderson, Renata Tebaldi, Franco Corelli, Joan Sutherland, Maria Callas, Birgit Nilsson, Tito Gobbi, and Leontyne Price. Among the many other great stars who have appeared at the Met over its many years are Marcella Sembrich, Dame Nellie Melba, Lilli Lehman, Feodor Chaliapin, Lauritz Melchior and Luciano Pavarotti. Metropolitan Opera concerts have been a regular feature on radio since 1931 and on television since 1977.

The new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1966 with a premier performance of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, written especially for the occasion. The new building featured acoustics superior to those in the old structure and a lobby decorated with murals by Marc Chagall. Bing retired in 1972. He was replaced by Goeran Gentele, who was killed in an automobile accident in July, 1972, a few weeks after he had succeeded Bing. The opera's assistant manager, Schuyler Chapin, was named manager (1972-75). From 1974 to 1981, John Dexter was director of production and Anthony Bliss executive director. Bliss then served as general manager (1981-85) and was succeeded by Bruce Crawford (1985-89) and Joseph Volpe (1990-). James Levine, who joined the Met as principal conductor in 1973, has been artistic director since 1986. Today's Metropolitan Opera produces an average of 23 different operas in six languages each season, and in addition to producing works from the traditional operatic repertoire it has been a pioneer in premiering works by such contemporary composers as Philip Glass, John Corigliano, William Hoffman, and John Harbison.

Bibliography

See D. Hamilton, ed., The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia (1987).

Fine Arts Dictionary: Metropolitan Opera
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The most prominent opera company in the United States, often called “the Met” for short. It is based in New York City.

Wikipedia: Metropolitan Opera
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Coordinates: 40°46′22″N 73°59′3″W / 40.77278°N 73.98417°W / 40.77278; -73.98417

The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, seen from Lincoln Center Plaza

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine.

The Metropolitan Opera is America's largest classical music organization, and annually presents some 220 opera performances. The home of the company, the Metropolitan Opera House, is considered by many to be one of the premier opera stages in the world, and is among the largest in the world. The Met, as it is commonly called, is one of the twelve resident organizations at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The Met presents a wide array of about twenty-seven operas each year in a season which lasts from mid-September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating repertory schedule with seven performances of four different works presented each week. Performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday. Several new opera productions are offered each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other major opera houses. The rest are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons.

The Met's huge performing company consists of a large symphony-sized orchestra, a chorus, children's choir, ballet company, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The Met's roster of singers is drawn from the ranks of the world's most famous artists. Some of its singers' careers have been developed by the Met itself through its young artists programs. Others have been engaged from companies around the world. Many, such as Luciano Pavarotti, have achieved world fame while singing at the Met, and a number, such as Renée Fleming and Plácido Domingo, are longtime regular members of the Met's roster (Domingo has sung at the Met since the late 1960s).

The Met's artistic standards are considered to be among the highest in the world. The company's stage facilities and technical staff offer leading directors and designers a state of the art environment in which to create any kind of production. The Met's production designs range from elegant and traditional to highly innovative and avant-garde.

Beyond performing in the opera house in New York, the Met has gradually expanded its audience as new technologies have become available. It has broadcast live weekly on radio since 1931 and has regularly presented performances on television since 1977. In 2006, the Met further introduced the innovations of live satellite radio broadcasts four times a week and live high-definition video transmissions presented to audiences in cinemas throughout the world.

Contents

History of the company

See also: List of premieres at the Metropolitan Opera and List of performers at the Metropolitan Opera
A full house at the old Metropolitan Opera House, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House for a concert by pianist Józef Hofmann, November 28, 1937.
Auditorium of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
The gold curtain in the auditorium
Posters in front of the opera house before a performance

The Metropolitan Opera Association was founded in 1880 to create an alternative to the Academy of Music. The Academy represented the highest social circle in New York society, and the board of directors were loath to admit members of new wealthy families into their circle. The initial group of subscribers included the Morgan, Roosevelt, Astor and Vanderbilt families. Their creation, The Metropolitan Opera, has long outlasted the Academy. Henry Abbey served as manager for the inaugural season 1883-84 which opened with a performance of Charles Gounod's Faust on October 22, 1883 starring the Swedish soprano Christina Nilsson. Faust, and all other operas during the first season, including those written in French and German, were performed in Italian.

Following Abbey's inaugural season, which had resulted in very large deficits, operas were given by a "pick-up" ensemble of relatively inexpensive German singers (which nevertheless included some of the most celebrated singers in Germany) who performed an international repertory, albeit in German.

This anomalous situation terminated at the time of the Great Fire, following which the Golden Age of Opera arrived at the Metropolitan under the celebrated management of Maurice Grau 1892-1903. The greatest (and most highly paid) operatic artists in the world then graced the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, notably the brothers Jean and Edouard de Reszke, Lilli Lehmann, Lillian Nordica, Nellie Melba, Milka Trnina, Emma Eames, Sofia Scalchi, Francesco Tamagno, Jean Lassalle, Mario Ancona, Victor Maurel, Antonio Scotti and Pol Plançon.

From 1898 to 1986, the Metropolitan Opera went on a six-week tour following its season in New York. These were cancelled because of financial losses.

Lionel Mapleson (1865–1937), a violinist and librarian of the Metropolitan, made the first recordings of live performances at the Metropolitan. From 1900 to 1904, Lionel Mapleson set up an Edison cylinder machine in the Metropolitan Opera House to record excerpts of performances. These cylinders, known as the Mapleson Cylinders, preserve an early audio glimpse of the Met and are the only known extant recordings of some performers, including Jean de Reszke. The recordings were later issued on a series of LPs and, in 2002, were included in the National Recording Registry.[1] While many of the cylinders became greatly worn over the years, some still retain remarkable sound, particularly of choruses such as the waltz and "Soldier's Chorus" from Faust and the triumphal scene from Act 2 of Aida. Mapleson placed his machine in various locations, including the prompter's box, the side of the stage, and in the "flies", which enabled him to record the soloists, chorus, and orchestra, as well as the audience's applause. Many of the original cylinders are preserved in the Rodgers & Hammestein Archives of Recorded Sound at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.[2]

The administration of Heinrich Conried in 1903–1908, which saw the arrival of Enrico Caruso, unquestionably the most celebrated singer who ever appeared at the Old Metropolitan, was followed by the 25-year reign, 1908-1935 of the magisterial Giulio Gatti-Casazza, whose model planning, authoritative organizational skills and brilliant casts raised the level of Metropolitan Opera to a prolonged and unforgettable Silver Age. A prominent lawyer Paul Cravath became Chairman of the Met. in 1931.[3]

Again, the greatest singers and conductors appeared at the Met. At one point, both Arturo Toscanini and Gustav Mahler were regular conductors at the Met.

The noted Canadian operatic tenor, Edward Johnson, was general manager between 1935 and 1950, successfully guiding the company through the dark years of the Depression and World War II. Zinka Milanov, Jussi Björling, Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill were first heard at the Met under his management. Sir Thomas Beecham, George Szell and Bruno Walter were among the great conductors of the Johnson era.

The Austrian-born Rudolf Bing, was the one of the Met's most influential leaders. His tenure as general manager from 1950 to 1972 was, so far, the longest in Met history. Bing modernized the administration of the Company, ended an archaic ticket sales system, and ended the Company's weekly one-night stands in Philadelphia. He presided over an era of great singing and glittering new productions, and guided the company's move to a new home in Lincoln Center. Virtually all of the greatest singers of the era appeared at the Met under Bing's direction. Critics of Bing complained of a lack of great conducting during his regime, but such eminent conductors as Fritz Stiedry, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Erich Leinsdorf, Fritz Reiner, and Karl Böhm appeared frequently during his time.

Among the achievements of Bing's tenure was the integration of the Met's artistic roster. Marian Anderson's historic 1955 debut was followed by the introduction of a whole generation of fine African-American artists led by Leontyne Price (who inaugurated the new house in Lincoln Center), Grace Bumbry, Shirley Verrett, George Shirley, and many others.

Following Bing's retirement in 1972, the Met's management was overseen by a succession of executives. Bing's intended successor, the Swedish opera manager Göran Gentele, died in an auto accident before the start of his first season. Following Gentele, there were Schuyler Chapin, Anthony Bliss, Bruce Crawford and Hugh Southern. All of these men led the Met in partnership with Music Director James Levine, the Met's guiding artistic force through the last third of the 20th century.

Joseph Volpe was the Met's second-longest serving manager, 1990-2006. He was the first head of the Met to advance from within the ranks of the company, having started his career there as a carpenter in 1964. Volpe expanded the Met's international touring activities and inaugurated the orchestra's Carnegie Hall series. During his tenure the Met considerably expanded its repertory, offering four world premiers and 22 Met premiers, more new works than under any manager since Gatti-Casazza. Volpe named Valery Gergiev as Principal Guest Conductor in 1997 and broadened the Met's Russian repertory. Cecilia Bartoli, Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Florez, Marcello Giordani, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Ben Heppner, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Salvatore Licitra, Anna Netrebko, Rene Pape, Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt were among the artists first heard at the Met under his management.

The current General Manager is Peter Gelb. He began outlining his plans for the future in April 2006; these included more new productions each year, ideas for shaving staging costs and attracting new audiences without deterring existing opera-lovers (whose average age at the Met is over 60)[citation needed]. Gelb saw these issues as crucial for an organization which, to a far greater extent than any of the other great opera theatres of the world, is dependent on private financing.

Gelb began his tenure by opening the 2006-2007 season with a colorful and highly stylized new production of Madama Butterfly by the English director Anthony Minghella. Minghella's highly theatrical concept featured vividly colored banners on a spare stage allowing the focus to be on the detailed acting of the singers. The abstract concept included casting the son of Cio-Cio-San as a bunraku-style puppet, operated in plain sight by three puppeteers clothed in black.[4]

Until the late 1990s, the Metropolitan Opera was rather traditional in its new production designs. Recently, following the influence originating from Patrice Chéreau and trends already established in many other opera houses around the world (particularly those in Europe), that tradition seems to be changing and traditionally-designed operas are becoming rarer at the Met.

In the 1990s, only limited productions used a symbolic type of scenery (starting from Der Fliegende Holländer in 1989; then Samson et Dalila in 1998; and Tristan und Isolde). For The Rake's Progress in 1999 and Mefistofele in 2000, contemporary style business-like suits were used for the main characters (in operas which were supposed to be set centuries before). Similar things occurred in La Juive (2003)[5]Salome (2004).

The trend towards "modernization" continued further under the new management in 2007 when a flushing toilet was used during the new production of Gianni Schicchi (for a work which is supposed to take place in the year 1299). Victorian era costumes and surroundings were adopted as the scenery for 17th century Scotland in Lucia di Lammermoor[6]. Even greater contrast was created when the original mediaeval Scottish dress was replaced by such twentieth-century clothing as tuxedos in a new production of Macbeth[7][8], or historically appropriate costume and actions yielded to uniforms of the First World War and a character's angrily punching a piano keyboard during the production in 2008 of La fille du régiment.

The Met in Philadelphia

The Metropolitan Opera began a long history with the city of Philadelphia during its first season, presenting its entire repertoire in the city during January and August, 1884. The company's first Philadelphia performance was of Faust (with Christina Nilsson) on January 14, 1884 at the Chestnut Street Opera House. The Met continued to perform annually in Philadelphia for nearly eighty years, taking the entire company to the city on selected Tuesday nights throughout the opera season. Performances were usually held at the Academy of Music, with close to 900 performances having been given in Philadelphia by 1961 when the Met's regular visits ceased.

On April 26, 1910 the Met bought the Philadelphia Opera House from Oscar Hammerstein I. The company renamed the house the Metropolitan Opera House and performed all of their Philadelphia performances there until 1920, when the company resumed performing at the Academy of Music.

During the Met's early years, the company annually presented a dozen or more opera performances in Philadelphia throughout the season. Over the years the number of performances was gradually reduced until the final Philadelphia season in 1961 consisted of only four operas. The last performance was on March 21, 1961 with Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli in Turandot. After the Tuesday night visits were ended, the Met returned to Philadelphia on its spring tour in 1967, 1968, 1978, and 1979.

Technological innovations

Met Titles

In 1995, under general manager Joseph Volpe, the Met installed its own system of simultaneous translations of opera texts designed for the particular needs of the Met and its audiences.[9] Called "Met Titles", the $2.7 million electronic libretto system provides the audience with a translation of the opera's text in English on individual screens mounted in front of each seat. This system was the first in the world to be placed in an opera house with "each screen (having) a switch to turn it off, a filter to prevent the dim, yellow dot-matrix characters from disturbing nearby viewers and the option to display texts in multiple languages for newer productions (currently Spanish and German). Custom-designed, the system features rails of different heights for various sections of the house, individually designed displays for some box seats and commissioned translations costing up to $10, 000 apiece."[10] Due to the height of the Met's proscenium, it was not feasible to have titles displayed above the stage, as is done in most other opera houses. The idea of above-stage titles had been vehemently opposed by music director James Levine, but the "Met Titles" system has since been acknowledged as an ideal solution, offering texts to only those members of the Met audience that desire them.[11]

Tessitura software

In 1998, Volpe initiated the development of a new software application, now called Tessitura. Tessitura uses a single database of information to record, track and manage all contacts with the Met's constituents, conduct targeted marketing and fund raising appeals, handle all ticketing and membership transactions, and provide detailed and flexible performance reports. Beginning in 2000, Tessitura was offered to other arts organizations under license, and it is now used by a cooperative network of more than 200 opera companies, symphony orchestras, ballet companies, theater companies, performing arts centers, and museums in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. [12]

Multimedia

Broadcast radio

Main article: Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts

Outside of New York the Met has been known to audiences in large measure through its many years of live radio broadcasts. The Met's broadcast history goes back to January 1910 when radio pioneer Lee De Forest broadcast experimentally, with erratic signal, two live performances from the stage of the Met that were reportedly heard as far away as Newark, New Jersey. Today the annual Met broadcast season typically begins the first week of December and offers twenty live Saturday matinée performances through May.

The first network broadcast was heard on December 25, 1931, a performance of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. The series came about as the Met, financially endangered in the early years of the Great Depression, sought to enlarge its audience and support through national exposure on network radio. Initially, those broadcasts featured only parts of longer operas, being limited to selected acts. Regular broadcasts of complete operas began March 11, 1933, with the transmission of Tristan und Isolde with Frida Leider and Lauritz Melchior.

The live broadcasts were originally heard on NBC Radio's Blue Network and continued on the Blue Network's successor, ABC, into the 1960s. As network radio waned, the Met founded its own Metropolitan Opera Radio Network which is now heard on radio stations around the world. In Canada the live broadcasts have been heard since December 1933 first on the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission[13] and, since 1934, on its successor, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where they are currently heard on CBC Radio 2.

Technical quality of the broadcasts steadily improved over the years. FM broadcasts were added in the 1950s, transmitted to stations via telephone lines. With the arrival of 1973/74 broadcasting season (December 1973), all broadcasts were offered in FM stereo. Satellite technology later allowed uniformly excellent broadcast sound to be sent live worldwide.

Financing the Met broadcasts during the Depresson years of the 1930s was difficult, moving between NBC, the American Tobacco Company, the Lambert Pharmaceutical Company, and RCA (NBC’s parent company).[14] Sponsorship of the Saturday afternoon broadcasts by The Texas Company (Texaco) began on December 7, 1940 with Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Texaco's support continued for 63 years, the longest continuous sponsorship in broadcast history and included the first PBS television broadcasts. After its merger with Chevron, however, the combined company ChevronTexaco ended its sponsorship of the Met's radio network in April 2004. Emergency grants allowed the broadcasts to continue through 2005 when the home building company Toll Brothers stepped in to become primary sponsor.

In the seven decades of its Saturday broadcasts, the Met has been introduced by the voices of only three permanent announcers. The legendary Milton Cross served from the inaugural 1931 broadcast until his death in 1975. He was succeeded by Peter Allen, who presided for 29 years through the 2003-2004 season. The present host of the broadcasts, Margaret Juntwait, began her tenure the following season. Since September 2006 she has also served as host for all of the live and recorded broadcasts on the Met's Sirius satellite radio channel. Other announcers have included Lloyd Moss who twice substituted for Cross and Deems Taylor who was heard briefly as co-host during the early years. In recent seasons William Berger and Ira Siff have been heard as co-hosts with Miss Juntwait.

Satellite radio

Main article: Metropolitan Opera Radio (Sirius XM)

Metropolitan Opera Radio is a 24-hour opera channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, which presents three to four live opera broadcasts each week during the Met's performing season. During other hours it also offers past broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast archives. The channel was created in September 2006, when the Met initiated a multi-year relationship with Sirius.[15] Margaret Juntwait is the main host and announcer, with William Berger as writer and co-host.[16]

Television

Main article: Live from the Metropolitan Opera

The Met's experiments with television go back to 1948 when a complete performance of Verdi's Otello was broadcast live on ABC-TV with Ramon Vinay, Licia Albanese, and Leonard Warren. The 1949 season opening Rosenkavalier was also telecast and in the early 1950s there was a short-lived experiment with closed circuit telecasts to movie theaters. Beyond these experiments, however, and an occasional gala or special, the Met did not become a regular presence on television until 1977.

In that year the company began a series of live television broadcasts on public television with a wildly successful live telecast of La Bohème with Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti. The new series of opera on PBS was called Live from the Metropolitan Opera. This series remained on the air until the early 2000s, although the live broadcasts gave way to taped performances and in 1988 the title was changed to The Metropolitan Opera Presents. Many televised performances were broadcast, including an historic complete telecast of Wagner's Ring Cycle in 1989. In 2007 another Met television series debuted on PBS, Great Performances at The Met, which often airs the high definition video performances produced by the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD cinema series.

In addition to complete operas, television programs produced at the opera house have included: an episode of Omnibus with Leonard Bernstein (NBC, 1958); "Danny Kaye's Look-In at the Metropolitan Opera" (CBS, 1975); "Sills and Burnett at the Met" (CBS, 1976); and the MTV Video Music Awards (1999 and 2001).

High-definition video

Main article: Metropolitan Opera Live in HD

Beginning on December 30, 2006, as part of the company's effort to build revenues and attract new audiences, the Met (along with NCM Fathom)[17] broadcast a series of six performances live via satellite into movie theaters called "Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD".[18] The first broadcast was the Saturday matinee live performance of the 110-minute version of Julie Taymor's production of The Magic Flute.[19] The series was carried in over 100 movie theaters across North America, Japan, Britain and several other European countries.[20] During the 2006-07 season, the series included live HD transmissions of I Puritani, The First Emperor, Eugene Onegin, The Barber of Seville, and Il Trittico. In addition, limited repeat showings of the operas were offered in most of the presenting cities. Digital sound for the performances was provided by Sirius Satellite Radio.

These movie transmissions have received wide and generally favorable press coverage.[21] The Met reports that 91% of available seats were sold for the HD performances.[22] According to General Manager Peter Gelb, there were 60, 000 people in cinemas around the world watching the March 24 transmission of The Barber of Seville.[23] The New York Times reported that 324, 000 tickets were sold worldwide for the 2006-07 season, while each simulcast cost $850, 000 to $1 million to produce.[24]

The 2007-08 season began on December 15, 2007 and featured eight of the Met's productions starting with Roméo et Juliette and ending with La fille du régiment on April 26, 2008.[25] The Met planned to broadcast to double the number of theaters in the US as the previous season, as well as to additional countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The number of participating venues in the US, which includes movie theatre chains as well as independent theatres and some college campus venues, is 343.[24][26] While "the scope of the series expands to include more than 700 locations across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia".[27][28]

By the end of the season 920, 000 people - exceeding the total number of people who attended live performances at the Met over the entire season - attended the 8 screenings bringing in a gross of $13.3 million from North America and $5 million from overseas.[29]

Internet

Year round, online archived video and audio of hundreds of complete operas and excerpts are available via the Met Player.[30] Hundreds of archived audio operas and selections are also available year-round on Rhapsody, a service which is free for online listening, and downloadable with payment.[31]

The Metropolitan Opera Radio channel on Sirius XM Radio (see above) is available to listeners via the internet in addition to satellite broadcast.

The Met's official site also provides complete composer and background information, detailed plot summaries, and cast and characters for all current and upcoming opera broadcasts, as well as for every opera broadcast since 2000.[32] In addition, the Met's online archive provides links to all Rhapsody, Sirius XM, and Met Player operas, with complete program and cast information. The online archive also provides an exhaustive searchable list of every performance and performer in the Metropolitan Opera's history.[33]

Opera houses

Metropolitan Opera House, Broadway

Main article: Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)
The Metropolitan Opera in 1905.

The first Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883, with a performance of Faust. Located at 1411 Broadway between 39th and 40th Streets, it was designed by J. Cleaveland Cady. Gutted by fire on August 27, 1892, the theater was immediately rebuilt and then in 1903 its interior was extensively renovated again by the architects Carrère and Hastings. The familiar red and gold interior associated with the house dates from this time.

The theater was noted for its elegance and excellent acoustics and it provided a glamorous home for the company. Its stage facilities, however, were found to be severely inadequate from its earliest days. Many plans for a new opera house were explored, but it was only with the development of Lincoln Center that the Met was able to build a new home. The original Metropolitan Opera House closed April 16, 1966 with a lavish farewell gala performance. It was demolished in 1967.

Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center

Main article: Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)
The new Met Opera House.

The present Metropolitan Opera House, with approximately 3,800 seats, is located in Lincoln Center at Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side and was designed by architect Wallace K. Harrison. After numerous revisions to its design, the new building opened September 16, 1966 with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra.

The theater, while large, is noted for its excellent acoustics. The stage facilities, state of the art when the theater was built, continue to be updated technically and are capable of handling multiple large complex opera productions simultaneously. When the opera company is on hiatus, the Opera House is home to performances of American Ballet Theatre and touring opera and ballet companies.

Metropolitan Opera House, Philadelphia

Main article: Metropolitan Opera House (Philadelphia)

To provide a home for its regular Tuesday night performances in Philadelphia, the Met purchased an opera house originally built in 1908 by Oscar Hammerstein I, the Philadelphia Opera House at North Broad and Poplar Streets.[34] Renamed the Metropolitan Opera House, the theater was operated by the Met from 1910 until it sold the house in April 1920.[35] The Met debuted at its new Philadelphia home on December 13, 1910 with a performance of Tannhäuser starring Leo Slezak and Olive Fremstad.[36]

The Philadelphia Met was designed by noted theater architect William H. McElfatrick and had a seating capacity of approximately 4,000. The theater still stands and currently functions as a church and community arts center.

Principal conductors

Although no one was officially titled "Music Director" until Rafael Kubelík, a number of principal conductors have assumed a strong leadership role at different times in the Met's history. They set artistic standards and influenced the quality and performance style of the orchestra. The Met has also had a great many celebrated guest conductors who are not listed here.

Deaths at the Met

On March 4, 1960, Leonard Warren died of a stroke onstage after completing the aria "Urna fatale" in act two of Verdi's La forza del destino.[37]

On April 30, 1977, Betty Stone, a member of the Met chorus, was killed in an accident offstage during a tour performance of Il Trovatore in Cleveland.[38]

On July 23, 1980, Helen Hagnes Mintiks, a Canadian-born violinist, was found dead, murdered by stagehand Craig Crimmins during a performance of the Berlin Ballet.[39][40]

On January 5, 1996, tenor Richard Versalle died while playing the role of Vitek in Leoš Janáček's The Makropulos Case. Versalle was climbing a 20-foot (6.1 m) ladder in the opening scene when he suffered a heart attack and fell to the stage.[41]

In addition, several audience members have died at the Met. The best-known incident was the suicide of operagoer Bantcho Bantchevsky on January 23, 1988 during an intermission of Verdi's Macbeth.[42][43]

See also

Notes

Question book-new.svg
 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)
  1. ^ loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2002reg.html
  2. ^ mapleson.com
  3. ^ Time.com
  4. ^ Anthony Tommasini, "The Tragedy of ‘Butterfly,’ With Striking Cinematic Touches". New York Times, September 27, 2006.
  5. ^ Hallman, Diana (2003-11-02). "In This Clash of Church And State, No One Wins". http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07EEDF1630F931A35752C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&&scp=40&sq=La%20Juive&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
  6. ^ >Tommasini, Anthony (2007-10-05). "Resonance Is a Glass Act for a Heroine on the Edge". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/arts/music/05glas.html?scp=1&sq=Lucia%20di%20Lammermoor&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
  7. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (2007-10-24). "The Scottish Opera: The Thane, His Lady, That Spot". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/arts/music/24macb.html?scp=10&sq=Macbeth&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-07-14. 
  8. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (2008-05-09). "Verdi Versus Shakespeare: With ‘Macbeth’ It's a Draw". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/arts/music/09macb.html?scp=4&sq=Macbeth&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-07-14. 
  9. ^ Anthony Tommasini, " Reinventing Supertitles: How the Met Did It". New York Times. October 2, 1995
  10. ^ Edward Rothstein, "Met Titles: A Ping-Pong Of the Mind", New York Times, April 9, 1995
  11. ^ Anthony Tommasini, "So That’s What the Fat Lady Sang". New York Times. July 8, 2008
  12. ^ Tessitura Arts Enterprise Software press release, http://www.tessiturasoftware.com/news/pdf/2008-SRF.pdf, retrieved 2009-03-08 
  13. ^ Phonothèque québécoise, accessed January 21, 2008
  14. ^ Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network Broadcast History
  15. ^ Peter Conrad, "Lessons from America". New Statesman, January 22, 2007.
  16. ^ Sirius Radio's announcement of new relationship with the MET
  17. ^ About NCM digital programming
  18. ^ Information about "Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD"
  19. ^ List of Met productions presented on HD in 2007
  20. ^ Campbell Robertson, "Mozart, Now Singing at a Theatre Near You", New York Times, January 1, 2007
  21. ^ Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, "Movie theaters offer opera live from the Met". San Diego Union-Tribune, December 31, 2006.
  22. ^ Richard Ouzounian, "Opera Screen Dream: Met simulcasts heat up plexes in cities, stix", Variety, March 5-11, 2007, pp 41/42
  23. ^ Gelb, speaking during the intermission on March 24, 2007, noted that over 250 movie theatres were presenting the performance that day.
  24. ^ a b Daniel Watkin, "Met Opera To Expand Simulcasts In Theaters", The New York Times, May 17, 2007
  25. ^ The Met Opera’s 2007-08 Season to Feature Seven New Productions – the Most in More than 40 Years
  26. ^ "Participating Theatres - Met Opera Live in HD Series - LIVE PERFORMANCES", announced October 2, 2007
  27. ^ Adam Wasserman, "Changing Definitions", Opera News, December 2007, pages 60
  28. ^ "The Metropolitan Opera Announces Expansion of Live, High-Definition Transmissions to Eleven in 2008-09", Met press release, April 22, 2008
  29. ^ Pamela McClintock, "Live perfs have Met beaming", Variety, June 11, 2008, reporting on a survey conducted by Opera America
  30. ^ Met Player On-demand video and audio
  31. ^ The Met on Rhapsody
  32. ^ Metropolitan Opera International Broadcast Information Center Archive: All Operas
  33. ^ Met Archives online
  34. ^ anonymous (February 10, 1910). "HAMMERSTEIN OFFER TO METROPOLITAN; Says He's Willing to Sell His Philadelphia Opera House, Giving Rivals Control.". The New York Times. 
  35. ^ anonymous (April 3, 1920). "WILL SELL OPERA HOUSE.; Philadelphia Metropolitan Building to be Auctioned April 28". The New York Times. 
  36. ^ anonymous (December 14, 1910). "PHILADELPHIA OPERA OPENS.; Metropolitan Company Gives "Tannhaeuser" Before Big Audience.". The New York Times. 
  37. ^ "Leonard Warren Collapses And Dies on Stage at 'Met'", New York Times, March 5, 1960
  38. ^ "Met Singer Killed in Backstage Elevator in Cleveland", New York Times, May 2, 1977
  39. ^ Dance of Death - TIME
  40. ^ Murder at the Met. - book reviews | National Review | Find Articles at BNET.com
  41. ^ Lynette Holloway, "Richard Versalle, 63, Met Tenor, Dies After Fall in a Performance," New York Times, January 7, 1996
  42. ^ "Opera Patron Dies... at the Met", The New York Times, January 24, 1988 retrieved May 4, 2008
  43. ^ "METRO DATELINES; Man's Death at Opera Is Called a Suicide", The New York Times, January 25, 1988 retrieved December 1, 2006

References

  • Krehbiel, Henry Edward. Chapters of Opera 1908, 1911. Full text at: Project Gutenberg
  • Meyer, Martin. The Met: One Hundred Years of Grand Opera, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983. ISBN 0-671-47087-6
  • Robinson, Francis. Celebration: The Metropolitan Opera, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1979. ISBN 0-385-12975-0
  • Wasserman, Adam. "Sirius Business", Opera News, December 2006

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