Editing Metropolitan Opera (section)

==History==
{{see also|List of premieres at the Metropolitan Opera|List of performers at the Metropolitan Opera}}

===Origins===
The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883 as an alternative to New York's old established [[Academy of Music (New York City)|Academy of Music]] opera house.<ref name="Thiemann Sommer">{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000005554|title=New York (opera)|last=Thiemann Sommer|first=Susan|author-link=Susan T. Sommer|date=2002|website=Oxford Music Online|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O005554|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0|access-date=August 22, 2020|archive-date=January 26, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210126114937/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000005554 |url-status=live|url-access= subscription}}</ref><ref name=About /> The subscribers to the academy's limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these "[[old money]]" families were loath to admit New York's newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Opera's founding subscribers determined to build a new opera house that would outshine the old Academy in every way.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/realestate/streetscapes-old-metropolitan-opera-house-why-mimi-no-longer-dies-broadway-39th.html| title=Streetscapes/The old Metropolitan Opera House; Why Mimi No Longer Dies at Broadway and 39th| last=Gray| first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Gray (architectural historian)|date=April 23, 1995|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 19, 2017|archive-date=January 18, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118181706/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/realestate/streetscapes-old-metropolitan-opera-house-why-mimi-no-longer-dies-broadway-39th.html| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/20/magazine/what-s-new-york-the-capital-of-now.html| title=What's New York the Capital of Now?| date=November 20, 1994|newspaper=The New York Times| access-date=| archive-date=January 19, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119001257/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/20/magazine/what-s-new-york-the-capital-of-now.html| url-status=live|url-access = registration|first = John|last = Tierney}}</ref> A group of 22 men assembled at [[Delmonico's]] restaurant on April 28, 1880. They elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1880/04/29/archives/the-new-operahouse-formal-organization-of-the-comapany-the-officers.html |title = The New Opera-House; Formal Organization of the Company – The Officers Elected |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725215044/https://www.nytimes.com/1880/04/29/archives/the-new-operahouse-formal-organization-of-the-comapany-the-officers.html |archivedate=July 25, 2018 |work = The New York Times|date = April 29, 1880|url-access = subscription|url-status = live}}</ref> The new theater, built at [[Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)|39th and Broadway]], would include three tiers of private boxes in which the scions of New York's powerful new industrial families could display their wealth and establish their social prominence. The first subscribers included members of the [[Morgan family|Morgan]], [[Roosevelt family|Roosevelt]], and [[Vanderbilt family|Vanderbilt]] families, all of whom had been excluded from the academy. The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883,<ref name="Met Opera Family-1883" /> and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Music's opera season folded just three years after the Met opened.

===Inaugural season===
In its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/[[impresario]]s to stage a season of opera at the new [[Metropolitan Opera House (39th Street)|Metropolitan Opera House]]. [[Henry Eugene Abbey|Henry Abbey]] served as manager for the inaugural season, 1883–84, which opened with a performance of [[Charles Gounod]]'s ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]'' starring the brilliant Swedish soprano [[Christina Nilsson]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1883-10-23/ed-1/seq-5/| title=The Italian Opera Season| newspaper=[[New-York Tribune]]| date=October 23, 1883| access-date=June 20, 2017| page=5| publisher=Library of Congress| archive-date=January 19, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119002600/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1883-10-23/ed-1/seq-5/| url-status=live}}</ref> Abbey's company that first season featured an ensemble of artists led by sopranos Nilsson and [[Marcella Sembrich]]; mezzo-soprano [[Sofia Scalchi]]; tenors [[Italo Campanini]] and [[Roberto Stagno]]; baritone [[Giuseppe Del Puente]]; and bass [[Franco Novara]]. They gave 150 performances of 20 different operas by Gounod, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, Thomas, Bizet, Flotow, and Ponchielli. All performances were sung in Italian and were conducted either by music director [[Auguste Vianesi]] or [[Cleofonte Campanini]] (the tenor Italo's brother).{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The company performed not only in the new Manhattan opera house, but also started a long tradition of touring throughout the country. In the winter and spring of 1884 the Met presented opera in theaters in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia (see below), Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington D.C., and Baltimore. Back in New York, the last night of the season featured a long gala performance to benefit Mr. Abbey. The special program consisted not only of various scenes from opera, but also offered Marcella Sembrich playing the violin and the piano, as well as the famed stage actors [[Henry Irving]] and [[Ellen Terry]] in a scene from Shakespeare's ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]''. Abbey's inaugural season resulted in very large financial deficits.<ref name="Thiemann Sommer" />

====''The Met in Philadelphia''====
The Metropolitan Opera began a long history of performing in [[Philadelphia]] during its first season, presenting its entire repertoire in the city during January and April 1884. The company's first Philadelphia performance was of ''Faust'' (with Christina Nilsson) on January 14, 1884, at the [[Chestnut Street Opera House]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm|title=Metropolitan Opera Association|website=archives.metoperafamily.org|access-date=October 16, 2019|archive-date=December 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231114417/http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 Philadelphia's [[Academy of Music (Philadelphia)|Academy of Music]], with the company presenting close to 900 performances in the city by 1961 when the Met's regular visits ceased.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BiblioTech PRO V3.2a|url=http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/srch3a4.r|access-date=January 1, 2022|website=archives.metoperafamily.org}}</ref>

On April 26, 1910, the Met purchased the Philadelphia Opera House from [[Oscar Hammerstein I]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002257829|title=Philadelphia|website=Oxford Music Online|year=2014|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2257829|last1=Albrecht|first1=Otto E.|last2=Galván|first2=Gary|last3=Davis-Millis|first3=Nina|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0|access-date=October 16, 2019|archive-date=May 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522153003/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002257829|url-status=live}}</ref> The company renamed the house the [[Metropolitan Opera House (Philadelphia)|Metropolitan Opera House]] and performed all of their Philadelphia performances there until 1920, when the company sold the theater and resumed performing at the Academy of Music.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia {{!}} Opera and Opera Houses |url=https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/opera-and-opera-houses/ |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=philadelphiaencyclopedia.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Story |url=https://www.metopera.org/about/the-met/ |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=www.metopera.org |language=en}}</ref>

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.{{Citation needed|reason=Claim with no source|date=September 2019}} The final performance of that last season was on March 21, 1961, with [[Birgit Nilsson]] and [[Franco Corelli]] in ''[[Turandot]]''. After the Tuesday night visits were ended, the Met still returned to Philadelphia on its spring tours in 1967, 1968, 1978, and 1979.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ph.D |first=Margaret Murray Thorell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_YtHRmuFIUC&dq=After+the+Tuesday+night+visits+were+ended%2C+the+Met+still+returned+to+Philadelphia+on+its+spring+tours+in+1967%2C+1968%2C+1978%2C+and+1979.&pg=PT167 |title=Swedes of the Delaware Valley |date=March 7, 2011 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-3907-8 |language=en}}</ref>

===German seasons===
For its second season, the Met's directors turned to [[Leopold Damrosch]] as general manager.<ref name="Thiemann Sommer" /> The revered conductor of the [[New York Symphony Orchestra]] was engaged to lead the opera company in an all German language repertory and serve as its chief conductor.{{Citation needed|reason=Claim with no source|date=September 2019}} Under Damrosch, the company consisted of some the most celebrated singers from Europe's German-language opera houses. The new German Met found great popular and critical success in the works of Wagner and other German composers as well as in Italian and French operas sung in German. Damrosch died only months into his first season at the Met.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Background: Damrosch/Seidl Rivalry at The Metropolitan 1884–1891 {{!}} The William Steinway Diary: 1861–1896, Smithsonian Institution |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/steinwaydiary/annotations/?id=2003&popup=1 |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=americanhistory.si.edu |language=en}}</ref> [[Edmund C. Stanton]] replaced Damrosch the following year and served as general manager through the 1890–91 season. The Met's six German seasons were especially noted for performances by the celebrated conductor [[Anton Seidl]] whose Wagner interpretations were noted for their almost mystical intensity. The conductor [[Walter Damrosch]], Leopold's son, also initiated a long relationship with the Met during this period.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

====''Mapleson Cylinders''====
{{main|Mapleson Cylinders}}
From 1900 to 1904, Lionel Mapleson (1865–1937) made a series of sound recordings at the Met. Mapleson, the nephew of the opera impresario [[James Henry Mapleson]], was employed by the Met as a violinist and music librarian.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026294|title=Recorded Sound|website=Oxford Music Online|year=2001|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26294|last1=Ord-Hume|first1=Arthur W.J.G.|last2=Weber|first2=Jerome F.|last3=Borwick|first3=John|last4=Shorter|first4=D.E.L.|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0|access-date=October 16, 2019|archive-date=March 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319192800/http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026294|url-status=live}}</ref> He used an Edison [[Phonograph cylinder|cylinder]] [[phonograph]] set-up near the stage to capture short, one- to five-minute recordings of the soloists, chorus and orchestra during performances. These unique acoustic documents, known as the [[Mapleson Cylinders]], preserve an audio picture of the early Met, and are the only known extant recordings of some performers, including the tenor Jean de Reszke and the dramatic soprano Milka Ternina. The recordings were later issued on a series of LPs and, in 2002, were included in the [[National Recording Registry]].{{efn|1=While many of the cylinders became greatly worn over the years, some remain comparatively clear, particularly those of 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 singers and musicians, as well as the audience's applause.{{Citation needed|reason=Claim with no source|date=September 2019}} Many of the original cylinders are preserved in the Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]].}}<ref>{{cite web| title=About This Program| url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/about-this-program/| publisher=Library of Congress| access-date=January 17, 2018| archive-date=February 8, 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208170650/http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2002reg.html| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=The Mapleson Cylinders| url=https://www.nypl.org/node/90326| publisher=New York Public Library| access-date=January 17, 2018| archive-date=October 23, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023230540/https://www.nypl.org/node/90326| url-status=live}}</ref>

====Touring====
Beginning in 1898, the Metropolitan Opera company of singers and musicians undertook a six-week tour of American cities following its season in New York. These annual spring tours brought the company and its stars to cities throughout the U.S., most of which had no opera company of their own.

In Cleveland, for example, Met stops were sporadic until 1924, when underwriting efforts spearheaded by [[Newton D. Baker]] led to 3 consecutive years of annual 8-engagement performances. This led to the formation of the Northern Ohio Opera Association led by future U.S. Senator [[Robert J. Bulkley]] with the express purpose of underwriting long-term touring contracts with the Met. Cleveland was a particular lucrative stop for the Met, which had no competition in the form of a local opera company, and performances were held in the enormous Public Auditorium, which sat well over 9,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 11, 2018 |title=Northern Ohio Opera Assn. |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/n/northern-ohio-opera-assn |access-date=January 9, 2023 |website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|publisher=[[Case Western Reserve University]]}}</ref> The Met's national tours continued until 1986.<ref name="tour">{{cite news| title=Metropolitan Opera to end National Tours| date=June 22, 1985| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-22-ca-2249-story.html| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| access-date=January 17, 2018| archive-date=January 5, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105032134/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-06-22/entertainment/ca-2249_1_metropolitan-opera| url-status=live}}</ref> 

The Met also has a long history of international tours, stretching back to its first European visit to Paris in 1910.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-07-29 |title=Before HD, the Met Tour Brought Opera to the US and World {{!}} Operavore |url=https://www.wqxr.org/story/before-hd-metropolitan-opera-tour-brought-opera-us-world/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=WQXR |language=en}}</ref> More recently, the company made a noteworthy tour of Japan in 2011, marking its seventh tour of the country since 1975, in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster that resulted from a severe earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The company performed Puccini's ''La Bohème'', Verdi's ''Don Carlo'', and Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arita |first=Eriko |date=2011-06-03 |title=The Met tours Nagoya, Tokyo |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/06/03/events/events-outside-tokyo/the-met-tours-nagoya-tokyo/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=The Japan Times |language=en}}</ref>

Beginning in 2023, the company reinstated tours of the Met Orchestra. The European tour in June and July 2023, with stops in London, Paris, and Baden-Baden, marked the orchestra's first tour to Europe in more than 20 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Met Orchestra: European Tour |url=https://www.metopera.org/season/concerts-and-tours/the-met-orchestra-european-tour/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=www.metopera.org |language=en}}</ref> The orchestra made its first-ever tour of Asia in the summer of 2024, performing in Seoul, Hyogo, Tokyo, and Taipei.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Metropolitan Opera announces its first-ever Met Orchestra Asia tour, with performances in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, June 19–30 |url=https://www.metopera.org/about/press-releases/the-metropolitan-opera-announces-its-first-ever--met-orchestra-asia-tour/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=www.metopera.org |language=en}}</ref>