Editing Metropolitan Opera (section)

===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>