Editing Metropolitan Opera (section)

===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>