Grand Opera: The Story of the Met

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ahmanson Foundation Humanities Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation.

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University of California Press

Oakland, California

© 2014 by Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Affron, Charles, author.

  Grand opera : the story of the Met / Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron.

      pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  
ISBN
978–0-520–25033-8 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN
978–0-520–95897-5 (ebook)

  1. Metropolitan Opera (New York, N.Y.)—History. I. Affron, Mirella Jona, 1937– author. II. Title.

  ML1711.8.N3M384 2014

  792.509747′1—dc23

2014015091

Manufactured in the United States of America

23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14

10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z
39.48–1992 (
R
1997) (
Permanence of Paper
).

In memoriam
George Custen, Elliot Rubinstein, and Gloria Vilardell,
fedeli amici nostri

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

  
1.
A Matter of Boxes, 1883–1884: Bel Canto

  
2.
Cultural Capital, 1884–1903: The German Seasons and French Opera

  
3.
Opera Wars, 1903–1908:
Parsifal, Salome,
and the Manhattan Opera Company

  
4.
Modernity, 1908–1929: Puccini

  
5.
Hard Times, 1929–1940: Wagner

  
6.
Strains of War, 1940–1950: The Conductor’s Opera

  
7.
Stage Business, 1950–1966: Verdi

  
8.
In Transit, 1966–1975: American Opera

  
9.
Maestro Assoluto,
1975–1990: Twentieth-Century European Opera and the Baroque

10.
Patronage and Perestroika, 1990–2006: American Opera (Redux) and Slavic Opera

11.
In the Age of New Media, 2006–2013

Notes

Index of Names, Titles, and Foreign-Language Musical Terms

  
1.
Exterior of Metropolitan Opera House, Broadway and 39th Street, 1883

  
2.
Interior of Metropolitan Opera House, 1895

  
3.
Christine Nilsson as Marguerite in
Faust,
1883

  
4.
Lionel Mapleson with recording horn and cylinders, c. 1901

  
5.
Lucia di Lammermoor
“Mad Scene,” Joan Sutherland as Lucia, 1961

  
6.
The war between the German and the Italian/French wings,
Puck
cartoon, February 11, 1891

  
7.
Emma Calvé as Carmen

  
8.
Jean de Reszke as Siegfried in
Götterdämmerung

  
9.
Metropolitan stage rebuilt for
Parsifal, Scientific American,
February 6, 1904

10.
Olive Fremstad as Salome, 1907

11.
Salome banished,
Harper’s Weekly,
February 9, 1907

12.
Giulio Gatti-Casazza, David Belasco, Arturo Toscanini, Giacomo Puccini

13.
La Fanciulla del West,
act 3, Enrico Caruso, Emmy Destinn, and Pasquale Amato, 1910

14.
Geraldine Farrar

15.
Enrico Caruso as Nemorino in
L’Elisir d’amore,
1904

16.
Backstage after the first matinee broadcast,
Hänsel und Gretel,
Deems Taylor and Giulio Gatti-Casazza, December 25, 1931

17.
Rosa Ponselle as Norma, 1927

18.
Lawrence Tibbett as Ford in
Falstaff,
1925

19.
Kirsten Flagstad as Isolde and Lauritz Melchior as Tristan, c. 1940

20.
Bruno Walter

21.
Protest against Kirsten Flagstad’s Carnegie Hall appearance, April 21, 1947

22.
The conclusion of
La Fille du régiment,
Lily Pons as Marie, 1942

23.
George Szell rehearsing
Tannhäuser,
1953

24.
Bust of Giulio Gatti-Casazza between Edward Johnson and Rudolf Bing, 1950

25.
Cavalleria rusticana,
Zinka Milanov as Santuzza, 1950

26.
The standee line at Maria Callas’s Metropolitan debut, October 29, 1956

27.
Marian Anderson as Ulrica in
Un Ballo in maschera,
1955

28.
Falstaff,
act 1, scene 2, 1964

29.
Model with side arcades and tower for the new house at Lincoln Center

30.
Interior of Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, 1966

31.
Antony and Cleopatra,
act 2, scene 4, 1966

32.
Birgit Nilsson as Isolde and three Tristans, Ramon Vinay, Karl Liebl, Albert Da Costa, December 28, 1959

33.
James Levine conducting rehearsal, c. 1980

34.
Dialogues des Carmélites,
act 1, scene 1, 1977

35.
La Bohème,
act 2, 1981

36.
Centennial Gala, October 22, 1983

37.
The Ghosts of Versailles,
act 1, scene 3, 1991

38.
Gala celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Metropolitan debuts of Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo, September 27, 1993

39.
War and Peace,
part 2, scene 4, 2002

40.
Lucia di Lammermoor
“Mad Scene,” June Anderson as Lucia, 1992

41.
Madama Butterfly
simulcast on screen outside the Met, September 25, 2006

42.
Peter Gelb, right, in production truck, simulcast of
Aïda,
December 15, 2012

43.
Cristina Gallardo-Domâs as Cio-Cio-San with “Trouble” and puppeteer in
Madama Butterfly,
September 11, 2006

44.
Satyagraha,
act 2, 2008

45.
Natalie Dessay as Violetta in act 1,
La Traviata,
March 30, 2012

46.
Die Walküre,
act 3, “The Ride of the Valkyries,” 2011

47.
West 72nd Street, New York City, September 2013

  
1.
The Metropolitan’s Inaugural Season, 1883–84

  
2.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1884–85 to 1890–91

  
3.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1891–92 to 1902–03

  
4.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1903–04 to 1907–08

  
5.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1908–09 to 1917–18

  
6.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1918–19 to 1921–22

  
7.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1922–23 to 1928–29

  
8.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1929–30 to 1931–32

  
9.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1932–33 to 1934–35

10.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1935–36 to 1939–40

11.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1940–41 to 1949–50

12.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1950–51 to 1965–66

13.
Metropolitan Premieres of American Operas, 1910–11 to 2012–13

14.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1966–67 to 1971–72

15.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1972–73 to 1974–75

16.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1975–76 to 1979–80

17.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1980–81 to 1989–90

18.
Chronology of Slavic Operas in the Metropolitan’s Repertoire, 1990–2014

19.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 1990–91 to 2005–06

20.
Metropolitan Opera Premieres, 2006–07 to 2012–13