| One
hundred twenty-five years after the curtain rose on Faust,
its inaugural opening program, the METROPOLITAN OPERA remains the
most important opera house in the world. Incorporated in 1880, it
opened its doors to the public on October 22, 1883, born of the largesse
of the turn-of -the century's nouveaux-riches for whom money
alone failed to secure the much coveted social affirmation that came
with entitlement to opera boxes at the ACADEMY OF MUSIC, the era's
center of culture where each season since 1854 the elite - descended
from old money- schmoozed as they worshipped high art, and over which
they held absolute sway. Thus for the MET, the order of
the day was rather like "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!"
And beat 'em they did. For only three years later, the ACADEMY buckled;
and the METROPOLITAN became its unintended but logical successor as
THE powerhouse of culture, having quickly gained prestige from performances
that consistently drew only from the world's best artists and craftsmen,
and thus of a quality that equalled or surpassed the ACADEMY's - a
practice that continues to this day. Indeed, even today in the age
of many great houses, a "diva/divo" is not deemed to have
"arrived" until she/he can answer a positive, absolute "YES!"
to the question "Have you sung at the MET?"
Of course, the 125 years were not without turbulence or turmoil -
some brought about by unexpected disasters, such as the fire that
gutted the opera house in 1892-not quite 10 years after it opened,
some by the to-be-expected power plays and disagreements among those
who called the shots as well as between management and labor, and
some by both fabled and less seismic clashes of egos and temperaments-among
artists and production participants, of which stories have been told
in many a memoir or a book by opera cognoscenti.
And of course, in the case of the MET, the risk of turmoil carried
its own reward (again giving truth to the cliché "No pain,
no gain!") - in the form of glory days at the METROPOLITAN, of
which there have been and will be countless many, both going back
to the "golden age" of great voices of the distant past
and lunging forward to the foreesable future - possibly a new "golden
age" of unbelievable, amazing young voices, as the beloved mezzo-soprano
and MET star FREDERICA
VON STADE (recently interviewed by FanFaire)
sees it.
One could date the MET's glory days of recent times back to the "BING"
era, i.e., BING as in SIR RUDOLF BING, the MET's patrician and extremely
knowledgeable, hard-working GENERAL MANAGER who reigned from 1950
to 1972* with, by many accounts, an autocratic hand and a congenial
personality (e.g., VON
STADE's humorous commentary on video). BING was a veritable
godsend to the opera world: clearly preferring software for hardware,
the Vienna-born scion to an Austrian steel industry magnate eschewed
a career in the family business (that unfortunately foundered in WWI)
as soon as he discovered early in his young life a preference for
painting and singing over manufacturing steel, soon beating a path
that would lead him in his 30s to the UK where-not as a singer-but
as an active participant in the founding of the now famed Glyndebourne
Festival and later as a crucial player in the Edinburgh Festival,
he honed the skills in the production and management of opera that
would make him THE best-known impressario, par excellence, of his
time, if not of all time.
BING
came to the MET at the relatively young age of 49, inheriting the
rocky "Save the MET!" 15-year tenure of EDWARD JOHNSON,
a Canadian tenor-turned-MET-General Manager. That he made a mark in
MET history is, to say the least, understatement. The MET in his time
was often called the "HOUSE OF BING" - a telling acknowledgement
of the power that he wielded within the house. That he made
it to the cover of TIME Magazine twice in his tenure is eloquent testament
to his celebrity status and the impact of his influence on society,
and to the big role (now diminished as a victim of fast-changing times)
that opera played in the culture of that particular period in the
modern world.
It was BING after all who ushered the METROPOLITAN OPERA into the
modern era, shepherding the momentous transition of the old MET on
W. 39th St. to the new MET, climaxing in 1966 in the largely flawless
move, celebrated with pomp and glory, to the LINCOLN CENTER on the
Upper West Side where THE MET today stands strong as a centerpiece
of culture, not only of New York but of the world - for indeed, in
many more ways than one, it can be said that the MET belongs to the
world. -©GCajipe
/FanFaire
* A CD of
highlights from the METROPOLITAN OPERA GALA honoring SIR RUDOLF BING
was a FanFaire
GIVEAWAY in celebration of the MET's 125 years.
SOME MET MILESTONES
in MODERN TIMES:
1977: Live from the MET -
launch of a series of live TV broadcasts on PBS with a live telecast
of La Bohème starring Luciano
Pavarotti and
Renata Scotto; a major highlight was the historic telecast of the
complete Ring Cycle;
renamed The
Metropolitan Opera Presents
in
the 1980s
when series shifted to taped performances, airing until the early
2000s.
1995: "MET Titles"
- a $2.7 million electronic libretto system providing the audience
with a translation of the
opera’s text in English on individual screens mounted in front
of each seat; installed under the guidance of General Manager Joseph
Volpe.
2006: Metropolitan
Opera Radio
- in
partnership with Sirius Satellite Radio,
a 24/7 opera channel carrying four evenings each week of live broadcasts
from the current season plus archived broadcasts from past seasons
during other hours.
2006:
Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD
- launch of broadcast of live MET performances via
satellite into movie theaters
as part of the company's effort to build revenues and attract new
audiences; opening night gala
of the 125th anniversary season (2008-09) to be broadcast
in more than 600 theaters in the US/North America and some countries
in Europe and Asia.
2007: Great Performances
@ The Met
- a new TV series in partnership with PBS which in 2008 offered an
unprecedented telecast of fourteen opera telecasts, the most ever
presented in one season; revives the tradition set by the earlier
series Live from the Met.
More breakthrough initiatives are expected to be forthcoming under
the leadership of the MET's new General Manager, PETER GELB, who completes
his first full season in 2009.
Photo credits: production photos - © Ken Howard, © Marty
Sohl, courtesy Metropolitan Opera; others - Metropolitan Opera Archives
|
ABOUT THE MET GALA CD
