The sponsors intended that the opera house generate income from the rental of stores. This promising synthesis of components was rejected because, in addition to excessive cost and height, the refreshment bar was “situated in the least desirable corner of the building,” and there was not enough space for retail establishments. One of the proposals called upon three proven models: the shape of La Scala’s auditorium, the seating plan of Paris’s Palais Garnier, and the covered orchestra pit of the Bayreuth’s Wagner-designed Festspielhaus. With a trapezoidal shape, its small footprint (198 feet wide and 260 feet deep) would haunt the management for the eighty-three-year-long life of the old Met.Īpart from the numerous boxes, what were to be the salient features of the new opera house? Noteworthy architects submitted competitive schemes.
Another site was secured, no more adequate than the first.
Two churches occupied the plot, however, and their boards of directors, not particularly well disposed to the sinful frivolities and passions of opera, also wished to be rewarded amply for the sacrifice of the land. The dimensions of the building site were 190 x 200 feet, an absurdly small area for such a structure, and was offered at the bargain-basement price of $300,000 by William Vanderbilt. The theater was meant to be constructed on 43rd Street, next to Grand Central Station. The number of boxes eventually reached 70, and at the final budget reckoning the purchase price of a box had risen to $17,500. A box was initially assessed at 100 shares of stock, each share worth $100. Within ten days, the number had increased to 60 boxholders. They, along with others representing New York’s most influential families, were the initial stockholders who incorporated the new opera house on April 10, 1880. The names of Morgan, Vanderbilt, and Roosevelt echo in the history of the city and the nation. They declined Belmont’s proposal and went ahead with their plans to construct the Metropolitan. But the placement of the additional boxes would have been far less prestigious than that of the original 18, and therefore would have no appeal to sponsors interested in the prominence of their exposure. When financier August Belmont, president of the Academy, learned of a serious project to create a new opera house, he offered to supplement the inadequate 18 boxes with 26 more. New York had grown too rich for the Academy of Music. On Patti nights at the Academy, eighteen boxes could not nearly meet the demand. 1884)Ī box at the opera provided the best possible frame for the display of the jewelry and opulent gowns that women of high society were expected to wear. On the right: View of The Academy of Music (ca. Kwiecien, who earlier this season appeared as devoted friends in a remarkable production of Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” another story in which a male bond is riven by a woman.But the Academy of Music also had a defect it could not correct-it had only 18 boxes, hardly enough to satisfy the needs of Gotham’s millionaires when it became clear to them that public appearances were not necessarily reserved for the performing artists. Roberto’s affection toward Nottingham, though genuine, is burdened by his guilt. Yet Nottingham’s security as a man, and hence his value in his beloved friend’s eyes, depends on showing that his wife is true. McVicar seems on to something: Nottingham’s marriage to Sara was arranged by the queen Sara has never loved the duke. Kwiecien’s characters treat each other with a physical affection that hints of homoerotic longing. He also expresses suspicions that his wife may be betraying him (not realizing that it’s Roberto who loves her). During a crucial scene in Act I, the Duke unburdens himself to his friend, whose life is under threat from the charges he faces. McVicar also plumbs psychological undercurrents, particularly those of Roberto and Nottingham.
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