The Manhattan Opera Company was an opera company based in New York City. Active from 1906 until 1910, it was founded by Oscar Hammerstein I.
The Manhattan Opera Company was an opera company based in New York City. Active from 1906 until 1910, it was founded by Oscar Hammerstein I.
The company began operations in 1906 at the Manhattan Opera House on 34th Street in New York City. Hammerstein built the house with the initial intent of making it a home for performances solely of opera in English; before construction was completed, however, he chose to shift the company's focus, deciding instead to present great operas in their original languages. The casts were to be drawn from the ranks of the greatest singers of the era. William Guard was hired to be the company's press representative, remaining in that capacity until the organization folded.
The Manhattan Opera Company opened its first season on December 3, 1906, with a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma ; Cleofonte Campanini served as the artistic director. Many of the greatest opera stars of the era appeared with the company during its four-year history; among the most notable were Nellie Melba, Lillian Nordica, Luisa Tetrazzini, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Giovanni Zenatello, Lina Cavalieri, Mary Garden, John McCormack, Lalla Miranda, Alessandro Bonci, Charles Dalmorès, Giovanni Polese, Maurice Renard, Alice Zeppilli, and Nicola Zerola. Many of them made their American debuts for Hammerstein. The repertory tended to French opera, then being neglected by the competing Metropolitan Opera, and to novelties. Among the latter were Pelléas et Mélisande featuring Garden, Elektra , and Louise .
Hammerstein's company was a huge success, and provided damaging competition to the Metropolitan Opera; eventually this led to the resignation of Heinrich Conried as the latter company's general director, after which it was greatly reorganized. Nevertheless, after giving 463 performances of 49 different operas during its existence, the Manhattan Opera Company suddenly folded in 1910. For years the reason remained a mystery; more recently it has been discovered that Hammerstein and the directors of the Metropolitan, led by Otto Kahn, entered into a contractual agreement which led to the dissolution. Under the terms of the contract, negotiated by his son Arthur, Hammerstein was paid a flat sum of $1.2 million, in exchange for which he promised to stage no opera in the United States for the following ten years. It is widely believed that Hammerstein took the deal because the mounting costs of running the company were taking their toll on his finances, and he was going bankrupt. [1]
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Mary Garden was a Scottish-American operatic lyric soprano, then mezzosoprano with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century. She spent the latter part of her childhood and youth in the United States and eventually became an American citizen, although she lived in France for many years and eventually retired to Scotland, where she spent the last 30 years of her life and died.
Oscar Hammerstein I was a German-born businessman, theater impresario, and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America. He was the grandfather of American playwright/lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and the father of theater manager William Hammerstein and American producer Arthur Hammerstein.
Natalina "Lina" Cavalieri was an Italian operatic dramatic soprano, actress, and monologist.
The Hammerstein Ballroom is a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,500 people for theatrical productions and musical performances, and several thousand for events held within a central ring. The floor of the ballroom is flat. The two main balconies – which are unusually close to the ground and gently sloped – seat a total of 1,200. The third balcony has been stripped of seats and is not used.
(Giuseppe) Mario Sammarco was an Italian operatic baritone noted for his acting ability.
Maurice Arnold Renaud was a cultured French operatic baritone. He enjoyed an international reputation for the superlative quality of his singing and the brilliance of his acting.
The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballroom, a performance venue. In 1976, the building was purchased by its current owner, the Unification Church, for $3 million. Some of the enterprises residing in the building include: Telemundo, Macy's, CFDA, WeWork, Facebook, iHeart Media, Samsung, American Heart Association, Robin Hood, FX Network, Endeavor, MAC Cosmetics, Viacom, SiriusXM, NBA, NBC Universal, Masterbeat, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.
Cesare Sodero was an Italian conductor who spent much of his career working in the United States.
Orville Harrold was an American operatic tenor and musical theatre actor. He began his career in 1906 as a performer in operettas in New York City, and was also seen during his early career in cabaret, musical theatre, and vaudeville performances. With the aid of Oscar Hammerstein I, he branched out into opera in 1910 as a leading tenor with Hammerstein's opera houses in New York City and Philadelphia. While his career from this point on primarily consisted of opera performances, he periodically returned to operetta and musical theatre throughout his career. He notably created the role of Captain Dick Warrington in the world premiere of Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta in November 1910.
Cleofonte Campanini was an Italian conductor. His brother was the tenor Italo Campanini.
Emma Trentini was an Italian soprano opera singer who came to the United States in December 1906.
Gaetano Merola was an Italian conductor, pianist and founder of the San Francisco Opera.
Two grand opera companies in Chicago, Illinois, have gone by the name Chicago Grand Opera Company during the first half of the 20th century. Like many opera ventures in Chicago, both succumbed to financial difficulties within a few years, and it wasn't until 1954 that a lasting company was formed in the city.
The Metropolitan Opera House is a historic opera house located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has been used for many different purposes over its history. Now known as The Met, the theatre reopened in December 2018, after a complete renovation, as a concert venue. It is managed by Live Nation Philadelphia.
Vincenzo Reschiglian was an Italian operatic baritone who specialized in the comprimario repertoire.
Nicola Zerola was an Italian operatic tenor who had an active international career from 1898-1928. He began his career in his native country, but was soon heard in concerts and operas internationally during the first years of the 20th century. In 1908 he relocated to the United States where he was active with important opera companies in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia up into the late 1920s. Between 1909 and 1911 he recorded 13 issued sides for the Victor Talking Machine Company at their Camden, New Jersey studios. He also made 11 solo recordings and one duet for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company in England in 1910-1911.
Alice Zeppilli was a French operatic soprano of Italian heritage who had an active international singing career from 1901 to 1930. The pinnacle of her career was in the United States where she enjoyed great popularity between 1906 and 1914; particularly in the cities of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. She was popular in Monte Carlo where she performed frequently from 1904–19 and later worked as a singing teacher after her retirement from the stage. She made only one recording, a phonograph cylinder for Columbia Records consisting of the Gavotte from Jules Massenet's Manon and Olympia's Doll Aria from Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.
Giovanni Polese was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international singing career from 1894-1928. He achieved the height of his success in the United States in the years 1908-1916 in the cities of Boston, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, and again from 1926-1928 in Chicago. While he sang a broad repertoire from the French, German, and Italian repertoires, he was most celebrated for his performances in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. His voice is preserved on more than 20 recordings made by Edison Records.
William Hammerstein was an American theater manager. He ran the Victoria Theatre on what became Times Square, Manhattan, presenting very popular vaudeville shows with a wide variety of acts. He was known for "freak acts", where celebrities or people notorious for scandals appeared on stage. Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre became the most successful in New York.
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