Jane Cowl (December 14, 1883 – June 22, 1950) was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lachrymose parts ". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.
95-564: Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka ; June 19, 1887 – June 6, 1974) was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway debut in 1906 and established herself as a character actor of the classical stage, also appearing in several films of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to her many stage roles, which included Queen Gertrude opposite John Barrymore 's Hamlet , she
190-420: A Puccini aria while standing on her head. Yurka was foremost a stage actress and for a long time considered film-making an inferior art form. Her low opinion of the movies started to change when she saw John Ford 's The Informer , adapted from the novel by Liam O'Flaherty . When she finally made her belated screen debut at the age of 47, it was in the role that many consider the greatest of her film career,
285-413: A best supporting actress Academy Award (the supporting categories weren't established until the following year), her character portrayal was a model of a sinister screen villain. In close-up, she flashed a look of steely malevolence; in her speech to the revolutionary tribunal – asking for the conviction and execution of Charles Darnay – she played it large and to the rafters. The film was only nominated in
380-574: A bit part in The Rose of the Rancho (1906), and the following year, he extended her a contract, at which time she changed her surname to "Yurka", a homophone of her true surname. Beginning with The Warrens of Virginia (1907), Blanche spent the next decade alternating between stock and touring productions. In 1909, she had a small part in Leo Ditrichstein 's Is Matrimony a Failure? at
475-454: A chorus, children's choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians and other performers throughout the season. The Met's roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Met's young artists programs. While many singers appear periodically as guests with
570-667: A dozen or more opera performances in Philadelphia throughout the season. Over the years the number of performances was gradually reduced until the final Philadelphia season in 1961 consisted of only four operas. The final performance of that last season was on March 21, 1961, with Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli in Turandot . After the Tuesday night visits were ended, the Met still returned to Philadelphia on its spring tours in 1967, 1968, 1978, and 1979. For its second season,
665-492: A long relationship with the Met during this period. 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. He used an Edison 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
760-477: A new home in Lincoln Center. While many outstanding singers debuted at the Met under Bing's guiding hand, music critics complained of a lack of great conducting during his regime, even though such eminent conductors as Fritz Stiedry , Dimitri Mitropoulos , Erich Leinsdorf , Fritz Reiner , and Karl Böhm appeared frequently in the 1950s and '60s. Among the most significant achievements of Bing's tenure
855-669: A part of our theater today." Before the year was over, she announced her retirement from the stage – a short-lived retirement that would find her back onstage exactly a year later in the Phoenix Theatre's Diary of a Scoundrel . In 1957, she visited Athens under the aegis of the United States International Exchange of Artists to open the Greek Drama Festival. There, she appeared in a reading of Aeschylus ' Prometheus Bound in
950-685: A quartet of Ibsen plays, directing three of them: The Wild Duck (1928, as Gina Ekdal), Hedda Gabler (1929, title role) and The Vikings (1930, as Hjordis); she also had the title role of Ellida in The Lady from the Sea (1929). In the year 1932 alone, she played the title role in Sophocles ' Electra , was Helen of Troy in Shakespeare 's Troilus and Cressida , directed Carry Nation starring Esther Dale (a production that featured
1045-492: A rotating repertory schedule, with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday. Several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera companies. The rest of the year's operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015–16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas. The operas in
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#17328007641911140-899: A season of opera at the new Metropolitan Opera House . Henry Abbey served as manager for the inaugural season, 1883–84, which opened with a performance of Charles Gounod 's Faust starring the brilliant Swedish soprano Christina Nilsson . Abbey's company that first season featured an ensemble of artists led by sopranos Nilsson and Marcella Sembrich ; mezzo-soprano Sofia Scalchi ; tenors Italo Campanini and Roberto Stagno ; baritone Giuseppe Del Puente ; and bass Franco Novara . They gave 150 performances of 20 different operas by Gounod, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, Thomas, Bizet, Flotow, and Ponchielli. All performances were sung in Italian and were conducted either by music director Auguste Vianesi or Cleofonte Campanini (the tenor Italo's brother). The company performed not only in
1235-464: 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
1330-537: A year, as of the 2017–2018 season. In February 2018, Nézet-Séguin succeeded Levine as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. In August 2024, the company announced the extension of Nézet-Séguin's contract as its music director through the 2029–2030 season. In 2017, Daniele Rustioni first guest-conducted at the Metropolitan Opera. In November 2024, the company announced the appointment of Rustioni as its next principal guest conductor, effective with
1425-620: Is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center , situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan . Referred to colloquially as "the Met" , the company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as the general manager. The company's music director has been Yannick Nézet-Séguin since 2018. The Met
1520-466: Is dependent on private financing. Gelb began his tenure by opening the 2006–07 season with a production of Madama Butterfly by the English director Anthony Minghella originally staged for English National Opera. Minghella's highly theatrical concept featured vividly colored banners on a spare stage, allowing the focus to be on the detailed acting of the singers. The abstract concept included casting
1615-469: The Edinburgh Festival . Serving from 1950 to 1972, Bing became one of the Met's most influential and reformist leaders. Bing modernized the administration of the company, ended an archaic ticket sales system, and brought an end to the company's Tuesday night performances in Philadelphia. He presided over an era of fine singing and glittering new productions, while guiding the company's move to
1710-594: The Federal Theater Project at the 1939 Senate Appropriations Committee hearings that de-funded the program in reaction to productions that were deemed sympathetic to the political left-wing. On occasion, she could be critical of Broadway for production values which did not live up to the highest standards. In a letter to the New York Times, published November 6, 1955, she reproached the theater community's "passion for ugliness that seems so much
1805-561: 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 . Beginning in 1898, the Metropolitan Opera company of singers and musicians undertook
1900-487: The Morgan , Roosevelt , and Vanderbilt families, all of whom had been excluded from the academy. The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22, 1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Music's opera season folded just three years after the Met opened. In its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/ impresarios to stage
1995-922: The Sam Harris Theater and Manhattan Opera House , where it ran for a combined 125 performances. At 42, Barrymore was a little old to be playing her son (she was 35), and she made herself appear as youthful as possible to vent her irritation. Prior to Hamlet, she appeared in The Law Breaker , where she met a charming young character actor named Ian Keith (née Keith Ross), who was 12 years her junior. They married in September 1922, her first marriage and his second. Her growing stature as an actress - combined with his jealousy - eventually came between them; they separated in 1925 and divorced in 1926. Yurka never remarried and had no children. Building on her repertoire of classic characters, Yurka starred in
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#17328007641912090-431: The 1933–34 season. Called the committee to Save Metropolitan Opera, the group was headed by the well-loved leading soprano, Lucrezia Bori . Bori not only led the committee, but also personally carried out much of its work and within a few months her fundraising efforts produced the $ 300,000 that were needed for the coming season. In April 1935, Gatti stepped down after 27 years as general manager. His immediate successor,
2185-591: The 2025-2026 season, with an initial contract of three seasons. Jane Cowl Cowl was born Jane Bailey in Boston , Massachusetts , to Charles Bailey and Grace Avery. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn , New York City , followed by some courses at Columbia University . She made her Broadway debut in New York City in Sweet Kitty Bellairs in 1903. Her first leading role
2280-576: The Belasco Theater. There, she met actress Jane Cowl , who was starring in the production as Fanny Perry. Yurka had minor roles in several plays, including An Old New Yorker (1911), The House of Bondage (1914) Our American Cousin (1915) and a pair of plays by Jane Cowl , Daybreak (1917) and Information Please (1918). In 1922-23, she was Queen Gertrude to John Barrymore 's Hamlet in Arthur Hopkins ' production of Hamlet at
2375-606: The Best Film and Best Editing categories, not even its star, Ronald Colman getting an Oscar nod. She sought to play O-Lan in the 1937 film The Good Earth but lost out to Luise Rainer , who won an Academy Award for her performance. She also lost the role of Pilar in For Whom the Bell Tolls to Greek actress Katina Paxinou , who went on to win an Oscar for best supporting actress. Her follow-up to A Tale of Two Cities
2470-890: The Broadway debuts of Mildred Natwick and James Stewart ) and appeared in Katharine Cornell 's production of Lucrece by Deems Taylor and Thornton Wilder . She won critical acclaim in 1935 when she replaced Edith Evans as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet opposite Cornell's Juliet. She co-adapted to stage the Spanish comedy, Spring in Autumn (1933) by Gregorio Martínez Sierra and María Martínez Sierra , which reunited her with Carry Nation co-stars Esther Dale , Mildred Natwick , and James Stewart , and featured Yurka singing
2565-526: The Christmas 1903 production of Wagner 's Parsifal - the first staged performance of the opera outside of Bayreuth - appearing as a flower girl and as the Grail-bearer. In his review of the premiere performance, New York Tribune music critic Henry Krehbiel singled out her contribution: "And while pointing out the beauty of the work of the principals, it is a pleasant privilege to lay a wreath at
2660-582: The MOA to create the Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC); a second touring company that would present operas nationally with young operatic talent. Supported by President John F. Kennedy and funded largely by donations given by philanthropist and publisher Lila Acheson Wallace , the company presented two seasons of operas in 1965–1966 and 1966–1967 in which hundreds of performances were given in hundreds of cities throughout
2755-485: The Met board's Eleanor Robson Belmont , the former actress and wife to industrialist August Belmont , was appointed head of a new organization—the Metropolitan Opera Guild—as successor to a women's club Belmont had set up. The Guild supported the producing company through subscriptions to its magazine, Opera News , and through Mrs. Belmont's weekly appeals on the Met's radio broadcasts. In 1940 ownership of
2850-738: The Met considerably expanded its repertory, offering four world premiers and 22 Met premiers, more new works than under any manager since Gatti-Casazza. Volpe chose Valery Gergiev , who was then the chief conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre , as Principal Guest Conductor in 1997 and broadened the Met's Russian repertory. Marcelo Álvarez , Gabriela Beňačková , Diana Damrau , Natalie Dessay , Renée Fleming , Juan Diego Flórez , Marcello Giordani , Angela Gheorghiu , Susan Graham , Ben Heppner , Dmitri Hvorostovsky , Salvatore Licitra , Anna Netrebko , René Pape , Neil Rosenshein , Bryn Terfel , and Deborah Voigt were among
2945-623: The Met during Bing's tenure include: Roberta Peters , Victoria de los Ángeles , Renata Tebaldi , Maria Callas , who had a bitter falling out with Bing over repertoire, , Birgit Nilsson , Joan Sutherland , Régine Crespin , Mirella Freni , Renata Scotto , Montserrat Caballé , Elisabeth Schwarzkopf , Anna Moffo , James McCracken , Carlo Bergonzi , Franco Corelli , Alfredo Kraus , Plácido Domingo , Nicolai Gedda , Luciano Pavarotti , Jon Vickers , Tito Gobbi , Sherrill Milnes , and Cesare Siepi . The Met's 1961 production of Turandot , with Leopold Stokowski conducting, Birgit Nilsson in
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3040-431: The Met found new controversy with a production of John Adams 's opera The Death of Klinghoffer , due to criticism that the work was antisemitic. In response to the controversy Gelb canceled the scheduled worldwide HD video presentation of a performance, but refused demands to cancel the live performances scheduled for October and November 2014. Demonstrators held signs and chanted "Shame on Gelb". On April 14, 2016,
3135-413: The Met from 1896 to 1903. The early 1900s saw the development of distinct Italian, German and later French "wings" within the Met's roster of artists including separate German and Italian choruses. This division of the company's forces faded after World War II when solo artists spent less time engaged at any one company. The administration of Heinrich Conried in 1903–08 was distinguished especially by
3230-478: The Met in 1891 in a glittering season of stars organized by the returning Henry E. Abbey, John B. Schoeffel and Maurice Grau as Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau . After missing a season to rebuild the opera house following a fire in August 1892 which destroyed most of the theater, Abbey and Grau continued as co-managers along with John Schoeffel as the business partner, initiating the so-called "Golden Age of Opera". Most of
3325-457: The Met in 1973 as Desdemona in Verdi 's Otello , the same role she debuted there in 1955. From 1975 to 1981 the Met was guided by a triumvirate of directors: the general manager (Anthony A. Bliss), artistic director ( James Levine ), and director of production (English stage director John Dexter ). Bliss was followed by Bruce Crawford and Hugh Southern . Through this period the constant figure
3420-520: The Met's current stars as well as appearances by 26 veteran stars of the Met's the past. Among the artists, Leonard Bernstein and Birgit Nilsson gave their last performances with the company at the concert. This season also marked the debut of bass Samuel Ramey , who debuted as Argante in Handel's Rinaldo in January 1984. The immediate post-Bing era saw a continuing addition of African-Americans to
3515-498: The Met's directors turned to Leopold Damrosch as general manager. 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. 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
3610-407: The Met's own SiriusXM radio channel. In 2010, the company named Fabio Luisi as its principal guest conductor in 2010, and subsequently its principal conductor in 2011, to fill a void created by Levine's two-year absence because of illness. In 2013, following the severance of the dancers' contracts, Gelb announced that the resident ballet company at the Met would cease to exist. In 2014, Gelb and
3705-694: The Met's own original productions. Theater directors Bartlett Sher , Mary Zimmerman , and Jack O'Brien joined the list of the Met's directors along with Stephen Wadsworth, Willy Decker, Laurent Pelly , Luc Bondy and other opera directors to create new stagings for the company. Robert Lepage , the Canadian director of Cirque du Soleil , was engaged by the Met to direct a revival of Der Ring des Nibelungen using hydraulic stage platforms and projected 3D imagery. To further engage new audiences Gelb initiated live high-definition video transmissions to cinemas worldwide, and regular live satellite radio broadcasts on
3800-506: The Met's principal conductor (but with no official title) from 1908 to 1915, leading the company in performances of Verdi, Wagner and others that set standards for the company for decades to come. The Viennese composer Gustav Mahler also was a Met conductor during Gatti-Casazza's first two seasons and in later years conductors Tullio Serafin and Artur Bodanzky led the company in the Italian and German repertories respectively. Following Toscanini's departure, Gatti-Casazza successfully guided
3895-541: The Met's regular visits ceased. On April 26, 1910, the Met purchased the Philadelphia Opera House from Oscar Hammerstein I . The company renamed the house the Metropolitan Opera House and performed all of their Philadelphia performances there until 1920, when the company sold the theater and resumed performing at the Academy of Music. During the Met's early years, the company annually presented
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3990-462: The Met's repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th and 21st centuries. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs. The Met's performing company consists of a large symphony orchestra,
4085-528: The Met's wealthy supporters had significantly declined. Soon after his appointment, Cravath obtained new revenue through a contract with the National Broadcasting Company for weekly radio broadcasts of Met performances. The first national broadcast took place December 25, 1931, when Hansel and Gretel was aired. With Gatti's support, Cravath also obtained a ten percent reduction in the pay of all salaried employees beginning with
4180-837: The Metropolitan Opera to a prolonged era of artistic innovation and musical excellence. He brought with him the fiery and brilliant conductor Arturo Toscanini , the music director from his seasons at La Scala. Many of the most noted singers of the era appeared at the Met under Gatti-Casazza's leadership, including sopranos Rosa Ponselle , Elisabeth Rethberg , Maria Jeritza , Emmy Destinn , Frances Alda , Frida Leider , Amelita Galli-Curci , Bernice de Pasquali , and Lily Pons ; tenors Jacques Urlus , Giovanni Martinelli , Beniamino Gigli , Giacomo Lauri-Volpi , and Lauritz Melchior ; baritones Titta Ruffo , Giuseppe De Luca , Pasquale Amato , and Lawrence Tibbett ; and basses Friedrich Schorr , Feodor Chaliapin , Jose Mardones, Tancredi Pasero and Ezio Pinza —among many others. Toscanini served as
4275-562: The Metropolitan Opera's founding subscribers determined to build a new opera house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of 22 men assembled at Delmonico's restaurant on April 28, 1880. They elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The new theater, built at 39th and Broadway , would include three tiers of private boxes in which the scions of New York's powerful new industrial families could display their wealth and establish their social prominence. The first subscribers included members of
4370-892: The Swedish opera manager Göran Gentele , died in an auto accident before the start of his first season. Following Gentele's tragic loss came Schuyler Chapin , who served as general manager for three seasons. The greatest achievement of his tenure was the Met's first tour to Japan for three weeks in May–June 1975 which was the brainchild of impresario Kazuko Hillyer . The tour played a significant role in popularizing opera in Japan, and boasted an impressive line-up of artists in productions of La traviata , Carmen , and La bohème ; including Marilyn Horne as Carmen, Joan Sutherland as Violetta, and tenors Franco Corelli and Luciano Pavarotti alternating as Rodolfo. Soprano Renata Tebaldi retired from
4465-1138: The United States. Bing publicly supported the organization, but privately detested the idea and actively worked to dismantle the company which he ultimately achieved in a vote of the board in December 1966. The MONC's directors were mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens and Michael Manuel , a long time stage manager and director at the Met. Several well known opera singers performed with the MONC, including sopranos Clarice Carson , Maralin Niska , Mary Beth Peil , Francesca Roberto , and Marilyn Zschau ; mezzo-sopranos Joy Davidson , Sylvia Friederich, Dorothy Krebill, and Huguette Tourangeau ; tenors Enrico Di Giuseppe , Chris Lachona, Nicholas di Virgilio, and Harry Theyard ; baritones Ron Bottcher , John Fiorito , Thomas Jamerson , Julian Patrick , and Vern Shinall; bass-baritones Andrij Dobriansky , Ronald Hedlund, and Arnold Voketaitis ; and bass Paul Plishka . During Bing's tenure,
4560-532: The arrival of the Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso , the most celebrated singer who ever appeared at the old Metropolitan. He was also instrumental in hiring conductor Arturo Vigna . Conried was followed by Giulio Gatti-Casazza , who held a 27-year tenure from 1908 to 1935. Gatti-Casazza had been lured by the Met from a celebrated tenure as director of Milan's La Scala Opera House . His model planning, authoritative organizational skills and brilliant casts raised
4655-479: The artists first heard at the Met under his management. He retired as general manager in 2006. Joseph Volpe's post was given to Peter Gelb , formerly a record producer. Gelb began outlining his plans in April 2006; these included more new productions each year, ideas for shaving staging costs, and attracting new audiences without deterring existing opera-lovers. Gelb saw these issues as crucial for an organization which
4750-519: The best Juliet that I have seen, but she is by all odds the most charming". Cowl's affecting performances led her to be described as having a "voice with a tear." Biographer Charles Higham admired Cowl's "marvelous bovine eyes and exquisite genteel catch in the voice ..." In June 1911, Cowl traveled on the maiden voyage from Southampton of the RMS Olympic , sister ship of the Titanic which
4845-580: The book Dear Audience (1959) and wrote a memoir, Bohemian Girl (1970). She was a popular guest at women's clubs and colleges, where she continued to perform dramatic readings. She suffered from failing health in her final years owing to arteriosclerosis and died June 6, 1974, at age 86. She was interred in the same burial plot with her good friend, actress Florence Reed , in the Actors Fund of America section of Kensico Cemetery , Valhalla, New York . Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera
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#17328007641914940-415: The broadcasts and savings from both salary cuts and reorganization were not sufficient to cover the company's deficits. Representatives of the opera house, the producing company, and the artists formed a committee for fundraising among the public at large. Mainly though appeals made to radio audiences during the weekly broadcasts, the committee was able to obtain enough money to assure continuation of opera for
5035-450: The company announced the conclusion of James Levine's tenure as music director at the conclusion of the 2015–16 season. Gelb announced that Levine would also become Music Director Emeritus. On June 2, the Met board announced the appointment of Yannick Nézet-Séguin as the company's next music director, as of the 2020–2021 season, conducting five productions each season. He took the title of music director-designate, conducting two productions
5130-504: The company through the years of World War I into another decade of premieres, new productions and popular success in the 1920s. The 1930s, however, brought new financial and organizational challenges for the company. In 1931, Otto Kahn , the noted financier, resigned as head of the Met's board of directors and president of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He had been responsible for engaging Gatti-Casazza and had held
5225-554: The company, others maintain a close long-standing association with the Met, appearing many times each season until they retire. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1883 as an alternative to New York's old established Academy of Music opera house. The subscribers to the academy's limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these " old money " families were loath to admit New York's newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded,
5320-471: The cook in the cancelled MGM remake of Dinner at Eight (1969) – the role played by May Robson in the 1933 film. She concluded her career on a note of personal triumph with her critically acclaimed London performance as The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969). When the play traveled to off-Broadway in 1970, the New York critics' reception was lukewarm, and Yurka retired from acting soon after the show closed. Yurka collected her thoughts about acting technique in
5415-677: The family to the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 1900. Her parents used their modest income to provide Blanche with singing lessons in New York even before she entered high school (1901–03). Her vocal talent attracted the admiration of composer and singer Harry Burleigh , and she won a scholarship at age 15 to study voice and ballet at the Metropolitan Opera School (1903–05). She appeared in an amateur Czech-language production of Michael William Balfe 's The Bohemian Girl and made her Metropolitan Opera stage debut in
5510-641: The feet of the little lady who carried the Grail with such reverent and touching consecration to her sacred duties." She continued her studies at the Met Opera School but was dismissed when she injured her voice singing the role of Leonora in Verdi 's Il Trovatore in an amateur production. She transferred to the Institute for Musical Art (1905–07), forerunner of the Juilliard School but
5605-562: 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. The Met's national tours continued until 1986. Italian opera returned to
5700-487: The former Met bass Herbert Witherspoon , died of a heart attack barely six weeks into his term of office. This opened the way for the Canadian tenor and former Met artist Edward Johnson to be appointed general manager. Johnson served the company for the next 15 years, guiding the Met through the remaining years of the depression and the World War II era. The producing company's financial difficulties continued in
5795-652: The greatest operatic artists in the world then graced the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in Italian as well as German and French repertory. Notable among them were the brothers Jean and Édouard de Reszke , Lilli Lehmann , Emma Calvé , Lillian Nordica , Nellie Melba , Marcella Sembrich , Milka Ternina , Emma Eames , Sofia Scalchi , Ernestine Schumann-Heink , Francesco Tamagno , Francesc Viñas , Jean Lassalle, Mario Ancona , Victor Maurel , Antonio Scotti and Pol Plançon . Henry Abbey died in 1896, and Maurice Grau continued as sole manager of
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#17328007641915890-590: The latter were The Song of Bernadette (1943) – again for David O. Selznick – in which she played Jennifer Jones ' aunt and The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944), as the Abbess of San Luis Rey chapel. Notably, one of her co-stars in the latter film was Alla Nazimova (who had suggested Yurka's casting as Madame Defarge) playing the Marquessa Doña Maria. In The Southerner (1945), an American frontier drama directed by Jean Renoir , Yurka's Mama Tucker
5985-411: The leading Ibsen heroines on the Broadway stage. Despite Nazimova's endorsement, Yurka was the 67th actor tested for the role. Yurka threw herself into the part – quite literally. Her final fight scene with Edna May Oliver (who was only four years older than Yurka) showed the two actresses tumbling over tables and over the floor, offering a hint of Yurka's onstage physicality. Although not nominated for
6080-490: The many home grown artists to become stars at the Met in the 1940s. Ettore Panizza , Sir Thomas Beecham , George Szell and Bruno Walter were among the leading conductors engaged during Johnson's tenure. Kurt Adler began his long tenure as chorus master and staff conductor in 1943. Succeeding Johnson in 1950 was the Austrian-born Rudolf Bing who had most recently created and served as director of
6175-492: The new Rockefeller Center . The plan was dropped in 1929 when it became apparent that it would produce no savings, and because the Met did not have enough money to move to a new opera house. It soon became apparent that the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and subsequent depression had resulted in a dangerously large deficit in the company's accounts. Between 1929 and 1931 ticket sales remained robust, but subsidies from
6270-549: The new Manhattan opera house, but also started a long tradition of touring throughout the country. In the winter and spring of 1884 the Met presented opera in theaters in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia (see below), Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington D.C., and Baltimore. Back in New York, the last night of the season featured a long gala performance to benefit Mr. Abbey. The special program consisted not only of various scenes from opera, but also offered Marcella Sembrich playing
6365-790: The officers of the Met joined forces with the officers of the New York Philharmonic to build the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , where the new Metropolitan Opera House building opened in 1966. The Met's first season at Lincoln Center featured nine new productions, including the world premiere of Marvin David Levy 's Mourning Becomes Electra . However, the company would not premiere any new operas for decades afterwards, until 1991's The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano . One critic described
6460-400: The opera season of 1931/32. Cravath also engineered a reorganization of the management company by which it was transformed from a corporation, in which all participants were stockholders, to an association, whose members need not have a financial interest in operations. Apart from this change, the new Metropolitan Opera Association was virtually identical to the old Metropolitan Opera Company. It
6555-589: The performing company and the opera house was transferred to the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association from the company's original partnership of New York society families. Zinka Milanov , Jussi Björling , and Alexander Kipnis were first heard at the Met under Johnson's management. During World War II when many European artists were unavailable, the Met recruited American singers as never before. Eleanor Steber , Dorothy Kirsten , Helen Traubel (Flagstad's successor as Wagner's heroines), Jan Peerce , Richard Tucker , Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill were among
6650-416: The period as "a quarter-century in which the notion of commissioned work reminded Met administrators of the emblematic failure of Samuel Barber 's Antony and Cleopatra and the lukewarm reception of Marvin David Levy's Mourning Becomes Electra ." Following Bing's retirement in 1972, the Met's management was overseen by a succession of executives and artists in shared authority. Bing's intended successor,
6745-462: The poisonously vindictive revolutionary Thérèse Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities . Producer David O. Selznick 's first choice for the part of Madame Defarge was the Russian-born stage actress Alla Nazimova , who turned it down but recommended Yurka, declaring her the "only" actress for the part. The two women hadn't yet met but were well acquainted with one another's work inasmuch as they were
6840-424: The position of president since the beginning of Gatti-Casazza's term as manager. The new chair, prominent lawyer Paul Cravath , had served as the board's legal counsel. Retaining Gatti-Casazza as manager, Cravath focused his attention on managing the business affairs of the company. In 1926, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center , a plan was floated to move the opera from the building on 39th Street to
6935-586: The roster of leading artists. Kathleen Battle , who in 1977 made her Met debut as the Shepherd in Wagner's Tannhäuser , became an important star in lyric soprano roles. Bass-baritone Simon Estes began a prominent Met career with his 1982 debut as Hermann, also in Tannhäuser . The model of General Manager as the leading authority in the company returned in 1990 when the company appointed Joseph Volpe . He
7030-420: The son of Cio-Cio San as a bunraku -style puppet, operated in plain sight by three puppeteers clothed in black. Gelb focused on expanding the Met's audience through a number of fronts. Increasing the number of new productions every season to keep the Met's stagings fresh and noteworthy, Gelb partnered with other opera companies to import productions and engaged directors from theater, circus, and film to produce
7125-493: The title role, and Franco Corelli as Calàf, was called the Met's "biggest hit in 10 years". For the 1962/1963 season, Renata Tebaldi , popular with Met audiences, convinced a reluctant Bing to stage a revival of Adriana Lecouvreur , an opera last presented at the Met in 1907. In 1963, Anthony Bliss, a prominent New York lawyer and president of the Metropolitan Opera Association (MOA), convinced
7220-471: The translation by Edith Hamilton . In 1958, she appeared at the Belasco Theater in Huntington Hartford 's Jane Eyre . In the last 15 years of her life, few stage or film roles came her way. She appeared sporadically in television shows in the '50s, notably, Lux Video Theater , The Philip Morris Playhouse and Ponds Theater . She was shocked at being offered the brief role of Mrs. Wendell
7315-503: The violin and the piano, as well as the famed stage actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry in a scene from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . Abbey's inaugural season resulted in very large financial deficits. The Metropolitan Opera began a long history of performing in Philadelphia during its first season, presenting its entire repertoire in the city during January and April 1884. The company's first Philadelphia performance
7410-483: The war. In December, 1945, she appeared at the Majestic Theatre for two readings of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex with classics scholar Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Yurka was active in theater causes all her life. She supported the 1919 actors' strike. She later vigorously defended the interests of American actors against a British invasion of American theaters. She aligned herself with Tallulah Bankhead 's defense of
7505-576: 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. Edmund 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
7600-485: The years immediately following the desperate season of 1933–34. To meet budget shortfalls, fundraising continued and the number of performances was curtailed. Still, on given nights the brilliant Wagner pairing of the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad with the great heldentenor Lauritz Melchior proved irresistible to audiences even in such troubled times. To expand the Met's support among its national radio audience,
7695-621: Was Fanny Perry in 1909 in Leo Ditrichstein 's Is Matrimony a Failure? , produced by David Belasco , and then she played stock. This was followed by The Gamblers (1910), her first great success, and by Within the Law (1912), Common Clay (1915), and other successes ( New International Encyclopedia ). She was known for her interpretation of Shakespearean roles, playing Juliet , Cleopatra , and Viola on Broadway. She made Broadway history by playing Juliet over 1000 consecutive performances in 1923; critic George Jean Nathan declared her "not ...
7790-539: Was James Levine. Engaged by Bing in 1971, Levine became principal conductor in 1973 and emerged as the Met's principal artistic leader through the last third of the 20th century. During the 1983–84 season the Met celebrated its 100th anniversary with an opening night revival of Berlioz's mammoth opera Les Troyens , with soprano Jessye Norman making her Met debut in the roles of both Cassandra and Dido. An eight-hour Centennial Gala concert in two parts followed on October 22, 1983, broadcast on PBS . The gala featured all of
7885-650: Was an occasional director and playwright. She remained active in theater and film until the late 1960s. Her most famous film role was Madame Defarge in MGM 's version of A Tale of Two Cities (1935), but she was also the compassionate aunt in The Song of Bernadette (1943). Another memorable role was as Zachary Scott 's widowed mother in The Southerner (1945). Born Blanch Jurka, apparently in St. Paul, Minnesota , she
7980-472: Was dismissed from there for the same reason. Having lost her chance at an operatic career, she took the Institute director's suggestion and tried for a career on the theater stage. Through persistence, she managed to get an audition with the theater impresario David Belasco . According to her autobiography, he said to her: "Your diction is clear and pure. Your voice has good timbre. I can sense that you have temperament. We must find out if you can act." He gave her
8075-521: Was founded in 1883 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house and debuted the same year in a new building on 39th and Broadway (now known as the "Old Met"). It moved to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966. The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. Until 2019, it presented about 27 different operas each year from late September through May. The operas are presented in
8170-561: Was hoped the association would be able to save money as it renegotiated contracts which the company had made. During this period there was no change in the organization of the Metropolitan Real Estate Opera Company which owned the opera house . It remained in the hands of the society families who owned its stock, yet the subsidies that the house and its owners had given the producing company fell off. In March 1932, Cravath found that income resulting from
8265-600: Was lost in a famous disaster the following April . In 1930, Cowl appeared with a young Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway production of Benn W. Levy 's play Art and Mrs. Bottle , and in 1934, she created the role of Lael Wyngate in S.N. Behrman 's Rain from Heaven opposite actor John Halliday . Noting the challenges posed by Behrman's heightened dialogue, critic Gilbert Gabriel noted approvingly that their scenes together were "models of aristocratic parlando ." She also starred in Noël Coward 's Easy Virtue . Cowl
8360-500: Was of Faust (with Christina Nilsson) on January 14, 1884, at the Chestnut Street Opera House . The Met continued to perform annually in Philadelphia for nearly eighty years, taking the entire company to the city on selected Tuesday nights throughout the opera season. Performances were usually held at Philadelphia's Academy of Music , with the company presenting close to 900 performances in the city by 1961 when
8455-517: Was published in 2004. It was written by Richard Abe King, who had formerly worked with Cowl. On June 18, 1906, at her father's apartment on Riverside Drive and 95th Street in New York City, Cowl married Adolph Edward Klauber , the drama critic of The New York Times . A former actor and son of a prominent Jewish photographer in Louisville, Kentucky , Klauber left the Times in 1918 to become
8550-422: Was the Met's third-longest serving manager, and was the first head of the Met to advance from within the ranks of the company after having started his career there as a carpenter in 1964. During his tenure the Met's international touring activities were expanded and Levine focused on expanding and building the Met's orchestra into a world-class symphonic ensemble with its own Carnegie Hall concert series. Under Volpe
8645-638: Was the fourth of five children of Karolína and Antonín Jurka, Czech Roman Catholic emigrants from Bohemia . Her father was a teacher and librarian. She inherited her father's artistic and scholarly interests, including a love of music and acting. She finished grade school before her father lost his job teaching Czech language at the Jefferson School in St. Paul. He found a new position with the Czech Benevolent Society in New York and moved
8740-520: Was the lead in a B movie shoot-'em-up, Queen of the Mob (1940), in which Yurka played a gangster matriarch closely based on the contemporary outlaw, Ma Barker. Her severe, vaguely imperious looks led to her casting in a rogue's gallery of austere or villainous parts. Through the 1940s and with decreasing frequency in the 1950s, she appeared in a succession of B parts that wasted her talents, occasionally landing supporting character parts in A list movies. Among
8835-572: Was the lead in two silent films, The Garden of Lies (1915) and The Spreading Dawn (1917). Then, after nearly 30 years away from films, she returned for several supporting roles in the 1940s. Her final film was Payment on Demand (1951) with Bette Davis . Jane Cowl died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 1950, aged 66. Following cremation, her ashes were buried at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery . A biography about Cowl, titled Jane Cowl: Her Precious and Momentary Glory ,
8930-434: Was the opening of the Met's artistic roster to include singers of color. Marian Anderson 's historic 1955 debut was followed by the introduction of a gifted generation of African American artists led by Leontyne Price (who inaugurated the new house at Lincoln Center), Reri Grist , Grace Bumbry , Shirley Verrett , Martina Arroyo , George Shirley , Robert McFerrin , and many others. Other celebrated singers who debuted at
9025-524: Was the widowed daughter-in-law of cantankerous Granny Tucker played by Beulah Bondi . Yurka had the role of Mrs. Hunter in the soap opera Valiant Lady . Yurka never left the theater, but as her Hollywood roles became less satisfying after the war, the pace of both her film and stage roles fell off. During World War II, she contributed her time and talent to the war effort as a theater performer. She toured with theater troupes in Europe both before and after
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