Metropolitan Opera House (Philadelphia)
Encyclopedia
The Metropolitan Opera House (MOH) is a historic opera house
located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
at 858 North Broad Street
. Built over the course of just a few months in 1908, it was the ninth opera house built by impresario
Oscar Hammerstein I
. It was initially the home of Hammerstein's Philadelphia Opera Company
, and was originally called the Philadelphia Opera House. Hammerstein sold the house to the Metropolitan Opera
of New York City
in 1910, when it was renamed. The Met used the MOH through 1920, after which various opera companies used the house through 1934. For over five more decades it remained in constant use in turn as a cinema
venue, a ballroom
, a sports venue, and a church. The MOH then fell into serious disrepair and was vacated from 1988 until 1995, when it was bought by its current owners and became the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center at the Met. The church has stabilized much of the building and is currently attempting to raise the funds necessary for further historic renovation of the opera house. The MOH has been included in the National Register of Historic Places
since 1972.
The opera house officially opened on November 17, 1908 with a production of Georges Bizet
's Carmen
for the opening of the POC's first season. The cast included Maria Labia
in the title role, Charles Dalmorès
as Don José, Andrés de Segurola
as Escamillo, Alice Zeppilli
as Micaëla, and Cleofonte Campanini
conducting. The POC continued to use the house for its productions through March of 1910. The company's last performance at the house was of Giuseppe Verdi
's Rigoletto
on March 23, 1910 with Giovanni Polese
in the title role, Lalla Miranda
as Gilda, Orville Harrold
as the Duke of Mantua, and Giuseppe Sturani
conducting.
On April 26, 1910, Arthur Hammerstein
, with his father’s power of attorney, sold the Philadelphia Opera House to the New York Metropolitan Opera. The theater was then renamed the Metropolitan Opera House. The Met, which had annually toured to Philadelphia with performances at the Academy of Music
, had been the POC's biggest competition for opera audiences. In spite of two sold-out seasons of grand opera for the POC, Hammerstein ran into debt and had to sell his highly popular opera house to his competitor. The Met's first production at the re-titled house was on December 13, 1910. They performed regularly at the MOH for the next decade, giving well over a hundred performances at the house. The Metropolitan Opera's last performance at the MOH was Eugene Onegin
on April 20, 1920 with Giuseppe de Luca
in the title role and Claudia Muzio
as Tatyana.
While the Met owned the MOH, they let other opera companies use the house for their performances. The MOH was the home of the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera Company between 1911 and 1914. The Philadelphia Operatic Society also used the house during and after the Met's tenure, through 1924. After the Met returned to performing at the Academy of Music for the 1920-1921 opera season, the MOH became the home of the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company
until 1928. It was also used occasionally during the 1920s and 1930s by the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
and the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company
, two companies that primarily worked out of the Academy of Music. The MOH was also host to many traveling productions by opera companies from other cities. The last opera production mounted at the MOH was a double billing of Cavalleria rusticana
and Pagliacci
under the baton of Aldo Franchetti, presented by the Chicago Grand Opera Company
on May 5, 1934.
In 1928, while still being used as a performing venue for operas, the house began presenting silent film
s to the public. It remained a cinema venue after the MOH stopped presenting operas. In the late 1930s the MOH was turned into a ballroom
and in the 1940s a sports promoter bought the venue, covering the orchestra pit with flooring so basketball, wrestling, and boxing could take place. This venture closed after attendance waned following a decline in the quality of the opera house's neighborhood.
In 1954 the MOH was sold to the Reverend Thea Jones, who used it for a huge church congregation, the Philadelphia Evangelistic Center, which filled the building. However, the congregation eventually decreased in size and was unable to afford maintenance costs on the rapidly deteriorating building. The plaster began to fall and the second level was eventually sealed off with a tarp. The church vacated the building in 1988 and it remained unused for the next six years. In 1994, the city of Philadelphia declared the building imminently dangerous and plans to demolish it were made. However, the building was saved from demolition by Reverend Mark Hatcher and his church, the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center at the Met, which purchased the building in 1996 and made significant repairs to stabilize it. In partnership with the North Philadelphia Community Development Corporation, the church plans to continue with further historic restoration in the future. In 2009 the opera house was the focal point of the Hidden City Festival, a festival dedicated to promoting less known historical sites in the Philadelphia area. The festival notably featured performances by the Group Motion Dance Company at the MOH from June 24 through June 27.
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
at 858 North Broad Street
Broad Street (Philadelphia)
Broad Street is a major arterial street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is nearly 13 miles long.It is Pennsylvania Route 611 along its entire length with the exception of its northernmost part between Old York Road and Pennsylvania Route 309 and the southernmost part south of Interstate 95...
. Built over the course of just a few months in 1908, it was the ninth opera house built by impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
Oscar Hammerstein I
Oscar Hammerstein I
Oscar Hammerstein I was a 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...
. It was initially the home of Hammerstein's Philadelphia Opera Company
Philadelphia Opera Company
The Philadelphia Opera Company was the name of two different American opera companies active during the twentieth century in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first company was founded by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I in 1908. That company disbanded only two years later as a result of financial...
, and was originally called the Philadelphia Opera House. Hammerstein sold the house to the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1910, when it was renamed. The Met used the MOH through 1920, after which various opera companies used the house through 1934. For over five more decades it remained in constant use in turn as a cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
venue, a ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
, a sports venue, and a church. The MOH then fell into serious disrepair and was vacated from 1988 until 1995, when it was bought by its current owners and became the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center at the Met. The church has stabilized much of the building and is currently attempting to raise the funds necessary for further historic renovation of the opera house. The MOH has been included in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1972.
History
The Metropolitan Opera House was built by Hammerstein to be the home of his then new opera company, the Philadelphia Opera Company (POC). Hammerstein hired architect William H. McElfatrick of the firm J.B. McElfatrick & Son to design the opera house in 1907, and construction began the following year. When it opened as the Philadelphia Opera House in 1908, it was the largest theater of its kind in the world, seating more than 4,000 people.The opera house officially opened on November 17, 1908 with a production of Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
for the opening of the POC's first season. The cast included Maria Labia
Maria Labia
Maria Labia was an Italian operatic soprano who was particularly associated with roles of the verisimo repertoire.-Career:...
in the title role, Charles Dalmorès
Charles Dalmorès
Charles Dalmorès was a French tenor. He enjoyed an international operatic career, singing to public and critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic during the first two decades of the 20th century.-Biography:...
as Don José, Andrés de Segurola
Andrés de Segurola
Andrés Perelló de Segurola was a Spanish operatic bass who performed as Andrés de Segurola.-Biography:...
as Escamillo, Alice Zeppilli
Alice Zeppilli
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...
as Micaëla, and Cleofonte Campanini
Cleofonte Campanini
Cleofonte Campanini was an Italian conductor. His brother was the tenor Italo Campanini.Born in Parma, Campanini studied music at that city's conservatory, making his debut with a performance of Carmen, also in Parma, in 1883...
conducting. The POC continued to use the house for its productions through March of 1910. The company's last performance at the house was of Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
on March 23, 1910 with Giovanni Polese
Giovanni Polese
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...
in the title role, Lalla Miranda
Lalla Miranda
Lalla Miranda was an Australian coloratura soprano who was primarily active in Belgium, France, and Great Britain. Born in Melbourne, she was the daughter of opera singers David Miranda and Annetta Hirst and the older sister of opera singer Beatrice Miranda. After studies in London and Paris, she...
as Gilda, Orville Harrold
Orville Harrold
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...
as the Duke of Mantua, and Giuseppe Sturani
Giuseppe Sturani
Giuseppe Sturani was an Italian conductor who was known for his work in the field of opera. Born in Ancona, Sturani worked as a conductor at La Fenice in Venice and the Teatro Regio in Turin before moving to the United States in 1908 to join the conducting staffs of two opera companies opperated...
conducting.
On April 26, 1910, Arthur Hammerstein
Arthur Hammerstein
Arthur Hammerstein , was the son of Oscar Hammerstein I and uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II, was an opera producer and one of the writers of the song "Because of You," a major hit for Tony Bennett in 1951. Hammerstein wrote the song in 1940. It was used in the film I Was an American Spy...
, with his father’s power of attorney, sold the Philadelphia Opera House to the New York Metropolitan Opera. The theater was then renamed the Metropolitan Opera House. The Met, which had annually toured to Philadelphia with performances at the Academy of Music
Academy of Music (Philadelphia)
The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at Broad and Locust Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1857 and is the oldest opera house in the United States that is still used for its original purpose...
, had been the POC's biggest competition for opera audiences. In spite of two sold-out seasons of grand opera for the POC, Hammerstein ran into debt and had to sell his highly popular opera house to his competitor. The Met's first production at the re-titled house was on December 13, 1910. They performed regularly at the MOH for the next decade, giving well over a hundred performances at the house. The Metropolitan Opera's last performance at the MOH was Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
on April 20, 1920 with Giuseppe de Luca
Giuseppe de Luca
Giuseppe De Luca , was a famous Italian baritone who achieved his greatest triumphs at the New York Metropolitan Opera...
in the title role and Claudia Muzio
Claudia Muzio
Claudia Muzio was an Italian operatic soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century.-Early years:...
as Tatyana.
While the Met owned the MOH, they let other opera companies use the house for their performances. The MOH was the home of the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera Company between 1911 and 1914. The Philadelphia Operatic Society also used the house during and after the Met's tenure, through 1924. After the Met returned to performing at the Academy of Music for the 1920-1921 opera season, the MOH became the home of the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company
Philadelphia Civic Opera Company
The Philadelphia Civic Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that was actively performing between 1924 and 1930. Founded by Philadelphia socialite Mrs. Henry M. Tracy, the company was established partially through funds provided by the city of...
until 1928. It was also used occasionally during the 1920s and 1930s by the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
The Philadelphia Grand Opera Company was the name of four different American opera companies active at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the twentieth century. The last and most well known of the four was founded in November 1954 with the merger of the Philadelphia Civic...
and the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company
Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company
The Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was actively performing at the Academy of Music between 1925 and 1954...
, two companies that primarily worked out of the Academy of Music. The MOH was also host to many traveling productions by opera companies from other cities. The last opera production mounted at the MOH was a double billing of Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
and Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
under the baton of Aldo Franchetti, presented by the Chicago Grand Opera Company
Chicago Grand Opera Company
Two grand opera companies in Chicago have gone by the name Chicago Grand Opera CompanyThe first Chicago Grand Opera Company produced four seasons of opera in Chicago’s Auditorium Theater from the Fall of 1910 through November 1915. It was the first resident Chicago opera company...
on May 5, 1934.
In 1928, while still being used as a performing venue for operas, the house began presenting silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s to the public. It remained a cinema venue after the MOH stopped presenting operas. In the late 1930s the MOH was turned into a ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
and in the 1940s a sports promoter bought the venue, covering the orchestra pit with flooring so basketball, wrestling, and boxing could take place. This venture closed after attendance waned following a decline in the quality of the opera house's neighborhood.
In 1954 the MOH was sold to the Reverend Thea Jones, who used it for a huge church congregation, the Philadelphia Evangelistic Center, which filled the building. However, the congregation eventually decreased in size and was unable to afford maintenance costs on the rapidly deteriorating building. The plaster began to fall and the second level was eventually sealed off with a tarp. The church vacated the building in 1988 and it remained unused for the next six years. In 1994, the city of Philadelphia declared the building imminently dangerous and plans to demolish it were made. However, the building was saved from demolition by Reverend Mark Hatcher and his church, the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center at the Met, which purchased the building in 1996 and made significant repairs to stabilize it. In partnership with the North Philadelphia Community Development Corporation, the church plans to continue with further historic restoration in the future. In 2009 the opera house was the focal point of the Hidden City Festival, a festival dedicated to promoting less known historical sites in the Philadelphia area. The festival notably featured performances by the Group Motion Dance Company at the MOH from June 24 through June 27.