Tracing Opera's Roots in New York City

The history of opera companies in New York City may bring to mind the largesse of the Metropolitan Opera Company, but for years before that opera was alive and well, and even thriving, in New York City. High society in New York had long been envious of the elegance associated with European opera outings, but it wasn't until 1825 that the first production of an opera was performed on a New York stage – an Italian opera troupe performing the premiere of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. A review from the New York Evening Post reported, “the first-night house was full”, and noted with a “touch of relief” that “an assemblage of ladies so fashionable, so numerous… so elevated, so ‘European’” attended the performance. Accompanying the ladies of high

In 1847, the Astor Place Opera House, also known as the Astor Place Theatre, was opened “strategically placed at the top of Lafayette Place” where some of the founders lived in their mansions. However two years later, on May 10th, 1849, what is now known as the Astor Place Riots led to the death of 2 people, and a bullet-riddled opera house that would force the building to close. The riot had been started by the Bowery Boys, excited by the rivalry between an American actor and a British actor, both vying for the role of Macbeth at the Astor Place Theatre. Casting the British actor, William Charles Macready, outraged supporters of the American, Edwin Forrest, and labeled Macready as “a symbol of English oppression, of aristocratic privilege” , causing them to storm the building during Macready’s performance on the evening of the 10th, and forcing the state militia to be called in. Ultimately, the building couldn't withstand the bad associations and press following the riot, and the Astor Place Opera House folded halfway through its next season. Five years later, and further uptown, the Academy of Music opened, New York’s second attempt to establish a premiere opera house. However this house was plagued with financial difficulties, unable to sustain itself on the production of new operas, and had to be supported by “concerts of popular classics… and [leasing the building] out for social and charitable events.” It was difficult to sustain a full-house for most performances, and while the house could be “packed with the great and the good…[,] there were frequently rows of unfilled seats.” The Academy founders and frequent attendees were made up of the oldest families of American money, indeed the snobbiest families of American money, uninterested in including those more nouveau riche. One of the newer