The album 'A Night At The Opera' is a masterpiece. From its title to the music, the whole pomp and circumstance is majestic.

Innovative opera in East London.

Welcome to the website of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where you can book tickets online, view the season programme (opera, ballet, concert) and discover the theatre through videos and images.

Broadway is back! Opening night at The Phantom of the Opera — a photo diary of an evening I've looked forward to for over a year now, since Broadway went dark.

Broadway is back! Opening night at The Phantom of the Opera — a photo diary of an evening I've looked forward to for over a year now, since Broadway went dark.

Carmen, La Bohème, and La Traviata are all slated for next week.

Etsy, $9

A moment’s inattention at a La Scala premiere made just the shot the pioneering photojournalist needed

Mozart’s Magic Flute may be a “timeless masterpiece,” an “immortal classic” full of music that will last forever. It’s also very specifically a child of 1791. Everything about this opera—its plot, characters, world, range of musical styles, and themes—makes much more sense when considered in its historical context. Musically, The Magic Flute is hugely significant as the first great Zauberoper, the German tradition of popular musical theater on fantasy subjects that eventually gives us such operas as Wagner’s Ring. In terms of the visual arts, it sits on the fulcrum between eighteenth-century neo-classicism and nineteenth-century Romanticism. Images from productions of this opera in its first few decades illustrate how Romantic art emerged from neo-classicism. The First Production Mozart’s pal Emanuel Schikaneder, who wrote Flute’s libretto and created the role of Papageno, ran a ramshackle theater on the outskirts of Vienna that played for a popular, suburban audience. It was the antithesis of the royal theater, where the Vienna premieres of Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte hadn’t been particularly successful. A pair of brothers, Joseph and Peter Schaffer, published engravings based on the very first visual realization of the opera, one which is a long way from the aesthetics of Romanticism. “Here, lovely ladies, let me give you my birds!” Tamino, the Three Ladies, and Papageno in the first scene. Notice how the ladies have chopped up the “Don’t Tread On Me” serpent that was threatening Tamino; an early interpretation posited that the ladies represent religion (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, or else three branches of Christianity) and the serpent symbolized new-fangled Enlightenment ideals, such as Freemasonry. The temple at the back would have been painted on canvas; the rocks would be wing units. Engraving by Joseph and Peter Schaffer. “Blessed flute, your music brings joy even to the wild beasts!” Costumes for people playing animals have obviously improved greatly since the late eighteenth century! But at least Schikaneder et. al. seem to have added some birds, presumably descending from the fly loft. Gluck ommitted this scene—“Orpheus uses music to charm the wild beasts”—from his highly serious Orpheus opera, written when Mozart was a kid. Engraving by Joseph and Peter Schaffer. “Long live Sarastro!” The stage directions call for Sarastro to make his first entrance in a chariot drawn by six lions, which (like his totemic sun-circle) identify him with the sun. It’s hard to say exactly how that was done in 1791; most modern productions omit the lions. Notice that the chorus are in “Turkish” dress, although Pamina looks fashionably European. Engraving by Joseph and Peter Schaffer. “Tamino, won’t you speak to your Pamina? Don’t you love me anymore?” Act 2 Scene 18 played against a canvas drop with an uncanny resemblance to the Cambridge, MA tomb of Mary Baker Eddy. The advantage of canvas drops, of course, is that scene changes (and there are loads of them in The Magic Flute) can be instantaneous. Engraving by Joseph and Peter Schaffer. “Away with you, young woman! Papageno is not yet worthy!” This (canvas drop) set for a moment from the Act Two trial sequence includes Masonic elements—pyramid, arches, shining star, large urn—that also feature in an image printed with the Magic Flute libretto, as supplied to audiences at Schikaneder’s theater in 1791. Engraving by Joseph and Peter Schaffer. “Here are the gates of terror, threatening pain and death.” Tamino, Pamina, and the Two Armored Men sing their quartet before a canvas drop representing the Trials by Fire and Water. The tablet upstage center presumably carries the text read by the Two Armored Men at the beginning of the scene (“He who walks this most difficult of paths...”). Engraving by Joseph and Peter Schaffer. Joseph Quaglio’s 1793 Munich Production Scenic designs survive for an early Magic Flute production in the deep-perspective architectural style of Italian Baroque theater. A few families dominated this tradition; thus, names such as Sormani (creator of Seattle Opera’s old Tosca scenery) and Quaglio come up again and again. Lorenzo Quaglio created the sets for the world premiere of Mozart’s Idomeneo in 1781. Ten years later, his son Joseph Quaglio’s designs gave The Magic Flute a bit more grandiosity and dignity than may have been the style at Schikaneder’s theater, even if they don’t look much farther than Venice for exotic effect. “If you deem Tamino worthy, follow my example.” This impressive Gothic cathedral/Pantheon with palm trees seems to be the meeting room for Sarastro and the priests at the beginning of Act Two. Design by Joseph Quaglio. Presumably the scene in Act Two when the Three Spirits bring Tamino and Papageno flute, bells, and a meal, midway through their trials. The scene would involve a deus ex machina (a popular solution to the entrances of the Spirits) and a canvas drop—but one which, in this case, eschewed symmetry for this wonderfully skewed perspective on arcades in Sarastro’s campus. Design by Joseph Quaglio. The Deadly Trials by Fire and Water. Quaglio may have used a ground row instead of a canvas drop, giving this scene more dimensionality. Design by Joseph Quaglio. Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s 1816 Berlin Production German painter Karl Friedrich Schinkel was so blown away by “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog,” the 1818 masterpiece of German romantic painting by Caspar David Friedrich, he gave up painting and turned to architecture. Several of his buildings survive in present-day Berlin. He designed 32 different theatrical productions; although he never abandoned Baroque principals of geometrical depth and architectural symmetry, his early Romantic images evoke rich moods, atmospheres, and emotions. His 1816 designs for The Magic Flute include some of the most influential images in the history of opera. The Berlin Staatsoper created a new production of The Magic Flute based on Schinkel’s designs in 1994. The Queen of the Night’s palace. The snake pursues Tamino to this location, and when the Queen enters, it’s as if the Ladies have taken Tamino through the rocky arch and the building to where the star-drop beckons at the back. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The Queen of the Night sends Tamino on his quest. The Queen made a deus ex machina entrance on her little crescent moon, then flew away while the audience was applauding her wild coloratura. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Papageno comes upon Pamina in this part of Sarastro’s compound, and it’s here the two sing their charming duet, “Bei Männern.” Her captivity is obviously not TOO oppressive, and the natural area beckoning upstage indicates the optimism of these young people. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Meanwhile, the Three Spirits guide Tamino to this location, the entrance to the temples of Labor, Wisdom, and Art, where he encounters the Speaker. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The Queen of the Night sings “Der Hölle Rache” to Pamina in this evocative location, “Sarastro’s Garden,” which looks like it might do double-duty as set for Aida’s Nile Scene. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. “Man! You have earned an eternity of wandering through gloomy caves.” The hapless Papageno sings “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” here, in Sarastro’s spooky mausoleum. Mozart and Schikaneder took the idea that unsuccessful candidates for initation spend the rest of their unenlightened lives in subterranean captivity from Abbé Terrason’s 1731 novel Sethos, Life of an Egyptian King. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The Trials by Fire and Water. In Schinkel’s version Tamino and Pamina descend a long staircase on their way to the final rituals. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Sarastro’s Sun Temple. The opera concludes in an impressively monumental court. Couldn’t you use this set for an opera about the Conquistadores taking down the Aztecs...or one about the drowning of Atlantis? Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Simon Quaglio’s 1818 Munich Production Magic Flute designs by Simon, son of the Joseph Quaglio who created the 1793 Munich production, show the influence of Schinkel’s production from up north. (The Quaglios were still active in Munich when Ludwig II gave the world premieres of Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in the late 1860s, very much against the composer’s wishes and aesthetic taste.) By now, designs for The Magic Flute start to reflect both the majesty and the mystery of this remarkable opera. The Queen of the Night. Could Goya have created a more haunting or Romantic image? The imaginative architecture of Sarastro’s temple here is perhaps more Indian than Egyptian... ...but Quaglio’s production also reflected the recent discoveries of the first Egyptologists. The Palm Grove. Quaglio’s response to Schinkel’s river-and-sphinx set is daringly Romantic in its use of landscape. Sarastro’s Sun Temple features a starry blue band covered with Zodiacal signs arching across the heavens. Schinkel’s famous dome of stars for the Queen of the Night is starting to influence other theatrical scenery. In addition to influencing the visual arts, The Magic Flute pointed the way forward to composers and writers. Goethe tried to write a sequel, although it was never completed. A more substantial literary response came from that rabid Mozart fan E.T.A. Hoffmann, whose novella The Golden Pot is not only his masterpiece, and one of the seminal texts of the Romantic movement, it’s obviously written entirely in response to The Magic Flute.

So you've been reading all of the List Universe lists and have decided that you too would like to attend an opera or ballet. The trouble is you have never been to one, and are a bit intimidated. Fear not! As always, List Universe is here to the rescue and with just a few quick

Negroes On Rockaway Beach George C. Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park Coney Island Hauptmann Must Die Tattoo And Haircut Twenty-Cent Movie Lucky Dare-Devils (The Thrill Of Death) High Yaller Monday …

Artist: Jamie Wyeth Title: La Boheme (Metropolitan Opera) Year: 1978 Medium: Poster on Heavy Stock Paper Size: 36 x 24 inches

Upon William Henry Vanderbilt's death, he left his side of the Vanderbilt triple palace in New York City, which he had built for him and his daughters, to his youngest son George Vanderbilt. Upon George Vanderbilt's death it was to pass to George's eldest son, if he had a son. George Vanderbilt died without a son, so the Vanderbilt mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue, along with $1 million, passed to the eldest son of the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt III and his wife, Grace Wilson. Neily, As Cornelius Vanderbilt III Was Called, Was The Handsome Son Of Cornelius Vanderbillt II, Who Disinherited Him Because of His Marriage To Grace Wilson Grace Wilson Vanderbilt, Of The "Marrying Wilsons", Would prove Them All Wrong And Succeed Them All As The Last Mrs. Vanderbilt Neily had been disinherited by his father, who disapproved of Grace and her family. Since Cornelius didn't like Grace, none of the Vanderbilts did and she was shunned by the entire family. Not even Neily's stern mother, Alice, who was considered a saint, would see them. The only Vanderbilt who would talk to them was Neily's uncle, William Kissam Vanderbilt. "Why, It's The Back Hole of Calcutta" Grace Exclaimed Upon Entering The Mansion "I Couldn't Possibly Live Here" At Grace's desiring, Neily quickly had plans drawn up for major alterations to the mansion at 640 Fifth Avenue. Once done, he turned the plans over to famed architect Horace Trumbauer, who would carry out the renovations. The cost of the renovations would total to $500,000, which at that price the newspapers commented "For that amount, as fine a private home as the average wealthy man could wish for could be built in the most exclusive residential part of the upper east side" Horace Trumbauer (middle) Had Done Numerous Commissions For Several Of The Super Wealthy, Such As The Wideners And The Stotesburys Once Completed The House Was One Of The Most Luxurious And Grand Homes In All Of New York City 2 years later the house was ready for occupancy and the Vanderbilt's immediately opened the house with a large ball. The exterior had been completely stripped of most of it's decorative features and the home had been expanded in the back. The most obvious addition was the large, one story entrance pavilion. Grace Always had A Red Carpet Rolled Out From the Entrance Pavilion To Greet Arriving Guests And Lead Them Inside The interiors had been completely gutted, the only thing salvaged was the large, malachite vase that had stood in the original entrance vestibule. The new interiors included on the ground floor a marble-lined hall, two dressing rooms, a three-story great hall, a ballroom, music room, dining room, family dining room, library, art gallery and the red and gold ante room. The second floor held Neily and Grace's private master suites, each with their own bath and dressing room, Grace's pink boudoir, Neily's private sitting room and sound proof laboratory, the breakfast room and the children's rooms. The next two floor held the guest rooms, guest sitting rooms, bathrooms, dressing room and the female servant's rooms. The basement held the male servant's rooms, kitchens, laundry rooms and other service rooms. The Stone Steps In The Entrance Pavilion Led Up To The The House, A Portrait of The Commodore Greeted The Guests The Great Hall Held The Large, Malachite Vase That Had Been In The Original Vestibule Before The Renovations The French Ballroom Could Hold 500 People And Was Used At Least Once A Month For Balls, Events or Parties The Music Room Had A "Parquet De Versailles" Floor That Was Considered Too Beautiful To Cover Up The Art Gallery Held The Art Collection That William Henry Vanderbilt had Spent His Life Collecting The Library, Which Held Barely Ant Books, Was Where Grace Had Tea Every Morning, Around The Room Were Pictures Of The Famous People Grace Had Entertained The French Dining Room Had A Table That Could Extend Out To Hold 50 People, All At Once, At One Of Grace's Many Dinner Parties The Family Dining Room Was Where The Family Had Their Private Meals On The Rare Occasion That They Weren't Entertaining, The Paneling Had Come From Their Original New York City Townhouse By the time the house was completed, Grace had already been recognized as the new Queen of New York City Society, replacing Mrs. Astor, who had died back in 1908. Grace began to host several balls and dinners during the New York City season. An invitation to her house, would secure social success. Every year, at the opening of the Metropolitan Opera House, Grace's arrival was always the one most looked forward to. Her box at the Met was located on the famous first tier of boxes, the famous "Diamond Horseshoe" as it was called (Mrs. Astor had always claimed that the "Diamond Horsehoe" had been named after her famous 200 stone diamond necklace, which she had always worn at the opening of the opera). The Opening Night At The Metropolitan Opera House Was The Highlight Of The New York City Social Season Shortly after they moved into the Vanderbilt mansion, Neily began to realize the mistake he made, sacrificing a fortune for a pretty face, because once a pretty face was gone, it was gone. Grace began to grow uglier and uglier with the years. She began to grow white hair early in life and she left it alone, except for dying it a special Chinese Tea. She began to gain weight from all the French cooking at her dinners and, because servants did everything for her, she did absolutely nothing to lose weight. Grace Vanderbilt At The Opening Of The Metropolitan Opera House, Which She Never Missed, Always Receiving Guests In Her Private Box Grace had a very organized schedule, which was, one ball a month, two large dinner parties a week and smaller dinners and brunches daily. At Grace's dinner parties were the usuals: Berwinds, Goelets, Hammonds, Aldrichs, Burdens, Harrimans and Biddles. At her large dinners there was normally around 100 people, most of whom Grace scarcely knew, but at her small dinners of normally 50 people, Grace knew everyone there. Pictured Above Is One of Grace's Small Dinner Parties, In Attendance That Night Were Mrs. Winthrop Aldrich, Sir And Lady Cadogan, Mr. And Mrs. Hammond, Rep. Joseph C. Baldwin (R-NY), Madame Deprez And J. Watson When in Newport, Grace rented "Beaulieu" cottage, formerly the home of John Astor III and William Waldorf Astor, which she later purchased. It was at "Beaulieu" that Grace gave her first major party, where she had the play "The Wild Rose" come to Newport and perform for her guests. "Beaulieu" Cottage Was Right Down The Street From Neily's Parent's Cottage, "The Breakers", Which Was Still Occupied By Alice Eventually Alice excepted Grace and Neily, although the relationship was frosty. Alice, who was considered one of the most wealthiest women in the world, began to help Neily and Grace out financially, which they needed. Frosty Alice Had Worn Nothing But Black And Pearls Every Since The Death Of Cornelius Vanderbilt Grace also wanted a yacht, like her sister May Goelet, and she had Neily commission a large boat, which they called "The North Star", named after Cornelius Vanderbilt I's yacht. The yacht was fitted with the finest materials and included a drawing room, library and dining saloon. Each Year, At Grace's Urging, The Vanderbilts Sailed "The North Star" To Those Ports Where They Would Most Likely Be Seen By Royalty To escape his wife and the entertaining that she brought with her, Neily joined the army. World War I proved to be his finest hour. Neily also developed horrible habits of smoking and drinking regularly. He was quite mean to his son, who claimed he liked Neily better when he was drunk than when he wasn't. Neily Became Known As "The General", Something Grace Was All Too Pleased To Call Him In Front Of Guests Neily also thought he might like to enter politics, so he attended the Republican National Convention in Saratoga Springs, although he realized it was too expensive for him saying "Look I may be a Vanderbilt, but I am not a Rockefeller!" Most of the time, Neily just retreated to his other yacht, the Winchester. The "Winchester", Which Neily Had Purchased From Vincent Astor, Was Mostly Paid For By Alice And Neily's Sister Gertrude Whitney While Neily would be sailing around on his yacht, Grace would be back in New York City entertaining . Every year at the New York City mansion and "Beaulieu", Grace would be entertaining up to 10,000 people a year. Every night at dinner parties, Grace would have a red carpet rolled out across the sidewalk to lead the guests inside. Greeting guests inside, she would be beside two footmen in livery, welcoming them inside. Although she hated the press, they loved her. She was mostly photographed at the opening of the Metropolitan Opera. Grace Vanderbilt Never Missed The Opening Of The Metropolitan Opera House, Not Until Her Death Would She Ever Miss One When Alice died in 1934, she left Neily the Gwynne Building in Ohio and about $7 million, if it hadn't been for her money, Grace and Neily would have been broke. Grace and Neily were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on parties, jewelry, taxes, clothes, food, servants and numerous amounts of other things, although this didn't stop Grace. Grace Arriving At The Opera With Her Three Famous Signatures: The Bandeau or "Headache Band"On Her Head, Her Diamond Stomacher And The Famous Silver Fox Wrap When Grace and Neily's son, Neil, announced he would be working as a newspaperman, they promptly kicked him out. Neil had had an unfortunate childhood, Grace had been a distant mother and Neily had wanted nothing to do with his children, so he was not surprised when they kicked him out. Neil Vanderbilt Would Go On To Be Married Very Many Times, Much To The Disapproval Of Grace While Grace was entertaining and mixing with royalty, the world around her was changing. Over time the residences around the 640 Fifth Avenue mansion had been replaced with large skyscrapers and soon the 640 Fifth Avenue mansion became lost in a sea of skyscrapers. The Other Side Of The Vanderbilt Triple Palace Was Getting Ready To Be Torn Down And Replaced With A Large Apartment Building Slowly they came down, one by one Vanderbilt Row disintegrated and soon only Grace and Neily's aunt, Florence Twombly, were left. 640 Fifth Avenue became a shrine of a bygone era, the only private residence left on that side of town. In The Middle Of A Sea Of Skyscrapers Was Grace Vanderbilt And Her Imposing Mansion, 640 Fifth Avenue When Neily died, he left an estate of $4 million. Grace inherited $2 million and $900,000 to his two children. It had turned out that shortly before his death, Neily had sold 640 Fifth Avenue to developers to raise money. Under the terms of the agreement Grace would get to remain at 640 Fifth Avenue until two years after Neily's death. Grace continued to entertain just as lavish as she always had, hosting her last ball in 1941. Finally she too had to give up. The Movers Came And Packed Up The Large Art Collection, Which Was Being Given To The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Along With The Malachite Vase The Vanderbilt Mansion Under Demolition, 600 Workmen Instructed To Tear Apart 640 Fifth Avenue, The Last of It's Kind The Great Hall Of The Mansion Was Completely Torn Apart, Not One of It's Decorative Features Saved Grace Vanderbilt moved to another New York City townhouse, which was now in the heart of the fashionable district, which had formerly belonged to William Starr Miller, Grace called it "The Gardener's Cottage" because it contained only 28 rooms, compared to the 85 rooms at 640 Fifth Avenue. The William Starr Miller Mansion, Which Grace Bought For $800,000, She Regally Brought Her Butler And Her Bathroom The William Starr Miller Mansion Today, Surrounded On All Sides By Skyscrapers, Which Tower Over The Mansion It was at the Miller mansion when Grace passed away with her family by her side, worrying if the money would last. Grace once said "Poor Marie Antoinette, If the Revolution ever came to America I would surely be the first to go"

An iconic shot of Sarah posing atop the Palais Garnier Opera House in Paris in 1988 for Vanity Fair magazine. She was wearing one of the spectacular gowns she wore as Christine in “Phantom of the Opera.”

Quote of the Day: Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation, darkness stirs and wakes imagination. Silently the senses abandon their defenses. from the Phantom’s solo “The Music of the Night,” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. I saw the North American touring show at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, MN on Friday, December 15, […]

Stored in a climate controlled warehouse for 20 years, the Rafael Olbinski opera poster series is now available. The posters were printed on museum quality paper in the early 2000's.

Find out about the most spectacular things to do in Paris. A unique travel guide to the city of love and lights! Perfect pictures and authentic information all in one guide.