Metropolitan and Not-so-Metropolitan Operas

The Metropolitan Opera was not the first opera house in New York. There was a smaller, more exclusive one, the Academy of Music, but it catered exclusively to the old-money families and excluded the new rich, such as the Vanderbilts, the Roosevelts, and the Morgans. There were two-short-lived opera houses before the Academy of Music too, the Italian Opera House and the Astor House. When the Metropolitan Opera House opened at 1411 Broadway in 1883, it quickly became the opera house, and the new rich were able to see and be seen.  Here is the Met in a pre-1907 view:

It nearly burned down in 1892, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1893. The Met remained at its original location until the opera company moved to Lincoln Center in 1966. The building was demolished in 1967. I have never been to the Met, but I have been to a few of the live in HD performances at a local movie theater.  I'm sure it doesn't compare to being there in person, but I recommend it anyway.

So, while New York City was building itself an opera house in 1883, what was happening up in the  Amazon rainforest? It turns out that they were finalizing plans to build an opera house there too. While they started construction at about the same time, the process in Manaus, Brazil was a lot slower. Building materials, including marble for the stairs, columns and statues, were imported from Europe. The first performance, Ponchielli's La Giaconde, took place in 1897. No expense was spared though, resulting in a lavish building with electric lights, all funded by riches from the rubber industry. My friend Karin visited the place and sent me this picture of the Teatro Amazones.

Karin also mentions that: The pavement in the plaza in front of the Teatro is by Roberto Burle Marx, a famous landscape architect.  It represents the ‘meeting of the waters’ where the black Rio Negro and the latte-colored Rio Solimoes meet, just outside of Manaus.

Here is a gallery of photos from the Teatro Amazones.

And here's the back of the first card.

He's Back...

I tried to keep him away, but Cupid is fairly persistent. He's here to teach me a lesson.

 

And, be careful, he's armed with bad rhymes. The one below only works if you pronounce 'worse' like the Three Stooges: 'woyse'. Either way, it's still a bad rhyme.

This rhyme's not so great either.

These cards were all posted, but only the last one has an interesting message:

The card is addressed to Miss Alice Owens, with a message that reads:

Dear Friend

Alice I have been very ill and wish I would have met you to have you nurse me hoping I have that pleasure very soon wish i knew you as well as I do that brother of yours but I think you are cuter

From

Billy the kid

with love

Happy Birthday, Auntie Freeman

A hundred and one years ago, Mrs. Freeman was celebrating her birthday and received this card with its lovely bunch of violets from her relative, William S. Bliss.

He calls her Auntie, but I don't think he's her nephew. They are related though.

Here it is in a nutshell.
Edmund Freeman was born in England in 1590, but came over by ship (The Abigail) in 1653 and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts. Five generations later, Lewis and Catherine Freeman had seven children, including twins Ada and Ida, born in 1854. Ada Freeman married Seth Henry Bliss. That's where the relationship between Freeman and Bliss comes in, but William S. (born in 1862) is not one of their children, so he must be a nephew of Henry Bliss. In that case it's especially sweet of him to send a card, don't you agree?

Mrs. Freeman appears to be Florence Peek Freeman, born in about 1850 and married to George Lewis Freeman, a Baptist and a Free Mason who lived in Schuyler Lake, Exeter, Otsego County, New York.

 Here's a photo of the Exeter School in 1915, courtesy of the Exeter Historical Society.

Teacher, Gussie Brainard, Hobart Curtiss, Gladys Truman, May Wilson

next row: Leslie Curtis, Bernice Chappell, Truman Allison, Ferris Bliss, Julia Bliss, Joe Allen, Pearl Bliss

I have trouble matching these names up, unless Pearl is a boy, but whatever the case there are three children with the surname of Bliss in this picture.


Here's what Schuyler Lake looks like today. It's still very rural. Wait a minute...is that the Mason's Lodge?

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And if it happens to be your birthday today, I hope it's full of bliss and happiness.