Third leg
The term “narrative prosthesis” refers to the tendency for works of literature to use disability as the conflict upon which the whole narrative hinges. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is a quintessential example of “narrative prosthesis.”
Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
Sea glass
“Baritone Thomas Glass will sing the role of Starbuck in tonight’s performance of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, replacing Peter Mattei, who has withdrawn due to illness.”
Carmen
A 2010 broadcast documenting Yannick Nézet-Séguin‘s Metropolitan Opera debut performances
Falstaff
Leonard Bernstein conducts a performance recorded in New York in 1964
Metropolitan Opera 2025-26
The Metropolitan Opera has revealed its upcoming season.
Ariadne auf Naxos
Jessye Norman sings the title role of a performance recorded in New York in 1985
Der fliegende Holländer
George London and Leonie Rysanek lead a performance from 1960
Goddess in three persons
Patrick Mack looks back on “a great, nay, historic evening,” Renata Scotto‘s 1981 performance of Il trittico, now newly available on Met Opera on Demand.
La traviata
Renée Fleming leads a performance recorded in New York in 2007
Shocker and awe
In 2011, Sondra Radvanovsky‘s Tosca proved promising; fourteen years later, it was absolutely magnificent, a completely satisfying musical and dramatic embodiment of a challenging role by an artist at the peak of her powers.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann
A performance recorded last fall in New York
Can you dig it?
I had been hopeful that 2024 would end, if not on a high note, then one that was at least in tune.
Hansel and Gretel
An archival performance from 1982 recorded in New York
Birds, bears, and based boyfriends
While the Met’s Mozart-lite holiday production of The Magic Flute kept the eyes entertained with spectacular sets and costumes, the scattershot casting and lack of musical seriousness dragged down this opera for beginners.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).