The NBC Opera Theatre (sometimes mistakenly spelled NBC Opera Theater and sometimes referred to as the NBC Opera Company) was an American

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

company operated by the

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from 1949 to 1964. The company was established specifically for the purpose of televising both established and new

s for television in English. Additionally, the company also gave live theatrical presentations of operas, sponsoring several touring productions in the United States and mounting works on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

."Less Tuneful Season in the Offing for TV" by Larry Wolters, ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', October 18, 1964 Peter Herman Adler 1951

Conductor

Peter Herman Adler Peter Herman Adler (2 December 1899, Gablonz an der Neiße, Bohemia – 2 October 1990, Ridgefield, Connecticut) was an American conductor born in Austria-Hungary in Gablonz an der Neiße, which is now in the Czech Republic. Career While at th ...

served as the NBCOT's music and artistic director, and Samuel Chotzinoff as the company's producer. Conductor

Herbert Grossman Herbert Grossman (September 30, 1926 – September 11, 2010) was an American conductor who was chiefly known for his work within opera and musical theatre. Early life and education Born in New York City, Grossman was the son of a businessman. H ...

was an associate conductor with the company when it was founded, but was later promoted to conductor in 1956. From that point on Adler and Grossman shared the conducting load while Adler remained Music Director. NBC disbanded the NBC Opera Theatre in 1964 and liquidated its assets. The company performed a total of 43 operas for NBC, the majority of which were broadcast on the program ''NBC Television Opera Theatre''. The organization's work garnered 3

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

nominations. All of the performances were broadcast live from an NBC studio and were not pre-recorded or edited before airing, although kinescopes and later videotapes were made of live broadcasts for delayed broadcast purposes in some areas. During its 14-year history, the NBC Opera Theatre commissioned several composers to write operas specifically for television. The most famous and most successful of these works was the very first new opera staged by the company,

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

's '' Amahl and the Night Visitors'', which premiered live on December 24, 1951 as the first installment of the ''

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in t ...

'' program. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America.Obituary: Gian Carlo Menotti
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 2 February 2007. Accessed 11 December 2008 Other operas commissioned by the company included Bohuslav Martinů's '' The Marriage'' (1953),

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...

' '' Griffelkin'' (1955),

Norman Dello Joio Norman Dello Joio (January 24, 1913July 24, 2008) was an American composer active for over half a century. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957. Life Dello Joio was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his music ...

's '' The Trial at Rouen'' (1956),

Leonard Kastle Leonard Gregory Kastle (February 11, 1929 – May 18, 2011)
from the

The Swing'',

Stanley Hollingsworth Stanley Walker Hollingsworth (August 27, 1924, Berkeley, California – October 29, 2003, Rocklin, California) was an American composer and teacher. He was a student of composer Darius Milhaud from 1944–46, and of Gian Carlo Menotti from 1948� ...

's ''

La Grande Bretèche ''La Grande Bretèche'' is a short story by Honoré de Balzac published in 1831. It is one of the ''Scènes de la vie privée'' of ''La Comédie humaine''. Plot Dr. Horace Bianchon discovers near the town of Vendôme an abandoned manor: La Gran ...

'' (1957), Menotti's ''

Maria Golovin ''Maria Golovin'' is an English language opera in three acts by Gian Carlo Menotti. It is through-composed and centers on a romantic encounter between a blind recluse named Donato and the title character, a married woman living in a European count ...

'' (1958),

Philip Bezanson Philip Thomas Bezanson (January 6, 1916 – March 11, 1975) was an American composer and educator. Life Born in Athol, Massachusetts, he graduated from Yale University School of Music in 1940 and after war services enrolled in the graduate progr ...

's '' Golden Child'' (1960), Kastle's '' Deseret'' (1961) and Menotti's ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

'' (1963). Most NBC Opera telecasts were sponsored by

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...

, who was also the longtime sponsor of radio broadcasts of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

. Nearly all NBCOT presentations after the middle 1950s were broadcast in color.

Notable performers

* David Aiken * John Alexander * Chet Allen * Mildred Allen * David Atkinson *

Frances Bible Frances Lillian Bible (January 26, 1919 – January 29, 2001) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had a thirty-year career at the New York City Opera between 1948 and 1978. She also made a number of opera appearances with other companies t ...

* Adelaide Bishop *

Shannon Bolin Shannon Bolin (January 1, 1917 – March 25, 2016) was an American actress and singer. A March 10, 1941, article in The Mason City Globe-Gazette said that she was "known as 'The Lady with the Dark Blue Voice'". Early years Ione Shannon Bolin was ...

Richard Cassilly Richard Cassilly (December 14, 1927 – January 30, 1998) was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954–90. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 y ...

* William Chapman * Richard Cross *

Phyllis Curtin Phyllis Curtin (née Smith; December 3, 1921 – June 5, 2016) was an American soprano and academic teacher who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She is known for her creation of roles in ope ...

Shirlee Emmons Shirlee Emmons (August 5, 1923 – April 16, 2010) was an American classical soprano, voice teacher, and author on vocal pedagogy. She began her career in the early 1940s as a concert soprano, eventually becoming one of the original singers in ...

Igor Gorin Igor Gorin (October 26, 1904 – March 24, 1982) was a Ukrainian Jewish baritone and music teacher. In screen credits, he is sometimes known as Charles Igor Gorin Early life Gorin was born Ignatz Greenberg on October 26, 1904, in the small v ...

Donald Gramm Donald John Gramm (February 26, 1927 – June 2, 1983) was an American bass-baritone whose career was divided between opera and concert performances. His appearances were primarily limited to the United States, which at the time was unusual for an ...

* Melissa Hayden * Laurel Hurley *

Norman Kelley Norman Kelley (August 27, 1911 – September 4, 2006) was an American operatic tenor who had an active international career during the 1940s through the 1970s. He was notably a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera between 1957 and 1961, a ...

Ruth Kobart Ruth Kobart (April 24, 1924 – December 14, 2002) was an American performer, whose six-decade career encompassed opera, Broadway musical theatre, regional theatre, films, and television. Life and career Born as Ruth Maxine Kahn in Des Moines ...

Rosemary Kuhlmann Rosemary Kuhlmann (January 30, 1922 – August 17, 2019) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano and Broadway musical actress best known for originating the role of the Mother in Gian Carlo Menotti's '' Amahl and the Night Visitors'', the first o ...

Gloria Lane Gloria Lane Krachmalnick (June 6, 1925 – November 22, 2016, Trenton, New Jersey) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international performance career from 1949 to 1976. In her early career she distinguished herself by crea ...

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza (, ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at ...

Brenda Lewis Brenda Lewis (March 2, 1921 – September 16, 2017) was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably ...

* Leon Lishner *

Mary Mackenzie Mary Mackenzie (3 May 1922 – 20 September 1966) was an English actress. One of her earliest credited TV roles was in 1950 on BBC's ''Sunday Night Theatre'', as Miriam in an adaptation of H. G. Wells' ''The History of Mr Polly'', a role she r ...

Elaine Malbin Elaine Malbin (born May 24, 1929 in New York City) is an American soprano who had a prolific international career singing in operas, musicals, and concerts from the 1940s through the 1960s. She made her Town Hall debut at the age of 14. She appea ...

Nicholas Magallanes Nicholas Magallanes (November 27, 1922 – May 2, 1977) was a principal dancer and charter member of the New York City Ballet. Along with Francisco Moncion, Maria Tallchief, and Tanaquil Le Clercq, Magallanes was among the core group of dan ...

John McCollum John M. McCollum (February 21, 1922 – October 30, 2015) was an American tenor who had an active singing career in operas, concerts, and recitals during the 1950s through the 1970s. As an opera singer he performed with companies throughout Nor ...

* Andrew McKinley * Mac Morgan *

Patricia Neway Patricia Neway (September 30, 1919 – January 24, 2012) was an American operatic soprano and musical theatre actress who had an active international career during the mid-1940s through the 1970s. One of the few performers of her day to enjoy equal ...

* Anne Pitoniak *

Michael Pollock Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Patrick Pollock, (19 October 1916 – 27 September 2006) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who rose to become First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the early 1970s. In the Second World War, h ...

* Frank Porretta *

Leontyne Price Mary Violet Leontyne Price (born February 10, 1927) is an American soprano who was the first African Americans, African American soprano to receive international acclaim. From 1961 she began a long association with the Metropolitan Opera, where s ...

Charlotte Rae Charlotte Rae Lubotsky (April 22, 1926 – August 5, 2018) was an American character actress and singer whose career spanned six decades. Rae was known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms ''Diff'rent Strokes'' and its spin-off, '' ...

Judith Raskin Judith Raskin (June 21, 1928 – December 21, 1984) was an American lyric soprano, renowned for her fine voice as well as her acting. Life and work Raskin was born in New York to Harry A. Raskin, a high school music teacher, and Lillian Raskin, ...

John Reardon John Henry Reardon (born July 30, 1975) is a Canadian actor and former university football player. Prior to 2015, Reardon starred as Blake Laviolette on the CBC Television series ''Arctic Air'' and had a recurring role as Greg Cameron on the S ...

* Emile Renan *

Robert Rounseville Robert Rounseville (25 March 19146 August 1974) was an American actor and tenor, who appeared in opera, operetta, Broadway musicals, and motion pictures. Career Rounseville was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He made his Broadway debut in a sma ...

* Cesare Siepi *

Glen Tetley Glen Tetley (February 3, 1926 – January 26, 2007) was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece ''Pierrot Lunaire ...

Michael Trimble Michael Trimble (sometimes spelled Michael Trimbel) (March 15, 1938, Texarkana, Texas) is an American operatic tenor, voice teacher, and writer on music. He had an active international career singing leading roles with opera houses during the 1960 ...

Paul Ukena Paul Ukena (August 19, 1921 in Lakota, Iowa – March 10, 1991 in Flemington, New Jersey) was an American operatic baritone and musical theatre actor who had an active career from the 1940s through the 1970s. After beginning his career entertaini ...

* Theodor Uppman * Dorothy Warenskjold * Chester Watson * Robert White * Dolores Wilson * Beverly Wolff *

Kurt Yaghjian Kurt "Frenchy" Yaghjian (or Yahjian; born February 9, 1951, Detroit) is an Armenian-American actor and singer known for his appearance as Annas in the 1973 film ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Biography Kurt Yaghjian is the only son of Haig Yaghjian ...

Frances Yeend Frances Yeend (; 28 January 1913 – 27 April 2008) was an American classical soprano who had an active international career as a concert and opera singer during the 1940s through the 1960s. She had a long and fruitful association with the New Y ...

References

External links

*
List of NBC Opera productions with cast info
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1949 Musical groups disestablished in 1964 American opera companies National Broadcasting Company 1949 establishments in New York City