#Opera Episodes

Three fascinating tales from the deep annals of Philadelphia opera history . . . . including the stage debut of Blackie the Mail Horse!

Oscar Hammerstein loses the "Opera War" - but the grand Philadelphia theater that he built still stands.

The opera "Salome" at Oscar Hammerstein's new Philadelphia Opera House needed to be stopped, declared hundreds of clergymen and civic leaders.

The magnificent new theater in North Philadelphia was ready for its first opera! It was "as if some master magician's wand had called it into being."

What was Philadelphia to do, in an age when theater audiences were Running Riot? Build them an Academy, and fill it with Grand Opera.