NBC OPERA THEATRE (1949-1964) – Believe it or not, television networks used to regularly broadcast presentations of operas. Gradually, declining public interest drove operas off the networks and onto educational television.
The NBC Network actually funded an entire opera company to produce classic AND new operas from 1949-1964. That opera company toured the country breaking in their productions before being aired on the network, then sometimes doing a run on Broadway.
The NBC Opera mounted America’s very first made-for-television opera – the Christmas-themed Amahl and the Night Visitors – and broadcast it on Christmas Eve 1951. The one-act work filled a one-hour time slot with roughly five minutes of commercials. Continue reading
Balladeer's Blog 