Gilded Age: What Happened When The New Opera House Opened In Real Life
Throughout The Gilded Age season 1, members of the “old New York” have expressed frustration about the potential opening of a new opera house in the city and with good reason, as the true story upended much of old New York’s hierarchy. Many of Gilded Age’s characters who come from “new money” conversely proclaim their support for a new opera house, as the traditional Academy of Music is designed from the ground up to keep new people out of society. However, when the real opera house opened in New York in 1883, the new elite of New York found themselves leering down upon New York’s old establishment.
The Gilded Age, which takes place in 1882 in New York, focuses on dissecting the fight between “old money” and “new money”. Those who have made their money more recently, such as the Russells, want to be accepted in society. Those with generational wealth like Agnes van Rhijn, on the other hand, detest the nouveau riche, citing any new opera house taking the place of the already-established Academy of Music would be ludicrous and disastrous. Agnes’ fears would be later confirmed, as, in real life, the opening of the Metropolitan Opera house had terrible consequences for families like the van Rhijns.
Upon the Metropolitan Opera’s opening in 1883, the Academy of Music found itself sadly unable to compete and closed a few years thereafter. Before its closing, one of the hallmarks of the Academy of Music was its limited box capacity. In both real-life and The Gilded Age, families like those of the married George and Bertha Russell were unable to make headway at the Academy due to the fact that the private boxes (hallmarks of status at that time) were all owned by old money families and passed down to their heirs. Because of this exclusionary culture, new money families banded together to support the Metropolitan Opera, thus turning the hierarchal structure of elite New York on its head.
As public concerts and spectacles such as the ones put on by the Academy were often perceived as a place for which New York’s social elite could do hierarchal battle with one another, these boxes were paramount to success. Until the Metropolitan Opera came the opportunity for a more egalitarian society–albeit a very limited society solely involving the wealthy, whether old or new money. Frustrated and fed up with the limitations the Academy of Music offered new money families, several of them pooled their resources to construct the Metropolitan Opera. This included the Vanderbilt family, upon whom The Gilded Age's Russells are in some ways based.
In the world of the show, Agnes van Rhijn cites these new money families as “opportunists,” and insists that her family will never patronize any new opera house over the Academy of Music. As Bertha Russell has already found a difficult time getting a box at the Academy, it's likely the true history of the Metropolitan Opera house will become a plot point for the Russell family and the world of The Gilded Age going forward. That means the real history behind its opening may come to fruition on the show as well.
In the fight between the old families of New York and the new ones, anything and everything can be used as a weapon. Already in the show, families like the Russells have taken advantage of social causes like Gilded Age's Red Cross to worm their way into the upper crusts of New York high society. As the show seems to be borrowing a lot from the real history of the era, it’s likely the true story behind the Metropolitan Opera house will come into play in future episodes of The Gilded Age.
The Gilded Age releases new episodes Mondays on HBO Max.