Commentary
Since 2006, the Metropolitan Opera has recorded its operas during live performances in HD and then played them in movie theaters around the country. They also are available to stream online. Although this feature makes the live performances at the Met less special, it’s a very useful feature for singers to supplement their training by studying opera’s leading performers.
There are few such opportunities to actually see the greats of opera’s past, since the Met used to broadcast their productions only on radio. Aside from the occasional television performance, one usually has to settle for a grainy recording from a live concert. However, a few opera singers from the mid-20th century were preserved for posterity in up close and personal performances which you couldn’t even catch in the front row at the Met. This valuable source is classic movies, especially from MGM. This studio produced many lavish films in the 1930s-50s starring many classical musicians, including opera singers….