The mansions of the wealthy and the entertainment district, which had been marching uptown for many years, would soon leave the Academy in the backwaters of Manhattan.
In all, 70 shareholders were enlisted to provide the $1.7 million required to buy the land and build an opera house at 39th and Broadway. The Academy's begrudging offer to build 26 additional boxes was considered inadequate, and in April 1880 the Metropolitan Opera was incorporated by several wealthy benefactors. As post-Civil War industry produced a generation of nouveau riche, however, the Academy's 18 boxes were unable to accommodate the newcomers who, in any case, were less than enthusiastically received by the old-line Knickerbocker aristocracy. With its opening in 1854, the Academy of Music, located near fashionable Union Square, became the leading opera house, the place where high society gathered to admire itself. In the 1840s in New York as many as four theaters presented opera, creating what was deemed New York's first golden age of opera. After enduring many periods of financial struggle during its 120 years of existence, the Metropolitan Opera has never been healthier than it is today. Because ticket sales only cover 40 percent of the Met's operating budget and government grants only account for less than 2 percent, fundraising and ancillary income are of paramount importance. The Guild also handles the Opera's merchandising. A separate organization, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, helps raise a significant portion of the approximately $70 million in contributions made to the Metropolitan Opera each year. In addition to the more than 800,000 people who attend performances at the Opera's home in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, millions more across the world partake through weekly radio broadcasts and occasional television productions, as well as through touring shows and recordings. With an annual operating budget of approximately $200 million, the Metropolitan Opera stages more than 200 performances during the course of a season that runs 30 to 32 weeks. has run New York City's internationally acclaimed Metropolitan Opera. Since 1932 the Metropolitan Opera Association, Inc.
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