In the late 19th century there was a battle between the old and the new moneyed people and that bubbled over into the opera house. In the Academy of Music, the primary venue for opera in New York City, there were a limited number of boxes available, and the new people weren’t able to even buy their way in.

So they decided to build their own opera house, the Metropolitan Opera, which was bitterly opposed by the old moneyed people led by Mrs. Astor, who did everything in their power to see that it would be a failure. This is one of the plot threads that’s woven through the second season of The Gilded Age.