The Metropolitan Opera's first performance was given on 22 October 1883 at its former home on the junction of Broadway and 39th Street in New York City: a staging of Charles Gounod's Faust starring Italo Campanini in the title role and Christine Nilsson as Marguerite.

With the one hundredth anniversary of that occasion chancing to fall on a Saturday, the Met chose to commemorate its centenary with a two-part gala comprising a matinée at 2 p.m. and an evening session at 8 p.m.[1] More than seventy singers were invited to participate, chosen either for their eminence or their long association with the house.

Performing on a series of sets created by the most distinguished designers in the Met's history, they sang arias, duets and ensembles from an eclectic range of operas as well as a few items drawn from other genres.

[3] In the trio from the concluding pages of Der Rosenkavalier, Kathleen Battle and Frederica von Stade sang "delectably", and Elisabeth Söderström was able to present a three-dimensional portrait of the Feldmarschallin despite having only a few minutes in which to do so.

Preceded by a "somewhat ludicrous caricature of opera ballet" in which the Met's dancers enacted the Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila, Renato Bruson and Grace Bumbry performed a duet from Nabucco that was particularly enjoyable.

Among them were Helen Jepson, Dorothy Kirsten, Zinka Milanov, Jarmila Novotná, Bidu Sayão, Eleanor Steber, Risë Stevens, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Cesare Valletti and Ramón Vinay.

[3] Leona Mitchell and Giuliano Ciannella sang the nuptial duet from Madama Butterfly, and the last of three laudable selections from Rossini came in the form of a "delectable exhibition of ... ensemble precision" in the finale to act 1 of L'italiana in Algeri.

Marilyn Horne then lifted the occasion onto a new level of feeling and drama in a "sumptuous" rendition of "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix", after which, to the manifest delight of the audience, she offered a wordless but eloquent embrace to Risë Stevens, the pre-eminent Dalila of her era.

[3] Leontyne Price and Luciano Pavarotti delivered a culminating, "soaring" love duet from Un ballo in maschera, the tenor "in clarion voice", the soprano more slender of form than of late but "never in recent years ... more voluptuous or freer" in her singing.

From the very first note of the Bartered bride overture in the middle of the afternoon to Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price duetting in Verdian ecstasy in the small hours of the morning, "it was operatic caviar".

In 1985, Pioneer Artists released this edition on a pair of CLV (constant linear velocity) Laserdiscs (catalogue number PA-84-095) with CD-quality digital stereo audio and an accompanying booklet.

[2] Pioneer's disc was accompanied by an eight page leaflet including four photographs and essays on the Met's history by Frank E. Taplin and Anthony A. Bliss, as well as notes on each item in the concert by Charles Rizzuto.

DG's Region 0 DVDs offer both uncompressed PCM stereo audio and an ersatz 5.1-channel DTS surround sound upmix, with subtitles in Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish and – although only for items sung in that language – Italian.