On December 25, 1931, the Metropolitan Opera began radio broadcasts, which have endured. Indeed, Toscanini shared the podium for two years with Mahler and for another with Sicilian conductor Francesco Spetrino. He served as music director for seven years, and arguably his tenure resulted in stronger musicianship in the orchestra's ranks, even though he did not always have full control. In 1908, Toscanini made his debut at the Met. Even in the 1930s orchestra members typically were offered starting salaries of less than $10,000, far less than that of the singers, but substantially more than most orchestras in the United and States and Europe were paying personnel. Indeed, some were making over $50,000 per year by the late 1890s, where orchestra players earned one-tenth that amount and less. Solid and talented though the orchestra was in its early days, it was the singers, of course, who drew the attention. His wife, Therese Herbert-Förster, had been engaged to sing at the Met by Stanton. Irish-American composer Victor Herbert, then one of the finest cellists in Europe, joined the orchestra in 1886. Seidl worked well with the singers and also helped shape the orchestra into a first-rate ensemble.
He also engaged Wagner protégé Anton Seidl to become music director and conductor in 1886. The opera's board appointed its secretary, Edmund Stanton, to contract singers appropriate for German opera, which he ably did. Its first season was launched with Henry Abbey as company manager and Auguste Vianesi as music director and conductor. Though the first season of the Metropolitan Opera came in 1883-1884, efforts to found the New York-based company began in 1880, led by the Morgan and Vanderbilt families.
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