Opera House Boxes: A proud (and traditionally noisy) establishment

So, here we are talking about traditions in the opera house.  In the accounts given in Solie's chapter pertaining to this proud establishment, we learn that some of the traditions within the boxes of the opera house had not changed in the several hundred years between the first professional opera houses opening in Italy and the houses of the Victorian age.  Such traditions include the purpose of the box (as much to be seen as to see the show) and the fact that operas were not, as they are today, a rigidly scheduled evening out.  People still would arrive throughout the evening, making dinner plans perhaps at a nearby restaurant.  This was particularly common in an evening when multiple works were being presented.  A wonderful example is when one looks at the opening night of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury, which was presented as the third show of an evening that featured as the main entertainment La Périchole by Offenbach.  In tradition for the times, the program of the evening had the starting times listed for each of the three works.  This was in order for the audience members to choose which portions of the evening they wished to attend.  Some would arrive in time for the main work, ignoring the opener.  Others might not be particularly interested in the Offenbach work and may come for the opener, make dinner reservations during La Périchole, and then return in time for the curtain of Trial by Jury.  Such was the normal etiquette for the Victorian house.

There is also discussion in the Solie article about how discussions, especially among the men in the opera boxes, would revolve around things far removed from the show they are 'watching.'  Men may discuss their business (especially the nouveau riche, who made their fortunes industrially).  This is similary connected to the etiquette of the old opera houses, where one might have people playing card games or otherwise gambling, or buying wares from vendors, during the show.  This tradition gave rise to the "aria di sorbett", or an aria by a lesser character.  This was literally the time where audience members might buy ice cream.  Not dissimilar to the vendors found at modern sporting events, which of course ties into the fact that, by the end of the chapter, the sporting events of the time were beginning to become as socially important, or more so, than the opera houses.