The one-act opera The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti was first presented by an amateur troupe on the 8th of May 1946 on the stage of the Brander Matthews Theatre at Columbia University. For the following season, using the “principle of contrast”, the composer created a joyful and fun prelude to it, the one-act opera The Telephone (the full name was The Telephone, or Love for Three). The joint premiere of the two operas was held on the 18th of February 1947 at the Heckscher Theatre in New York. Its success was unprecedented, and it opened the way to Broadway.