I’ve never heard an encore at the Met either.
Are there ever encores in European opera theaters?
I just thought I’s google my question and found this:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2007/02/23/la-scala-encore.html
Seems as tho he has done it before!
On that google page, further down, Toscannini banned encores back in 1921.
This is actually an old practice. Up to the 19th Century, audiences would applaud what they liked, and if it was demanded, music would be repeated. In opera, it would be an aria; in a symphony, it would be a movement; etc. Beethoven, for example, repeated his slow movement from his Symphony 3 not once, but twice, because of the high demand. Repeating music was done to please an audience, but also because it was the only time one could hear most of this music (ie, before records, CDs, and so on) in their life. I think Toscanini when he conducted the Met and La Scala instituted no applause during opera (and also his orchestra concerts). From then on, it has mostly been that way. We are slowly seeing a return to the old practice of applause of what people like during concerts and opera. I think it is a healthy development for the audience and performers to have that immediate connection.
It was Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez as the lovesick Tonio who brought the crowd to its feet late in Act 1 on Monday night by sailing with ease through the nine high Cs in the aria, "Pour mon ame" — and then singing it a second time. [...]
Flores' encore was apparently the first for a solo performer at the Met since Luciano Pavarotti repeated the aria "E lucevan le stelle" in Act 3 of Puccini's "Tosca" in 1994. And it's practically unheard of for the audience to rise to its feet in the middle of a performance.
Sing “Melancholy Baby”!