 The most famous and most successful of these works was the very first new opera staged by the company, Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors", which premiered live on December 24, 1951 as the first installment of the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" program.It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America.Other operas commissioned by the company included Bohuslav Martinů's "The Marriage" (1953), Lukas Foss' "Griffelkin" (1955), Norman Dello Joio's "The Trial at Rouen" (1956), Leonard Kastle's "The Swing", Stanley Hollingsworth's "La Grande Bretèche" (1957), Menotti's "Maria Golovin" (1958), Philip Bezanson's "Golden Child" (1960), Kastle's "Deseret" (1961) and Menotti's "Labyrinth" (1963).