La Plata - Postal Teatro Argentino - 1904

The Teatro Argentino de La Plata is the second most important lyric opera house in Argentina, after the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The theatre is located in a central block of the city of

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

, the capital of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

. The venue occupies the block bounded by the 9 and 10 streets and 51 & 53 avenues; it belongs to the ''Monumental Axis'' of public buildings in La Plata.

The original building

The original building was a classic Italian opera house, conceived in Renaissance style by the Italian architect Leopoldo Rocchi. Construction began in 1887, five years after the foundation of the city of

itself. The main hall had a capacity of ''ca.'' 1,500 seats. In the foyer there was a beautiful white Carrara marble staircase and in the concert hall hung a huge chandelier. The easy chairs were tapestried in blue velveteen and the Bordeaux curtain was embroidered in gold. Surrounding the theatre was the "Peace Garden," containing flags and national flowers of several countries. It was inaugurated on November 19, 1890, with

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

''; in leading roles were the Italian soprano Elvira Colonnese (Desdemona) and the Uruguayan tenor José Oxilia (Othello). The theatre grew to accommodate a renowned stable orchestra and chorus. A stable ballet company was added in 1946. Among the great artists that performed at the Teatro Argentino we find singers such as Maria Barrientos, Luisa Tetrazzini, Marian Anderson,

Emma Carelli Emma Carelli (12 May 1877 in Naples – 17 August 1928 near Rome) was an Italian operatic soprano who was particularly associated with the dramatic soprano roles of the verismo repertoire and the works of Richard Wagner. After a singing career wh ...

Fedora Barbieri Fedora Barbieri (4 June 1920 – 4 March 2003) was an Italian mezzo-soprano and actor. Barbieri was born in Trieste. She performed regularly in Florence for fifty years, and performed internationally through the years. She died, aged 82, in Flor ...

, Tito Schipa,

Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...

, Titta Ruffo, and Mario del Monaco, classical ballet dancers such as Anna Pavlova, Dore Hoyer and

Iris Scaccheri Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

, as well as musicians such as Pietro Mascagni,

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

(with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra),

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

, Andrés Segovia, Alexander Brailowsky, Claudio Arrau,

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

, and Yehudi Menuhin.

The new building

Unfortunately, a major fire destroyed the original building in 1977, leaving only the badly damaged exterior walls standing. Against national and international outcry, the ''de facto'' government of the military dictatorship at the time (the so-called '' Proceso de Reorganizacion Nacional'') decided against rebuilding the original classic structure. Instead, it chose to replace it with a massive Theatre & Cultural Centre designed in a

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

style, located on the same city block. During the intervening years (1977–1999), the Teatro Argentino companies continued to produce performances in various La Plata venues, notably the former movie theatre, the Cine Gran Rocha. After much planning and rescheduling due to economic difficulties, the new building was finished and inaugurated on October 12, 1999 with a performance that included excerpts from works of

, Charles Gounod, Umberto Giordano and

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

, as well as the ballet ''Tango en gris'' ("Tango in grey"), with music by

Atilio Stampone Atilio Stampone (1 July 1926 – 2 November 2022) was an Argentine pianist, composer, and arranger prominent in the Tango genre. Life and work He was born to Romana Zangone, from Calabria, and Antonio Stampone, a pasta maker from Napoli, in the ...

and ''régie'' by Oscar Araiz. The new complex includes today a 2,000-seat operatic venue with a typical European horseshoe structure, named

Alberto Ginastera Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography Ginastera was born in Buen ...

Hall after the famous Argentine composer. An enormous three-tonne bronze chandelier with 400 light-bulbs hangs over the main floor, in an exact replica of the one featured in the original building. The complex also includes the smaller 300-seat Ástor Piazzolla Hall, as well as rehearsal areas, and space for the associated technical shops. The lower level includes the Emilio Pettoruti Exhibition Hall for local or international transient art collections like Pablo Picasso,

Benito Quinquela Martin Benito may refer to: Places * Benito, Kentucky, United States * Benito, Manitoba, Canada * Benito River, a river in Equatorial Guinea Other uses * Benito (name) * ''Benito'' (1993), an Italian film See also * '' Benito Cereno'', a novella by ...

or Florencio Molina Campos exhibitions. Despite the excellent technical facilities and the superb acoustics of the main hall, the complex itself, built in

style, continues to be regarded as a sort of eyesore by the local population.“El Teatro Argentino: La construcción actual perdió el estilo de la obra original]” Diario Hoy, 24 October 2003, 24.

References

External links

Official site of the Teatro Argentino de La Plata
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Teatro Argentino de La Plata The Teatro Argentino de La Plata is the second most important lyric opera house in Argentina, after the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The theatre is located in a central block of the city of La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires Province. The ve ...

Argentine opera companies Concert halls in Argentina Opera houses in Argentina

Music venues completed in 1890 Theatres completed in 1890 Music venues completed in 1999 Theatres completed in 1999