HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Teatro General San Martín (General San Martín Theater) is an important public theater in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, located on
Corrientes Avenue Avenida Corrientes () is one of the principal thoroughfares of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. The street is intimately tied to the tango and the porteño sense of identity. Like the parallel avenues Santa Fe, Córdoba, and San Juan, it t ...
and adjacent to the
cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Ce ...
of the same name. It is one of the major theaters in
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and offers venues for the representation of stage works and film, as well as art exhibitions.


History

Projects for the construction of this theater date to 1908, when
Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
Alfredo Palacios introduced a bill to that effect. A similar resolution passed the
Deliberative Council The Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers (), also known as the Council of Princes and High Officials and Assembly of Princes and High Officials, or simply as the Deliberative Council (; ), was an advisory body for the emperors of the earl ...
of the City of Buenos Aires, which authorized the creation of the Buenos Aires People's Theater, and the bill was signed by Mayor Joaquin de Anchorena. On November 26, 1936, Mayor Mariano de Vedia and Mitre provided for the construction of a building to house the ''Teatro del Pueblo'', and on December 23, a theater located on 1530 Corrientes Avenue was expropriated for the purpose. Directed by Leonidas Barletta, the New Theatre received a 25-year concession from the city, though a nationalist 1943 coup d'état resulted in its rescission on December 3. The Municipal Theater of Buenos Aires was inaugurated in its stead on May 23, 1944, for the promotion and expansion of the
theatre in Argentina Buenos Aires is one of the world's capitals of theatre.Wilson, Jason. ''Cultural Guide to the City of Buenos Aires''. Oxford, England: Signal Books, 1999. The Teatro Colón is a national landmark for opera and classical performances; built at the ...
. The institution was renamed ''Teatro General San Martín'' (in honor of the centennial of the death of General
José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (25 February 177817 August 1850), known simply as José de San Martín () or '' the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru'', was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and cent ...
, the hero of the
Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de Argentina, links=no) was a secessionist civil war fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín a ...
) by order of President
Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...
, in 1950. Perón commissioned local architects
Mario Roberto Álvarez Mario Roberto Álvarez (November 14, 1913 – November 5, 2011)
was an Ar ...
and Macedonio Ruiz for the design of a new building for the San Martín, and work on the present building began June 24, 1954. The new building was inaugurated on May 25, 1960, but began operating the following year. It became one of the most influential cultural centers in Latin America. Its 30,000 m², distributed among thirteen floors and four basements, includes three performance stages, several exhibition halls, and a cinema. Both the theater and adjacent cultural center were extensively renovated between 2010 and 2011. During the
World Chess Championship 1972 The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in ...
, the final Candidates Match (to choose the challenger) was played in the theater between
Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11 ...
and
Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...
. Fischer won, and went on to defeat incumbent champion
Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...
.


Facilities

The theater has three halls for performing arts:


Martín Coronado Salon

The largest of the three rooms of the theater is the Martín Coronado, named in tribute to one of the pioneers of drama in Argentina. With its two-tiered stalls, it can accommodate 1049 spectators. The Italian-style stage is equipped with a mouth of variable sizes (between 11 and 16 meters) and has a center section that can move vertically, in whole or in part, through nine lifts operating simultaneously or separately. It includes an orchestra pit and a drawbridge to modern lighting and sound systems. The ceiling of the Martín Coronado is decorated with a colored cement relief (4 by 2.50 meters) entitled ''Allegory to the Theater'' and completed in 1962 by local sculptor
José Fioravanti José Fioravanti (August 4, 1896 – October 10, 1977) was a prolific Argentine sculptor known for the many civic monuments he created. Life and work Fioravanti was born in Buenos Aires in 1896. He developed a very early interest in sculpture ...
. The walls are decorated with allegorical sculptures to drama and comedy, completed between 1957 and 1958 by local artist
Pablo Curatella Manes Pablo Curatella Manes (December 14, 1891November 14, 1962) was a prolific Argentine sculptor. Life and work Born in La Plata in 1891 to Clara Manes, a Greek Argentine immigrant, and Antonio Curatella, from Italy, Curatella Manes first acquired a ...
.


Casacuberta Salon

The salon is named for Juan José de los Santos Casacuberta, the preeminent performer of the nineteenth century Argentine stage, and perhaps the first classically trained actor in local dramatic history. It can accommodate 566 persons and includes a semicircular orchestra divided into three radial sectors. A platform can be extended forward for a drawbridge scenario, or to raise the orchestra pit onto the stage, 35 meters wide and 6 deep. The lobby of this salon is graced by a mural (35 by 11 meters) by
Luis Seoane Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...
, titled ''The Birth of the Argentine Theater'', and completed in 1960, as well as allegorical terracotta reliefs by sculptor Carlos de la Cárcova and a steel sculpture (''Continuity'') by Enio Iommi.


Cunill Cabanellas Chamber

The center's third stage opened in 1979 at the initiative of Kive Staiff, then in his second season as general and artistic director of the Teatro San Martín, and was named in honor of prominent Catalan-Argentine stage director and instructor
Antonio Cunill Cabanellas Antonio Cunill Cabanellas (August 27, 1894 – February 18, 1969) was an influential Spanish-Argentine playwright, theatre actor, director and instructor. Life and work Cunill Cabanellas was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1894. His father, Juan Cuni ...
. Dedicated to
experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...
, the capacity of the room (about 200 spectators) may vary with the movement and changes in the relationship between stage and pit, according to the requirements. The hall is graced by a ceramic mural (1.65 by 1.65 meters) in honor of the Podestá Brothers, by Luis Diego Pedreira. The original building opened in 1957 as the Teatro San Telmo; nearly destroyed by fire in 1970, it was incorporated to the Teatro San Martín in 1999.


Gallery

File:Teatro_San_Martin_from_outside.jpg, File:Teatro_General_San_Martín_(hall).JPG, File:Teatro_General_San_Martín_(fotogalería).JPG,


External links


The San Martín Theater


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teatro General San Martin Theatres in Buenos Aires Buildings and structures completed in 1960