The Teatro Novissimo was a theatre in Venice located in the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo with its entrance on the Calle de Mendicanti. It was the first theatre built in Venice specifically for the performance of opera. Because it was purpose-built, it had a wider stage than its existing competitors which allowed for the elaborate productions which became the Novissimo's hallmark. The theatre opened in the Carnival season of 1641 with the premiere of Sacrati's opera ''

La finta pazza ''La finta pazza'' (''The feigned madwoman'') is an opera composed by Francesco Sacrati to a libretto by Giulio Strozzi. Its premiere in Venice during the Carnival season of 1641 inaugurated the Teatro Novissimo. It became one of the most popu ...

''. After its last production in 1645, the theatre was closed amidst mounting debts and was demolished in 1647.Rosand, Ellen (1990)
''Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre''
pp. 88–124. University of California Press. Glixon, Beth and Glixon, Jonathan (2007)
''Inventing the Business of Opera: The Impresario and His World in Seventeenth Century Venice''
pp. 66–108. Oxford University Press. Schwager, Myron (August 1986
"Public opera and the trials of the Teatro San Moisè"
''Early Music'', Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 387-396. Retrieved 31 July 2017 .

History

Public commercial opera had begun in Venice in 1637. By the time the Teatro Novissimo was conceived and planned three years later, there were already three theatres staging operas in the city,

Teatro San Cassiano The Teatro San Cassiano (or Teatro di San Cassiano and other variants) in Venice was the world’s first public opera theatre, inaugurated as such in 1637. The first mention of its construction dates back to 1581. The name with which it is best know ...

Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo The Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo (often written as Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo) was a theatre and opera house in Venice located on the Calle della Testa, and takes its name from the nearby Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. Built by the ...

, and

Teatro San Moisè The Teatro San Moisè was a theatre and opera house in Venice, active from 1620 to 1818. It was in a prominent location near the Palazzo Giustinian and the church of San Moisè at the entrance to the Grand Canal. History Built by the San Bernaba ...

. The Novissimo (the word means "Newest" in English) would be unique in that it was purpose-built for staging opera and, unlike the other three, was built and owned by a consortium rather than a single noble family. The consortium consisted of the

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

Luigi Michiel and members of the

Accademia degli Incogniti The Accademia degli Incogniti (Academy of the Unknowns), also called the Loredanian Academy, was a learned society of freethinking intellectuals, mainly noblemen, that significantly influenced the cultural and political life of mid-17th century Veni ...

who included the librettists

Giulio Strozzi Giulio Strozzi (1583 - 31 March 1652) was a Venetian poet and libretto writer. His libretti were put to music by composers like Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli, Francesco Manelli, and Francesco Sacrati. He sometimes used the pseudonym Luigi ...

Giacomo Badoaro Giacomo Badoaro (1602–1654) was a Venetian nobleman and amateur poet. He is most famous for writing the libretto for Claudio Monteverdi's opera ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' (1640). He also provided librettos for the operas ''Ulisse errante ...

, and

Giovanni Francesco Busenello Giovanni Francesco Busenello (24 September 1598 – 27 October 1659) was an Italian lawyer, librettist and poet of the 17th century. Biography Born to a low-class family of Venice, it is thought that he studied at the University of Oberhausen a ...

. On 30 May 1640 the consortium signed a contract with the Dominican friars of Santi Giovanni e Paolo allowing them to construct and operate a theatre on land adjacent to the monastery which at the time was occupied by a large shed. The contract stipulated that the new theatre would be only used for the performances of "heroic" operas, not comedies. Girolamo Lappoli, a businessman from Arezzo, was also involved in the project as the theatre's

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. Hist ...

and later claimed to have "built" the theatre. By October 1640, the composer

Francesco Sacrati Francesco Sacrati (17 September 1605 in Parma, Italy – 20 May 1650 in Modena, Italy) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era, who played an important role in the early history of opera. He wrote for the Teatro Novissimo in Venice as wel ...

and the stage designer and architect

Giacomo Torelli Giacomo Torelli (1 September 1608 – 17 June 1678) was an Italian Scenic design, stage designer, scenery painter, engineer, and architect. His work in stage design, particularly his designs of machinery for creating spectacular scenery change ...

had joined the project along with the Venetian noblemen Gerolamo Landò, Giacomo Marcello, and Giacomo da Mosto who provided further financing. Torelli would not only create the sets and stage machinery, but also design the theatre itself. The stage, almost 11

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

s wide, was able to accommodate Torelli's complex stage sets and machinery which would characterise the theatre's productions. Teatro Novissimo, set design by Giacomo Torelli, 1644

Teatro Novissimo, set design by Giacomo Torelli, 1644

The Teatro Novissimo was inaugurated in the Carnival season of 1641 with the premiere of ''

'' composed by Francesco Sacrati to a libretto by Giulio Strozzi with elaborate stage machinery by Giacomo Torelli. According to

Ellen Rosand Ellen Rosand is an American musicologist, historian, and opera critic who specializes in Italian music and poetry of the 16th through 18th centuries. Her work has been particularly focused on the music and culture of Venice and Italian opera of the ...

, it "became the first and possibly the greatest operatic 'hit' of the century". Unusually for the time, the complete libretto was published prior to the opening night, and the performances were also advertised through the writings of various members of the Incogniti. The libretto itself contained paeans to the opera's star singer

Anna Renzi Anna Renzi ( – after 1661) was an Italian soprano renowned for her acting ability as well as her voice, who has been described as the first diva in the history of opera. Career Born in Rome, Anna Renzi was highly popular in Vienna in 1640s and ...

and the "magical effects" of its stage designs. Following the run of ''La finta pazza'' a 55-page book, ''Cannocchiale per la finta pazza'', written by another Incognito, Maiolino Bisaccioni, gave a detailed account of the opera's visual effects. The "cannocchiale" ("telescope") of the title refers to the book's stated purpose of providing a description of the visual effects not only for those who had been unable to attend, but also for those who had been seated far from the stage, implying that the Novissimo was probably a fairly large theatre. According to Rosand, the book also explicitly asserted for the first time the relationship between opera itself and "the miraculous city of Venice". The theme was continued in Bisaccioni's ''Apparati scenici per lo Teatro Novissimo di Venetia''. Printed in 1644, the text was illustrated with plates showing Torelli's set designs for the theatre's 1643 production of Sacrati's ''Venere gelosa'' and the 1644 production of Cavalli's ''Deidemia''. The 1645 season, which saw the premiere of

Rovetta Rovetta (Bergamasque: or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about northeast of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,611 and a ...

's ''Ercole in Lidia'', proved to be the theatre's last. Debts had continued to mount and the friars were pressing for the return of their land. Girolamo Lappoli ceded the theatre to Maiolino Bisaccioni in May of that year. Several investors plus Giacomo Torelli, Paulo Morandi (the theatre's costume designer), and four singers, including Anna Renzi, sued Lappoli for unpaid debts and wages in the summer of 1645. The following year, Lappoli left Venice with his debts unpaid. The friars re-possessed the theatre and had it demolished in October 1647. In 1648 an equestrian school and stables were constructed on the site.Claut, Anna (2014). "Gli italiani a Parigi nei manoscritti musicali marciani" i
''I musicisti veneziani e italiano a Parigi (1640-1670)''
pp. 29–51. Venetian Centre for Baroque Music. Retrieved 31 July 2017 .

Opera premieres

* Sacrati's ''

''; libretto by

; Carnival, 1641 * Mannelli's ''Alcate''; libretto by Marcantonio Tirabosco; Carnival, 1642 *Sacrati's ''Bellerofonte''; libretto by Vincenzo Nolfi; Carnival, 1642 *Sacrati's ''Venere gelosa''; libretto by Niccolò Enea Bartolini; January, 1643 * Cavalli's ''Deidemia''; libretto by Scipione Errico; January, 1644 *

's ''Ercole in Lidia''; libretto by Maiolino Bisaccioni; 1645

History

Opera premieres

Notes

References

External links