The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the
Bourbon Bourbon may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash
* Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels
* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
* A beer produced by Bras ...
monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an
opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...
in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent to the
Piazza del Plebiscito
Piazza del Plebiscito (; nap, Chiazza d''o Plebbiscito) is a large public town square, square in central Naples, Italy.
History
Named after the plebiscite taken on October 21, 1860, that brought Naples into the unified Italian unification#Creat ...
. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world, having opened in 1737, decades before either Milan's
La Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
or Venice's La Fenice."The Theatre and its history" on the Teatro di San Carlo's official website. (In English). Retrieved 23 December 2013
The opera season runs from late November to July, with the ballet season taking place from December to early June. The house once had a seating capacity of 3,285, but has now been reduced to 1,386 seats. Given its size, structure and antiquity, it was the model for theatres that were later built in Europe.
History of the opera house
Commissioned by the Bourbon King
Charles III of Naples
Charles the Short or Charles of Durazzo (1345 – 24 February 1386) was King of Naples and the titular King of Jerusalem from 1382 to 1386 as Charles II, and King of Hungary from 1385 to 1386 as Charles II. In 1381, Charles created the chivalr ...
(''Carlo III'' in Italian), Charles wanted to endow Naples with a new and larger theatre to replace the old, dilapidated, and too-small
Teatro San Bartolomeo Theatres for diverse musical and dramatic presentations began to open in Naples, Italy, in the mid-16th century as part of the general Spanish cultural and political expansion into the kingdom of Naples, which had just become a vicerealm of Spain. ...
of 1621, which had served the city well, especially after Scarlatti had moved there in 1682 and had begun to create an important opera centre which existed well into the 1700s.
Thus, the San Carlo was inaugurated on 4 November 1737, the king's
name day
In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, among other parts of Christendom. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a ...
, with the performance of the opera
Domenico Sarro
Domenico Natale Sarro, also Sarri (24 December 1679 – 25 January 1744) was an Italian composer.
Born in Trani, Apulia, he studied at the Neapolitan conservatory of S. Onofrio. He composed extensively in the early 18th century. His opera '' Di ...
's ''Achille in Sciro'', which was based on the 1736 libretto by
Metastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti.
Early life
Me ...
which had been set to music that year by Antonio Caldara. As was customary, the role of Achilles was played by a woman,
Vittoria Tesi
Vittoria Tesi Tramontini, also known as "La Fiorentina" or "La Moretta" (the Florentine or the Moorish or brunette girl) (Florence, 13 Feb 1701 – 9 May 1775 in Vienna) was an Italian opera singer (later singing teacher) of the 18th century. H ...
, called "Moretta"; the opera also featured soprano Anna Peruzzi, called "the Parrucchierina" and tenor
Angelo Amorevoli
Angelo Maria Amorevoli (16 September 1716 – 15 November 1798) was a leading Italian tenor in Baroque opera.
Biography
Angelo Amorevoli began singing in opera seria when he was just thirteen: in 1729 he sang in revivals of the musical drama ...
. Sarro also conducted the orchestra in two ballets as intermezzi, created by
Gaetano Grossatesta
Gaetano (anglicized '' Cajetan'') is an Italian masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. It is derived from the Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from ''Caieta''" (the modern Gaeta). The given name has been in use in Italy since medieval ...
, with scenes designed by
Pietro Righini
Pietro Righini (2 August 1683 - 20 December 1742) was an Italian architect and scenic designer. Born in Parma, he was active as a scenic designer with both the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo ( ...
. The first seasons highlighted the royal preference for dance numbers, and featured among the performers famous castrati.
In the late 18th century,
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
was called to Naples by the impresario Tufarelli to direct his 1752 ''Clemenza di Tito'' at the theatre, and
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...
in 1761-62 brought two operas, ''
Catone in Utica
''Catone in Utica'' (; ) is an opera libretto by Metastasio, that was originally written for Leonardo Vinci's 1727 opera. Following Vinci's success, Metastasio's text was used by numerous composers of the baroque and classical eras for thei ...
'' and ''Alessandro nell'Indie''.
1737: Construction of the Teatro di San Carlo
The new opera house was designed by
Giovanni Antonio Medrano
Giovanni Antonio Medrano (1703–1760) was a Sicilian born in Sciacca (rather than in Palermo) in 1703, and who had entered the service of Spain in 1719 as a Military Architect, although it is probable that he had already joined the army of t ...
, a military architect, and
Angelo Carasale
Angelo Carasale (died 1742) was an Italian architect, active mainly in Naples.
He held the primary responsibility for designing the elaborate furnishings of the Teatro di San Carlo, which was the new opera house in Naples in 1737. Alexandre Dumas ...
, the former director of the San Bartolomeo. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium is the oldest in the world. It was built at a cost of 75,000 ducats. The hall was 28.6 meters long and 22.5 meters wide, with 184 boxes, including those of proscenium, arranged in six orders, plus a royal box capable of accommodating ten people, for a total of 1,379 seats. Including standing room, the theatre could hold over 3,000 people. The fastidious composer and violinist
Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, t ...
reviewed the size and acoustic properties of this opera house very thoroughly on 15 February 1817 and concluded that:
Much admired for its architecture, its gold decorations, and the sumptuous blue upholstery (blue and gold being the official colours of the Bourbons), the San Carlo was now the biggest opera house in the world.Beauvert 1985, p. 44 In relation to the power of the existing Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Beauvert notes that the design of the house, with its 184 boxes lacking any curtains was so that "no one could avoid the scrutiny by the sovereign" who had his private access from the Royal Palace.
In 1809
Domenico Barbaia
Domenico Barbaia (also spelled Barbaja; 10 August 1777 – 19 October 1841) was best known as an opera Italian impresario.
An energetic man, Barbaia, who was born in Milan, began his career by running a coffee shop. He made his first fortune by ...
was appointed manager of the royal opera houses in Naples and remained in charge until 1841. He soon established a reputation for innovative and dazzling productions, which attracted both the public and leading singers to the opera house.
February 1816 to January 1817: Destruction by fire and rebuilding
On 13 February 1816 a fire broke out during a dress-rehearsal for a ballet performance and quickly spread to destroy a part of building.
On the orders of King Ferdinand IV, another Bourbon monarch and son of Charles III, who used the services of Antonio Niccolini, Barbaia was able to rebuild the opera house within ten months. It was rebuilt as a traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium with 1,444 seats, and
a proscenium, 33.5m wide and 30m high. The stage was 34.5m deep. Niccolini embellished in the inner of the bas-relief depicting "Time and the Hour".
The central frescoed ceiling painting of ''Apollo presenting to Minerva the greatest poets of the world'' was painted by Antonio, Giuseppe e Giovanni Cammarano.
On 12 January 1817, the rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with
Johann Simon Mayr
Johann(es) Simon Mayr (also spelled Majer, Mayer, Maier), also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr (14 June 1763 – 2 December 1845), was a German composer. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the ...
's '' Il sogno di Partenope''. Stendhal attended the second night of the inauguration and wrote: "There is nothing in all Europe, I won’t say comparable to this theatre, but which gives the slightest idea of what it is like..., it dazzles the eyes, it enraptures the soul...".
In 1844 the opera house was re-decorated under Niccolini, his son Fausto, and Francesco Maria dei Giudice. The main result was the change in appearance of the interior to the now-traditional red and gold.
Late 19th century, post World War II, and 21st century renovations
Apart from the creation of the orchestra pit, suggested by
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 ...
in 1872, the installation of electricity in 1890, the subsequent abolition of the central chandelier, and the construction of the new foyer and a new wing for dressing rooms, the theatre underwent no substantial changes until repair of the bombing damage in 1943.
During World War II the opera house was damaged by bombs. Following the liberation of Naples in October 1943, Peter Francis of the Royal Artillery organized repairs to the damaged foyer and, three weeks later, reopened the building with a musical revue. With the building in a fit state for performances, more musicians and singers made themselves available and the first opera performance was held on 26 December 1943, a matinee presentation of Puccini's ''
La bohème
''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...
''. Francis stayed on for another two years, producing 30 operas. On 9 July 1946 the American baritone
Lawrence Tibbett
Lawrence Mervil Tibbett (November 16, 1896 – July 15, 1960) was an American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York ...
sang the title role in
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had co ...
before an audience that included senior military figures of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, and troops of the Allied Forces.
By the start of the twenty-first century, the opera house was showing its age with outmoded stage machinery, inadequate visitor facilities, and lack of air conditioning. In response, the Campania regional government funded a €67 million renovation over six months in 2008 and six months in 2009 which included restoration of the décor and the creation of a new rehearsal hall. As noted in '' Gramophone'' magazine, the opera house reopened on 27 January 2010 with Mozart's ''La Clemenza di Tito'', the 254th anniversary of the composer's birth: "The renovation work was completed last year under the direction of architect Elisabetta Fabbri and is intended to return Teatro San Carlo to its condition following Antonio Niccolini's rebuilding after the fire of 1816. The project....involved 300 workers day and night.
The great age of Neapolitan opera
At the time,
Neapolitan School
In music history, the Neapolitan School is a group, associated with opera, of 17th and 18th-century composers who studied or worked in Naples, Italy,Don Michael Randel (2003). ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'', p. 549. . the best known of whom ...
of opera enjoyed great success all over Europe, not only in the field of
opera buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
but also in that of opera seria. The Neapolitan school of opera composers included
Feo
Iron(II) oxide or ferrous oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula FeO. Its mineral form is known as wüstite. One of several iron oxides, it is a black-colored powder that is sometimes confused with rust, the latter of which consists ...
,
Porpora
Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included compose ...
,
Traetta
Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic ref ...
Durante Durante is both an Italian surname and a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include:
Surname:
* Adriano Durante (1940-2009), Italian professional road bicycle racer
*Andrew Durante (born 1982), Australian football (soccer) p ...
Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini.
Life
Paisiello was born i ...
Gazzaniga
Gazzaniga (Bergamasque: or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and northeast of Bergamo.
Gazzaniga borders the following municipalities: Albino, A ...
. Naples became the capital of European music and even foreign composers considered the performance of their compositions at the San Carlo theatre as the goal of their career. These composers included Hasse (who later settled in Naples)
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
,
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...
and
Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
.
Similarly the most prominent singers performed and consolidated their fame at the San Carlo. These included Lucrezia Anguiari, called "La Cocchetta", the renowned castrati
Giovanni Manzuoli
Giovanni Manzuoli (Giovanni Manzoli) (1720–1782) was an Italian castrato who sang as a soprano at the beginning of his career, and later as a contralto.
History
Born in Florence, Italy, Manzuoli began singing there in 1731. After performing ...
,
Caffarelli Caffarelli may be
*Caffarelli (castrato), stage name of the castrato Gaetano Majorano (1710-1783)Carmela Cafarelli(1889-1979) was proprietor of Cleveland Ohio's Cafarelli Opera Company
*Luis Caffarelli (born 1948), American-Argentine mathematician
* ...
Gizziello
Gioacchino Conti (28 February 1714 – 25 October 1761), best known as Gizziello or Egizziello, was an Italian soprano castrato opera singer.
Biography
Conti was born in Arpino in 1714, possibly the son of the composer Nicola Conti. After stu ...
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...
was house composer and artistic director of the royal opera houses, including the San Carlo. During this period he wrote ten operas which were ''
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' (; ''Elizabeth, Queen of England'') is a ''dramma per musica'' or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play ''Il paggio di Leicester'' (''Leicester's Page'') by ...
Armida
Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso. Description
In Tasso's epic ''Jerusalem Delivered'' ( it, Gerusalemme liberata, link=no), Rinaldo is a fierce and determ ...
'' (1817), ''
Mosè in Egitto
''Mosè in Egitto'' (; "''Moses in Egypt''") is a three-act opera written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on a 1760 play by Francesco Ringhieri, ''L'Osiride''. It premièred on 5 March 1818 a ...
'', ''
Ricciardo e Zoraide
''Ricciardo e Zoraide'' (''Ricciardo and Zoraide'') is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa. The text is based on cantos XIV and XV of '' Il Ricciardetto'', an epic poem by Niccolò Forte ...
'' (1818), ''
Ermione
''Ermione'' (1819) is a tragic opera (azione tragica) in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the play ''Andromaque'' by Jean Racine.
Performance history
19th century
''Ermione'' was first pe ...
Eduardo e Cristina
''Eduardo e Cristina'' () is an operatic ''dramma'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto originally written by Giovanni Schmidt for ''Odoardo e Cristina'' (1810), an opera by Stefano Pavesi, and adapted for Rossini by Andrea L ...
'', ''
La donna del lago
''La donna del lago'' (English: ''The Lady of the Lake'') is an opera composed by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola (whose verses are described as "limpid" by one critic) based on the French translationOsborne, Charles 19 ...
'' (1819), ''
Maometto II
''Maometto II'' (or ') is an 1820 opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Cesare della Valle. Set in the 1470s during a time of war between the Turks and Venetians, the work was commissioned by the Teatro di San Carlo i ...
'' (1820), and ''
Zelmira
''Zelmira'' () is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. Based on the French play, ''Zelmire'' by de Belloy, it was the last of the composer's Neapolitan operas. Stendhal called its music Teutonic, comp ...
'' (1822).
Regular singers of the period included Manuel Garcia and his daughter
Maria Malibran
Maria Felicia Malibran (24 March 1808 – 23 September 1836) was a Spanish singer who commonly sang both contralto and soprano parts, and was one of the best-known opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality ...
,
Clorinda Corradi
Clorinda Corradi (November 27, 1804 – June 29, 1877) was an Italian opera singer and one of the most famous contraltos in history.
Life
Clorinda Corradi Pantanelli was born in Urbino, Italy. She was the daughter of a nobleman, Filippo Corra ...
,
Giuditta Pasta
Giuditta Angiola Maria Costanza Pasta (née Negri; 26 October 1797 – 1 April 1865) was an Italian soprano opera singer. She has been compared to the 20th-century soprano Maria Callas.
Career Early career
Pasta was born Giuditta Angiola Maria Co ...
,
Isabella Colbran
Isabella Angela Colbran (2 February 1785 – 7 October 1845) was a Spanish opera soprano and composer. She was known as the muse and first wife of composer Gioachino Rossini.
Early years
Colbran was born in Madrid, Spain, to Giovanni Colbran, ...
,
Giovanni Battista Rubini
Giovanni Battista Rubini (7 April 1794 – 3 March 1854) was an Italian tenor, as famous in his time as Enrico Caruso in a later day. His ringing and expressive coloratura dexterity in the highest register of his voice, the ''tenorino'', insp ...
, Domenico Donzelli and the two great French rivals
Adolphe Nourrit
Adolphe Nourrit (3 March 1802 – 8 March 1839) was a French operatic tenor, librettist, and composer. One of the most esteemed opera singers of the 1820s and 1830s, he was particularly associated with the works of Gioachino Rossini and Giacomo ...
and Gilbert Duprez—the inventor of the C from the chest.
After the composition of ''Zelmira'', Rossini left Naples with Colbran who had previously been the lover of Domenico Barbaia. The couple were married shortly thereafter.
To replace Rossini, Barbaja first signed up Giovanni Pacini and then another rising star of Italian opera, Gaetano Donizetti. As artistic director of the royal opera houses, Donizetti remained in Naples from 1822 until 1838, composing sixteen operas for the theatre, among which ''
Maria Stuarda
''Maria Stuarda'' (Mary Stuart) is a tragic opera (''tragedia lirica''), in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Andrea Maffei's translation of Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play '' Maria Stuart''.
The ope ...
'' (1834), ''
Roberto Devereux
''Roberto Devereux'' (or ''Roberto Devereux, ossia Il conte di Essex'' 'Robert Devereux, or the Earl of Essex'' is a ''tragedia lirica'', or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after François An ...
'' (1837), ''
Poliuto
''Poliuto'' is a three-act ''tragedia lirica'' (or tragic opera) by Gaetano Donizetti from the Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, which was based on Pierre Corneille's play ''Polyeucte'' written in 1641–42. It reflected the life of the e ...
'' (1838) and the famous ''
Lucia di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...
'' (1835), written for soprano Tacchinardi-Persiani and for tenor Duprez.
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania".
Many years later, in 1898, Gius ...
, Sicilian by birth, also staged his first work, ''
Bianca e Fernando
''Bianca e Fernando'' (''Bianca and Fernando'') is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.
The original version of this opera was presented as ''Bianca e Gernando'' and was set to a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni, based on ''Bianca e Fernando ...
'', at the San Carlo.
Giuseppe Verdi was also associated with the theatre. In 1841, his '' Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio'' was performed there and in 1845 he wrote his first opera for the theatre, ''
Alzira Alzira may refer to:
* ''Alzira'' (opera), an opera by Giuseppe Verdi
*Alzira, Valencia
Alzira ( es, Alcira) is a city and municipality of 45.088 inhabitants (62,094 floating population) in Valencia, eastern Spain. It is the capital of the ''coma ...
''; a second, ''
Luisa Miller
''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller.
Verdi's initial idea for ...
'', followed in 1849. His third should have been '' Gustavo III'', but the censor made such significant changes that it was never performed in that version nor under that title (until a re-created version was given in 2004). It was later performed in Rome with significant revisions to the plot and its location, while the title became ''
Un ballo in maschera
''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''.
Th ...
''.
Among the conductors and composers appointed by the Teatro San Carlo was the famous and eccentric French harpist and composer
Nicolas-Charles Bochsa
Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (9 August 1789 – 6 January 1856) was a harpist and composer. His relationship with Anna Bishop was popularly thought to have inspired that of Svengali and Trilby in George du Maurier's 1894 novel '' Trilby' ...
, who was accompanied by his lover, the English
prima donna
In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage per ...
Anna Bishop
Anna Bishop (9 January 181018 March 1884) was an English operatic soprano. She sang in many countries on every continent, and was the most widely travelled singer of the 19th century."Nicolas Bochsa: Harpiste, compositeur, escroc on bochsa.site.voila.fr. Retrieved 23 December 2013 She sang there 327 times in 24 operas.
Decline and revival by late 19th century
The unification of Italy in 1861 led to Naples losing its status as the musical center of Italy and the home of the country's leading opera house to La Scala as power and wealth moved northwards. By 1874 the fall in income from performances led to the closing of the opera house for a year. Its fortunes were able to recover due to the continued support in the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century by
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
and other composers of
verismo
In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.
''Verismo'' as an ...
operas, such as Pietro Mascagni,
Leoncavallo
Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo ( , , ; 23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera '' Pagliacci'' (1892) that remained h ...
, Giordano, and Cilea, who staged their works here.
In the late nineteenth century, the house created its own in-house orchestra under Giuseppe Martucci, which helped attract a number of respected conductors including
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
, Pietro Mascagni and composer Richard Strauss, whose influence expanded the opera house's repertoire.
One performer who did not appear in Naples from 1901 onward was Naples-born Enrico Caruso, who after being booed by a section of the audience during a performance of '' L'elisir d'amore'', vowed never to return.Gubler 2012, p. 56
Conductors
Principal conductors
*
Elio Boncompagni
Elio is an Italian male given name.
Origin
A name of dual origin, Elio is primarily a revival of it, Elio, label=none (Helios), the Greek god of the Sun. it, Elio, label=none derives, through the Latin ''Helius'', from the Ancient Greek Ἥ ...
(1979-1982)
*
Salvatore Accardo
Salvatore Accardo (; Knight Grand Cross born 26 September 1941 in Turin, northern Italy) is an Italian violinist and conductor, who is known for his interpretations of the works of Niccolò Paganini.
Accardo owns one Stradivarius violin, the "Ha ...
(1993–1995)
*
Gabriele Ferro
Gabriele Ferro is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its ...
(1999–2004)
*
Gary Bertini
Gary Bertini ( he, גארי ברתיני, May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors.
In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music.
Biography
Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' i ...
(2004–2005)
*
Jeffrey Tate
Sir Jeffrey Philip Tate (28 April 19432 June 2017) was an English conductor of classical music. Tate was born with spina bifida and had an associated spinal curvature. After studying medicine at the University of Cambridge and beginning a me ...
(2005–2010)
*
Nicola Luisotti
Nicola Luisotti (born 26 November 1961, in Viareggio, Italy) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds the title "Director Principal Invitado" (principal guest conductor) of Madrid's Teatro Real.
Biography
Luisotti grew up in Bargecchia. He ...
(2012–2014)
*
Juraj Valčuha
Juraj Valčuha (born 1976, Bratislava) is a Slovak conductor who has worked mainly in Italy and France. He is the designated conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra from the 2022/23 season.
Life
Born in Bratislava, Valčuha studied compos ...
(2016-2022)
* Dan Ettinger (2023- )
Principal guest conductor
*
Maurizio Benini
Maurizio Benini (born 1952) is an Italian conductor and composer. He made his debut in 1998 in ''L'elisir d'amore'' at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. ''Gramophone'' notes his "spirit and finesse" at conducting. He has also conducted opera perform ...
(2010-2011)
Honorary conductor
*
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father was the fou ...
(2016- )
See also
*
Music of Naples
Naples has played an important and vibrant role over the centuries not just in the music of Italy, but in the general history of western European musical traditions. This influence extends from the early music conservatories in the 16th century t ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*Beauvert, Thierry (1985), ''Opera Houses of the World'', The Vendome Press, New York, 1995.
*
*Lynn, Karyl Charna (2005), ''Italian Opera Houses and Festivals'', Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
*Spohr, Louis, (trans./ed. Henry Pleasants, 1961), ''The Musical Journeys of Louis Spohr, Journey to Switzerland and Italy 1815–17''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
Further reading
*Allison, John (ed.) (2003), ''Great Opera Houses of the World'', supplement to ''Opera'' Magazine, London
*Eisenbeiss, Philip (2013), ''Bel Canto Bully: The Life of the Legendary Opera Impresario Domenico Barbaja''. London: Haus Publishing,
*Zeitz, Karyl Lynn (1991), ''Opera: the Guide to Western Europe's Great Houses'', Santa Fe, New Mexico: John Muir Publications.