The Teatro Filarmonico is the main opera theater in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

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 territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and is one of the leading opera houses in Europe. The Teatro Filarmonico is property of the

Accademia Filarmonica di Verona The Accademia Filarmonica di Verona is an academy dedicated to the performance and study of music, founded in 1543 in Verona, Italy. At its founding it consisted of a group of young noblemen with humanistic and literary inclinations, who were also ...

. Having been built in 1716, and later rebuilt after a fire of January 21, 1749, and again after the allied bombing of February 23, 1945.

History

Verona needed an opera house, so the

decided in the early 18th century to build a theatre worthy and large. Work began in 1716 and lasted 13 years. Finally, inauguration was on the evening of January 6, 1732, with the pastoral drama ''

La fida ninfa ''La fida ninfa'' (''The Faithful Nymph'', RV 714) is an opera by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Scipione Maffei. The opera was first performed for the opening of the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona on 6 January 1732.Michael Talbot The Vivaldi Co ...

'' by

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

, a libretto by

Scipio Maffei Francesco Scipione Maffei (; 1 June 1675 – 11 February 1755) was an Italian writer and art critic, author of many articles and plays. An antiquarian with a humanist education whose publications on Etruscan antiquities stand as incunables ...

. The opera season became famous, and the performances led society events. But on January 21, 1749, fire eventually spread in the theatre. Rebuilt, the theater was re-dedicated in 1754 with the opera '' Lucio Vero'' by Neapolitan composer

Davide Perez Davide Perez (1711 – 30 October 1778) was an Italian opera composer born in Naples of Italian parents, and later resident court composer at Lisbon from 1752. He staged three operas on librettos of Metastasio at Lisbon with huge success in 1753 ...

. The opera had a limited success. Corsican in the 18th century, during the French invasion, a long series of celebrations were held in the theater, such as the ''Cantata per la Santa Alleanza'' ("Cantata for the Holy Alliance") of

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 f ...

. The theater hosted international singers, and among its repertoire appear the most famous works of Italian and foreign melodrama. On the tragic night of February 23, 1945, the theater collapsed under the Anglo-American bombing. The Academy Philharmonic announced that it would try to rebuild the theatre exactly as it had been before. The proceedings lasted a long time: the theatre was inaugurated again in 1975, with the opera ''Falstaff'' by

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...

. The theatre still hosts opera, ballets and concerts seasons. The operatic repertoire is one of the most famous for Italian operas and international (''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the '' bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eug ...

'', ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'', ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' ...) and the works of non-repertoire (A day of the kingdom, ''

Manon Lescaut ''The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut'' ( ) is a novel by Antoine François Prévost. Published in 1731, it is the seventh and final volume of ''Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité'' (''Memoirs and Adventures of a Ma ...

'' of Auber, ''

Loreley The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. ...

'' of Catalani ...).

History

See also