The San Carlo is a famous opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest working theater in Europe. Opera house, Naples Source: http://www. ... An opera house is a building where operas are performed. ... Location within Italy Naples (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Napule, from Greek Νέα Πόλις - Néa Pólis - meaning New City) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of Campania Region. ...

The San Carlo was built by the Bourbon monarch Charles III of Spain who wanted to endow Naples with a theatre. It has been suggested that France: Wars of Religion - Bourbon Dynasty be merged into this article or section. ... Charles III of Spain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

The theater was inaugurated on the 4 November 1737 -- the king's nameday -- with a performance of Metastasio's opera Achille in Sciro, with music written by Domenico Sarro, who also conducted the orchestra and two ballets as intermezzi created by Grossatesta. November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. ... Events 12 February — The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated. ... Pietro Trapassi (January 13, 1698 - April 12, 1782), Italian poet, is better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio. ...

The new theater was much admired for its architecture, its gold decorations, and the sumptuousness blue upholstery (the official colours of the Bourbons)

At the time, Neapolitan opera enjoyed great success all over Europe, not only in the field of opera buffa but also in that of opera seria with Leo, Porpora, Traetta, Piccinni, Vinci, Anfossi, Durante, Jommelli, Cimarosa, Paisiello, Zingarelli. Naples became the capital of European music and even foreign composers considered the San Carlo theatre as the goal of their career: Hasse (who later settled in Naples) Haydn, Johann Christian Bach and Gluck. Opera buffa (comic opera), also known as Commedia per musica (musical comedy), or Dramma giocoso per musica (musical dramatic comedy), is a form of opera. ... Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and serious style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1720s to ca 1770. ... Nicola (Antonio) Porpora (August 19, 1686 - March 3, 1768) was an Italian composer of Baroque operas (see opera seria) and teacher of singing, whose most famous pupil was the castrato Farinelli. ... Tommaso Traetta (1727 – April 6, 1779) was an Italian composer. ... Niccola Piccinni (January 16, 1728 - May 7, 1800) was an Italian composer of classical music. ... Domenico Cimarosa (December 17, 1749 - January 11, 1801), Italian classical composer, was born at Aversa, in the kingdom of Naples. ... Paisiello at the clavichord, by Elizabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1791. ... Johann Adolph Hasse. ... (Franz) Joseph Haydn (in German, Josef; he never used the Franz) (March 31, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was a leading composer of the classical period. ... Johann Christian Bach Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a composer of the Classical era. ... Christoph Willibald Gluck (July 2, 1714 – November 15, 1787) was a German composer. ...

Similarly the most prominent singers performed at the San Carlo, and many of them consolidated their fame in Naples, from Lucrezia Anguiari, called "La Cochetta" to the renowned castrati Caffarelli (Gaetano Majorano), Farinelli (Carlo Broschi), Gizziello (Gioacchino Conti) the three of them coming from the Conservatories of Naples - to Gian Battista Velluti, the last castrato. A castrato is a male soprano, mezzo-soprano, or alto voice produced by castration of the singer before puberty. ...

On 12 February 1816 the San Carlo was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt however within ten months on order of King Ferdinand IV, another Bourbon. Apart from the creation of the orchestra pit suggested by Verdi in 1872, the installation of electricity in 1890, the subsequent abolition of the central chandelier and the construction of the new foyer with a new wing dedicated to the dressing rooms, the theatre has undergone no substantial changes since that time.. February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (January 12, 1751 - January 4, 1825). ... VERDI is an acronym for the Italian unification movement, named after the composer Giuseppe Verdi (ardent supporter of the movement) VERDI stands for Vittorio Emmanuelle, Re D Italia (Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy) Categories: Historical stubs ...

On 12 January 1817, the rebuilt hall was inaugurated with Mayr'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...". January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Marie-Henri Beyle (January 23, 1783 - March 23, 1842), better known as Stendhal, was a 19th century French writer. ...

From 1815 to 1822, Gioacchino Rossini was house composer and artistic director of the royal opera houses, including the San Carlo, and he wrote nine operas during this time: Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra (1815), La Gazzetta, Otello, ossia il Moro di Venezia (1816), Armida (1817), Mosè in Egitto, Ricciardo e Zoraide (1818), Ermione, Bianca e Falliero, Edoardo e Cristina, La Donna del Lago (1819), Maometto Secondo (1820), and Zelmira (1822). Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 — November 13, 1868) was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... Armida is a beautiful enchantress in Torquato Tassos Jerusalem Delivered, who bewitched Rinaldo, one of the Crusaders, by her charms, as Circe did Ulysses, and who in turn, when the spell was broken, overpowered her by his love and persuaded her to become a Christian. ... Mosè Egitto is a three part opera on the Exodus from Egypt of the Israelites, led by Moses. ...

Among the regular singers of the period were, apart from Manuel Garcia, his daughter Maria Malibran, Giuditta Pasta, Isabella Colbran, Giovan Battista Rubini, Domenico Donzelli and the two great rivals: French singers Adolphe Nourrit and Gilbert Duprez -- the inventor of the C from the breast. The soprano Maria Malibran (1808-1836) was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. ... Giuditta Pasta (1798-1865), born in Saronno, Italy was a soprano considered among the greatest of opera singers. ... Isabella Colbran (1785-1845) was an Italian soprano. ...

After a performance of Zelmira, Rossini fled from Naples with Colbran who had until that moment been the lover the empresario, Barbaja's lover. The impresario signed then up 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 a sixteen operas for the theatre, among which Maria Stuarda (1834), Roberto Devereux (1837), Poliuto (1838) and the famous Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), written for soprano Tacchinardi-Persiani and for tenor Duprez. Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797–8 April 1848) was a famous Italian opera composer. ... Maria Stuarda is an opera by Gaetano Donizetti, first performed on December 30, 1835, at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan. ... Lucia di Lammermoor is an opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. ...

Vincenzo Bellini also staged his first work, Bianca e Gerlando, at the San Carlo. Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (November 3, 1801 – September 23, 1835) was an Italian opera composer. ...

Giuseppe Verdi was also associated with the theater. In 1841, his Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio was performed there and in 1845 he wrote his first opera for the theatre, Alzira the second was Luisa Miller in 1849. His third should have been Gustavo III but it was forbidden at the last minute by the censor; it was later performed in Rome with the changed title of Ballo in Maschera. Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome) Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) was one of the great composers of Italian opera. ...

With the end of the nineteenth century, Giacomo Puccini and the other composers of verismo operas, such as from Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano, and Cilea stage their works there. Verismo is a style of Italian opera distinguished by realistic (sometimes sordid or violent, but not necessarily) depictions of everyday life (especially life of the lower classes), as opposed to historical or mythological subjects. ... Pietro Mascagni (Livorno December 7, 1863 - Rome August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the 20th century. ... Ruggiero Leoncavallo (March 8, 1857 - August 9, 1919) was an Italian opera composer. ... Umberto Giordano (August 28, 1867 - November 12, 1948) was a composer, mainly of opera. ... Francesco Cilea, (Palmi, near Reggio Calabria, July 26, 1866 - Varazze, near Savona, November 20, 1950) was an Italian opera composer, whose early success was not sustained, as taste in music changed. ...

External link

• Teatro di San Carlos website