The Great National Theatre of Mexico was a large opera house in Mexico City.
The theatre was built between 1840 and 1844 by architect Lorenzo de la Hidalga in Mexico City. It was located at the end of Cinco de Mayo Ave., on Vergara Street (now Bolívar). It had a capacity of more than 3,500 people; that is to say, 1,500 more seats than the present-day Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Historians consider it the most important architectural work in Mexico City between the completion of the Metropolitan Cathedral and the building of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The Great National Theatre was inaugurated in one of Antonio López de Santa Anna's terms as president. Its name changed successively, from Great Theatre of Santa Anna to Great Theatre Vergara, then Great Imperial Theatre, and finally Great National Theatre.
During the opera season of 1852, the theatre premiered 17 operas and offered more than 60 performances.
During the Second Mexican Empire, by command of emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, the theatre changed its name to Great Imperial Theatre. During this period it was directed by Spanish playwright José Zorrilla.
In this period a scandal occurred relating to the opera Ildegonda by Melesio Morales, which premiered on 27 January 1866. When the opera was ready, a group of notables, including Don José Urbano Fonseca and Don José Ignacio Durán, went to see the impresario of the Great Imperial Theatre, Don Annibale Biacchi, so that Morales's opera could premiere there. Biacchi answered that he would not stage a work by a Mexican, which would damage his business. [1]
After the death of the emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and the restoration of the Republic, the theatre was renamed Great National Theatre.
Around this time was the worldwide première of Cleopatra by Melesio Morales, writes Mañón: [2]
The Great National Theatre was demolished between 1900 and 1901 to extend the Avenida Cinco de Mayo . The demolition was justified with the promise that the theatre would be replaced by the Palacio de Bellas Artes, whose construction began in 1904, but was interrupted by the Mexican Revolution, and finally opened in 1934. In the more than 30 years between the demolition of the old theatre and the inauguration of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, opera performances took place at the Teatro Principal and the Teatro Arbeu. Of all these theatres the plans have been restored, and they could be rebuilt.
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and photography. Consequently, the Palacio de Bellas Artes has been called the "Cathedral of Art in Mexico". The building is located on the western side of the historic center of Mexico City next to the Alameda Central park.
Rafael Jorge Negrete, is a Mexican actor and Opera singer, who also performs traditional Mexican music and brother Lorenzo Negrete.
The historic center of Mexico City, also known as the Centro or Centro Histórico, is the central neighborhood in Mexico City, Mexico, focused on Zócalo or main plaza and extending in all directions for a number of blocks, with its farthest extent being west to the Alameda Central. The Zocalo is the largest plaza in Latin America. It can hold up to nearly 100,000 people.
Sergio Vela is a Mexican-American opera director, designer, radio and television host, musician, lawyer and academician.
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Ángela Peralta was an operatic soprano of international fame and a leading figure in the operatic life of 19th-century Mexico. Called the "Mexican Nightingale" in Europe, she had already sung to acclaim in major European opera houses by the age of 20. Although primarily known for her singing, she was also a composer as well as an accomplished pianist and harpist.
Carlos Orozco Romero was a Mexican cartoonist and painter who co-founded several cultural institutions in Mexico, including the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda". His work was recognized with membership in the Academia de Artes and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, and in 1980, with Mexico's Premio Nacional de Arte.
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Armonicus Cuatro is a group of four vocalists from Mexico: Mario Iván Martínez, Lourdes Ambriz, Nurani Huet and Martín Luna which mostly specializes in European medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music. All four are established musicians in their own right, with Martínez also known as an actor in film and Mexican television. The group has performed widely in Mexico at music and cultural festivals such as the Festival Internacional Cervantino as well as in Europe.
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Vladimir Cora is a Mexican painter and sculptor based in the state of Nayarit, whose work has been recognized by various awards and membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. He discovered art at age fifteen, after deciding that he could not be a musician. He received training in Tijuana and Mexico City, with his first success in the 1980s. His style has been described as neo-figurative, minimalist and coarse, and he creates his works in series usually related to the apostles, flowers, birds and women, especially those related to Nayarit. He has had over 150 individual exhibitions both in Mexico and abroad and continues to work from his home state.
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Christa Cowrie is a German-Mexican photographer, who began her career in photojournalism but is best known for her work documenting Mexico’s dance the theater events. Cowrie arrived in Mexico in 1963 and began her career in 1975 with the Excélsior newspaper. In 1977, she was one of the founders of the Unomásuno newspaper, also working to found one its supplements, focusing on ecological journalism. Her work began to shift towards photography dance and theater in the mid 1990s working with the Centro Nacional de las Artes. The archive she has created with this institution is one of the most important in Mexico documenting dance and theater. Her work has been recognized with membership in the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.
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Media related to Gran Teatro Nacional at Wikimedia Commons