The Teatro Argentina (directly translating to "Theatre Argentina") is an opera house and theatre located in Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. One of the oldest theatres in Rome, it was constructed in 1731 and inaugurated on 31 January 1732 [1] with Berenice by Domenico Sarro. It is built over part of the curia section of the Theatre of Pompey. This curia was the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar.
The theatre was commissioned by the Sforza-Cesarini family and designed by the architect Gerolamo Theodoli, with the auditorium laid out in the traditional horseshoe shape. Duke Francesco Sforza-Cesarini, who ran the Argentina Theatre from 1807 to 1815, was a "theatre fanatic" who continued until his death to run up debts. [1] Rossini's The Barber of Seville was given its premiere here on 20 February 1816, just after Duke Francesco's death and, in the 19th century, the premieres of many notable operas took place in the theatre, including Verdi's I due Foscari on 3 November 1844 and La battaglia di Legnano on 27 January 1849. [1]
From 1919 to 1944, more musical offerings than dramatic ones were presented, although the theatre premiered works by Luigi Pirandello, Henrik Ibsen, and Maxim Gorky during this time. A series of operas was presented in the winter of 1944–45 in honor of the American and British troops.
The venue was used for classical music recordings by the Santa Cecilia orchestra in the 1950s.
In 1994, the theatre became the home of the Teatro Stabile company of Rome, currently directed by Mario Martone. It offers a variety of programmes, some being large-scale productions, although more plays than music or opera are presented today.
The inside of the theatre is constructed of wood with six levels of boxes characterizing the design, and has been restored many times. [2] It seats 696 people, including 344 in the stalls and with 40 boxes on five levels seating an additional 352. [3]
Plantamura notes that the theatre's acoustics were regarded as being excellent and that the architect who designed the La Fenice opera house in Venice, Gianantonio Selva, modeled his design after the Argentina. [1]
  Plan and longitudinal section of the Teatro Argentina (from Diderot's Encyclopédie , 1772) |
In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, the Teatro Argentina was the setting for an important scene during a performance of Parisina by Gaetano Donizetti.
The House of Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last member of the family's main branch in 1535.
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season.
The Teatro Regio is a prominent opera house and opera company in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. Its season runs from October to June with the presentation of eight or nine operas given from five to twelve performances of each.
Scenography is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of place in performance. While inclusive of the techniques of scenic design and set design, scenography is a holistic approach to the study and practice of all aspects of design in performance.
The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's rionePonte. It lies in the heart of the city's historic center, between the Via dei Coronari and the Tiber River. Its name commemorates the Torre dell'Annona, a mediaeval tower which once stood there and was later converted into one of the city's most important theatres, the Teatro Tordinona, later called the Teatro Apollo.
The Teatro della Pergola is an historic opera house in Florence, Italy. It is located in the centre of the city on the Via della Pergola, from which the theatre takes its name. It was built in 1656 under the patronage of Cardinal Gian Carlo de' Medici to designs by the architect Ferdinando Tacca, son of the sculptor Pietro Tacca; its inaugural production was the opera buffa, Il potestà di Colognole by Jacopo Melani. The opera house, the first to be built with superposed tiers of boxes rather than raked semi-circular seating in the Roman fashion, is considered to be the oldest in Italy, having occupied the same site for more than 350 years.
The Galli–Bibiena family, or Galli da Bibiena, was a family of Italian artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, including:
The Teatro Comunale di Modena is an opera house in the town of Modena,, Italy. The idea for the creation of the present theatre dates from 1838, when it became apparent that the then-existing Teatro Comunale di via Emilia was no longer suitable for staging opera. However, this house had been the venue for presentations of all of the works of Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini up to this time, and a flourishing operatic culture existed in Modena.
Paolo Landriani (1757–1839) was an Italian painter and architect.
Mario Rutelli was an Italian sculptor.
Luigi Zamboni was an Italian operatic buffo bass-baritone.
Teatro Farnese is a Renaissance theatre in the Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, Italy. It was built in 1618 by Giovanni Battista Aleotti. The idea of creating this grand theater came from the Duke of Parma and Piacenza Ranuccio I Farnese. The theatre was almost destroyed by an Allied air raid during World War II (1944). It was rebuilt and reopened in 1962.
Raffaele Mirate was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor who had an active career from the 1830s through the 1860s. Known for his intelligent phrasing and bright and powerful vocal timbre, he was regarded as an outstanding interpreter of the tenor roles in the early and middle period operas of Giuseppe Verdi. He notably created the role of the Duke of Mantua in the world premiere of Verdi's Rigoletto in 1851. He was also a highly regarded interpreter of bel canto roles, excelling in the operas of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini.
The Teatro Santi 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 Grimani family in 1638, in its heyday it was considered the most beautiful and comfortable theatre in the city. The theatre played an important role in the development of opera and saw the premieres of several works by Francesco Cavalli, as well as Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea.
The Teatro Capranica is a theatre situated at 101 Piazza Capranica in the Colonna district of Rome. Originally constructed in 1679 by the Capranica family and housed in the early Renaissance Palazzo Capranica, it was the second public theatre to open in Rome. It was the site of many premieres of Baroque operas including Caldara's Tito e Berenice, Scarlatti's Griselda, and Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte. The Capranica ceased operating as a full-scale theatre and opera house in 1881 and in 1922 was converted into a cinema. Following the closure of the cinema in 2000, it has functioned on a hire basis as a conference and performance venue.
Vincenzo Galli was an Italian opera singer and impresario. Considered an outstanding basso buffo singer, he created many roles on Italian stages, including in two of Donizetti's operas: Ivano in Otto mesi in due ore and Cesare Salzapariglia in Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali. Luigi Ricci composed the role of Michelotto in his opera Chiara di Rosembergh specifically for Galli's voice.
The Teatro delle Dame, also known as the Teatro Alibert, was a theatre in Rome built in 1718 and located on what is now the corner of Via D'Alibert and Via Margutta. In the course of its history it underwent a series of reconstructions and renovations until it was definitively destroyed by a fire in 1863. In their 18th-century heyday, the Teatro delle Dame and its rival, the Teatro Capranica, were the leading opera houses in Rome and saw many world premieres performed by some of the most prominent singers of the time.
The Teatro Flavio Vespasiano is a theatre and opera house in Rieti, a city in the Lazio region of Italy.
Savino Monelli was an Italian tenor prominent in the opera houses of Italy from 1806 until 1830. Amongst the numerous roles he created in world premieres were Giannetto in Rossini's La gazza ladra, Enrico in Donizetti's L'ajo nell'imbarazzo and Nadir in Pacini's La schiava in Bagdad. He was born in Fermo where he initially studied music. After leaving the stage, he retired to Fermo and died there five years later at the age of 52.
Coordinates: 41°53′44″N12°28′34″E / 41.89556°N 12.47611°E
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