The Teatro San Benedetto was a theatre in Venice, particularly prominent in the operatic life of the city in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It saw the premieres of over 140 operas, including Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri , and was the theatre of choice for the presentation of opera seria until La Fenice was built in 1792.
The small, elegant theatre was first constructed by Michele Grimani on land owned by the Venier family. It was inaugurated on 26 December 1755 with a performance of Gioacchino Cocchi's opera Zoe. In 1766 the ownership of the San Benedetto passed from Grimani to a consortium of patrician families in Venice who had been box holders at the theatre. The original design of the theatre was circular. However it was rebuilt in the traditional horseshoe shape following a fire on February 5, 1774.
In 1765 Vincenzo Galeotti, who danced here from 1761, became the ballet master of the theatre and staged his first ballet here (at that time besides Galeotty and his wife Antonia there were two soloists and 16 corps de ballet dancers in the company). In 1772—1773 the ballet master of San Benedetto was Gasparo Angiolini.
In 1782 Teatro San Benedetto hosted the ball in honour of Count and Countess De Nord, Russian prince Pavel Petrovich and his spouse, visiting Venice.
In 1786 the owners' consortium had to cede the theatre to the Venier family following a lawsuit, and later went on to build La Fenice. The theatre then became the Teatro Venier (or Teatro Venier in San Benedetto).
In 1810, the ownership passed to the impresario Giovanni Gallo, and for a time it was known as the Teatro Gallo. His sons, who had inherited the theatre in 1847, renamed it Teatro Rossini in 1868 in honour of Gioachino Rossini whose operas L'italiana in Algeri and Eduardo e Cristina had premiered there earlier in the century, but by then its glory days as an opera house were over.
In 1937 the building was completely remodelled as a movie theater, the Cinema Rossini, with a new facade by the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. The cinema was closed in 2007 and underwent restoration in 2010 in a project financed by the City of Venice.
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L'italiana in Algeri is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on 22 May 1813. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies.
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice became the site of many famous operatic premieres at which the works of several of the four major bel canto era composers – Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi – were performed.
The House of Grimani was a prominent Venetian patrician family, including three Doges of Venice. They were active in trade, politics and later the ownership of theatres and opera-houses.
Filippo Galli was an Italian opera singer who began his career as a tenor in 1801 but went on to become one of the most acclaimed basses of the bel canto era, with a voice known for its wide range, extreme agility, and expressivity, and a remarkable gift for acting.
The Teatro Malibran, known over its lifetime by a variety of names, beginning with the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo after the nearby church, is an opera house in Venice which was inaugurated in 1678 with a production of the premiere of Carlo Pallavicino's opera Vespasiano. By 1683, it had quickly become known as "the biggest, most beautiful and richest theatre in the city" and its operatic importance throughout the 17th and 18th centuries led to an even grander description by 1730:
Clorinda Corradi was an Italian opera singer and one of the most famous contraltos in history.
Wladimiro Ganzarolli was an Italian operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.
Antonio Buzzolla was an Italian composer and conductor. A native of Adria, he studied in Venice, and later worked with Gaetano Donizetti and Saverio Mercadante. He composed five operas, but was better known in his lifetime for ariettas and canzonettas in the Venetian dialect. Beginning in 1855 he served as the maestro di cappella of the Cappella Marciana at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Buzzolla was one of the composers invited by Giuseppe Verdi to contribute to the Messa per Rossini; he composed the opening movement, the Requiem e Kyrie. He died in Venice in 1871.
Bernadette Manca di Nissa is an Italian operatic contralto who has sung leading roles in the principal opera houses of Italy as well as internationally. She has appeared at La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence as well as at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Festival of Salzburg, Matsumoto Festival, NHK in Tokyo, Sao Carlos Theater in Lisboa etc.
Raffaele Scalese (1800–1884) was an Italian operatic bass who specialized in the opera buffa repertoire. He was active in Italy's major opera houses from the mid-1820s up into the 1860s. He also appeared internationally in opera houses in Austria, Portugal, and France. The last years of his career were spent performing in Paris in the late 1860s where he remained after his retirement from the stage.
The Teatro Goldoni is one of the opera houses and theatres of Venice. Today it is the home of the Teatro Stabile del Veneto. The modern theatre is located near the Rialto Bridge in the historic center of Venice.
Teatro San Samuele was an opera house and theatre located at the Rio del Duca, between Campo San Samuele and Campo Santo Stefano, in Venice. One of several important theatres built in that city by the Grimani family, the theatre opened in 1656 and operated continuously until a fire destroyed the theatre in 1747. A new structure was built and opened in 1748, but financial difficulties forced the theatre to close and be sold in 1770. The theatre remained active until 1807 when it was shut down by Napoleonic decree. It reopened in 1815 and was later acquired by impresario Giuseppe Camploy in 1819. In 1853 the theatre was renamed the Teatro Camploy. Upon Camploy's death in 1889, the theatre was bequeathed to the City of Verona. The Venice City Council in turn bought the theatre and demolished it in 1894.
Paolo (Pablo) Rosich was a Spanish-born opera singer and librettist widely known by the Italianized version of his first name. A skilled comic actor, he performed leading basso buffo roles in many Italian opera houses as well as in Lisbon, London, Madrid and New York. Rosich created the roles of Taddeo in Gioachino Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri and Buralicchio in Rossini's L'equivoco stravagante and also wrote the librettos for two operas by Manuel García: L'amante astuto and La figlia dell' aria.
Serafino Gentili was an Italian opera singer particularly known for his performances in tenore di grazia roles. He sang in opera houses throughout Italy as well as in Paris and Dresden. During the course of his career, he created the role of Lindoro in Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri as well as leading roles in several other operas by less well-known composers. In his later years, he went by the surname Gentili-Donati to distinguish himself from the tenor Pietro Gentili.
Riccardo Frizza is an Italian conductor, particularly known for his work in the Italian operatic repertoire. After making his professional conducting debut in 2001 with Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, he went on to conduct in the leading opera houses of Europe and the United States, including La Scala, La Fenice. the Paris Opera, and New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Andrea Mastroni is an Italian basso profondo. Born in Milan, he first studied clarinet before training as a singer and studying philosophical aesthetics.
Maria Ester Mombelli was an Italian opera singer particularly known for her performances in operas by Rossini and Donizetti. She sang both soprano and mezzo-soprano roles, and often sang with her younger sister Anna.
Eliodoro Bianchi was an Italian operatic tenor and later a prominent singing teacher. Born in Cividate al Piano and trained in Naples under Giacomo Tritto, he made his stage debut in 1793. Amongst the many roles, he created during the course of his 40-year career were Baldassare in Ciro in Babilonia and the King of Sweden in Eduardo e Cristina, both of which were composed by Rossini expressly for Bianchi's voice. He retired from the stage in 1835 and spent his later years in Palazzolo sull'Oglio, where he died at the age of 75.
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.
