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.
One of the most important Venetian theatres of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Teatro San Samuele was constructed in 1656 through a commission made by the Grimani family a year earlier. Initially the theatre was used primarily for plays but in the 18th century the house became more closely associated with opera and ballet. The famous playwright and librettist Carlo Goldoni notably served as the theatre's director from 1737 to 1741, and many of his works were premiered at the theatre during his career. [1]
The original Teatro San Samuele was destroyed by fire on the last night of September 1747. [2] A new theatre was built in almost identical design and opened in May 1748 as opulent competition for the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo. The new theatre became associated with the opera buffa repertoire, as the Grimani family preferred to stage opera seria and other more dramatic works at their other theatre, the Teatro San Benedetto (built 1755). [1]
At the end of the 18th century, the Teatro San Samuele lost much of its former prestige. In 1770 the Grimani family had been forced to sell the theatre due to the economic crisis that hit the Venetian aristocracy. [1] The theatre continued to operate until 6 April 1807 when it was ordered closed by a Napoleonic decree which also shut down the Teatro San Cassiano, the Teatro San Angelo, and the Teatro San Luca. The San Samuele and the San Luca were re-opened after a 21 April 1815 Austrian decree. [3]
In 1819 the Teatro San Samuele was acquired by impresario Giuseppe Camploy. With the exception of the 1840s when performances were sporadic, the theatre remained continuously active until Camploy's death in 1889. In 1853 the theatre was renamed as the Teatro Camploy. In the third edition of Murray's Hand-book for travellers in northern Italy (1847) Sir Francis Palgrave reported "It is a pretty theatre well adapted for hearing. Opera buffas are performed here" [4] In his will, Camploy bequeathed the theatre to the City of Verona. The Venice City Council bought it and, after demolishing the theatre in 1894, built the A. Scarsellini elementary school on the former site of the theatre. [1]
Giuseppe Gazzaniga was a member of the Neapolitan school of opera composers. He composed fifty-one operas, particularly opera buffa.
Giuseppe Farinelli was an Italian composer active at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century who excelled in writing opera buffas. Considered the successor and most successful imitator of Domenico Cimarosa, the greatest of his roughly 60 operas include I riti d'Efeso, La contadina bizzarra and Ginevra degli Almieri. More than 2/3 of his operas were produced between 1800 and 1810 at the height of his popularity. With the arrival of Gioachino Rossini his operas became less desirable with the public, and by 1817 his operas were no longer performed. His other compositions include 3 piano forte sonatas, 3 oratorios, 11 cantatas, 5 masses, 2 Te Deums, a Stabat Mater, a Salve Regina, a Tantum ergo, numerous motets, and several other sacred works.
Giulio Sabino is a dramma per musica in three acts by Giuseppe Sarti. The libretto was by Pietro Giovannini.
Le gelosie villane is a dramma giocoso in three acts by Giuseppe Sarti. The libretto was by Tommaso Grandi. It was also known as Il feudatorio, Il feudatorio burlato and I contadini bizzari. It was also set by Pasquale Anfossi.
Le astuzie femminili is a dramma giocoso in four acts by Domenico Cimarosa with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Palomba. The opera buffa premiered at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples, Italy, on 26 August 1794. The opera was subsequently performed in Barcelona in 1795, Lisbon in 1797, Vienna in 1799, Paris in 1802, and London in 1804, remaining popular during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Although not performed often today, the opera is still occasionally revived and a number of recordings have been made.
La sposa fedele is an opera buffa in three acts by Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi. The Italian libretto was by Pietro Chiari.
Gennaro Astarita was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. The place of his birth is unknown, although he was active in Naples for many years. He began his operatic career in 1765, collaborating with Niccolò Piccinni in the writing of the opera L'orfana insidiata. He became the maestro di cappella in Naples in 1770.
Marcello Bernardini was an Italian composer and librettist. Little is known of him, save that he wrote 37 operas in his career. His father was most likely the composer Rinaldo di Capua.
Giacomo Domenico Mario Antonio Pasquale Giuseppe Di Tritto was an Italian composer, known primarily for his fifty-four operas. He was born in Altamura, and studied in Naples; among his teachers were Nicola Fago, Girolamo Abos, and Pasquale Cafaro. Amongst his pupils were the young Vincenzo Bellini around 1821, plus Ferdinando Orlandi. He died in Naples.
Giuseppe Lillo was an Italian composer. He is best known for his operas which followed in the same vein of Gioachino Rossini. He also produced works for solo piano, a small amount of sacred music, and some chamber music.
Gaetano Monti was an Italian composer. His name is first recorded in 1758, when he was eight years old, singing in a small part in a performance of Il curioso del suo proprio danno by Niccolò Piccinni. His first opera, Adriano in Siria, was performed in Modena in 1775, and he was later named organist of the Treasury Chapel at Naples Cathedral; there he remained until 1788. Moreover, in 1776 he became an impresario at the Teatro San Carlo. Most of his works were opere buffe, and were seen in theatres in Rome, Venice, and Naples. His most popular works were Le donne vendicate and Lo studente. It was believed at one time that he was the brother of the poet Vincenzo Monti, but this is uncertain.
Antonio Cagnoni was an Italian composer. Primarily known for his twenty operas, his work is characterized by his use of leitmotifs and moderately dissonant harmonies. In addition to writing music for the stage, he composed a modest amount of sacred music, most notably a Requiem in 1888. He also contributed the third movement, Quid sum miser, to the Messa per Rossini, a collaborative work created by thirteen composers to honor Gioacchino Rossini.
Il filosofo di campagna is a dramma giocoso per musica in 3 acts by composer Baldassare Galuppi. The opera uses an Italian language libretto by Carlo Goldoni. The work premiered at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice on 26 October 1754.
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Gaetano Coronaro was an Italian conductor, pedagogue, and composer. He was born in Vicenza and had his initial musical training there followed by study from 1871 to 1873 at the Milan Conservatory under Franco Faccio. He composed orchestral works, sacred music, and chamber pieces as well as several works for the stage. La creola, which premiered at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in 1878, was the only one to have any success.
Sebastiano Biancardi, known by the pseudonym Domenico Lalli, was an Italian poet and librettist. Amongst the many libretti he produced, largely for the opera houses of Venice, were those for Vivaldi's Ottone in villa and Alessandro Scarlatti's Tigrane. A member of the Accademia degli Arcadi, he also wrote under his arcadian name "Ortanio". Lalli was born and raised in Naples as the adopted son of Fulvio Caracciolo but fled the city after being implicated in a bank fraud. After two years wandering about Italy in the company of Emanuele d'Astorga, he settled in Venice in 1710 and worked as the "house poet" of the Grimani family's theatres for the rest of his career. In addition to his stage works, Lalli published several volumes of poetry and a collection of biographies of the kings of Naples. He died in Venice at the age of 62.
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