In 1774, the leading opera house in Venice, San Benedetto Theatre has been destroyed by the malicious fire.
Due to the land ownership problems the opera company decided to build the new opera on the different location. The theatre, which “rose from the ashes” was given the apropriate name
La Fenice (The Phoenix). The building experienced two burn-downs, in 1836 and recently in 1996. After the last accident it has been rebuilt as close to the former shape as possible in the spirit described by the motto “the way it was, where it was”. The new Fenice Opera House came back to life in 2003.
The building reproduces all possible details from the former opera, including the water tunnel, once used by spectators, who were able to enter the theatre directly from their own gondolas.
The seats for the audience are prepared in the separate loggias lined in five tiers also known as pepiano. The closed-box system is different from the open galleries common to the rest of Europe, but is mend to meet the needs of Italian aristocracy, who were able to enjoy their own private space in the opera, as the different families usually rented their own loggias.
The first performance in La Fenice was played on May 16, 1792 – an opera by Giovanni Paisiello entitled I Giuochi di Agrigento.
The following century brought the international fame and recognition, especially when the famous composers like Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini (I Capuleti e i Montecchi 1830 and Beatrice di Tenda 1833) started to commission their works to the opera.
In the middle of 19th century Fenice became second prestigeous opera house in Europe, loosing only to La Scala in Milan. Giuseppe Verdi shared his time between these two theatres, five of his great works were first performed in Venice, including Attila (1846), Rigoletto (1851) and Traviata (1853).
The list of prominent singers working for Fenice includes the great names like Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi and Luciano Pavarotti.
Each year of the opera life is full with the artistic events, especially during International Festival of Contemporary music of Venice which commences after the Cinema Festival as a part of Venice Biennial ( usually the second half of September ).
Fondazione Teatro La Fenice
Campo S. Fantin 1965
30124 Venice
Phone: 041786511
Website: http://www.teatrolafenice.it
[photo courtesy of dalbera]
Guides: venice
