Teatro Alibert
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The Teatro delle Dame, also known as the Teatro Alibert (its original name), was a theatre in Rome built in 1718 and located on what is now the corner of Via D'Alibert and
Via Margutta Via Margutta is a narrow street in the centre of Rome, near Piazza del Popolo, accessible from Via del Babuino in the ancient Campo Marzio neighborhood also known as ''"the foreigner's quarter"''. Mount Pincio is nearby. Via Margutta origi ...
. 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 The Teatro Capranica is a theatre situated at 101 Piazza Capranica in the Colonna (rione of Rome), Colonna district of Rome. Originally constructed in 1679 by the Capranica family and housed in the early Renaissance architecture, Renaissance Palazz ...
, were the leading opera houses in Rome and saw many world premieres performed by some of the most prominent singers of the time.


History

The theatre was built by Antonio D'Alibert for the performance of ''
opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...
''. It was a project long planned by his father Jacques D'Alibert (1626–1713) who had been the secretary to
Queen Christina of Sweden Christina (; 18 December O.S. 8 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from ...
and had managed the
Teatro Tordinona The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's ''rione'' '' Ponte''. 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 s ...
. The Teatro Tordinona was Rome's first public theatre but was demolished in 1697 on the orders of
Pope Innocent XII Pope Innocent XII (; ; 13 March 1615 – 27 September 1700), born Antonio Pignatelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1691 to his death in September 1700. He took a hard stance against nepotism ...
who considered public theatres a corrupting influence on the populace. The Teatro Alibert (as it was then called) was constructed in wood on a piece of land formerly used for playing pallacorda (a game similar to
real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...
). According to the Italian theatre historian Saverio Franchi, the architect supervising the construction was probably Matteo Sassi (1646–1723).Franchi, Saverio (1997)
''Drammaturgia romana''
Vol. 2, pp. xxvii; xlviii. Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura
When it was inaugurated in 1718 with the premiere of Francesco Mancini's opera ''Alessandro Severo'', the Teatro Alibert was the largest theatre in Rome with seven tiers of 32 boxes each. In 1720
Francesco Galli Bibiena Francesco Galli, called Francesco da Bibiena, or da Bibbiena (1659-1739) was a member of the theatrical Galli da Bibiena family and younger brother of Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Ferdinando Galli. Life and work He was born at Bologna. He first st ...
enlarged and redesigned the interior, reshaping the auditorium into a "phonetic curve" (midway between a rectangle and a horseshoe).Nicassio, Susan Vandiver (2002)
''Tosca's Rome: The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective''
pp. 81–82. University of Chicago Press
Lynn, Karyl Charna (2005)
''Italian Opera Houses and Festivals''
p. 241. Scarecrow Press
The theatre was an artistic success but not a financial one. Matters were not helped by the
Jubilee Year A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...
of 1725 when all Roman theatres were closed for the duration. Antonio D'Alibert went bankrupt and the Roman authorities put the theatre up for auction in 1726. It was bought by a consortium of Roman nobility and renamed the Teatro delle Dame. The theatre's management eventually passed to the
Knights of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...
, with whom some members of the consortium had close links. The order was to maintain control of the theatre until well into the 19th century. In the mid-1730s, the building underwent extensive renovation and embellishment designed by the architect
Ferdinando Fuga Ferdinando Fuga (11 November 1699 – 7 February 1782) was an Italian architect who was born in Florence, and is known for his work in Rome and Naples. Much of his early work was in Rome, notably, the Palazzo della Consulta (1732–7) at the Quir ...
and reopened in 1738 with a performance of
Nicola Logroscino Nicola Bonifacio Logroscino (1698 – ) was an Italian composer who is best known for his operas. He was born at Bitonto (Province of Bari) in the Apulia region and was a pupil of Giovanni Veneziano and Giuliano Perugino at the Conservatorio di ...
's opera ''Quinto Fabio''. By the 19th century, the Teatro delle Dame (like its rival the
Teatro Capranica The Teatro Capranica is a theatre situated at 101 Piazza Capranica in the Colonna (rione of Rome), Colonna district of Rome. Originally constructed in 1679 by the Capranica family and housed in the early Renaissance architecture, Renaissance Palazz ...
) had ceased being a leading opera house in the city. Operas were still performed there, but it was increasingly used for public balls, acrobatic shows, and plays written in the local
Roman dialect Romanesco () is one of the Central Italian dialects spoken in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, especially in the Rome, core city. It is linguistically close to Tuscan dialect, Tuscan and Italian language, Standard Italian, with some notable ...
. Prince Alessandro
Torlonia 200px, Coat of arms of the House of Torlonia, part of the History_of_Auvergne.html" ;"title="Italian nobility of French descent, hailing from the region of History of Auvergne">Auvergne The House of Torlonia, the Princes of Civitella-Cesi, is th ...
acquired the theatre in 1847 and had it reconstructed in brick with an even larger stage which could accommodate equestrian shows. On the night of 15 February 1863, the theatre caught fire yet again and was completely destroyed. Later, an inn known as the Locanda Alibert was constructed on the site. In the early 2000s the Locanda Alibert building was completely restructured and turned into a congress and event centre.Groppi, Angela (25 January 2004)
"Dalla pallacorda ai castrati nel teatro di via d' Alibert"
''
Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...
'', p. 55. Retrieved 28 December 2014 .


Opera premieres

Throughout most of the 18th century, women were forbidden to perform on stage in the
Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...
. During that period operas were sung at the Teatro delle Dame by all-male casts with
castrati A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing human voice, voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to ...
singing the female roles. Amongst the famous castrato singers to appear there were
Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli ...
,
Giacinto Fontana Domenico Giacinto Fontana (1692–1739), also known as "Farfallino", was an Italian castrato singer active primarily in Rome from 1712 to 1736. He specialised in singing soprano female roles and earned the name "Farfallino" ("Little Butterfly") f ...
("Farfallino"),
Giovanni Carestini Giovanni Carestini (13 December 1700 in Filottrano, near Ancona – 1759 in Bologna) was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He is also remembered as having sung for Johann ...
, and
Luigi Marchesi Luigi Marchesi (; 8 August 1754 – 14 December 1829) was an Italian castrato singer, one of the most prominent and charismatic to appear in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century. His singing was praised by the likes of Mozart a ...
. From 1798 when Rome came under French rule, women began appearing on the theatre's stage—the first one was the soprano
Teresa Bertinotti Teresa Bertinotti (also known as Teresa Bertinotti-Radicati) (1776 – 12 Feb 1854) was an Italian soprano and voice teacher. She created leading roles in several operas, including Simon Mayr's ''Ginevra di Scozia''. Biography Teresa Bertinotti ...
. Operas which received their world premieres at the theatre include: *''
Artaserse ' is the name of a number of Italian operas, all based on a text by Metastasio. ' is the Italian form of the name of the king Artaxerxes I of Persia. There are over 90 known settings of Metastasio's text. The libretto was originally written for, ...
'', composed by
Leonardo Vinci Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian Baroque composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on ...
(1730) *''
La buona figliuola ''La buona figliuola'' (''The Good-Natured Girl'' or ''The Accomplish'd Maid''), or ''La Cecchina'' (''The Girl from Cecchina'' or ''Fannie''), is an opera buffa in three acts by Niccolò Piccinni. The libretto, by Carlo Goldoni, is based on Samue ...
'', composed by
Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the ...
(1760) *''
La vera costanza ' (''True Constancy''), Hob. 28/8, is an operatic dramma giocoso by Joseph Haydn. The Italian libretto was a shortened version of the one by Francesco Puttini set by Pasquale Anfossi for the opera of the same name given in Rome in 1776. The sto ...
'', composed by
Pasquale Anfossi Pasquale Anfossi (5 April 1727 – February 1797) was an Italian opera composer. Born in Taggia, Republic of Genoa, he studied with Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini, and worked mainly in London, Venice and Rome. He wrote more than 80 ope ...
(1776) *'' Il curioso indiscreto'', composed by Pasquale Anfossi (1777)Loewenberg, Alfred (1978)
''Annals of Opera 1597–1940''
3rd Edition, column 355. John Calder.
*'' Antigono'', composed by
Josef Mysliveček Josef Mysliveček (9 March 1737 – 4 February 1781) was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant com ...
(1780)


References

Further reading *De Angelis, Alberto (1951). ''Il Teatro Alibert o delle Dame (1717–1863): Nella Roma papale''. A Chicca.


External links


Photograph of the ruins of the Teatro delle Dame
following its destruction by fire in 1863 {{authority control Opera houses in Rome Theatres completed in 1718 Burned theatres Buildings and structures demolished in 1863 1718 establishments in the Papal States 1718 establishments in Italy Demolished buildings and structures in Rome 18th-century architecture in Italy