The Teatro Filarmonico is the main opera theater in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and is one of the leading opera houses in Europe. The Teatro Filarmonico is property of the

Accademia Filarmonica di Verona The Accademia Filarmonica di Verona is an academy dedicated to the performance and study of music, founded in 1543 in Verona, Italy. At its founding it consisted of a group of young noblemen with humanistic and literary inclinations, who were also ...

. Having been built in 1716, and later rebuilt after a fire of January 21, 1749, and again after the allied bombing of February 23, 1945.

History

Bereft of a large opera house, the

decided in the early 18th century to build a theatre for the city. Work began in 1716 and lasted 13 years. The theater was inaugurated on the evening of January 6, 1732, with the pastoral drama ''

La fida ninfa ''La fida ninfa'' (''The Faithful Nymph'', RV 714) is an opera by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Scipione Maffei. The opera was first performed for the opening of the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona on 6 January 1732. Michael Talbot. ''The Vivald ...

'' by

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

, a libretto by Scipio Maffei. The opera season became famous, and the performances led society events. But on January 21, 1749, an accidental fire consumed the building. The theater was rebuilt and rededicated in 1754 with the opera '' Lucio Vero'' by Neapolitan composer

Davide Perez Davide Perez (1711 – 30 October 1778) was an Italian opera composer born in Naples of Italian parents, and later resident court composer at Lisbon from 1752. He staged three operas on librettos of Metastasio at Lisbon with huge success in 1753 ...

. The opera had a limited success. During the Napoleonic French invasions, a long series of celebrations were held in the theater. In 1822 during the ,

Congress of Verona The Congress of Verona met at Verona from 20 October to 14 December 1822 as part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the ...

the '' La santa alleanza'' (''The Holy Alliance'') by

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

was performed. The theater hosted international singers, and among its repertoire appear the most famous works of Italian and foreign melodrama. On the night of February 23, 1945, the theater was razed by the Anglo-American bombing. The Philharmonic Academy announced that it would try to rebuild the theatre exactly as it had been before. The work lasted decades, and the theatre was inaugurated again in 1975, with the opera ''Falstaff'' by

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period (music), classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subje ...

. The theatre still hosts opera, ballets and concerts seasons. The operatic repertoire is one of the most famous for Italian operas and international (''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (; ''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

'', ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...

'', ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' ...) and the works of non-repertoire (A day of the kingdom, ''

Manon Lescaut ''The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut'' ( ) is a novel by Antoine François Prévost. It tells a tragic love story about a nobleman (known only as the Chevalier des Grieux) and a common woman (Manon Lescaut). Their decisio ...

'' of Auber, ''

Loreley The Lorelei ( ; or , or ; also found as ''Loreleï'', ''Lore Lay'', ''Lore-Ley'', ''Lurley'', ''Lurelei'' and ''Lurlei'' throughout history) is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at ...

'' of Catalani ...).

History

See also