The Teatro San Benedetto was a theatre in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, particularly prominent in the operatic life of the city in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It saw the premieres of over 140

operas Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a li ...

, including Rossini's ''

L'italiana in Algeri ''L'italiana in Algeri'' (; ''The Italian Girl in Algiers'') 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 ...

'', and was the theatre of choice for the presentation 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 ...

'' until

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix Theatre") is a historic 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 cen ...

was built in 1792.

History

The small, elegant theatre was first constructed by Michele Grimani on land owned by the

Venier Venier (, ) is a Venetian surname, derived from the Medieval name Venerius. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrea Venier, castellan of Scutari * Annibale Venier (born 1951), an Italian rower * Anton Venier, Austrian luger * Antonio Ve ...

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 A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

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 Gasparo Angiolini (7 February 1731 – 6 February 1803), real name Domenico Maria Gasparo, son of Francesco Angiolini and Maria Maddalena Torzi, was an Italian dancer, choreographer and composer. He was born in Florence and died in Milan. He is ...

. 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 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 ...

whose operas ''

'' 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 A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, 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.

Sources

*Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense (Ufficio Ricerca Fondi Musicali)
Luoghi di rappresentazione: Venezia
Accessed 9 November 2009 (in Italian). *Comune di Venezia
Ex Cinema Rossini, firmata la convenzione: ad aprile 2010 avvio dei lavori
press release of 22 April 2009. Accessed 9 November 2009 (in Italian). *Feldman, Martha
''Opera and sovereignty: transforming myths in eighteenth-century Italy''
University of Chicago Press, 2007, p. 390. *Talbot, Michael, "Grimani", ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'' 2nd Edition, 2001. {{authority control San Benedetto Music venues completed in 1755 Theatres completed in 1755