Teatro La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is a famous opera house in Venice, Italy. People often call it simply La Fenice. Its name comes from the Italian word Fenice, meaning Phoenix. The Phoenix is a mythical bird. It dies in fire and is born again from the ashes.
History[change | change source]
An older opera house in Venice called the Teatro San Benedetto burnt down in 1774. It was the main, opera house in Venice. Some noblemen built it again, but the Venier, a famous family in Venice, made them sell the new theatre to them. So, the noblemen built a new opera house in 1792. They called it Teatro La Fenice. The first opera performed there was Giovanni Paisiello's I giochi di Agrigento (The Games of Agrigento).[1]
La Fenice burnt down in 1836. It was built again in 1837. On 29 January 1996, La Fenice burnt down again. It was set on fire by two men working on the building. They were sent to prison for arson.[2] La Fenice was built again in 2003 in the style of the old one.[3] The architect, Aldo Rossi, used pictures and movies of the old La Fenice to plan the new one.
Five of Giuseppe Verdi's operas had their first performance at Teatro La Fenice:
- Ernani (1844)
- Attila (1846)
- Rigoletto (1851)
- La traviata (1853)
- Simon Boccanegra (1857)
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Feldman, Martha (2011). Opera and Sovereignty: Transforming Myths in Eighteenth-Century Italy, pp. 390-96. University of Chicago Press
- ↑ Webb, Alex (30 March 2001). "La Fenice's troubled history". BBC News
- ↑ Blum, Ronald (15 December 2003). "La Fenice Theater Rises From Ashes In Venice". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Associated Press
- Beauvert, Thierry (1996). Opera Houses of the World. The Vendome Press. ISBN 0-86565-978-8
Other websites[change | change source]
- Official website Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine