An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institution's administration.
While some venues are constructed specifically for operas, other opera houses are part of larger performing arts centers. Indeed, the term opera house is often used as a term of prestige for any large performing arts center.
History
Greco-Roman antiquity
Based on
Aristoxenus's musical system,
[Vitruvius, De architectura, Book V Chapter IV, Harmonic music according to the doctrine of Aritoxene, p. 223] and paying homage to the architects of ancient Greek theater,
Vitruvius described, in the 1st century BC, in his treatise
De architectura, the ideal acoustics of theaters. He explained the use of brazen vases that Mummius had brought to Rome after having had the theater of
Corinth demolished, and as they were probably used in the Theater of Pompey. As wooden theaters were naturally sonorous, these vases, placed between the seats on the stands, served as resonators in the stone buildings: "By means of this arrangement, the voice, which will come from the stage as from a center, will extend in circles, will strike in the cavities of the vases, and will be made stronger and clearer, according to the relationship of consonance that it will have with one of these vases."
[Vitruvius, De architectura, Book V Chapter IV, Harmonic music according to the doctrine of Aritoxene, p. 243] The odeon built by
Pericles near the Theater of Dionysus in
Athens was, according to the
Suda, intended for the rehearsal of music that was to be sung in the grand theater or, according to
Plutarch, for the jury to audition musicians competing for a prize.
[Vitruvius, De architectura, Book V Chapter IV, Harmonic music according to the doctrine of Aritoxene, p. 286]
Ancient theaters provided the ideal conditions, but it was not yet time for opera: the aim was to worship the deities, not to venerate the muses. The subject was religious, it was accompanied by singing and instrumental music. Worship was public, and the audience was made up of citizens as well as other categories of the population. Four centuries later, the Christian Church abandoned spectacles as practiced in Antiquity. , representative of Greco-Roman civilization, gradually disappeared.
Middle Ages
The
Middle Ages saw the abandonment of ancient theaters, which were transformed into gigantic stone
quarry, like many other ancient buildings, both public or private. Music still had its place in worship. It continued to bring audiences together, but its content was completely renewed. The
Jeu de Daniel ("Play of Daniel") was a sung play, characteristic of the medieval Renaissance of the 12th century. The subject, taken from the
Bible Book of Daniel, deals with Israel's captivity in Babylon.
The play was written and performed by students of the Episcopal School of
Beauvais, located in northern France.
[ ] In the 15th century, sung theater of a religious nature found a special place in the
performed on cathedral squares. As before, they dealt with sacred subjects, but they were not about worship per se.
Secularism musical theater also existed, but had a more popular and intimate aspect (see, for example, Adam de la Halle's
Jeu de Robin et Marion ("Play of Robin and Marion"), in the 13th century).
[ Hutchinson Encyclopedia (1988), p.10]
Modern period
At the beginning of the 17th century, in Italy, singing underwent yet another renewal, with the emergence of
Baroque art at the height of the
Renaissance. Italy continues to have many working opera houses,
such as the
Teatro Massimo in
Palermo (the biggest in the country), the italic=no in
Naples and the italic=no in
Milan. The Teatro San Cassiano in
Venice was the world's first public opera house, inaugurated as such in 1637.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, opera houses were often financed by rulers, nobles, and wealthy people who used patronage of the arts to endorse their political ambition and social position. There was no opera house in London when Henry Purcell was composing and the first opera house in Germany, the Oper am Gänsemarkt, was built in Hamburg in 1678, followed by the Oper am Brühl in Leipzig in 1693, and the italic=no in Naumburg in 1701. With the rise of bourgeois and capitalism social forms in the 19th century, European culture moved away from its patronage system to a publicly supported system.
Early United States opera houses served a variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting community dances, fairs, plays, and vaudeville shows as well as operas and other musical events. In the 2000s, most opera and theatre companies are supported by funds from a combination of government and institutional grants, ticket sales, and private donations.
File:Théâtre Municipal - Metz (FR57) - 2022-02-27 - 5.jpg|italic=no, built by benefactor Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle during the 18th century; it is the oldest opera house working in France.
File:Stavovské divadlo vstup 2.jpg|The Estates Theatre in Prague (Czech Republic) is the only theatre left standing where Mozart performed.
File:Théâtre Liceu Barcelone 3.jpg|Between 1847 and 1989, the Liceu in Barcelona (Spain) was the largest opera house in Europe by capacity, with its 2,338 seats at the time.
File:Academy of Music, Philadelphia.jpg|The Academy of Music in Philadelphia is the oldest opera house in the USA.
File:Bayreuth Festspielhaus 2006-07-16.jpg|The Bayreuth Festspielhaus in Bayreuth (Germany) was built by Richard Wagner and dedicated solely to the performance of his stage works.
Other uses of the term
In the 19th-century United States, many theaters were given the name "opera house", even ones where opera was seldom if ever performed. Opera was viewed as a more respectable art form than
theater; calling a local theater an "opera house" therefore served to elevate it and overcome objections from those who found the theater morally objectionable.
Gallery
File:Milano - Teatro alla Scala 3924.jpg|italic=no in Milan, Italy
File:Teatro La Fenice (Venice) - Facade.jpg|La Fenice in Venice, Italy
File:Berlin Opera UdL asv2018-05.jpg|Berlin State Opera on italic=no, Germany
File:Nationaltheater Munich.jpg|National Theatre in Munich, Germany; home to the Bavarian State Opera
File:Teatro Real de Madrid 2025.jpg|Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain
File:Moscow-Bolshoi-Theare-1.jpg|Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia; home to the Bolshoi Ballet
File:Warszawa, ul. Senatorska 21, 25 20170516 001.jpg|Grand Theatre in Warsaw, Poland
File:Théâtre de la Monnaie 1.JPG|La Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium
File:Royal Opera House and ballerina.jpg|Royal Opera House in London, UK
File:Санкт-Петербург, Мариинский театр, фасад (edited version).jpg|Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia
File:Wien - Staatsoper (1).JPG|Vienna State Opera in Austria
File:Paris Opera full frontal architecture, May 2009.jpg|italic=no in Paris, France
File:Monaco - panoramio (68).jpg|Opéra de Monte-Carlo in Monaco
File:Semperoper at night.jpg|italic=no in Dresden, Germany
File:Hungarian State Opera House(PDXdj).jpg|Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest, Hungary
File:Prague 07-2016 View from Petrinska Tower img4.jpg|National Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic
File:Fachada del Teatro Colón en Buenos Aires, Argentina.jpg|italic=no in Buenos Aires, Argentina
File:Opernhaus Zürich - Sechseläutenplatz 2013-08-31 18-30-40.JPG|Zürich Opera House in Zürich, Switzerland
File:Teatro Municipal de São Paulo 8.jpg|Theatro Municipal in São Paulo, Brazil
File:KennedyCenterFromAir2.JPG|Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., USA
File:Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, January 30, 2025.jpg|Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City, USA
File:Amsterdam - Stopera (30213475601).jpg|The Stopera in Amsterdam, Netherlands
File:New National Theatre, Tokyo 2010.jpg|New National Theatre Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan
File:Copenhagen Opera House 2014 04.jpg|Copenhagen Opera House in Denmark
File:Full Opera by night.jpg|Oslo Opera House in Norway
File:National Centre for the Performing Arts.jpg|National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China
See also
-
List of opera houses
-
List of opera festivals
-
List of concert halls
-
List of buildings
-
Small-town opera house
-
Architectural acoustics
Notes
Sources
-
Allison, John (ed.), Great Opera Houses of the World, supplement to Opera Magazine, London 2003
-
Beauvert, Thierry, Opera Houses of the World, The Vendome Press, New York, 1995.
-
Beranek, Leo. , New York: Springer, 2004.
-
Hughes, Spike. Great Opera Houses; A Traveller's Guide to Their History and Traditions, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1956.
-
Kaldor, Andras. Antique Collectors Club, 2002.
-
Lynn, Karyl Charna, , Santa Fe, New Mexico: John Muir Publications, 1991.
-
Lynn, Karyl Charna, Italian Opera Houses and Festivals, Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005.
-
Plantamura, Carol, , Citadel Press, 1996,
-
Sicca, Luigi Maria, "The management of opera houses: The Italian experience of the Enti Autonomi", Taylor & Francis, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 1997,
External links
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "Great Opera Houses of the World" on h2g2
