Il melodramma veneziano

Speranza

The TEATRO LA FENICE, occupying a large irregular site off the Campo San Fantin in the heart of the city, is the principal theatre in VENEZIA.

It was built in 1790 at the expense of the Nobile Società, a group of patricians and citizens, which had been obliged to relinquish the lease of the TEATRO SAN BENEDETTO, previously under their patronage.

The architect chosen was G. A. Selva, whose austere avant-garde scheme for the exterior had been preferred to the more conventional design of Pietro Bianchi.

Although the interior of the opera house was substantially altered after a fire in 1836m, Selva's principal frontages remain almost unchanged.

Adornment of the neo-classical facciata is virtually confined to the central section above the projecting Corinthian portico, where niches of MUSICA and DANZA are surmounted by masks representing TRAGEDIA and COMMEDIA, and, above them, STATUES on the same theme.

Filling the large central lunette is a relief of the FENICE, the emblem of the theatre.

The stone relief of the FENICE from the earlier theatre can be seen above the inside of the entrance, showing marks of fire.

Inside the portico, on either side of the entrance, are memorial stones to SELVA on the right and to the dramatist GOLDONI on the left.

Owned and operated by its box-holders, the members of the Nobile Società, LA FENICE was from the start a great success, sustained by performances of works by such composers as BELLINI, DONIZETTI, and ROSSINI -- his "Tancredi" and "Semiramide" were first performed here in 1813 and 1823 respectively.

Despite Effie Ruskin's criticism that the theatre was too fashionable to be taken seriously, from the mid-1840s the VERDI operas enjoyed an enormous popularity here.

So popular were they, indeed, that RIGOLETTO (1851), LA TRAVIATA (1853) and SIMON BOCCANEGRA (1857) were directly commissioned by La Fenice, although, unfortunately, LA TRAVIATA was not well received.

Later in the century, the production of operas by Puccini and Wagner proved as successful, whine in our own time Stravinsky's THE RAKE'S PROGRESSmade a memorable début in 1951.

Today, the theatre is opened throughout the yar (except August) for performances of opera.