The oldest working opera house in Europe, the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, is to reopen on Wednesday following a two-year restoration project involving three hundred workers and an expenditure of 67 million euros [£58 m / $94.5 m].
Under the direction of architect Elisabetta Fabbri the theatre, once celebrated as the most beautiful in Europe and perhaps the world, has once again become a state of the art venue for opera. In particular, a hi-tech stage set has been installed and the theatre has at last been provided with air conditioning so that it will no longer be necessary to leave the doors open during performances from May to September.
The theatre was the inspiration of the Bourbon King Charles VII of Naples [known as Carlo III in Italian] who wanted to give his city a sumptuous, up-to-date theatre that would be admired by visitors from all over the world.
This he did and the theatre, decorated in gold and luxuriously upholstered in the blue and gold Bourbon colours, successfully opened in 1737. The theatre was destroyed by fire in 1816 and rebuilt under the direction of Antonio Niccolini and this is the structure that we see today. In 1818 the French writer Stendhal wrote of it that
“It dazzles the eyes, enraptures the soul.”
In 1845 the theatre was again refurbished and the blue and gold were replaced by red and gold. In 1872, at the suggestion of Verdi, an orchestra pit was added and electricity was installed in 1890. The theatre was bombed in 1943 but was quickly repaired by the Allied occupying forces.
In its heyday Naples was the capital of European music and Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini and Verdi all had premières there. Rossini was house composer and director of the Royal Opera Houses from 1815-22 [when he famously left with the theatre’s prima donna, Isabella Colbran] and was followed in this post by Donizetti from 1822-38.
In 2007 government administrators took charge of the theatre because it was found to have debts of over 20 million euros. The Chief Administrator now says that they hope to be able to hand the theatre back into local authority control soon.
The theatre will reopen with a performance of Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” conducted by Jeffrey Tate and directed by Luca Ronconi. President Napolitano is expected to attend.
Naples has received much bad publicity in recent times and it is hoped that the occasion will inaugurate not only the revival of the theatre but of the city.
