Naples / Napoli, Italy - interior of Theatre San Carlo - postcard c.1970s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Napoli / Naples - inside of Theatre S. Carlo / Interno del Teatro S. Carlo
• Publisher:  IDP
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The Real Teatro di San Carlo (English: Royal Theatre of Saint Charles) is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is located adjacent to the central Piazza del Plebiscito, and connected to the Royal Palace. It is the oldest continuously active venue for public opera in Europe, opening decades before both the Milanese La Scala and Venetian La Fenice theaters.^[1]

The theatre was commissioned by the Bourbon King Charles VII of Naples (Carlo VII in Italian). Charles wanted to endow Naples with a new and larger theatre to replace the old and dilapidated Teatro San Bartolomeo of 1621. This new theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737, the king's name day, with the performance of the opera Domenico Sarro's Achille in Sciro, which was based on the play by the dramatist Metastasio. As was customary, the role of Achilles was played by a woman, Vittoria Tesi, called ""Moretta""; the opera also featured soprano Anna Peruzzi, called ""the Parrucchierina"" and tenor Angelo Amorevoli. Sarro also conducted the orchestra in two ballets as intermezzi, created by Gaetano Grossatesta, with scenes designed by Pietro Righini.^[1] The first seasons highlighted the royal preference for dance numbers, and featured among the performers famous castrati.

In the late 18th century, Christoph Willibald Gluck was called to Naples by the impresario Tufarelli to direct his Clemenza di Tito (1752) at the theater, and Johann Christian Bach in 1761-62 brought two titles, Cato and Alexander.

The theatre was designed by Giovanni Antonio Medrano, a military architect, and Angelo Carasale, the former theatre director for the San Bartolomeo theatre. It was built at a cost of 75,000 ducats. The hall was 28.6 meters long and 22.5 meters wide, with 184 boxes, including those of proscenium, arranged in six orders, plus a royal box capable of accommodating ten people, for a total of 1379 seats. Including standing room, the theatre could hold over 3000 persons.

The new theatre was much admired for its architecture, its gold decorations, and the sumptuous blue upholstery (blue and gold being the official colours of the Bourbons).

On 12 February 1816 the San Carlo was destroyed by fire. The outer walls remained intact. However, it was re-designed by the architect Antonio Niccolini and rebuilt within ten months on order of King Ferdinand IV, another Bourbon monarch and son of Charles III. Niccolini embellished in the inner of the bas-relief depicting ""Time and the Hour"". The central frescoed ceiling painting of Apollo presenting to Minerva the greatest poets of the world painted by Antonio, Giuseppe e Giovanni Cammarano.

On 12 January 1817, the rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Johann Simon Mayr's Il sogno di Partenope. Stendhal attended the second night of the inauguration and wrote: ""There is nothing in all Europe, I won’t say comparable to this theatre, but which gives the slightest idea of what it is like..., it dazzles the eyes, it enraptures the soul..."". It was designed as a traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium with 1,444 seats, and the proscenium is 33.5m wide and 30m high. The stage is 34.5m deep.

In 1844 there was a new redecoration under Niccolini his son Fausto and Francesco Maria dei Giudice. The main aspect of the new intervention has been the change of the theatre's interior appearance to the now-traditional red and gold.^[2] Apart from the creation of the orchestra pit suggested by Verdi in 1872, the installation of electricity in 1890, the subsequent abolition of the central chandelier and the construction of the new foyer and a new wing for dressing rooms, the theatre underwent no substantial changes until the bombing of the Second World War in 1943. However, the theatre was quickly repaired by the occupying Allied forces, and it re-opened within six months on 16 December 1943.

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=europe

county/ country=italy

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted