News from Italy
Immortal temple of music: Teatro alla Scala
City Lights – Ramona Andrei
It was born from the ashes of the Teatro Regio of Villa Reale, which was destroyed on February 233 FebruaryAugust 3n August 3, 1778, the Teatro alla Scala was inaugurated in Milan. And still today, after 246 years, the whole world envies us.
How was the temple born in which stars such as Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Arturo Toscanini, Maria Callas Herbert von Karajan, and later Claudio Abbado celebrated the ritual of music? Here is the story of a temple of opera that the whole world envies us.
The Teatro alla Scala (for all simply La Scala) was born, unfortunately or fortunately, on February 26, 1776; the Royal Ducal was awarded the title of “theatre of the Milanese”. Teatro dei Milanesi was the Regio Ducale, located more or less where the Palazzo Reale is today. When it was destroyed, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria decided to have a new one built in the area of the fourteenth-century church of Santa Maria della Scala (named in honour of Regina della Scala, wife of Bernabò Visconti).
As mentioned, the Teatro Alla Scala was built by the decree of Maria Theresa of Austria. It was to be the largest, and the Vienna Opera was later built on its example. It was born from the ashes of the Teatro Regio of Villa Reale, destroyed by fire on February 23, 1776, and from the rubble of the crumbling church of Santa Maria della Scala, demolished to make way for it, from which it took its name.
The project by the architect Giuseppe Piermarini was carried out with the contribution of the 90 owners of the boxes of the Regio, which went up in smoke. At the time, no square was in front of the facade (today, Piazza della Scala). Since the area was narrow due to the presence of old buildings, Piermarini studied the arched entrance to divide the passage of carriages from that of pedestrians. In 1778, the architect Giuseppe Piermarini completed the theatre, inaugurated on August 3 with a work by Antonio Salieri, L’Europacognita. The horseshoe-shaped structure of La Scala has inspired many opera houses around the world.
Marie-Henri Beyle Stendhal was amazed at having found herself in front of; she wrote, “the most beautiful theatre in the world, the one that gives the greatest musical enjoyment. It is impossible to imagine anything bigger, more solemn and new.”
But the Milan theatre has shed its skin several times, like a cultural giant adapting to the times.
We would have seen guests gambling if we had entered between 1778 and 1786. Each box had an owner and a tenant who could choose the furnishings and ornaments and would have to provide their own heating and oil lighting. There were also shops and a busy restaurant. Social gatherings, dances and light shows took place on the stage and in the stalls. Even boisterous parties could be held. On the stage, as in the stalls, one attended social gatherings, dances and shows, even at noisy parties. In short, it was a sort of exclusive club mainly intended for the nobles and the bourgeoisie.
But changes soon came. Just a year later, with the constitution of the Cisalpine Republic, all noble coats of arms were removed from the boxes. With Napoleon, the royal box was abolished, and in 1807, La Scala was decorated with medallions, winged lions and flute players, which still overlook the halls today. In 1858, all the buildings between the facade and Palazzo Marino were demolished, the place where the council of the Municipality of Milan now resides; the “Ricor “i” comp” ny opened its offices south of the theatre, and this is no coincidence: if today Ricordi is a well-known record company, in those years it was a leader in the sector of musical scores. Gas lighting arrived in the theatre in 1860, while electricity entered in 1883.
On 9 August 1859, in front of King Vittorio Emanuele II, Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti was staged. Verdi also returned to La Scala and presented the European premiere of Aida there. Then, in hard times of crisis, the pressure of the socialists due to a robust social problem prompted the Municipality of Milan to close La Scala, which was reopened the following year. In 1891, the Loggione was obtained from the highest boxes, the “popular “r” area” from which today the successes or failures of debutants and premieres are decreed.
Fascism gives La Scala the first mobile bridge stage, but the war wounds it badly. On 16 August 1943, a bombing hit Milan. Della Scala’ScalaScala’st and long stretches of the four tiers of boxes, the costume warehouses, the dressing rooms, the choir and dance studio rooms and the stage workshops were destroyed. From 1945 to 1946, the reconstruction. And the return by popular demand of Toscanini, with an inaugural opera, La Gazza Ladra, on 11 May 1946. It was a symbolic show of rebirth. There were 5,000 people inside the theatre and several thousand in Piazza della Scala and in the adjacent streets, equipped with loudspeakers. Those were still the times when ordinary people hummed the tunes of the opera; they knew its protagonists well, as today they know pop singers and actors.
The economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s followed. But La Scala was, above all, witness to the protests of the following decade.
One of all in ’68, i’68’68midst of the youth revolution. Armed with rotten eggs and paint, the young men attacked gentlemen in tuxedos and ladies in furs who had arrived for the season premiere. The slogans accused them of being “Bourg “oi” and” ex” lo “that” five”. And” t” e appointment with the street demonstrations has continued from year to year, in the event of 7 December.
The tremendous musical body evolved a lot between 2002 and 2004, with a conservative restoration, new environments for the artists and an articulated stage machine. The red carpet was removed, and an equally acoustic wood-based floor was placed. Paintings on the walls and gilded inlays have been restored. An additional 3,000 meters of red damask revived the temple of music.
However, the project by the architect Mario Botta, who created a scenic tower and an oval one, two massive volumes that partially changed the original face of the building, has caused discussion. The architect explained it this way: “Today “, compared to PiermaPiermarini’srini’ss, there is more visual depth due to the space created for Piazza della Scala. To separate the two different historical periods, the new volumes are set back from the original construction, intending to highlight the historic facades in the symbolic relationship with the urban fabric and the abstract language of the new buildings”.
The history of La Scala is like a giant “organism. A large body that results from the collaboration of many individuals. But, while individuals die, La Scala continues over time with their ideas.
