Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma - The Original Costanzi Theatre, 1880 To 1926

The Original Costanzi Theatre, 1880 To 1926

The Teatro dell'Opera was originally known as the Teatro Costanzi after the contractor who built it, Domenico Costanzi (1810-1898). It was privately financed by Costanzi who commissioned the Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini (1836-1900), a specialist in the building and renovation of theatres.

The opera house was built in eighteen months, on the site where the house of Heliogabalus stood in ancient times, and was inaugurated on 27 November 1880 with a performance of Semiramide by Gioachino Rossini.

Designing the theatre, Sfondrini paid particular attention to the acoustics, conceiving the interior structure as a "resonance chamber", as is evident from the horseshoe shape in particular. Originally, the theatre, with a seating capacity of 2212, had three tiers of boxes, an amphitheatre, and two separate galleries, surmounted by a dome with splendid frescoes by Annibale Brugnoli.

Costanzi was obliged to manage it himself and, under his direction, and despite the fact that he had to deal with various financial problems, the opera house held many world premieres of operas, including Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni on 17 May 1890. For a brief period, the theatre was managed by Costanzi's son, Enrico, who gained prominence by having organized another great premiere, Tosca by Giacomo Puccini on 14 January 1900.

In 1907, the Teatro Costanzi was purchased by the impresario Walter Mocchi (1870-1955) on behalf of the Società Teatrale Internazionale e Nazionale (STIN). In 1912 Mocchi's wife, Emma Carelli, became the managing director of the new Impresa Costanzi, as the theatre was later known, following various changes in the company structure.

During the fourteen years of her tenure, major works which had not been performed before in Rome (or even in Italy), were staged at the Costanzi. These included La fanciulla del West, Turandot and Il trittico by Giacomo Puccini; Parsifal by Richard Wagner; Francesca da Rimini by Riccardo Zandonai; Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky; Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns and many others. Also, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes also performed there.