For almost half a century, during the period from its construction in1879 to when it was acquired by the then governorship of the city (1926), the Teatro dell’Opera carried the name of its constructor, Domenico Costanzi, who had entrusted the Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini with the task of finally providing the capital with a theatre befitting of the universal prestige of the Italian opera tradition.

Sfrondini designed a project to optimize the acoustics of the theatre by developing the structure as a ‘resonance chamber’: its horseshoe shape is one of the most evident examples of this. With a seating capacity of 2212, it had three tiers of boxes, an amphitheatre and a gallery; above which was located the prestigious dome decorated with the frescoes of the Perugian artist Annibale Brugnoli.

Completed in the record time of eighteen months and located on the area that had been the ancient site of the Villa of Heliogabalus, the Teatro Costanzi was inaugurated on the 27th November 1880 with the opera Semiramide by Gioachino Rossini. The conductor was Giovanni Rossi and the audience included King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. Costanzi had invested his entire personal fortune in the project and when the Rome City Council refused to buy the theatre, he was obliged to manage it himself. It was to his credit that, in spite of grave financial difficulties, the theatre was able to hold world premieres of operas that were to go on to become extremely famous, such as Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (17th May 1890). There was also a brief period when the theatre was managed by Enrico Costanzi, the son of the founder, who is credited for having contributed another great premiere: Tosca di Giacomo Puccini, on the 14th January 1900. However, in 1907 the theatre was purchased by the eclectic impresario Walter Mocchi on behalf of the Società Teatrale Internazionale e Nazionale, which managed some of Italy’s main Opera companies and took their shows on tour to North and South America during the season of the summer pause. In 1912 Emma Carelli, celebrated soprano and wife of Mocchi, became managing director of the “Impresa Costanzi”, as it was then known following numerous transformations of the company. During the fourteen years of her tenure numerous works that had never before been performed in Rome or Italy were staged at the Costanzi theatre: La fanciulla del West, Turandot and Trittico by Puccini; Parsifal by Richard Wagner; Francesca da Rimini by Renato Zandonai; Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgskij; Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns and others; not least Les Ballets Russes of Serghej Diaghilev.

Major change occurred in 1926: the Rome City Council, at the behest of Mussolini, finally decided to purchase the Costanzi and it was given the name Teatro Reale dell’Opera (The Royal Opera Theatre). The partial renovation of the building was entrusted to architect Marcello Piacentini. In reality, however, the changes that he made with respect to the original were substantial and notable. The entrance, situated in what used to be Via del Teatro (where the garden of the neighbouring Hotel Quirinale is now located) was transferred to the opposite side, in such a way as to create the Piazza Beniamino Gigli.

Inside, the amphitheatre was demolished and substituted by a fourth tier of boxes (now the third tier) and one balcony. The spaces were renovated and decorated with new stucco, decorations and carpets, in addition to the introduction of the majestic chandelier with a diameter of almost 6 metres, made up of twenty six thousand crystal drops, which have illuminated the stage since 27th February 1928, the day of the second inauguration with the opera Nerone by Arrigo Boito, conducted by the maestro Gino Marinuzzi. The work lasted less than sixteen months, but this was not the final definitive look for the theatre. Thirty years later the construction works reopened.

With the advent of the Republic the theatre acquired the name Teatro dell’Opera. In 1958 ahead of the 1960 Olympic games, the building underwent a further modernization and renovation at the behest of the city authorities. Piacentini, was again awarded the project, radically altering the existing architecture and creating the present façade, entrance and foyer.

In over a century of history the Teatro dell’Opera has written many memorable pages in the history of musical theatre, opera and dance. Internationally renowned composers, conductors, singers, dancers, directors, set and costume designers and choreographers have often graced its stage. The Teatro dell’Opera has hosted some of the world’s most acclaimed voices, from Enrico Caruso and Beniamino Gigli to Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Fëdor Ivanovič Šaljapin, from Aureliano Pertile to Claudia Muzio, from Maria Caniglia to Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi, from Montserrat Caballé to Marilyn Horne and Raina Kabaivanska, from Mario Del Monaco to Giuseppe Di Stefano, from Franco Corelli to Tito Gobbi, from Alfredo Kraus to Ruggero Raimondi, to José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.

Among the most illustrious conductors Otto Klemperer, Arturo Toscanini, Victor De Sabata, Vittorio Gui, Tullio Serafin, Erich Kleiber, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Georges Prêtre, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Nino Sanzogno, Gianluigi Gelmetti and more recently Riccardo Muti, have all performed at the theatre.
The wood, velvet and stucco of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma have witnessed the music of composers such as Pietro Mascagni and Giacomo Puccini, Ildebrando Pizzetti and Ottorino Respighi, Goffredo Petrassi and Alfredo Casella, Gian Francesco Malipiero and Umberto Giordano and many others. The history of the theatre and the performances identifies it as a genuine cradle of excellence for opera and musical theatre throughout the 20th century.