The Teatro dell’Opera was originally known as the Teatro Costanzi after the contractor who built it, Domenico Costanzi (1810-1898), from the time it was constructed in 1879 until 1926, the year it was purchased by the Governorship of Rome.
Domenico Costanzi appointed Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini (1836- 1900), who specialized in the building and renovation of theatres, to realize the project.
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, conducted by Giovanni Rossi, which was attended by the Italian royal family.
In 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 a gallery, surmounted by a dome with splendid frescoes by Annibale Brugnoli.
Costanzi had invested virtually his entire fortune in the theatre and when the Rome City Council refused to buy the theatre, he was obliged to manage it himself. 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 (17 May 1890), which later became celebrated classics.
For a brief period, the theatre was managed by Costanzi’s son, Enrico, who must be given the credit for having organized another great premiere, that of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (14 January 1900). However, 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, numerous works that had not been performed before in Rome or even in Italy, were staged at the Costanzi: 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. Last but not least, Diaghilev’s Les Ballets Russes also performed there.
When the Costanzi was bought by the Rome City Council, its name was changed to Teatro Reale dell’Opera, and it was partly rebuilt by architect Marcello Piacentini.
Thus the theatre was closed from 15 November 1926 until 27 February 1928, when it reopened with the opera Nerone by A. Boito, conducted by Gino Marinuzzi.
The rebuilding resulted in a number of major changes; for example, the entrance, originally located in the street formerly known as Via del Teatro – where the garden of the Hotel Quirinale is presently situated – was moved to the opposite side, where Piazza Beniamino Gigli was subsequently built.
The amphitheatre, inside the theatre, was demolished and replaced by a fourth tier of boxes (now the third tier) and the balcony.
The interior was also embellished by new stuccowork, decorations and furnishings, as well as a magnificent chandelier measuring 6 metres in diameter and composed of 27,000 crystal drops.
With the advent of the Republic, the name of the opera house was changed to Teatro dell’Opera, and in 1958 the building was remodelled and modernized by the Rome City Council.
The architect Marcello Piacentini drew up the plans, radically altering the existing architectural style and designing the present façade, entrance and foyer.
Founded almost a century ago, the Teatro dell’Opera has always enjoyed growing prestige at home and abroad.
Over the course of many seasons a succession of world famous singers have performed at the Teatro dell’Opera: from Caruso to Gigli, Cˇalljaplin, Pertile and Lauri Volpi; from Muzio to Caniglia, Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballé, Marylin Horne and Raina Kabaivanska; from Del Monaco to Corelli, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi and Alfredo Kraus, up to Raimondi, Carreras, Domingo and
Pavarotti. And celebrated directors: Erich Kleiber, Klemperer, Toscanini, De Sabata, Marinuzzi, Gui, Serafin, Von Karaian , Gavazzeni, Solti, Abbado, Pretre, Mehta, Maazel, Rostropovich, Patané, Sinopoli, Sawallisch, Sanzogno, Gelmetti.
Such artistic activity – and so much artistic activity - has left the Teatro with an enormous number of documents and testimonials on its hands which now, after a laborious but necessary work of reorganisation, have been opened up to the public. The recently created Historical and Audiovisual Archive of the Teatro dell’Opera has brought together and catalogued all the materials available.