Colón Theater
Encyclopedia
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
see Teatro de Cristobal Colón
Teatro de Cristóbal Colón
thumb|200px|Facade of the Teatro de Cristobal Colón Bogotá D.C.thumb|200px|Frescoes of six muses on the ceiling of the main hallThe Teatro de Cristóbal Colón , also known as the "Teatro Colón", is located in Bogotá, Colombia and it is the nation's National Theatre...
The Teatro Colón (Spanish) (Columbus Theatre) is the main opera house
Opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, acoustically considered to be amongst the five best concert venues in the world.
The present Colón replaced an original theatre which opened in 1857. Towards the end of the century it became clear that a new theatre was needed and, after a 20-year process, the present theatre opened on May 25, 1908, with Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Aïda
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
.
The Teatro Colón was visited by the foremost singers and opera companies of the time, who would sometimes go on to other cities including Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
.
After this period of huge international success, the theatre's decline became clear and plans were made for massive renovations. After an initial start of works to restore the landmark in 2005, the theatre was closed for refurbishment from October 2006 to May 2010. It re-opened on May 24, 2010, with a program for the 2010 season.
The first Teatro Colón
By the mid-1850s, with the flourishing of opera performed by touring companies, the need for a new theatre became obvious. In 1854 alone, 53 different operas were performed in the city. The first Teatro Colón building, overlooking Plaza de MayoPlaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is flanked by Hipólito Yrigoyen, Balcarce, Rivadavia and Bolívar streets....
, was started in 1856 and opened on April 27, 1857, with Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, just four years after its Italian premiere. The production starred Sofia Vera Lorini as Violetta and Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and America's leading opera venues. He excelled in the heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his powerful declamation and clarion high notes.-Career:Born in Rome, some sources claim that...
as Alfredo. The theatre was designed by Charles Pellegrini
Charles Pellegrini
Charles Pellegrini was a French Argentine engineer, lithographer, painter, and architect.-Life and work:Charles Henri Pellegrini was born in Chambéry, Savoie, France, in 1800. His mother, Marguerite Berthet, was French, and his father, Bernardo Pellegrini, was from Canton Ticino, Switzerland...
, and proved to be a successful venue for over 30 years, with 2,500 seats and the inclusion of a separate gallery reserved only for women.
Before the construction of the current Teatro Colón, opera performances were given in several theatres, of which the first Teatro Colón and the Teatro Opera
Teatro Opera
The Teatro Opera is a prominent cinema and theatre house in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Overview:The Opera Theatre was developed in 1871 by Antonio Petalardo, a local businessman who foresaw a need for popular theatre catering to the city's booming population in subsequent years...
were the most important. The principal company that performed at the Teatro Opera moved to the Teatro Colón in 1908. However, important companies also performed at the Teatro Politeama and the Teatro Coliseo which opened in 1907.
Characteristics
The theatre is bounded by the wide 9 de Julio Avenue9 de Julio Avenue
Avenida 9 de Julio is a wide avenue in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816.The avenue runs roughly one kilometer to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront, from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the south...
(technically Cerrito Street), Libertad Street (the main entrance), Arturo Toscanini Street, and Tucumán Street. It is in the heart of the city on a site once occupied by Ferrocarril Oeste's Plaza Parque station.
The auditorium is horseshoe-shaped, has 2,487 seats (slightly more than the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, London), standing room for 1,000 and a stage which is 20 m wide, 15 m high and 20 m deep. The Colon's
acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
are considered to be so good as to place it in the top five performance venues in the world. Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
held a similar opinion
Opening and subsequent history
The present theatre, the second with that name, opened on May 25, 1908, after twenty years under construction, and was inaugurated with AidaAida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
by the Italian company directed by Luigi Mancinelli and tenor Amadeo Bassi, soprano Lucia Crestani (as Aida). The second performance was Thomas' Hamlet
Hamlet (opera)
Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
with the baritone Titta Ruffo
Titta Ruffo
Titta Ruffo , born as Ruffo Titta Cafiero, was an Italian opera star who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" , he was greatly admired, even by rival baritones, such as Giuseppe De Luca, who said of Ruffo: "His was not a voice, it was a miracle" Titta Ruffo (9...
During the inaugural season seventeen operas were performed with famous stars such as Ruffo, Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...
in Boito's Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
, Antonio Paoli
Antonio Paolí
Antonio Paoli was a Puerto Rican tenor. He was known at the height of his fame as "The King of Tenors and The Tenor of Kings." He is considered to be the first Puerto Rican to reach international fame in the musical arts...
in Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, and the world
The cornerstone of the present Teatro Colón was laid in 1889 under the direction of architect Francesco Tamburini
Francesco Tamburini
Francesco Tamburini was an architect born in Italy who died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied architecture in the Royal Academy of Naples and arrived in Argentina in 1881 where he was employed as Inspector General of National Architecture from 1883 until his death in 1891.His works included...
and his pupil, Vittorio Meano
Vittorio Meano
Vittorio Meano was an Italian architect born in Susa, Italy, near Turin.-Background and early career:He studied architecture in Albertina Academy in Turin....
, who designed a theater in the Italian style on a scale and with amenities which matched those in Europe. However, delays followed due to financial difficulties, arguments regarding the location, the death of Tamburini in 1891, the murder of Meano in 1904 and the death of Angelo Ferrari, an Italian businessman who was the financing the new theatre. The building was finally completed in 1908 under the direction of the Belgian architect Julio Dormal
Julio Dormal
Julio Dormal was a Belgian architect who, after studying in Paris, arrived in Argentina in 1868 where he became one of first exponents of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture....
who made some changes in the structure and left his mark in the French style of the decoration. The bas-reliefs and busts on the facade are the work of sculptor Luigi Trinchero
Luigi Trinchero
Luigi Trinchero was an Italian sculptor, most active in Argentina after 1888, most notably the bas-reliefs and busts on the facade of the Teatro Colón.- Biography :...
.
The theatre's opening on May 25, the Día de la Patria in Argentina, featured a performance of Verdi's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
and it quickly became a world-famous operatic venue rivaling La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
and the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in attracting most of the world's best opera singers and conductors.
Ballet stars performed at the Colón alongside Argentine dancers and classical instrumentalists. The tragic 1971 aviation death of two of the best known of these, Norma Fontenla
Norma Fontenla
Norma Fontenla was an Argentine prima ballerina.-Life and work:Fontenla was born in 1930, and while still a child, began attending the National Conservatory of Music and Scenic Art, in Buenos Aires. She was later accepted into the dance school of the Colón Theatre, the nation's premier opera house...
and José Neglia
José Neglia
José Neglia was a notable Argentine ballerino, who perhaps more than any other figure, helped popularize the classical ballet in his country.-Life and work:...
, was commemorated with a monument in neighboring Lavalle Square.
With excellent acoustics and modern stage areas, the theatre's interior design features a rich scarlet and gold decor. The cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
contains fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es painted in 1966 by the 20th-century artist Raúl Soldi
Raúl Soldi
Raúl Soldi was an Argentine painter whose work treated various subjects, including landscapes, portraits, the theater and the circus, and nature. His theatrical figures are renowned for their melancholy appearance...
during renovation work.
Refurbishment, 2005 - 2010
In recent years, given the political and economic circumstances of Argentina, the Colón Theatre has suffered considerably, but a period of slow recovery began. The theatre underwent massive phased remodeling of both interior and exterior, initially while the house was still open, but production activities ceased at the end of October 2006 to allow full refurbishment.Initially, "what had been planned as an 18-month, $25-million renovation with 500 workers, scheduled for a May 2008 reopening with Aida, became a three-year $100-million extravaganza with 1,500 workers including 130 professional architects and engineers." In addition, an exterior open-air stage was planned for an opening in 2011. In all, 60000 sqm underwent updating, both inside and out.
Some of the last performances immediately before closure of the theatre's building were Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
on 30 September with the Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic
Buenos Aires Philharmonic
The Buenos Aires Philharmonic is an Argentinian orchestra based in Buenos Aires. Founded in 1946, it is based in the renowned Colón Theatre, and is considered one of the more prestigious orchestras in its nation and Latin America, and has received several honours in 60 years of history. Its local...
(Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires). and, on 28 October, the opera Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
was given featuring Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón and the house chorus.
The theatre's final performance before its closure for refurbishment works in 2005 was a concert on November 1 starring folklore singer Mercedes Sosa
Mercedes Sosa
Haydée Mercedes Sosa, known as La Negra, was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout South America and some countries outside the continent. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción. She gave voice to songs written by both...
in performance with the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra
Argentine National Symphony Orchestra
The Argentine National Symphony Orchestra is the state symphony of Argentina, and is based in Buenos Aires.-Overview:Established as the State Symphony Orchestra, on November 20, 1948, via a bill signed by President Juan Perón, the orchestra was created that it could "constitute the pitch of...
, conducted by Pedro Ignacio Calderón.
While it was originally planned to reopen in time for the centenary on 25 May 2008, delays prevented this, and the house was finally reopened with a gala concert and 3D animations on 24 May 2010, the eve of its own 102nd birthday and the Argentina Bicentennial
Argentina Bicentennial
The Argentina Bicentennial is a series of celebrations and observances celebrated on May 25, 2010, and throughout the year. They commemorated the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution, a sequence of historical events that led to the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros' being ousted from office...
. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
and Act 2 of Puccini's La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
were performed. A private concert to test the acoustics attended by employees, architects, and others involved in the renovation occurred on 6 May 2010.
See also
External links
- Official website
- History of opera in Buenos Aires
- Informations & pictures about Teatro colón
- Website with interior photos of the house
- Description of a visit to Buenos Aires' Premier Opera House
- Description of a visit to the Teatro Colon at the end of October 2006, just before its closure for refurbishment until 25 May 2008
- Panoramic virtual tour of inside the theatre in 2004
- Architectural History of the Teatro Colon
- 'http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=1800651