The Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, now known as the Teatro Malibran

Teatro Malibran

The Teatro Malibran, formerly known as the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, is an opera house in Venice known for its operatic importance in the 17th and 18th centuries...

, is an 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 Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. Founded in 1678 by the Grimani

Grimani

The Grimani family were a prominent Venetian patrician family, including three Doges of Venice. They were active in trade, politics and later the ownership of theatres and opera-houses...

 family, it was founded primarily to provide entertainment for the aristocracy and to advance the social position of the Grimani family, and was not expected to be a profitable commercial venture. Lavish productions and high-class singers - such as Margherita Durastanti

Margherita Durastanti

Margherita Durastanti was an Italian singer of the 18th century. Vocally, she is best described as a soprano, though later in her career her tessitura descended to that of a mezzo-soprano. First heard of professionally in Mantua in 1700-01, she later appeared in Bologna and Reggio Emilia , Milan...

, who was prima donna from 1709 to 1712 - were the norm, and ticket prices were accordingly high. The house hosted opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

s by both George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

 and Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...

.

Many of the librettists for the operas were noblemen, and on occasion members of the Grimani family themselves wrote the libretto; the opera book for Handel's Agrippina

Agrippina (opera)

Agrippina is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, from a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of...

, which premiered at the house in 1709, was written by Vincenzo Grimani

Vincenzo Grimani

Vincenzo Grimani was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and opera librettist.Grimani was born either in Venice or Mantua....

.

Premieres

• Mitridate Eupatore
  Mitridate Eupatore
  Il Mitridate Eupatore is an opera seria in five acts by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti with a libretto by Girolamo Frigimelica Roberti. It was first performed at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice on 5 January, 1707...
  
  , opera seria
  Opera seria
  Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
  
   by Alessandro Scarlatti, 5 January 1707
• Agrippina
  Agrippina (opera)
  Agrippina is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, from a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of...
  
  , opera seria
  Opera seria
  Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
  
  by George Frideric Handel, 26 December 1709