User:Vzeebjtf/sandbox/National Theatre (Church Street, Manhattan)

The 1833 Italian Opera House – the first purpose-built opera house in the United States – located on Church Street at the northwest corner of Leonard Street in New York City, was renamed National Theatre in 1836, when it became a playhouse. It was the venue where James W. Wallack, who later founded Wallack's Theatre, first gained prominence as a theatrical manager. The theater burned down in 1839, was rebuilt in 1840, and was again destroyed by fire in 1841, which ended its brief existence.

The plan
Lorenzo Da Ponte, who had moved to New York in 1805, became greatly interested in promoting Italian literature and music, and determined to give Italian opera a permanent home in his adopted city. He was successful in attracting wealthy New Yorkers, who in 1833 formed the Italian Opera Association in the City of New York and erected a lavish building on inexpensive land in a poor neighborhood. Ireland writes:

"The auditorium was different in arrangement from any hitherto seen in America. The second tier was composed entirely of private boxes, hung with curtains of crimson silk, and the first tier communicated with the balcony and pit, thus making the first advance toward the long-desired privilege of ladies occupying that portion of the house. The whole interior was pronounced magnificent, and, with the scenery and curtains, which were beautiful beyond all precedent, was the conjoint production of the distinguished Italian artists, Bragaldi, Albe, and Guidicini. The ground of the box fronts was white, with emblematical medallions, and octagonal panels of crimson, blue, and gold. The dome was painted with representations of the Muses. The sofas and pit-seats were covered with blue damask, and the floors were all carpeted."

The theater was 99 feet wide and 150 feet deep, and the stage was 40 feet wide and 70 feet deep. Capacity was 1,200 people.

The new venue was leased to Cavaliere Vincenzo Rivafinoli, an associate of Da Ponte's. In lieu of rent the investors retained boxes for their use during performances. The second-tier boxes not taken by the owners sold for $6,000 per season. The singers included Clementina and Rosina Fanti, sopranos; Louisa Bordogni, mezzo-soprano; Schneider-Maroncelli, contralto; Giovanni Fabj and Ravaglia, tenors; and Di Rosa and Porto, basses. The orchestra, led by Emilio C. Halma, included Alfred Boucher, cello (later a conductor of the New York Philharmonic); Alessandro Gambati, cornet; and Felippe Cioffi, trombone. The prices of admission were high: boxes, $1.50; sofa-seats, $2.00; parterre, $1.00; and gallery, 75¢.

The failure
The opera house opened Monday, November 18, 1833 – the great social and musical event of the day – with Gioachino Rossini's La gazza ladra. The season included Il barbiere di Siviglia, La donna del lago, Il turco in Italia, La Cenerentola, and Matilde di Shabran, by Rossini; Gli arabi nelle Gallie, by Giovanni Pacini; Il matrimonio segreto, by Domenico Cimarosa; and La casa da vendere, by Carlo Salvioni, the chorus master of the troupe. The company gave 14 performances in Philadelphia in addition to about 66 in New York. But by the end of the season, July 21, 1834, Rivafinoli was a ruined man – the receipts had been $52,000 and the deficit $30,000 – and he promptly left the country.

The association then leased the house to one of the singers and the treasurer, who reduced both the size of the troupe and the ticket prices, and attempted a new season with an expanded repertory. They reopened the house November 10, 1834, with La straniera, by Vincenzo Bellini. On January 23, 1835, they produced Rossini's L'inganno felice and Eduardo e Cristina. Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe was sung for the first time in America on February 6. The performances were sporadic, however. The prima donna, Clementina Fanti, took her benefit on May 15, 1835 and promptly departed, after which the company disbanded.

Former mayor of New York Philip Hone, one of the backers of the house, wrote in his diary that there were two reasons Italian opera failed. One was the language barrier, and the other was the independent American spirit which, he expressed with some admiration, does not care to support an endeavor whose elite occupy $6,000 boxes. The New-York Mirror wrote that Italian opera was just too expensive to produce, and required larger subsidies, as in Europe, than were available in New York.

The house remained dark for more than a year, but opera returned to it eventually – in English.