User:Woodhu/sandbox

user:cwmcvey77/sandbox


 * Bolded lines are edits made by me

Overall Plan on updating:

-Find out more on the burning down/destruction of the opera house --->Done

-Revise opening paragraph--->Done

-Find out more about what operas were performed and who performed there

-Revise lottery paragraph

-Speak on design of the building --->Done

-Add Pictures

-Check Sources/look for information that needs to be cited

[1] Crosby's Opera House (1865–1871) was an opera house in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was founded by Uranus H. Crosby in 1865 in an attempt to advance the arts in Chicago by bringing opera to the city. The building was designed by William W. Boyington. The building was five stories containing statues of painting, sculpture, music and commerce that welcomed visitors as they entered through the arch of the building. After holding only occasional performances, Crosby ran into many business difficulties leading him to have to sell the building in 1866. The Crosby Opera House Art Association was formed to help Crosby sell the building by lottery. The lottery distributed over 210,000 tickets, awarding purchasers great works of art and even the building itself. After it was sold back to Crosby by the lottery winner, A.H Lee, the hall saw more consistent performances. The opera house stood for less than six and a half years before it was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and never rebuilt. In 1989 the city demolished the deteriorated properties and after a twenty year discussion they are beginning to redevelop the property. During the time they were unsure of what to do with the property, it was used as an art studio for Chicago public school students as well as a skating rink through the winter season.

History:

The building itself was five stories. The first floor contained businesses; music publishers Root & Cady, the piano store of W.W. Kimball, and the restaurant of H.M. Kinsley. The second and third floor were occupied by buisness offices and the fourth floor was an art gallery as well as contained studios for the artists. The rear of the building contained the opera house itself that sat 3000 patrons. The center of the ceiling was a dome encircled by paintings resembling Beethoven, Mozart, Auber, Weber, Verdi, and Wagner. Surrounding it were frescoes that were painted by Otto Jevne and Peter M. Almini, who were partners in a Chicago decorating firm specializing in ornamental painting. In front of the stage, above the orchestra was a forty foot painting of Aurora based on Guido Reni's fresco. Wellbaum & Bauman handled carpentry and masonry with cut stone work by L. H. Boldenweck. The structure cost $600,000 (equivalent to $9,820,000 in 2018), which ruined Crosby financially.

-Theodore Thomas was on tour in early October 1871 with his orchestra was headed to the opera house for a two-week series of orchestral concerts for the reopening; had been planning this for two years; a benefit concert was added to their next stop in St. Louis in which all of the players volunteered their services

https://chicagohistorytoday.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/crosby-opera-house-lottery/

-Crosby’s Lottery:

The building cost $700,000 to construct

-Business was bad; misread the city’s desire for opera

-Crosby Opera House Art Association was formed to conduct a lottery.

-Rather than having people think they were gambling they encouraged people to believe they were promotion culture. For a $5 donation you received an engraving of a famous painting.

-Drawing was scheduled for October 11, 1866 then Crosby announced it’d be delayed for two months. He said the demand for tickets made him extend it although more likely, he hadn’t sold enough.

-New drawing was to be on January 21, 1867

-Crosby sold a total of 210,000 tickets

-On the morning of Jan 21, special trains brought ticket-buyers into the city for the big event. The crowd spilled out of the Opera house itself and onto the street. Extra police were called in to maintain order.

-At precisely 11 AM the first ticket number was pulled out of a drum on stage.

Then a prize ticket was pulled out of a second drum, this went on until 112 pieces of art has been awarded.

-Ticket #58,600 was pulled as the big winner, but the winner was not present.

-Lee said his wife was sick and he couldn’t make the trip to Chicago. However, he came secretly and received the deed to the opera house and then resold it back to Crosby for $200,000.

-The public bought over $1,000,000 in chances on a $700,000 building. Subtracting the 200,00 given to Lee, Crosby paid off the construction costs, pocketed a $100,000 profit and still had the opera house.

-Questions arose as to if A.H Lee even existed.

-Shortly after, Uranus Crosby left Chicago and settled in Massachusetts.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-06-25-0006250346-story.html

-All that remains of Crosby’s opera house are a few chunks of broken brick and carved marble stonework buried deep in the landfill that lines Chicago’s lake Michigan shore.

-During its brief heyday it was widely considered the finest theatre west of New York

-Uranus ad Albert Crosby, who in 1850 migrated from Cape Cod to the edge of Americ’as urban frontier.

-Theatre opened on April 20, 1865 with a performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore sung by visiting Italian Singers, baritone Fernando Bellini as Count di Luna.

-Inexperience as theatre managers and naïve belief that high art could pay for itself in a city ruled by raw commercialism drove them into debt.

-Stayed open between opera performances by booking minstrel shows

Early performances[edit source] Crosby's Opera House was scheduled to open April 17, 1865. The conductor Jules Grau would lead the inaugural series of Italian operas, performed by a company from New York City's Academy of Music featuring Clara Louise Kellogg. However, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln forced a three-day delay in the house's opening. Il trovatore was the first performance, followed by a four-week season with Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Poliuto, Martha, Norma, Faust, Linda di Chamounix, La sonnambula, I puritani, Un ballo in maschera, Dom Sébastien, Lucrezia Borgia, Ernani, and Fra Diavolo.[1]Many of the performances were assessed by critic George Upton. Upton was a critic for the Chicago Tribune who arrived to Chicago in 1855 with a bachelor of music degree from Brown University. He favored Italian opera and had strong feelings against Wagnerian opera.[2]

The opera house did not find itself that busy due to Crosby's misreading of the need for opera in the city. The inexperience that Crosby had as a theater manager and his naive belief that opera would pay for itself in the commercialized city of Chicago led Crosby farther into debt. [3]The opera house stayed open between opera performances by booking minstrel shows like comedy acts, dancing, and theater performances.[3]

Destruction:

In the summer of 1871, the opera house underwent alterations that were led by Albert Crosby. $80,000 was raised to lavishly redecorate the venue. An advertisement stated that the Crosby Opera House was to re-open on October 9, 1871, with a performance by Theodore Thomas. Theodore Thomas was on tour in early October 1971 and planning to head to the opera house for a two-week series event of orchestral concerts for the reopening.[4] They had been planning this for two years, however, the night before the re-opening, a fire tore through the city. By the evening of the next day, the Great Chicago Fire had destroyed over 3.3 square miles (8.5 km2) of the city, including Crosby's Opera House.

When the fire bell alarmed on October 8th, many Chicagoans paid no attention since the summer had been particularly dry and there had already been several fires. A strong wind blew through the city and exhausted the firefighters' efforts. By Tuesday morning the fire had ended and nearly 300 people died, 100,000 were homeless, and Chicagos business district was in ruins. [5]Chief usher James S. Osgood and Crosby went back to the opera house to save some of the art gallery. They took large pictures out of the frames and lowered them by rope out of the windows. Eventually taking them to Garrisons House at 226 South Wabash Street.[5] Thomas and his orchestra played a benefit concert at their next stop in St. Louis in honor of the Chicago area.[4] It was never rebuilt,[6] and there was no permanent venue for opera in the city until the Chicago Opera House opened in 1885.