The Teatro Regio ('Royal Theatre') is a prominent opera house and opera company in Turin. Its season runs from October to June with the presentation of eight or nine operas given from five to twelve performances of each.
Several buildings provided venues for operatic productions in Turin from the mid-16th century, but it was not until 1713 that a proper opera house was considered, and under the architect Filippo Juvarra planning began. However, the cornerstone was not laid until the reign of Charles Emmanuel III in 1738 after Juvarra's death. The work was supervised by Benedetto Alfieri until the theatre was completed.
The decision to build a real great opera house at Turin, as in other capital cities of those times, was made in 1713, when the Dukedom of Savoy became the Kingdom of Piedmont following on the Treaty of Utrecht and under the leadership of Vittorio Amedeo II. Many years were to pass however before the idea of the theatre actually took shape and the King's successor Carlo Emanuele II only started construction works in 1738. Its function had been partially fulfilled by the Sala del Teatro Ducale, called Saint John's Theatre ever since 1678.
Designed by Filippo Juvarra and made part of the complex of the Secretariats, the new theatre was actually built by Benedetto Alfieri. Works started in 1738 and went on so fast that the theatre was already officially opened on December 26 1749 with the opera Arsace by Francesco Feo on a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. Born forty years before the Scala, the Teatro Regio cam boast several hundreds of premières, including Giacomo Puccini's Manon Lescaut and La Bohème, Richard Strauss' Salomé and the false Scala première of Giselle, which was actually held at Turin on December 26 1842. The new theatre could accommodate 2,500 spectators and its hall was considered Europe's greatest. The most acclaimed names of bel canto and ballet appeared on the Regio's stage, thus confirming its glorious tradition.
In 1798, during the French occupation of Turin, the theatre was renamed National; in 1802 it became the Grand Théatre des Arts and in 1804 was called Théatre Impérial, a name it kept until 1814. Its name returned to Regio Teatro after the fall of Napoleon and the House of Savoy's return to the throne of Turin.
In 1838, Pelagio Pelagi introduced a series of modifications to the theatre's structures. In 1905, Ferdinando Cocito performed a series of imposing transformation operations to the hall and the stage. In 1924, reinforced cement was introduced into the scene tower by Giacomo Mattè-Trucco, the gifted designer of Fiat Lingotto. The Teatro Regio became the temple for music composed by Wagner and Strauss as well as one of the theatres most open to the new French Opéra and the new-born Italian Verism School.
The night between February 8 and 9 1936 registered a dramatic event in Turin's cultural and musical life. A raging fire destroyed the Teatro Regio's hall and stage. The World War II bombings of 1942 and 1943 completed the ruin of the building. After various vicissitudes, the reconstruction project was awarded to Architect Carlo Mollino and Engineer Marcello Zavelani-Rossi only in 1966.
The new Teatro Regio, rebuilt on the same Piazza Castello premises as the old one, though with some slight changes, is harmoniously part and parcel of the architectural context of the old square. It was re-opened officially on the evening of April 10 1973 with Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Vespri Siciliani.
A great bronze sliding railing by Umberto Mastroianni entitled Musical Odyssey encloses the main entrance hall. The new theatre complex has been designed and built with the most up to date technologies. By abandoning the exclusive function of a show theatre it has taken on the more demanding role of the propulsive centre of Turin's and Piedmont's cultural and artistic life.
At over a quarter of a millennium from its foundation, the Teatro Regio continues being a witness of the history and events of Turin, Italy and Europe, with its activity.
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