Theater Royal, Covent Garden description and photos - Great Britain: London (Topic)

Theater Royal, Covent Garden description and photos - UK: London. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Theater Royal, Covent Garden.

Photo and Description

The Royal Opera House is much better known as Covent Garden, after the square on which it is located. This is the home stage for the Royal Opera Company, the Royal Ballet Company of London and the Royal Opera House Orchestra. The first theater opened on this site in 1732, and was one of two London play theaters (the second was the equally famous Drury Lane Theater). The two theaters were bitter rivals and often staged the same play at the same time. On the stage of Covent Garden, dramas, pantomimes, ballet and opera performances, including Handel's operas, were staged.

In 1808, the theater building was destroyed by fire, but it was quickly rebuilt. The second fire occurred in 1856 and the building was rebuilt in 1858 by Edward Middleton Barry. The last major renovation took place in the theater in the 1990s.

Since the end of the 18th century, Covent Garden has gained a reputation as one of the best theaters in Europe. In the 19th century, Italian operas dominated, and the theater was even called the Royal Italian Opera at one time. The then artistic director of the theater, Michael Costa, staged in Italian even those operas that were written in French.

But at the end of the XIX century, the trend is changing, and in the late XIX - early XX centuries. operas and ballets by English authors occupy a prominent place in the repertoire; works by Russian composers (P.I.Tchaikovsky, M.P. Musorgsky, N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov, A.P. Borodin, etc.) are staged. Since the end of the XIX century. the tradition of performing operas in the original language is established, which has survived to this day.

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Topic: Theater Royal, Covent Garden description and photos - Great Britain: London.