History

Officially known as the Teatro alla Scala, the opera house was originally opened in 1778. The building is surprisingly plain on the outside. It was extensively rebuilt after damage by Allied bombing in World War II. The interior is ornate, with five tiers of boxes, though the seats in the stalls are apparently a tight fit for a modern audience.

Until 1910? the boxes were the property of the subscribing families. They were often individually furnished, sometimes even with a cooking stove, and for many years had curtains. Hard to get tickets -at the time it was built, 3,000 seats for a population of only 150,000. Verdi gap . Hard to please audience, noisy claque. A museum was opened in 1913 and contains many important operatic relics.

Verdi

La Scala is particularly associated with Verdi, whose Nabucco, Otello, Falstaff were all premiered here. In fact, he was often at odds with the Milanese audience, and there was a long gap (from macbeth 1847 till Otello? ) when his works were first performed elsewhere. The attached museum has a large amount of Verdi memorabilia, and is well worth a visit. Other famous works first performed here include Bellini's Norma, Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Turandot, Rossini's Il turco in Italia,and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites.

The Reign of Toscanini

The great conductor Arturo Toscanini(dates) had a long and often troubled career at La Scala. At the age of nineteen,(date) he played the cello at the premiere of Verdi's great Otello. In his first period as Artistic Director, from 1898 to 1903, he tried to modernise the ways of the Milanese audience, but walked off from his post of when the audience insisted on an encore in the middle of a Verdi performance (check opera). He returned in 1920 for a golden age of excellence, but had to resign in 1929 when his anti-fascist stand put his life in danger. He contributed a large sum to the rebuilding effort after the war, and conducted the gala re-opening concert in 1948. His final performance as conductor was in (date) (number) years after his first appearance.

The Heyday of Maria Callas