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The History
of the Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is a performing arts venue in
London. It is also sometimes referred to as "Covent
Garden" after the London neighbourhood in which
it is located. The building serves as the home of the
Royal Opera and of the Royal Ballet.
The current edifice is the third theatre on the site.
The facade, foyer and auditorium date from 1856, but
almost every other element of the present complex dates
from a reconstruction in the 1990s.
The first Theatre Royal (designed by Edward Shepherd)
at the site, was opened on December 7, 1732. For the
first hundred years or so the theatre was primarily
a playhouse; the Letters Patent granted by Charles II
had given Covent Garden and Drury Lane virtually exclusive
rights to present spoken drama in London.
The first serious musical works to be heard at Covent
Garden were the operas of Handel. From 1735 until his
death in 1759 he gave regular seasons there, and many
of his operas and oratorios were written for Covent
Garden or had their first London performances there.
He bequeathed his organ to John Rich, and it was placed
in a prominent position on the stage. Unfortunately,
it was among many valuable items lost in a fire that
destroyed the theatre in 1808.
Rebuilding began in December of the same year, and the
second Theatre Royal, Covent Garden opened on September
18, 1809 with a performance of Macbeth followed by a
musical entertainment called The Quaker. The management
raised seat prices to help recoup the cost of rebuilding,
but the move was so unpopular that the Old Prices riots,
lasting over two months, forced the management to accede
to the audience's demands.
During this period, entertainments were varied; opera
and ballet were presented, but not exclusively. In 1843,
the Theatres Act broke the patent theatres' monopoly
of drama. At that time Her Majesty's Theatre in the
Haymarket was the main centre of ballet and opera, but
after a dispute with the management in 1846 Michael
Costa, conductor at Her Majesty's, transferred his allegiance
to Covent Garden, bringing most of the company with
him. The auditorium was completely remodelled and the
theatre reopened as the Royal Italian Opera on April
6, 1847.
However, on March 5, 1856, the theatre was once again
destroyed by fire. Work on the third and present theatre
eventually started in 1857 and the new building opened
on May 15, 1858 with a performance of Meyerbeer's Les
Huguenots. The theatre became the Royal Opera House
in 1892 and the number of French and German works in
the repertory increased.
During the Second World War it became a dance hall until
the Royal Opera House reopened on February 20, 1946
with a performance of The Sleeping Beauty in an extravagant
new production designed by Oliver Messel.
With years taking its toll on the theatre, and other
developments in London making it look dated, the Labour
government of 1975 gave the land adjacent to the Royal
Opera House for a long-overdue modernisation, refurbishment
and extension. By 1995, sufficient funds had been raised
to enable the company to embark upon a major reconstruction
of the building between 1996 and 2000. This involved
the demolition of almost the whole site except for the
auditorium itself, including several adjacent buildings
to make room for a major increase in the overall scale
of the complex. In terms of volume well over half of
the complex is new. The cost was over £220 million,
£78 million of which controversially came from
the National Lottery. The new venue had the same traditional
horseshoe shaped auditorium as before, but greatly improved
technical, rehearsal, office and educational facilities,
a new studio theatre called the Linbury Theatre, and
much more public space.
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