Opera, Long

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and performing arts venue in London. It is also sometimes referred to as "Covent Garden" after the London neighbourhood in which it is located. It is also colloquially known as "the Garden". more...

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The building serves as the home of the Royal Opera, the Royal Ballet and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

The current edifice is the third theatre on the site. The façade, foyer and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from a reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the Amphiteatre gallery. The proscenium is 12.20 m wide and 14.80 m high.

The main auditorium is a Grade I listed building.

History

The Davenant Patent

The foundation of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden lies in the letters patent awarded by Charles II to Sir William Davenant in 1660, allowing Davenant to operate one of only two patent theatre companies (The Duke's Company) in London. The letters patent remained in the possession of the Opera House until shortly after the First World War, when the document was sold to a north American university library.

The first theatre

In 1728, John Rich, actor-manager of the Duke's Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, commissioned The Beggar's Opera from John Gay. The success of this venture provided him with the capital to build the Theatre Royal (designed by Edward Shepherd) at the site of an ancient convent garden, part of which had been developed by Inigo Jones in the 1630s with a piazza and church. In addition, a royal charter had created a fruit and vegetable market in the area, a market which survived in that location until 1974.

At its opening on December 7, 1732, Rich was carried by his actors in processional triumph into the theatre for its opening production of William Congreve's The Way of the World.

During the first hundred years or so of its history, the theatre was primarily a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane virtually exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London. Rich introduced pantomime to the repertoire, himself performing (under the stage name John Lun, as Harlequin). The tradition of seasonal pantomime continued at the modern theatre, until 1939.

Despite the frequent interchangeability between the Covent Garden and Drury Lane companies, competition was intense, often presenting the same plays at the same time.

In 1734 Covent Garden presented its first ballet, Pygmalion. Marie Sallé, discarded tradition (with her corset) and danced in diaphanous robes. George Frideric Handel was named musical director of the company, at Lincoln's Inn Fields, in 1719, but his first season of opera, at Covent garden, was not presented until 1735. His first opera was Pastor Fido followed by Ariodante (1735), the premiere of Alcina and Atalanta the following year. There was a royal performance of the Messiah in 1743 which was a success and began a tradition of Lenten oratorio performances. 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org