Rising from the Ashes - The 25th Anniversary of the Teatro La Fenice Fire in Venice

Teatro La Fenice New Year's Day 2021 - Photo: Ufficio Stampa

(Venice, Italy) Twenty-five years ago today, the world watched in horror and disbelief as Venice's beloved opera house, Teatro La Fenice, burned to the ground. But true to its name, La Fenice -- The Phoenix -- rose from its ashes. During the pandemic, La Fenice has delighted the planet once again with its innovative livestreams, enriching our spirits and uniting the community as we applaud with silent emojis while confined inside our homes due to the global pandemic.

 

Venice has long had a strong theatrical presence on the world stage. The first public opera ever performed was in Venice in 1636, allowing spectators to witness the startling new phenomenon previously known only in royal courts. When ticket holders experienced the sheer power of the sung narrative — the intense heights and depths of human emotion that only music could convey — it created a social revolution. Claudio Monteverdi, the father of opera himself, adopted Venice as his home.

 

By 1773, Venice had seven theaters which produced plays and music. The grandest was San Benedetto, which was located where the Rossini Multiplex is today, and whose current facade was designed by the celebrated Venetian architect, Carlo Scarpa. Inaugurated on December 26, 1755, it was built by the Grimani family on land owned by the Veniers, and later assigned to a consortium of aristocrats, the Nobile Società dei Palchettisti -- Noble Association of Boxholders. Teatro San Benedetto was destroyed by fire in 1773, and shortly rebuilt on the same site. The consortium and the Veniers haggled over who owned the new theater, and in 1787 a judicial ruling forced the Boxholders out. 

 

Undeterred, the Boxholders decided to immediately build a more sumptuous theater in a finer location, and call it ‘La Fenice’ after the legendary royal bird reborn from its own ashes. They bought land in a posh part of town, knocked down some private houses and held a competition for the design of the opera house, which was won by the architect Giannantonio Selva. Work began in 1791 and was completed just 18 months later, featuring a neo-classical facade and 174 boxes perfectly alike, gilded in gold. Teatro La Fenice was inaugurated on May 16, 1792 with I Giuochi di Agrigento by Giovanni Paisiello, and promptly became one of the leading opera houses in Europe. Then, just five years later, Napoleon came on the scene, and the entire Republic of Venice was no more.

 

Royal Box at La Fenice - Photo: Pietro Tessarin

But La Fenice was still standing, and Napoleon himself decided to pay it a visit. Since all Venetian nobility -- and their boxes -- were considered equal, Selvi had not designed an imperial loggia, which the emperor now required. Six central boxes were destroyed and a provisional loggia hastily constructed, with the definitive model unveiled the day after Christmas, December 26, 1808. 

 

Over the years, as Venice flipped between Napoleonic France and the Austrian Empire, then fought for its independence, then became part of the Kingdom of Italy, which itself morphed into a republic, the imperial loggia changed its form to accommodate the politics. Today it is called the “royal box” with the symbol of the Italian royal family on the side walls, and Venice’s lion of St. Mark front and center on the crown of the cornice. 

On December 13, 1836, while Venice was under the rule of the Austrian Empire, fire struck again. The theater was engulfed in flames caused by an Austrian heater, destroying everything but the facade, foyer and the Sale Appollinee. Again the Boxholders leapt into action, appointing the architect Giambattista Meduna and his engineer brother, Tomamaso, to resurrect The Phoenix. In less than a year, La Fenice was reborn.

 

During the next two centuries, composers such as Rossini, Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten dazzled spectators with world premieres. Verdi composed four of his operas for La Fenice, including La Traviata, which had its world premiere in Venice on March 6, 1853 and has since become a staple of every season. Divas like Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas -- who has an exhibition on the third floor -- thrilled audiences with their vocal gymnastics.

 

La Fenice fire, Jan. 29, 1996 - Photo: Ufficio Stampa

Then, on January 29, 1996, a stunned world watched as La Fenice burned again to the ground, this time a victim of arson. By then, the Boxholders had ceded their shares to the Comune di Venezia, making the opera house publicly-owned. The mayor declared it would be rebuilt “where it was, how it was.” This time, it took nearly eight years for The Phoenix to rise from its ashes, reconstructed on a posthumous design by the celebrated architect, Aldo Rossi. La Fenice finally reopened on December 14, 2003 with music by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Caldara and Wagner, conducted by Riccardo Mutti.

 

However, it would be nearly a year later until the theater was ready to stage an entire opera. La Fenice's inaugural opera after the 1996 fire was, fittingly, Verdi's La Traviata, which was performed on November 12, 2004 and directed by Robert Carsen with Lorin Maazel conducting the orchestra. 

 

Audience during intermission at Teatro La Fenice - Photo: Cat Bauer

Today, the theater looks much like it did in the 19th century, diligently restored, right down to the putti. Like the mythical bird it is named after, La Fenice has burned and risen from its ashes on more than one occasion, flying high above Earthly strife to delight humankind with music from the heavens. 

 

Go to Teatro La Fenice to watch their online performances. 

 

This article was originally published in a slightly different form in the Fall/Winter 2017-2018 print edition of Luxos Magazine. 

 

 

 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog