Thursday, January 26, 2012

La Scala - Milan, Italy

The building we see here was inaugurated in 1778 and named after the church (Chiesa di Santa Maria alla Scala, built in 1381) that was demolished to make way for the opera house. Over the years, numerous operas by Verdi, Puccini, and Rossini, among others, premiered at La Scala. The first performance at La Scala was the performance of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.


It may not look like much from the outside, particularly on a black-and-white postcard, but it seats 2,800, and the interior looks pretty fabulous. I have never been to La Scala, but if I did I would want to sit in the cheaper nosebleed seats (known as the loggione) above the box seats. If you sit there, I imagine you can watch the opera and all the people in the box seats too.

La Scala was severely damaged by bombing in 1943, but was rebuilt in 1946.  The opera house is currently facing a tough budget year, with a drop in both private and public contributions.

Source: Wikipedia


Here's the back of the card.

4 comments:

  1. I have been to La Scala -- took an orange street car there (we have one in SF now that says La Scala) and walked all over the place, inside and out. Heard Shirley Verret sing Lady MacBeth and bring down the house. Not easy for an American singer at La Scala! Sign.....

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  2. I really like the perspective of the color image. I too would want to sit where I could view the well-to-do's and whether or not they were paying attention to the performance and not sitting in the box to be seen.

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  3. La Scala is breathtakingly beautiful.

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  4. Many of these older opera and concert halls had advanced designs for climate control. Special ventilation had accommodate the many candles and gas lights used to illuminate the stage.

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