The
Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in
the London
district of
Covent
Garden
. The large building is often referred to as
simply
"Covent Garden", after a previous use of
the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is
the home of
The Royal Opera,
The Royal Ballet and the
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
Originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily a
playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the
first ballet was presented. A year later
Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his
operas and
oratorios were specifically
written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there.
The current building is the third
theatre on
the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1857. The
façade,
foyer and
auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other
element of the present complex dates from an extensive
reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,268
people and consists of four tiers of
box and
balconies and
the
amphitheatre gallery. The
proscenium is 12.20 m wide and 14.80 m high. The
main auditorium is a Grade 1
listed
building.
OPERA
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 an American university library.
A picture of the first theatre drawn
shortly before it burned down in 1808.
A satirical drawing from 1811 of the
'Pigeon Holes' that flanked the upper gallery at Covent
Garden
The auditorium of the second theatre
shortly after opening.
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 7 December 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
exclusive rights to present spoken drama in
London. Despite the frequent interchangeability between the
Covent Garden and Drury Lane companies, competition was intense,
often presenting the same plays at the same time. Rich introduced
pantomime to the repertoire, himself
performing (under the stage name
John Lun, as
Harlequin) and a tradition of seasonal pantomime
continued at the modern theatre, until 1939.
In 1734, Covent Garden presented its first ballet,
Pygmalion.
Marie Sallé
discarded tradition and 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 1234. His first opera was
Il pastor fido followed by
Ariodante (1735), the première 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, but was among many
valuable items lost in a fire that destroyed the theatre in
1808.
In 1775,
Richard Brinsley
Sheridan's
The Duenna
premièred at Covent Garden.
The second theatre
Rebuilding began in December 1808, and the second Theatre Royal,
Covent Garden (designed by
Robert Smirke) opened on 18
September 1689 with a performance of
Macbeth followed by a musical entertainment
called
The Quaker. The actor-manager
John Philip Kemble, raised seat prices to
help recoup the cost of rebuilding, but the move was so unpopular
that audiences disrupted performances by beating sticks, hissing,
booing and dancing. The
Old Price
Riots lasted over two months, and the management was
finally forced to accede to the audience's demands.
During this time, entertainments were varied; opera and
ballet were presented, but not exclusively. Kemble
engaged a variety of acts, including the child performer
Master Betty; the great
clown Joseph
Grimaldi made his name at Covent Garden. Many famous actors of
the day appeared at the theatre, including the tragediennes
Sarah Siddons and
Eliza O'Neill, the
Shakespearean actors
William Charles Macready,
Edmund Kean and his son
Charles. On 25 March 1833 Edmund Kean collapsed
on stage while playing
Othello, and died two
months later.
In 1806, the
pantomime clown Joseph
Grimaldi (
The Garrick of Clowns) had performed his
greatest success in
Harlequin and
Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg at Covent Garden, and this
was subsequently revived, at the new theatre. Grimaldi was an
innovator: his performance as
Joey introduced the clown to
the world, building on the existing role of
Harlequin derived from the
Commedia dell'arte. His father had
been
ballet-master at Drury Lane, and his
physical
comedy, his ability to invent visual
tricks and
buffoonery,
and his ability to poke fun at the audience were
extraordinary.
Early pantomimes were performed as
mimes
accompanied by music, but as
Music hall
became popular, Grimaldi introduced the
pantomime dame to the theatre and was
responsible for the tradition of audience singing. By 1821 dance
and clowning had taken such a physical toll on Grimaldi that he
could barely walk, and he retired from the theatre. By 1828, he was
penniless, and Covent Garden held a benefit concert for him.
In 1817, bare flame gaslight had replaced the former candles and
oil lamps that lighted the Covent Garden stage. This was an
improvement, but in 1837 Macready employed
limelight in the theatre for the first time,
during a performance of a pantomime,
Peeping Tom of
Coventry. Limelight used a block of
quicklime heated by an oxygen and hydrogen flame.
This allowed the use of spotlights to highlight performers on the
stage.
The
Theatres Act 1843 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 6
April 1847 with a performance of
Rossini's
Semiramide.
The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in the 1820s
In 1852,
Louis Antoine Jullien
the French eccentric composer of light music and conductor
presented an opera of his own composition,
Pietro il
Grande. Five performances were given of the 'spectacular',
including live horses on the stage and very loud music. Critics
considered it a complete failure and Jullien was ruined and fled to
America.
The third theatre
On 5 March 1856, the theatre was again destroyed by fire. Work on
the third theatre, designed by
Edward Middleton Barry, started in
1857 and the new building, which still remains as the nucleus of
the present theatre, opened on 15 May 1858 with a performance of
Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.
The Royal
English Opera company under the management of Louisa Pyne and William Harrison, made their last
performance at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 11 December 1858 and took up residence at the
theatre on 20 December 1858 with a performance of Michael Balfe's Satanella and
continued at the theatre until 1864.
The theatre became the
Royal Opera House (ROH) in
1892, and the number of French and German works in the repertory
increased. Winter and summer seasons of opera and ballet were
given, and the building was also used for pantomime, recitals and
political meetings.
During the
First World War the theatre
was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works for use as a furniture
repository.
From 1934 to 1936
Geoffrey Toye was
Managing Director, working alongside the Artistic Director,
Sir Thomas Beecham. Despite early
successes Toye and Beecham eventually fell out, and Toye
resigned.
During the
Second World War the ROH
became a dance hall. There was a possibility that it would remain
so after the war but, following lengthy negotiations, the music
publishers
Boosey & Hawkes
acquired the lease of the building.
David Webster was appointed
General Administrator, and
Sadler's Wells Ballet was invited to
become the resident ballet company. The Covent Garden Opera Trust
was created and laid out plans "to establish Covent Garden as the
national centre of opera and ballet, employing British artists in
all departments, wherever that is consistent with the maintenance
of the best possible standards…"
The Royal Opera House reopened on 20 February 1946 with a
performance of
The
Sleeping Beauty in an extravagant new production designed
by
Oliver Messel. Webster, with his
music director
Karl Rankl, immediately
began to build a resident company. In December, 1946 they shared
their first production,
Purcell's
The Fairy-Queen, with the
ballet company. On 14 January 1947 the Covent Garden Opera Company
gave its first performance of
Bizet's
Carmen.
Before the grand opening the Royal Opera House presented one of the
Robert Mayer Children's concerts on Saturday 9th February
1946.
Reconstruction in the 1990s
View from Bow Street, nighttime
Several renovations had taken place to parts of the house in the
1960s, including improvements to the amphitheatre and an extension
in the rear, but the theatre clearly needed a major overhaul. In
1975 the Labour government gave 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 by
Carillion, which took place between 1996
and 2000, under the chairmanship of
Sir
Angus Stirling. This involved the demolition of almost the
whole site including several adjacent buildings to make room for a
major increase in the size of the complex. The auditorium itself
remained, but well over half of the complex is new.
The design team was lead by Jeremy Dixon and Ed Jones of Dixon
Jones BDP as architects. The acoustic designers were Rob Harris and
Jeremy Newton of Arup Acoustics. The building engineer was
Arup.
The new building has the same traditional horseshoe-shaped
auditorium as before, but with greatly improved technical,
rehearsal, office and educational facilities, a new studio theatre
called the Linbury Theatre, and much more public space.
The
inclusion of the adjacent old Floral Hall, long a part of the old
Covent Garden
Market
but in general disrepair for many years, into the
actual opera house created a new and extensive public gathering
place. The venue is now claimed by the ROH to be the most
modern theatre facility in Europe.
Surtitles, projected onto a screen above
the proscenium, are used for all opera performances. Also, the
electronic libretto system
provides translations onto small video screens for some seats, and
additional monitors and screens are to be introduced to other parts
of the house.
Linbury Studio Theatre
The Linbury Studio Theatre is a new performance space constructed
within the Opera House during the 1990s reconstruction.
Opera at the Royal Opera House after 1945
Ballet at the Royal Opera House After 1945
References
Further reading
- Allen, Mary, A House Divided, Simon & Schuster,
1998.
- Beauvert, Thierry, Opera Houses of the World, The
Vendome Press, New York, 1995.
- Donaldson, Frances, The Royal Opera House in the Twentieth
Century, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1988.
- Earl, John and Sell, Michael Guide to British Theatres
1750-1950, pp. 136–8 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN
0-7136-5688-3.
- Haltrecht, Montague,The Quiet Showman: Sir David Webster
and the Royal Opera House, Collins, London, 1975.
- Lebrecht, Norman, Covent Garden: The Untold Story:
Dispatches from the English Culture War, 1945-2000,
Northeastern University Press, 2001.
- Lord Drogheda, et al., The Covent Garden Album,
Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1981.
- Moss, Kate, The House: Inside the Royal Opera House Covent
Garden, BBC Books, London, 1995.
- Rosenthal, Harold, Opera at Covent Garden, A Short
History, Victor Gollancz, London, 1967.
- Tooley, John, In House: Covent Garden, Fifty Years of Opera
and Ballet, Faber and Faber, London, 1999.
- Thubron, Colin (text) and Boursnell, Clive (photos), The
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Hamish Hamilton, London,
1982.
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