During our recent trip to Milan, we visited the world famous La Scala opera house.
We toured the museum and peeked at the opera house from one of the high boxes. Visitors were not permitted in the opera house because a rehearsal for an upcoming performance was in process. That was just fine with us. We enjoyed watching a bit of the rehearsal of Verdi's Don Carlo. In fact, we heard the opera's finale. It was thunderous and stirring. We plan on returning soon to attend a performance.
Some fun facts:
Full name: Teatro alla Scala
Capacity: 2,000
- Architecture: La Scala has an architectural feature not shared by many opera houses. Above the boxes is a gallery, known as the loggione in Italian, where the "cheap seats" are located. The urban legend is that the gallery is home to the loggionisti, considered to be the most rabid, vocal and critical opera fans. Pavarotti told a story about being loudly booed by the loggionisiti while performing at La Scala. He said the loggionisti know opera and admitted they were right to boo him because he had a bad night.
- Opened: August 3, 1778, Salieri's opera Europa riconosciuta
Reopened: May 11, 1946, after being rebuilt following partial destruction due to bombing during WWII
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| La Scala after bombing in1943 |
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| La Scala today |
Here are some photos from our tour of La Scala's museum.
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| The original poster for La Scala's first performance of Verdi's La Traviata, with some random hottie |
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| La Scala's Arturo Toscanini foyer, with some random hottie |
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| Puccini |
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| Puccini again, with some random dude |
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| The harpsichord on which Verdi took lessons from Italian composer Vincenzo Lavigna (1833). In the case behind, some period instruments. |
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| Ludwig van |
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| The Man with the Orchid-Lined Voice |
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| Maria Callas, The Tigress |
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| "Hi-ho, Silver, away!" |
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| Portrait of Giuseppe Verdi by Giovannni Boldoni (1886) |
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| Giuseppe Verdi goes blub |
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