La Scala (redirected from Orchestra della Scala)

La Scala

Opera house in Milan, Italy. Built in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (which country then ruled Milan), it replaced an earlier theatre that had burned. With the works of 19th-century composer Gioacchino Rossini, Italian opera regained international attention, and La Scala, as the site of many of Rossini's premieres, had by the 1830s become the opera landmark it has remained ever since. Associated with the main theatre are a smaller theatre, La Piccola Scala; a ballet company and ballet school; and a singing school.

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La Scala

the chief opera house in Italy, in Milan (opened 1776)

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La Scala (Teatro alla Scala)

“Theater at the Stairway”; Milan opera house; built 1776. [Ital. Hist.: EB, VI: 57]

See : Theater

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La Scala

(properly, Teatro alla Scala), an opera house in Milan, Italy; one of the biggest centers of world opera.

The theater was built between 1776 and 1778 (architect, G. Piermarini) on the site of the Church of Santa Maria della Scala and named after it. The building was destroyed during World War II but was restored (engineer, L. Secci) and reopened in 1946. Before 1800 plays were also presented at La Scala, but the opera seasons (carnival, autumn, spring, and summer) were established from the theater’s first year.

Operatic works by Italian composers have always been the core of La Scala’s repertoire. It was the scene of the premieres of operas by P. Guglielmi, D. Cimarosa, L. Cherubini, and S. Mayr. From 1812 the theater’s history became inseparable from the works of Italy’s major composers: G. Rossini, G. Donizetti, V. Bellini, G. Verdi, and G. Puccini. Many of their works were first staged at La Scala: The Touchstone (1812) and The Thieving Magpie (1817) by Rossini; Norma (1831) by Bellini; Lucrezia Borgia (1833) by Donizetti; Nabucco (1842), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) by Verdi; and Madame Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1926) by Puccini.

La Scala also stages the works of foreign composers, including C. Gounod, R. Wagner, R. Strauss, C. Debussy, M. de Falla, L. Janáček, and F. Poulenc. The operas of such Russian and Soviet composers as Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Shostakovich have been presented there.

The outstanding Italian and foreign singers who have performed at La Scala include G. B. Rubini, G. Pasta, M. Malibran, A. Patti, F. Tamagno, M. Battistini, H. Dardée, E. Caruso, F. I. Chaliapin, L. V. Sobinov, T. Ruffo, T. Scipa, B. Gigli, T. Dal Monte, M. Del Monaco, M. Callas, R. Tebaldi, B. Christoff, J. Sutherland, and B. Nilsson. The greatest Italian and foreign conductors have worked at La Scala. A. Toscanini’s tenure as artistic director (1898–1903 and 1921–29) marked the peak of the theater’s history.

La Scala’s new productions in the 1960’s and 1970’s included La Bohème by Puccini (1963); Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner (1963); Macbeth by Verdi (1964); Khovanshchina (1967 and 1971) and Boris Godunov (1967) by Mussorgsky; and The Siege of Corinth by Rossini (1969; first performance in the 20th century). In the 1960’s young Soviet singers began to receive training at La Scala. A branch of the opera house, La Piccola Scala, was opened in 1955; it primarily stages the works of 17th-and 18th-century composers and modern chamber operas. The La Scala company toured the USSR in 1964 and 1974.

REFERENCES

Teatr La Skala (Milan). Moscow, 1964. (Guest performances in the USSR.)
Cambiasi, P. La Scala: 1778–1906, 5th ed. Milan, 1906.
La Scala: 1946–1956. Edited by F. Armani. Milan, 1957.

V. V. TIMOKHIN [14–502–3; updated]