On this date in 1809, the Royal Opera House in London opened. 10 things you might not know about it:
The building which opened in 1809 was the second of three theatres to stand on the site. The first opened in December 1732, having been commissioned by an actor/manager named John Rich. He was carried there on opening night by his actors and the first performance held there was Congreve's The Way of the World. The theatre then was primarily a playhouse. King Charles II gave it, along with Drury Lane, almost sole rights to present spoken drama in the capital.
In 1808 the theatre was destroyed by a Fire and a new one, designed by Robert Smirke, opened on 18 September 1809 with a performance of Macbeth followed by a musical entertainment called The Quaker. This building was also destroyed by a fire in 1856.
Work began on the third theatre, the nucleus of the Royal Opera House as it is today, in 1857. This one was designed by Edward Middleton Barry, opened in 1858. Barry wisely designed it as a fireproof building. It opened on 15 May 1858 with a performance of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.
The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, making it the third largest in London. It consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery.
It is the home of not only the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet, but it also has the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus. Both were established in 1946.
During the first world war, the theatre was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works for use as a furniture repository. During the second world war, the building was used as a dance hall.
A number of firsts took place in the various buildings during the site’s history, including: the first 'ballet d'action'. That is, a ballet which tells a story through dance. This was Pygmalion, performed in 1734; the first public performance on a Piano in England on 16 May, 1767. A Miss Bricker sang a song from Handel's Judith accompanied on a piano by Charles Dibdin. The first solo performance on a piano happened the following year on 2 June 1768, by Johann Christian Bach, Johann Sebastian's youngest son; it was the first theatre to use limelight indoors for the first time in 1837.
There was also a famous last. A famous actress called Sarah Siddons gave her last performance at the Royal Opera House. She gave a 10-minute long farewell speech after her final performance, as Lady Macbeth in 1812.
E M Barry designed a building adjacent to the theatre called the Floral Hall (now called The Paul Hamlyn Hall). It was originally a flower market opened in 1860. It too succumbed to a fire in 1956 and was derelict for a time. It was acquired by the Opera House in 1977 and used as storage space. It is now the atrium for the theatre and houses a champagne bar, restaurant and other hospitality services. Its original facade was stored away and eventually bought by Borough Market for £1 and added to the market’s structure in 2003.
The covid plague did the Opera House no favours. In fact, it lost 60% of its income as a result of the restrictions. It was forced to sell the 1971 Portrait of Sir David Webster by David Hockney which had hung there for decades, in an auction at Christie’s. It sold for £12.8 million and allowed the institution to survive.
NEW!!
The Gingerbread Man
A short story collection including aliens, princes and princesses, dragons, superhero origin stories and of course, a gingerbread man.
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