thumb|right|260px|Exterior of the Teatro Regio in Parma, 2018

Teatro Regio di Parma, originally constructed as the Nuovo Teatro Ducale (New Ducal Theatre), is an opera house and opera company in Parma, Italy.

Replacing an obsolete house, the new Ducale achieved prominence in the years after 1829, and especially so after the composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born near Busseto, some thirty kilometres away, had achieved fame. Also well known in Parma was the conductor Arturo Toscanini, born there in 1867.

As has been noted by Lee Marshall, "while not as well known as La Scala in Milan or La Fenice in Venice, the city’s Teatro Regio....is considered by opera buffs to be one of the true homes of the great Italian tradition, and the well-informed audience is famous for giving voice to its approval or disapproval – not just from the gallery."

The 1,400-seat auditorium, with four tiers of boxes topped by a gallery,

Today, the company stages about four operas each season from mid January to April and, since 2003, it has presented an annual Verdi Festival each October.

Construction of the Teatro Ducale

thumb|right|200px|Poster for the opening night of the Nuovo

There had been a Ducal Theatre in Parma since the 17th century, the principal one being the Teatro Farnese constructed in 1618, but it was used only nine times, the last one occurring in October 1732, after which it suffered from years from neglect and further damage by American bombing in World War II. It was rebuilt in 1966. The 1,200-seat theatre After a performance of Rossini's Zelmira in 1828, it was closed and then demolished.

The foyer is, as Martini describes it, a "large square upheld by four pairs of imposing mottled marble Ionic columns on an attic base..... The entire room is based on the square and on symmetry". It is decorated with a marble floor.

After the 1853 restoration, which overall has been described as neo-Baroque ("[It radiat[es] gold, ivory, and maroon" colours),

Renaming the theatre

After the reign of Duchess Marie Louise, the theatre was renamed and between 1849 and 1860, it was known as the "Teatro Reale". especially as his fame grew after the success of the 1840 Nabucco. His operas have had a special place in the Regio's programming after 17 April 1843, when Verdi came to direct his Nabucco. Since that time, the Regio has staged every one of his operas, including adaptations of original versions such as I Lombardi of 1843, which became Jérusalem for Paris in 1847 or the 1847 Macbeth which was revised in 1865.

Festival Verdi

In addition to its regular season, from the 1990s the company began to mount a Festival Verdi. Beginning in 2003, the celebration known as Buon Compleanno Maestro Verdi ("Happy Birthday, Maestro Verdi") has been held each 10 October with a concert of excerpts from his works the aim of the Festival Verdi has been to present every one of the composer's operas by the bi-centennial year of 2013. However, while this was not achieved, very few operas remain to be staged (depending upon whether different versions are planned). The Festival has included associated discussions, orchestral concerts, and other relevant presentations.

The Teatro Regio's audience

Several writers have commented on the particular qualities of certain members of the audience when attending a performance at the Ducale and the Regio: "Parma's operatic public has a reputation as particularly demanding [and] famous for being unforgiving of any singer not in good voice" notes Plantamura, while Lynn goes back to the early days of the old Ducale in 1816 with an account of the way the tenor Alberico Curioni was "whistled and booed, but he would have none of it and shouted obscenities back" until the police were called and arrested him. The inaugural gala of the Teatro Regio on 16 May 1829 "was not a joyous occasion" for the audience, which gave Bellini's Zaira "a frosty reception" due to the fact that he was the second choice and that he had refused to use a libretto written by one of the company's board members.

Lynn also recounts several incidents during performances in the 19th century where the curtain was brought down due to vociferous protests from audience members, one event actually leading to the dismissal of the theatre's administration. A 21st century performance, which incited audience displeasure was the 2001 opening of a controversial production of Verdi's Macbeth, which was set during the First World War. A later performance caused competing "bravas" and booing for and against the Lady Macbeth. The theatre's administration explained it as follows: "Teatro Regio realizes that it needs to be the best because the audience are all experts".

Some artists who have worked at the Teatro Regio di Parma

The dates of their most recent appearances have been noted below.

{|class="wikitable"

!colspan=3|Conductors

|-

|width="130"|Bruno Bartoletti (2009)

|width="130"|Myung-Whun Chung (2005)

|width="130"|Lorin Maazel (2009)

|-

|Zubin Mehta

|Riccardo Muti (2007)

|Daniel Oren (2012)

|-

|Renato Palumbo (2013)

|Georges Prêtre (2007)

|Yuri Temirkanov (2013)

|-

!colspan="3"|Opera singers

|-

|width="130"|Marcelo Álvarez (2009)

|width="130"|Daniela Barcellona (2009)

|width="130"|Carlo Bergonzi (1959)

|-

|Sesto Bruscantini

|Renato Bruson (2008)

|Maria Callas (1951)

|-

|Piero Cappuccilli

|José Carreras (1998)

|Boris Christoff

|-

|Franco Corelli

|Mario Del Monaco

|Daniela Dessì (2005)

|-

|Barbara Frittoli (2007)

|Sonia Ganassi (2011)

|Carlo Guelfi (2011)

|-

|Nicolai Ghiaurov

|Alfredo Kraus (1987)

|Flaviano Labò (1960s)

|-

|Ambrogio Maestri (2011)

|Anthony Michaels-Moore (2008)

|Leo Nucci (2012)

|-

|Michele Pertusi (2013)

|Juan Pons (2005)

|Katia Ricciarelli (1986)

|-

|Margherita Rinaldi (1970)

| Piero Sardelli (1946)

|Renata Scotto

|-

|Cesare Siepi (1982)

|Renata Tebaldi (1949)

|Richard Tucker (1971)

|-

|}

The Teatro Regio was featured in scenes in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1964 film Before the Revolution, as well as the 1987 Italian horror film Opera, directed by Dario Argento.

References

Notes

Sources

  • Lynn, Karyl Charna (2005), "Parma: Teatro Regio", in Italian Opera Houses and Festivals. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.
  • Martini, Giuseppe (unk.), Guida al Teatro Regio di Parma (in Italian) / A Guide to the Theatre (in English) trans. Melanie Schoonhoven. Parma: Azzali Editori.
  • Plantamura, Carol (1996), "Parma", in The Opera Lover's Guide to Europe. Citadel Press.
  • Zeitz, Karyl Lynn (1991), "Parma: Teatro Regio", in OPERA!: The Guide to Western Europe's Great Houses. Santa Fe, NM: John Muir Publications.
  • Opera Chic, Background to the Verdi Festival and associated locations in Parma, 2006 to 2013 with many photographs, on operachic.typepad.com. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  • Teatro Regio di Parma's website
  • Verdi's Italy