On 26 May 2007 at 18:01, Mariposa Symphony Orchestra wrote: > I'll admit, a slight exaggeration, John, but I'm not talking the Met. > Read what I said: "every last small town had its Opera House." And, > despite your information offered in response to my e-mail, even those > somewhat larger, including your very own hometown of Seattle - dating > back to the 1870's! (Read below.) I'm talking those buildings > built as - and called 'Opera Houses.' Which were the cultural > centers of ubiquitous towns. Which weren't usually the 800-seat > caverns (such as the Millett Opera House in Austin, TX) but were > usually more often the smaller venues which hosted amateur local > presentations of everything from G & S prods to scenes from grand > opera to instrumental recitals.
I don't actually have any historicaly documentation to prove this, but my understanding is that "opera house" in this period was just a synonym for "big theater that hosts all kinds of shows." Some of the actually were operas (travelling companies), but most of them would be popular entertainments, burlesques, visiting speakers (Mark Twain travelled a lot and gave speeches all over), and so forth. My understanding, which may very well be completelyl mistaken, was that these venues had little to do with what we today consider "opera." Maybe operetta, but that was considered popular entertainment at the time. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
