San Cassiano Theatre

…opening in 1637 of the San Cassiano Theatre (Europe’s first public opera house), the commercial flair of Venice’s patricians, allied to the secular ambitions of choirmasters of San Marco such as Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli (both noted opera composers) and Giovanni Legrenzi, made Venice the operatic capital of Europe.

…first public opera house, the Teatro di San Cassiano in Venice—a commercial venture for one of the city’s wealthy merchant families—was another decisive factor in the development of opera. This event ultimately removed opera from the exclusive patronage of royalty and nobility and placed it within reach of all but…