THEATRE MALIBRAN
The present theatre Malibran was built in only four months in 1677 and was named Saint John Chrysostomos. It seems that the building arises where there was the Marco Polo’s house. It was projected by Tommaso Bezzi, ordered by the Grimanis and opened with the opera “Vespasiano” by Carlo Pallavicino during the Carnival of 1678. This theatre was the most important of Venice in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century. Here they performed grand operas but also prose works, starting from the direction of Carlo Goldoni, in 1737. During its golden age, this structure saw the exhibitions of great composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti, Georg Friedrich Handel and Carlo Francesco Pollarolo.
The fall started in 1755, when the Grimanis decided to build another and smaller theatre: the Saint Benedetto. From then on the grand operas performed decreased and so the theatre’s notoriety.
The present name, Malibran, comes from that of Maria Malibran, a famous Spanish mezzo-soprano and was assigned in 1835. After a period of ups and downs and some stops, the structure reopened in 1919 and in 1992 was purchased by Venice’s municipality that renovated and enlarged it. In 1996, being “La Fenice” fired, its Orchestra was moved to Malibran and theatre was revaluated.
The architectural structure is imposing and has a plan developed in length. The original project had five orders of thirty stands and wide stalls. The inner is rich in fine decorations.