Teatro Alla Scala, The

The theater’s history from its origins to the present day, richly illustrated in color. La Scala is the world’s number one theater, because it is the one that gives the greatest musical enjoyment, wrote Stendhal on November 10, 1816. La Scala opened in 1778 with the opera Europa riconosciuta by Antonio Salieri, but it had already won itself the prestige it would forever keep. Most of Italy’s greatest opera artists, and many of the finest singers from other nations, too, have appeared at La Scala over the past 200 years. Today, the theater is still recognized as one of the leading opera and ballet venues in the world. This lavish book with impressive pairings of text and illustrations presents a chronology of the major operas, ballets, composers, and performers from 1778 to today and represents an invaluable guide for both amateur opera fans and aficionados.