OPERA HOUSE

The Odessa Opera and Ballet House is one of the city's architectural sights. The theatre building was constructed in 1887 according to the project of the Vienna architects F. Felner and G. Gelmer. On this very site there stood before an old municipal theatre built in 1809. Its designer was a Russian architect Toma de Tomon.

In early 1800ths (eighteen hundredths), decently looking buildings in Odessa were rare. This resulted from shortage of building materials like stone, timber. The city builders and the first odessans lived iri dugout huts, suffering the shortage of potable water. Harnessed oxen were dragging carts full of wheat corn along the hardly distinguishable newly marked out streerways.

The grains were unloaded at spacious barns "bread stores". Then in the evening these barns were converted into improvised stage. Russian, Ukrainian, Polish strolling actors and companies performed on the stages. Odessa hardly reached the age of 10 when a small Italian company of opera singers arrived here. Pioneer Odessans stoically taking the hardship of their living would not do without the theatrical performance. In 1804-1809 on a heal well seen from the sea, a fine theater was erected. Many people compared it to a small antique temple. And the building indeed stood on the ancient ruins.

Odessa's newspaper of that time "Odessa Reporter" wrote that the surroundings of the theater and the new boulevard were built on the places of great historical value. Every time they carried out digging at new building sites they found new remains of the ancient Greek culture. The newspaper contained a lot of news like the city architect Boffot has discovered a few ancient graves when he ordered to make a trench for foundation for a store at his house.

The auditorium of the theater had a horseshoe shape. Three tiers of wallpapered boxes were situated over the amphitheatrical parterre in which the most of the audience stood. Only 44 chairs were installed in front of the parterre. Due to the standing parterre it held 800 spectators.

The theater was lit by dim light of oil lamps, therefore it was always dark in the auditorium, which was mentioned in in the draft copies of Pushkin's poem "Eugeniy Onegin". The theater was not heated in winter for two reasons: fire safety and extremely high price of woods, because there were very few trees in the vicinity; Only very wealthy people could afford buying firewood.

The audience often watched performances with their over clothes on. The {rue theater goers were selfless. Nevertheless all these difficulties were not an obstacle to bringing the theater to the level better than Moscow and Saint Petersburg's counterparts as the poet Batushkqv who visited the city stated. Foreigners admired the fact that the performances were in Russian, Polish, Italian, and German languages. Thus, the theater, international by its nature, best satisfied the needs of Odessa's multicultural population in the language of theatrical art understood by all. From the very first days of its existence, the Opera house became the most important component of Odessa's social life. The fact that Opera had such significance was due to a numerous communities of Mediterranean nations, especially Italians.

The Opera House used to be the biggest meeting place for Odessans where they learnt and discussed the latest political and commercial news and events. People went to Italian Opera not only because of their love of music, they went there to socialize, Opera made them equal to each other independently of their social and financial status.

The old theatre was burnt down in 1873. The construction of the new building which was to become an architectural pearl of the city was started on September 28, 1884. The curtain was first raised on October 13. Considering the scope of the work done, its complexity and refinement we can call the builders real magicians of their deeds

Legend says that F. Felner who arrived in Odessa from Vienna in 1887 for the opening ceremony cried out: "This is the best theatre in the world". There is no historical confirmation of this assertion. But there are more than enough enthusiastic comments from the city’s guests. Here in one. It belongs to the English writer James Aldridge who on visiting Odessa in the spring 1983 said: "Magnificent. I haven't seen in any country of the world an opera house like this"."

The design of the exterior of the Odessa Opera House is made, as the specialists hold, in baroque. But there are also many elements of the Renaissance style.

The lines of the building are so highly dynamic that a visual effect of lessening its dimensions and minimizing its size is achieved. The dynamism is obtained at the expense of the articulation of the facade, by plasticity of decoration and utilizing the effect of chiaroscuro. The composition of the building is complicated but at the same time very simple: the front part is horseshoe-shaped with three adjacent porticos placed on different levels with a dome crowning the top. Well planned and erected are three horizontal circles. The ground one is.squat - dead load of the construction is deliberately increased being devoid of any stucco moulding.

The first circle consists of loggias with Tuscan columns, the tops of which are disk-shaped1 supporting right-angled slabs. The second circle has loggias with complicated1 apertures and columns having showy capitals; the large columns are Ionic and the smaller ones are Corinthian. The house has twenty entrances and three additional ones are for the staff. The facade of the edifice is richly decorated with sculptures representing characters of Ancient Greek mythology. Over the main portico is Melpomena placed on a pedestal. She is tearing along in a chariot harnessed to four panthers.

The Muse has a torch in her hand, her right hand is raised in a salute. On both sides are two genii holding laurel garlands. Two more groups are placed on the second pedestal. The one on the right shows Ter-psichora teaching a young creature to dance. The left group portrays Orpheus enchanting the Centaur by his playing on the lyre.

Below on both sides of the entrance to the central portico are two more groups: allegoric presentation of Comedy and Tragedy.

There are two alto-relievo portrayals on the facade of the portico right over the balcony – two Glories with garlands in their hands.

In the niches over the second circle you can see the busts of M. Glinka, A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, A. Griboyedov personifying Music, Poetry, Comedy and Drama. The interior decoration is mainly in rococo, lavish and rich. The eye glides from the almost stern simplicity of the boxes to the dress circle in the decor of which there is more freedom; from them the eye glides to the more whimsically decorated boxes of the first and second circles; and then to a graceful and almost airy arcade which frames the gallery. Magnificent is the ceiling, the middle part of which has four paintings representing scenes from Shakespeare's plays: "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "A Winter Tale" and "As You Like It". The central chandelier weighs almost two and a half tons. In 1926 there was another fire. These were difficult years for the young Soviet Republic. But throughout these times the Government of the Soviet State took full care of the spiritual life of the working masses. A special resolution assigning sums for the reconstruction of the Odessa Theatre was adopted. People's Commissar A. Lunacharsky took a constant interest in the progress of the work.

In spring of 1926 the theatre was reopened.

In 1967 a thorough restoration was carried out. Ten kilograms of gold of the highest standard was used in the course of the work.