Manaus Opera House
The Neoclassical Opera House (now called Teatro Amazonas) is an amazing testimony to the dreams of the extremely wealthy Rubber Barrons of the Amazon when Manaus one of the richest cities on earth for a time. It is a huge pink building and all the parts were imported from France and Italy as were the workmen who constructed it. I think the wood they used was hardwood came from Brazil but I suspect they sent it to Europe to be polished and shaped. There are chrystal chandeliers and classical busts and each of the marble columns are topped by Greek masks of comedy and tragedy.
The outside has cobblestone walks and streets surrounding the building .We were told that the early opera goers complained about the noise from the carriages while inside listening to the music. Thus the workmen tore up all the cobblestones, put rubber pads underneath and then reinstalled the cobblestones as they were - all of which still exists today.
The opera house opened in 1896 with a performance by Caruso but by 1910 when rubber seeds were smuggled out of the area and planted in Malaysia the boom became a bust. Some people said Manaus was plunged into darkness and I don't know if that was figurative or if the lights literally went out. I do know that the stage of the opera house was used as a football pitch and the auditorium was used to store petrol for a time.
The last restoration was completed in 1990's but it was only recently that the governor of the Amazonas province decided that his city needed top quality professional choir, orchestra and ballet. Well, I can tell you they do. We walked into the Opera House to hear the choir singing Handel's Messiah which was as good as I have ever heard. And the acoustics of the opera house are better than most places I have been - the sound had a golden quality. Wow! Pretty cool.
I'll post a picture here soon
The outside has cobblestone walks and streets surrounding the building .We were told that the early opera goers complained about the noise from the carriages while inside listening to the music. Thus the workmen tore up all the cobblestones, put rubber pads underneath and then reinstalled the cobblestones as they were - all of which still exists today.
The opera house opened in 1896 with a performance by Caruso but by 1910 when rubber seeds were smuggled out of the area and planted in Malaysia the boom became a bust. Some people said Manaus was plunged into darkness and I don't know if that was figurative or if the lights literally went out. I do know that the stage of the opera house was used as a football pitch and the auditorium was used to store petrol for a time.
The last restoration was completed in 1990's but it was only recently that the governor of the Amazonas province decided that his city needed top quality professional choir, orchestra and ballet. Well, I can tell you they do. We walked into the Opera House to hear the choir singing Handel's Messiah which was as good as I have ever heard. And the acoustics of the opera house are better than most places I have been - the sound had a golden quality. Wow! Pretty cool.
I'll post a picture here soon
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