In 1838, the Community of Modena decided to build a modern theater capable of fully meeting the representational needs and dignity of the city, which was increasingly underserved by the old Municipal Theater on Via Emilia, housed in the building that since the 17th century had been home to the ancient comedians’ theater, the Valentini. The new construction was entrusted to the ducal architect Francesco Vandelli, already the creator of the Foro Boario and the church of S. Giovanni del Cantone, who before undertaking the project visited important contemporary theaters including, documented by surveys, those of Piacenza, Mantua, and La Scala in Milan, whose dimensions were noted on the reverse of some sketches (A.St.C. Modena, Vandelli Prof. Francesco Architetto. Recapiti della Fabbrica del Teatro Municipale dal 1839 al 1843. Progetti diversi di lavori privati senza data, 1 c., s.d.). These represent one of the few graphic documents by the architect whose autograph drawings for the Municipal Theater are not known. Work began in May 1838 on the chosen area, bounded by Canalgrande, Vicolo Venezia, Fonteabisso, and Strada S. Margherita, where twelve houses were demolished or reduced, but despite this, the space was still insufficient, so the theater’s façade broke the symmetry of the houses on Canalgrande. This helped to emphasize from a distance the “reading” of the building’s function, which in fact is hindered by the actual narrowness of the street where it is located. To support the heavy expenses required by the grand construction, the box holders of the old Municipal Theater were invited, and most responded favorably, to exchange their boxes in the old theater for equivalent ones in the new; loans were made to the Municipality of Modena by those from Formigine and the Charitable Congregation of Mirandola; the Duke himself also participated by paying for the royal box and supplying marble from the Villa d’Este in Tivoli. After nearly four years of work, the theater—with a large portico for carriages outside, numerous service rooms (including a spacious room for scenography), a horseshoe-shaped hall with four tiers of boxes and a gallery, as well as a richly decorated ceiling—was inaugurated on the evening of October 3, 1841, with the opera “Adelaide di Borgogna al Castello di Canossa,” composed by Alessandro Gandini (libretto by Carlo Malmusi), followed by the ballet “Rebecca,” with choreography by Emanuele Viotti and sets by Camillo Crespolani. Since that date, the building has not undergone radical changes; it currently features the original neoclassical façade with a ground floor portico with flat rustication, a first floor with framed windows, and an attic floor with smaller windows. The prominence of the central part is marked by four Doric columns supporting a balustrade with pilasters framing three windows divided by Ionic lesenes; at the top, a decorated pediment with the Genius of Modena framing the city coat of arms. The façade is enriched with exquisite sculptural decoration consisting, in addition to rosettes placed on the archivolts at ground level, of bas-reliefs by Luigi Righi on the sides of the portico (a solution certainly derived from the Municipal Theater of Piacenza) and opposite the windows of the first floor. Inside, from an oval atrium, one accesses the boxes via two flights of stairs and, through the central door, the horseshoe-shaped stalls under three tiers of boxes (with their respective “camerini”) ending with a gallery created in 1901 in place of the fourth tier (cf. A.St.C. Modena, Administrative Acts, 1901, f. 379, fs. Theaters, pz.2) and the upper balcony. The ceiling, from which hangs the large chandelier installed with the introduction of electric lighting in 1887 (cf. A.St.C. Modena, Administrative Acts, 1887, f.87, fs. Theaters, pz.9), is decorated with ornaments by Camillo Crespolani and figures by Luigi Manzini, who also created the stuccoes with stories of the Genius running along the balconies of the boxes framed by slender pilasters. In 1869, the ceiling was repainted by Ferdinando Manzini, who proposed adding four groups of putti. The hall features a mystical gulf created in 1935 (cf. A.St.C. Modena, Administrative Acts, 1935, f. 1477), a large and equipped stage with original grids and a restored under-stage area, with the stage floor in wood supported by iron pillars. In the 1980s, the theater underwent numerous restoration interventions targeting both the service areas and the equipment. In October 2007, the Municipal Theater was named after Luciano Pavarotti, in memory of the great tenor from Modena a month after his passing.
Information about the Luciano Pavarotti Municipal Theater
Via Canalgrande,
41121 Modena (Modena)
Source: MIBACT
