22.5.12
According to Google it takes 2 hrs 47 mins to get between Florence and Vincenza – but I wouldn’t calculate on that timetable when it is raining – even on a Sunday when there is limited traffic on the road!
Vincenza is known as the home of Palladio and with the Palladian Villas of the Veneto in the surrounding area it has also been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.
The reason for our hike up and down the autostrada AI was to visit the renowned Teatro Olimpico (Olympic Theatre) and see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung aus Dem Serail sung in Italian on the glorious stage setting of this little Palladio masterpiece.
The Teatro Olimpico was constructed between 1580-1585, and as such it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. It has little fluffy clouds painted on the roof though – so first impressions it looks as if it is an outside unenclosed theatre!
The theatre was the last design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, and sadly was not completed until after his death.
Vincenzo Scamozzi designed the trompe-l’œil onstage scenery , which gives the appearance of long streets receding into the distance.
It was so tempting to wish to see all that scenery in use – it was installed in 1585 for the very first performance held in the theatre, and is the oldest surviving stage set still in existence.
However for this performance the Orchestra and Chorus used the stage, the Singers wandered around us in the stalls, all the extraordinary costumes seemed to be made of origami and nobody ventured into the old stage area!
But what a happy opera this is! And good to see everything resolved despite religious differences!
Just as well it gave me something happy to hum as I battled home in the pouring rain last night
Here is an extract from the Overture to enjoy www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9GyeFBZozg
and one of Constanze aria’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM3jn1axna4&feature=related
Enjoy!
