In this book, Eugene J. Johnson traces the invention of the opera house, a building type of world wide importance. Italy laid the foundation theater buildings in the West, in architectural spaces invented for the commedia dell'arte in the sixteenth century, and theaters built to present the new art form of opera in the seventeenth. Rulers lavished enormous funds on these structures. Often they were among the most expensive artistic undertakings of a given prince. They were part of an upsurge of theatrical invention in the performing arts. At the same time, the productions that took place within the opera house could threaten the social order, to the point where rulers would raze them. Johnson reconstructs the history of the opera house by bringing together evidence from a variety of disciplines, including music, art, theatre, and politics. Writing in an engaging manner, he sets the history of the opera house within its broader early modern social context.

'… sprinkled with photographs and illustrations of Italian theatres as well as architectural plans and digital reconstruction of stage interiors. The content is technical throughout, but there’s just enough colour to hold the general reader’s interest.'

Source: BBC Music Magazine

'Beautifully presented … an important addition to the bibliography on the topic …'

Brian Robins Source: Opera

‘This is clearly the definitive study of Renaissance and early Baroque theaters and should be on the reading lists not only of scholars and students in the fields of theater and architecture but also those of musicologists and historians concerned with the role of culture in early modern Italy.’

Jonathan Glixon Source: Renaissance Quarterly

‘The book is clearly written and profusely illustrated (nearly two hundred images in black-and-white and color). This is clearly the definitive study of Renaissance and early Baroque theaters and should be on the reading lists not only of scholars and students in the fields of theater and architecture but also those of musicologists and historians concerned with the role of culture in early modern Italy.’

Jonathan Glixon Source: Renaissance Quarterly