Chicago Civic Opera
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The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a
Chicago Opera Association
The Chicago Opera Association produced seven seasons of grand opera in Chicago's Auditorium Theatre from 1915 to 1921. The founding artistic director and principal conductor was Cleofonte Campanini, while the general manager and chief underwriter was Harold F. McCormick. When Campanini died in December 1919 he was replaced by the composer Gino Marinuzzi, who staged his own Jacquerie as the opening production of the 1920–21 season.
In January 1921, operatic diva Mary Garden was appointed music director (or "Directa" as she styled it) and the recently divorced McCormick promised to pay that year's difference exceeding $100,000, the previous high being $300,000. He planned on this being his last season, and he called in Mary Garden to finish the company with style. The subsequent blow-out season was finished with the hugely expensive world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges, which had been commissioned by the Opera Association. This, and other extravagances on Mary Garden's part, ended the season with a deficit of $1,100,000, most of which was paid for by the McCormick fund. Mary Garden as "Directa" for one season cost $750,000 more than any single season of opera in Chicago at that time. Coming as it did during a business recession, these deficits bankrupted the company.
Notable singers
- Georges Baklanoff
- Charles Dalmorès
- Alice D'Hermanoy
- Hector Dufranne
- Florence Easton
- Anna Fitziu
- Amelita Galli-Curci
- Mary Garden
- Gustave Huberdeau
- Frances Ingram
- Nina Koshetz
- Edith Mason
- Mary McCormic
- Carmen Melis
- Tamaki Miura
- Lucien Muratore
- Claudia Muzio
- Giovanni Polese
- Rosa Raisa
- Tito Schipa
- Emilio Venturini
- Alice Verlet
- Olivia Monona
Formation of the Civic Opera Company
The Civic Opera was formed by reorganizing the bankrupt of the Chicago Opera Association in 1921. Opera Association general manager Harold F. McCormick resigned and was replaced by utilities magnate Samuel Insull, while sixteen of the eighteen directors were carried over from the old company. The new Civic Opera also fell heir to Mary Garden as musical director as well as all of the costumes, scenery, and other resources of the defunct Opera Association. The Civic Opera Company was Chicago's first real world class Opera Company, it was also a "democratic" opera company, aiming for a popular audience. Productions were supposed to based upon what the people wanted, though they turned out to be the Italian repertory that the sponsors and the executives favored and the modern French operas beloved of reigning diva Mary Garden, while German works and operetta were sadly neglected.
The Civic Opera Company opened on November 13, 1922 with a stunning performance of
New Opera House
Originally, like Chicago Opera Association, the Civic Opera Company was housed in the Auditorium theater. This theater was superlative for singing, the acoustics were and are second to none, but there was no back stage to speak of. This limits the productions possible to put on and that can be housed at one point in time, a limit that both Insull and Garden chafed under, so very early on, Insull decided that there would be a new opera house. The new
In the 1950s the theater became the home of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Bankruptcy
This was a magnificent plan and would have worked wonderfully, except that opening night ironically fell on November 4, 1929 (again with a delightful performance of Aida) less than a month after the
See also
- Lyric Opera of Chicago
- Harriet Lundgren (1922-1932), prima ballerina
- Mary McCormic
- Ruth Pryor
References
Bibliography
- Davis, Ronald L., Opera in Chicago, Appleton, New York City, 1966.
- Marsh, Robert C. and Norman Pellegrini, 150 Years of Opera in Chicago, Northern Illinois University Press, Chicago 2006.
Further reading
- McDonald. Forrest, Insull, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 1962.