Lisbon - Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos

The Lisbon opera house is situated on the south side of the inconspicuous Largo de Sao Carlos in Chiado. It was built in 1792 to the plans of José da Costa e Silva to replace an earlier opera house which had been completely destroyed by the earthquake. In contrast to the first opera house the new one was not purely the domain of the royal family but became at that time increasingly more popular with the rising bourgeoisie. It was, in fact, some wealthy citizens who commissioned and paid for the new building. Performances of predominantly Italian operas - with mainly Italian casts - gave the Lisbon opera a good name for some time in the 19th century. Musical guests to the Lisbon opera included Toscanini, Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Richard Strauss, Paganini, Rubinstein and Padarewsky. The Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos is regarded as one of Portugal's earliest Classical buildings. The architect based his designs on the Milanese Scala and the Naples opera. The outer facade is simply and harmoniously proportioned. The entrance is covered by a three arched arcaded balcony surmounted by a veranda. The internal decoration is moderate and elegant. The ceiling painting in the entrance hall is the work of Volkmar Machado. The large concert hall has an elliptical ground plan, above which are five circles one above the other. Smaller scale chamber concerts take place in the Salao Nobre.