Renaissance · Europe · Culture

1637

First Opera House Opens in Venice

1637

The Teatro San Cassiano in Venice opened its doors as the first public opera house, charging admission to paying audiences rather than entertaining a court. Opera ceased to be an aristocratic amusement and began its messy career as a popular art. Within a decade, Venice had sixteen such theaters, and the lagoon city had reinvented itself as the capital of musical drama.

More from 1637 Renaissance

In context

Also in 1637 (3 other events on record)

Descartes Publishes Discourse on Method · Europe · Science
Shimabara Rebellion · East Asia · War
Pequot War Ends · North America · War

Before and after in Europe

Before: 1636: Dutch Tulip Mania Peaks
After: February 28, 1638: Scottish National Covenant

Before and after in Culture

Before: September 1636: Harvard College Founded
After: 1642: Rembrandt Paints The Night Watch

Era

Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.