Royal Swedish Opera architect Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz was commissioned by King Gustav III, a strong adherent of the ideal of an enlightened absolutism and as such was a great patron of the arts. The Swedish Opera company had first been located in Bollhuset, but there was a need to separate the Opera from the theatre and give them separate buildings. Construction began in 1775 and the theatre was inaugurated on 30 September 1782 with a performance of the German composer Johann Gottlieb Naumann's "Cora och Alonzo". It was also the place for public masquerade balls, events inspired from the famous opera-balls in Paris,
Gustavo III (Verdi) Sweden during the 2002/03 season, 146 years after Verdi took his libretto for "Gustavo III" away from the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. "Gustavo III" was given at the San Carlo in January/February 2004. Notes Sources Gustavo III (Verdi) Gustavo III is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi to a libretto begun in early 1857 by the Italian playwright Antonio Somma. Never performed as written, the libretto was later revised (or proposed to be revised) several times under two additional names – "Una vendetta in domino" and "Adelia degli Adimari" – during which the setting was changed to vastly different locations.