Italian opera it reached the republic of Venice. It was here that the first public opera house, the Teatro di San Cassiano, was opened in 1637 by Benedetto Ferrari and Francesco Manelli. Its success moved opera away from aristocratic patronage and into the commercial world. In Venice, musical drama was no longer aimed at an elite of aristocrats and intellectuals and acquired the character of entertainment. Soon many other opera houses had sprung up in the city, performing works for a paying public during the Carnival season. The opera houses employed a very small orchestra to save money. A large part of
Crosby's Opera House was to re-open on October 9, 1871, with a performance by Theodore Thomas. However, the night before the re-opening, a fire tore through the city. By the evening of the next day, the Great Chicago Fire had destroyed over of the city, including Crosby's Opera House. It was never rebuilt, and there was no permanent venue for opera in the city until the Chicago Opera House opened in 1885. Crosby's Opera House Crosby's Opera House (1865–1871) was an opera house in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was founded by Uranus H. Crosby in 1865 in an effort to bring a