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
Batcher Opera House Block more than a year until it was clear that another new building in town, raised by the local Odd Fellows, would not include an opera house. Batcher then decided to include an opera house and restarted construction in the spring of 1907, adding a third story to the design. Yet another new building in town, by Thomas J. Sharkey, did add an opera house, which opened as Sharkey's Opera House at about the same time as the Batcher Opera House opened. Batcher's Opera House was the more influential of the two, and though Sharkey's continued as an entertainment venue, it