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
Piper's Opera House to the first story of the new building at the northwest corner of B and Union Streets. The second story of the building was rented out. Tom Maguire and John Burns opened Maguire's Opera House in 1863. Maguire's was where actress Adah Isaacs Menken appeared in "Mazeppa". On October 9, 1867, Piper and his financial sponsor John William Mackay bought Maguire's and renamed it Piper's Opera House. On October 30, 1866, Mark Twain delivered a lecture from its stage. The opera house played host to Shakespearean thespians Edwin Booth, Thomas R. Keene, Lawrence Barrett and John Edward McCullough. Actors Frank