Opera house as wealthy patrons and it continues to have a large number of working opera houses such as Teatro Massimo in Palermo (the biggest in Italy), Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (the world's oldest working opera house) and Teatro La Scala in Milan. In contrast, there was no opera house in London when Henry Purcell was composing and the first opera house in Germany was built in Hamburg in 1678. In the 17th and 18th centuries, opera houses were often financed by rulers, nobles, and wealthy people who used patronage of the arts to endorse their political ambition and social
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