Teatro del Maggio archive inaugurated

Teatro del Maggio archive inaugurated

The archive retraces the history of Teatro del Maggio.

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Fri 17 May 2019 8:46 AM

Teatro del Maggio has recently inaugurated an archive, showcasing decades of prolific activity at Florence’s prestigious theatre through sketches, models, photographs, posters and recordings. Vaunting 245 square metres of archival space and a 90-square metre consultation room, the new institution will soon be open to scholars and students conducting historical and musicological research.

 

 

Teatro del Maggio Archive

 

 

The archive retraces the history of Teatro del Maggio, beginning with the foundation of the Orchestra Stabile Fiorentina in 1928. The yearly Festival del Maggio Musicale is amply showcased, known for its famous collaborations with artists like Giorgio De Chirico, Renato Guttuso, Oskar Kokoschka, Mino Maccari, Mario Sironi, Franco Zeffirelli and Luchino Visconti. With the opening of the archive, visitors can now go “behind the scenes” of the theatre’s celebrated performances thanks to documentation and objects such as correspondence, photographs of scenery plans, film clips and theatre props. Some illustrious pieces include a viola that belonged to Carlo Maria Giulini, costumes donated by Renata Tebaldi, Ebe Stignani and Karl Lagerfeld, and the program for the first concert held by the Orchestra Stabile Fiorentina, autographed by its conductor, Vittorio Gui.

 

 

“These rooms enclose our history,” said Cristiano Chiarot, superintendent of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, “an incredibly rich and varied history that has brought together and celebrated all the arts, from music to dance, figurative art to craftsmanship. This is not only an archive but a summation of the history of music and art […] a tool for researchers who will use these rooms to study the past and build, piece by piece, the history of future theatre.”

 

 

 

 

The Teatro del Maggio archive is the result of a collaboration with the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency of Tuscany, which recommended specialized personnel, and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, which oversaw the restoration of some of the scenery models.

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