The history of the Social Theater

The restoration work, begun in 2006 and completed in May 2009, delivers to the city a historic theater completely recovered. The foyer floors were resurfaced, the surviving walls, ceilings and finishes were restored, and a new entrance door was installed. Discreet integrative retouches were made to the wooden parapets of the boxes with cabinet work, fixing and protection of the decorations, and restoration of the gaps. The restoration of the first three tiers of boxes (totaling about 550 seats), the resurfacing of the floors, the insertion of a steel structure to reinforce the existing wooden one, the sectioning of the tiers into boxes by means of new partitions, according to the original design, were implemented, the reinforcement of the parapets, the wooden and pictorial restoration of the pillars and suspended ceilings, the construction of the heating, cooling and fire-fighting systems, and the rebuilding of the electrical and lighting system, as well as the provision of adequate restrooms. For the fourth order, the gallery, static consolidation was planned in order to make it easily available for public access in the future through simple completion operations. The return of the Sociale to its original theatrical vocation has also meant the installation of a modern stage machine, with new stage and trellis, while the orchestral pit has been equipped with a mechanical platform that can be raised on three levels. Finally, three new levels of dressing rooms were built to the right of the stage. Today the Teatro Sociale is used by the Donizetti Theater Foundation for staging a number of plays and operas and for holding jazz concerts. It is, in addition, the main location for the Other Paths festival. << PREVIOUS

Leopoldo Pollack, among the most celebrated architects of the Neoclassical period, was entrusted with the project for the new theater; he was chosen because he was already an expert in the theatrical field and was known in Bergamo for other work. A fine artist, he had also worked for Piermarini-the architect of La Scala-and had been his pupil. Pollack decided on an Italian-style theater with multiple tiers of boxes, which realized the need for public visibility of the aristocratic classes and their hierarchical relationships. As for the layout of the stalls, Pollack chose not to repeat the horse-shaped floor plan dominant at the time, opting instead for a more refined and elegant oval shape in the French style .. The combination of this shape with the vertical development of the boxes constitutes perhaps the most original aspect of the project. When the public first saw the theater there was much appreciation, but also some criticism. Some did not like the curve of the boxes, which seemed not to allow an optimal view; perplexities were advanced about the clutter of the columns at the entrance that were the work of Antonio Bottani, the architect who had continued the project after Pollack's death. The opening night was, however, successful as evidenced by the testimony of the Prefect of Bergamo Frangipane who wrote: "On the evening of the current 26th the opening of the new Teatro della Società took place. With the Theater elegantly adorned, the skill of the first actors, the richness of dress and scenery, everything proceeded with the utmost good order, and with perfect tranquility." DECORATION. Decorations gracing the ceiling and parapets were made for the Teatro Sociale by Vincenzo Bonomini and Francesco Pirovani. Bonomini, a talented decorator and figurist, had also proposed a design for the decoration of the vault, which was later not approved because he preferred the figurative one by Lattanzio Querena. THE PALACES. The Social Theater 's 82 boxes are distributed on three superimposed tiers, on which a fourth tier of gallery insists. Pollack designed the wooden parapets of the boxes according to a continuous line, as Piermarini had done for La Scala; it emphasizes the horizontal dimension of the tiers of boxes and gives the overall shape of the hall a harmonious uniformity in the classical style.. The wooden parapets were rich in polychrome decorations, often gaudy, like the colors of the interior walls also sometimes ornamented with faux marble, and in contrast to the poor materials of the floors and lime vaults. THE OUTSIDE. Pollack could only partially adopt the new strategies that were gaining popularity in those years: prevented by the narrowness of Corsarola Street from accompanying the Social Theater with a monumental façade, portico, colonnade or whatever else would have made it possible to identify a theater at a glance - and the example is again Piermarini's La Scala - he had to make do with an elegant façade, yes, but without a solution of continuity with the neighboring buildings. Only

The difficulties of the Social Theater, towards the end of the 19th century, became emblematic of those of the Upper Town. Sporadic openings gave only a semblance "of that past life, which an unstoppable, overpowering force has pushed elsewhere," as the local newspaper commented in December 1878. Already during the Austrian years, the construction of the Porta Nuova propylaea and the Ferdinandea road, but above all of the station and its railroad connection with Milan (1857), constituted as many stages in the emancipation of the Lower Town, crowned in 1872 with the relocation of the Town Hall. The opening of the funicular railway in 1887 would improve relations between the two parts of the city, but the fortunes of theSocial Theater would equally tend to decline. A significant indicator of that decline was the Sociale's substantial marginality at the 1897 Donizetti celebrations, which had instead in the Riccardi and Lower Town center and backdrop. Around 1900 and in the first decade of the century, the hall (undergoing restoration in 1902, visible in the 1903 season; then in 1907, for the 1908 season) would also open to new genres such asoperetta (1898, from 1908), or even to performances of modern technology such as the gramophone (1898) and the cinematograph (from 1908), which, while in other conditions might be signs of openness to novelty, in that context of increasingly difficult life appear as retreats to less demanding repertoires. Good seasons will still occur, in 1915, and less sporadically in the early 1920s (1921, 1922 and 1924): but that for the Social Theater had begun a new era of prosperity, was a short-lived illusion. Music resonated there until 1929; the last performances date back to 1932. Subsequent history is marked only by demolition projects, adventuristic reuse intentions, and continuous changes of ownership. This while abandonment and decay became increasingly worrisome, at least until the acquisition of the building by the City of Bergamo (1974) and the extraordinary maintenance and safety works carried out between 1978 and 1981. Since then, the space has mainly hosted art exhibitions and expositions, until the definition and beginning of the restoration work undertaken through the joint initiative of the Municipality and the Superintendence since 2006. << PREVIOUS NEXT >>