The Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, now known as the Teatro Malibran, is an opera house in Venice. Founded in 1678 by the Grimani family, it was founded primarily to provide entertainment for the aristocracy and to advance the social position of the Grimani family, and was not expected to be a profitable commercial venture. Lavish productions and high-class singers - such as Margherita Durastanti, who was prima donna from 1709 to 1712 - were the norm, and ticket prices were accordingly high The house hosted operas by both George Frideric Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti. Many of the librettists for the operas were noblemen, and on occasion members of the Grimani family themselves wrote the libretto; the opera book for Handel's Agrippina, which premiered at the house in 1709, was written by Vincenzo Grimani.
References
Luca Zoppelli: "Venice", Grove Music Online, ed L. Macy (accessed 15 January 2007), grovemusic.com, subscription access.
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