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179:, which had been commissioned by the Opera Association. This, and other extravagances on Mary Garden's part, ended the season with a deficit of $ 1,100,000, most of which was paid for by the McCormick fund. Mary Garden as "Directa" for one season cost $ 750,000 more than any single season of opera in Chicago at that time. Coming as it did during a business recession, these deficits bankrupted the company.
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as musical director as well as all of the costumes, scenery, and other resources of the defunct Opera
Association. The Civic Opera Company was Chicago's first real world class Opera Company, it was also a "democratic" opera company, aiming for a popular audience. Productions were supposed to based
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was appointed music director (or "Directa" as she styled it) and the recently divorced McCormick promised to pay that year's difference exceeding $ 100,000, the previous high being $ 300,000. He planned on this being his last season, and he called in Mary Garden to finish the company with style. The
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would be marginally smaller in seat capacity than the auditorium, but this was out-weighed by the back stage space which was to be larger than any other back stage space at that time, and the acoustics were not quite as good as that of the auditorium, but they are still very good. The building of
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stock crash. This catastrophe, coupled with the extravagance of the new house, were body blows at the financial health of the civic Opera, starting a chain reaction. Soon Insull, the financial mainstay, lost control of his utilities and transportation companies and became unable to under-write
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Originally, like
Chicago Opera Association, the Civic Opera Company was housed in the Auditorium theater. This theater was superlative for singing, the acoustics were and are second to none, but there was no back stage to speak of. This limits the productions possible to put on and that can be
379:. The original plan was that the Civic Opera would retire these bonds over the next eighty years with rents from a 28-story office tower above the theatre. Thus they would completely own the building and rentals from the office space would subsidize the Civic Opera Company.
355:. This tension was resolved by having an almost equal number of Italian and French operas a year, contrary to practice at virtually any other opera house outside France, with other languages wildly under represented. Sometimes even Russian operas, such as
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upon what the people wanted, though they turned out to be the
Italian repertory that the sponsors and the executives favored and the modern French operas beloved of reigning diva Mary Garden, while German works and operetta were sadly neglected.
333:. This was a traditional opera to start with and was obviously the choice of Insull and not Mary Garden, who was the champion of French opera and had a more modern taste in music. Typical of what she would have chosen would have been
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This was a magnificent plan and would have worked wonderfully, except that opening night ironically fell on
November 4, 1929 (again with a delightful performance of Aida) less than a month after the
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housed at one point in time, a limit that both Insull and Garden chafed under, so very early on, Insull decided that there would be a new opera house. The new
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Civic Opera. Mary Garden, the star-power and resident genius of Civic, never happy with the new opera house, retired abruptly after a performance of
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had written for her. This is almost the opposite of Insull's taste in opera, he preferred older pieces in
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The Civic Opera was formed by reorganizing the bankrupt of the
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at the end of the 1931/2 season. Finally, on June 23, 1932, Civic Opera declared bankruptcy and was forced to liquidate.
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the new opera house was to be semi-financed by Insull, and the rest would be leveraged in with bonds to be held by the
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from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financial difficulties brought on in part by the
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subsequent blow-out season was finished with the hugely expensive world premiere of
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The Civic Opera
Company opened on November 13, 1922 with a stunning performance of
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from 1915 to 1921. The founding artistic director and principal conductor was
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McDonald. Forrest, Insull, University of
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The
Chicago Opera Association produced seven seasons of
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124:. The company consisted largely of the remnants of the
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465:, Northern Illinois University Press, Chicago 2006.
162:as the opening production of the 1920–21 season.
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382:In the 1950s the theater became the home of the
116:from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own
57:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
315:resigned and was replaced by utilities magnate
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88:Learn how and when to remove this message
1439:Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place
108:company that produced seven seasons of
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1285:Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater
1703:Musical groups disestablished in 1931
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307:Formation of the Civic Opera Company
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1185:Lithuanian Opera Company of Chicago
377:Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
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1698:Musical groups established in 1922
795:Music, theater and performing arts
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165:In January 1921, operatic diva
1449:Chicago Avenue Pumping Station
1007:Collaboraction Theatre Company
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1382:Grant Park Symphony Orchestra
1315:Ruth Page Center for the Arts
1143:The Practical Theatre Company
463:150 Years of Opera in Chicago
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1602:Drury Lane Water Tower Place
1300:Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
1012:ETA Creative Arts Foundation
425:(1922-1932), prima ballerina
361:, were performed in French.
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1290:Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago
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1693:Opera companies in Chicago
1652:Opera houses and companies
1484:Harris and Selwyn Theaters
1377:Chicago Symphony Orchestra
176:The Love for Three Oranges
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126:Chicago Opera Association
18:Chicago Opera Association
1346:Chicago Gay Men's Chorus
1310:Luna Negra Dance Theater
1138:Playwrights Theatre Club
1047:Porchlight Music Theatre
966:Theatre Building Chicago
43:This article includes a
1444:Cadillac Palace Theatre
1351:Chicago Symphony Chorus
1280:Chicago Festival Ballet
1246:San Carlo Opera Company
1118:Illinois Theatre Center
72:more precise citations.
1190:Lyric Opera of Chicago
418:Lyric Opera of Chicago
384:Lyric Opera of Chicago
27:Opera house in Chicago
1541:Jay Pritzker Pavilion
1520:Woodstock Opera House
1236:Chicago Opera Company
1175:Chicago Opera Theater
1108:Happy Happy Good Show
1022:Les Enfants Terribles
457:Marsh, Robert C. and
156:, who staged his own
1556:Petrillo Music Shell
1515:DuPage Opera Theatre
1434:Briar Street Theater
1424:Avalon Regal Theater
1367:Chicago Philharmonic
1241:Crosby's Opera House
1180:DuPage Opera Theatre
336:Pelléas et Mélisande
1688:Chicago Civic Opera
1597:Chicago Opera House
1494:Nederlander Theatre
1372:Chicago Sinfonietta
1226:Chicago Grand Opera
1221:Chicago Civic Opera
1195:Music Theater Works
911:Music Theater Works
861:Chicago Shakespeare
841:Bailiwick Repertory
450:Davis, Ronald L.,
313:Harold F. McCormick
220:Amelita Galli-Curci
150:Harold F. McCormick
146:Cleofonte Campanini
102:Civic Opera Company
1666:Culture of Chicago
1617:McVicker's Theater
1592:Central Music Hall
1419:Auditorium Theatre
1414:Arie Crown Theater
1336:Chicago a cappella
1216:Chicago City Opera
1128:New Age Vaudeville
931:Oracle Productions
856:Chicago Dramatists
172:Sergei Prokofiev's
142:Auditorium Theatre
114:Auditorium Theatre
104:(1922–1931) was a
45:list of references
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