Giovanni Battista Maccioni: L’arpa festante

1653: The first opera in Munich, Giovanni Battista Maccioni’s L’arpa festante, is premiered in the Herkulessaal of the Residenz. This is followed in 1657 by L’Oronte by court conductor Johann Caspar Kerll, which marks the inauguration of the first free-standing theatre building north of the Alps: the opera house on Salvatorplatz. A string ensemble together with the continuo group formed a prefiguration of today’s orchestra, which was to grow steadily.

Photo credit: Nösselt, Hans-Joachim: Ein ältest Orchester.