G. B. Pergolesi Theatre
Venues that have been showcasing Jesi’s passion for music and the performing arts for centuries:
from the prestigious Teatro Pergolesi to Valeria Moriconi’s innovative venues.
The year 1790 marks the birth of the G.B. Pergolesi Theatre, which was not the first public theatre in the town of Jesi.
In fact, since 1731 there had been the Teatro del Leone (Theatre of the Lion) just outside Porta Romana, one of the first theatres in Le Marche designed and built at his own expense by the Jesi painter and architect Domenico Valeri.
Made entirely of wood, it was soon snubbed by the Jesi aristocracy as it was considered “very inconvenient”.
The new theatre therefore, coveted and financed by the aristocracy, was built in what is now Piazza della Repubblica.
The New Theatre was designed by the architect Francesco Maria Ciaraffoni from Fano, it was later extensively modified by the papal architect Cosimo Morelli, known for having designed some of the most innovative Italian theatres of the time, such as those in Ferrara, Forlì and Macerata.
The theatre, originally named “della Concordia”, was inaugurated in 1798. In 1883 it acquired its final name of “Giovanni Battista Pergolesi” in homage to the famous composer born in Jesi in 1710.
Since 1839, the long, rectangular façade has been surmounted by a clock surrounded by two eagles and cornucopias of abundance, a gift from Austrian Prince Maximilian of Beauharnais in thanks for the welcome he received during one of his visits to the town.
Inside the atrium, which is in neoclassical style, the elliptical-shaped performance hall, which gives it excellent acoustics, is bordered by three tiers of boxes plus the gallery.
The vault is decorated with mythological scenes depicting the Stories of Apollo, by Felice Giani from Bologna, one of the greatest painters of Neoclassicism.
The curtain, painted in 1850 by Jesi artist Luigi Mancini, depicts the legendary entry of Emperor Frederick II into Jesi in 1216.
The lobby and foyer house collections dedicated to the life and works of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and Gaspare Spontini, who was born in nearby Maiolati in 1774.
Later in 1933 the theatre was aquired by the local Municipality, obtaining state recognition as a “Teatro di Tradizione” (Theatre of Tradition) in 1968 for its cultural importance, the first in Le Marche and still the only one, at national level, in a town that is not the regional capital.
Since the summer of 2005, the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation has been directing the theatre, organising artistic events and many other activities within it, enriching and developing its remarkable artistic and cultural heritage.
