The city of Seville is intimately linked to the world of opera. You can tour the real locations that inspired so many lyrical authors.
Few places like Seville have inspired more works in the history of the bel canto. There are around one hundred known operas that use Seville as a location or as inspiration for their stories.
Seville is like a great theatre. The curtain rises and before you appear, one after another, the real-life sets from those legendary operatic moments. You feel as if you’re the protagonists, feeling the emotions that flow through the plazas and streets, felt by so many composers before you.
This use of the city led to Seville becoming an obligatory stop for the most important travellers. And of course! It is a great location, with great myths, very romantic... The most important authors of the opera were inevitably inspired by Seville and its customs.
Great composers such as Verdi, Donizetti, Beethoven, Bizet and Mozart were inspired by Seville.
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In the opera Don Giovanni, Mozart reinterprets the universal myth of Don Juan, originally from Seville. The action takes place in the Seville of the 17th century.
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The Barber of Seville is a great opera buffa by Rossini. The popular tradition frames the Rosina’s famous balcony at a beautiful house in Plaza Alfaro.
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Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is part of the same story. Some authors place Figaro’s house on Calle Santo Tomás.
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In Fidelio, Beethoven sets his work in a prison near Seville, probably the Castle of San Jorge de Triana.
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Bizet’s Carmen is rich in perfectly recognizable Seville settings: the Tobacco Factory, the Callejón del Agua, or La Maestranza, among others.
- There is a statue honoring the story of Don Juan in the Plaza de Refinadores.
- The Real Alcázar is the setting for Donizetti’s operas La Favorita and María Padilla.
- Several streets in the Santa Clara neighbourhood are named for these operas set in Seville.
- El Teatro de la Maestranza has organised a special programme for Opera Day.