First opera in US “Flora,” opens in Charleston SC

In later centuries, opera would fall out of favor in the United States, but in the mid-1700s, when every adult in the thirteen colonies emigrated from Europe, opera was as popular as it was on the Continent. And Florawas among the best operas there was: one of the first to incorporate contemporary popular music, with lyrics written to mach. It swept England in the 18th century before making its way across the Atlantic.

On this day, February 8, in 1735, Flora premiered in Charleston, South Carolina, in a makeshift theatre. As in England, it proved very popular in the States, its success inspiring Charleston to build a designated space for the performance: essentially, the first opera house on American soil.

Flora was soon followed by other, similarly melodramatic operas, like Love in a Village and The Poor Soldier. All enjoyed popularity for decades, but after the Revolutionary war, at the turn of the century, opera performances were replaced by burlesque and other styles.