page_title: Ludovico Ottavio Burnacini
section_title: The theater auf der Kurtine – the new court theater
hierarchical_section_title: Ludovico Ottavio Burnacini / Life and work / The imperial theater engineer / The theater auf der Kurtine – the new court theater
caption_attribution_description: Español: Vista del teatro construido por Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini en Viena con motivo de la boda del emperador Leopoldo I con la infanta Margarita. Grabado de Frans Geffels dedicado a la "Sacra Cesarea Maesta", firmado "Lodovico Buornacino Ingegniero di sua S: C: M. Inventor // Franº Geffels Delin: et Scolp: ". El grabado se publicó al frente de la obra de Francisco Sbarra, "Il pomo d'oro. Festa teatrale rappresentata in Vienna per l'augustissime noze delle Sacre Cesaree e Reali Maestà di Leopoldo e Margherita", Viena, 1668. Ópera musicada por Antonio Cesti.
context_page_description: Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini was an Italian architect, and theatrical stage and costume designer, who served the imperial court in Vienna beginning in 1652. He is considered one of the most important "theater engineers" in Baroque Europe and is a master of drawing. His work as a stage designer for the lavish entertainments at the court of the Emperors Leopold I and Joseph I is preserved in numerous engravings and in many drawings in the collections of the Theatermuseum in Vienna.
context_section_description: Between 1666 and 1668 Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini constructed the so-called Theater auf der Kurtine, which rose next to the fortification of the imperial palace (Burgbastei) at the site of today’s court library, near Josefsplatz.
  In this theater the most magnificent operas of the Leopoldin court were performed, first and foremost Antonio Cesti's Il pomo d’oro (1668) on occasion of the first wedding of Leopold I with the Spanish infanta Margarita Teresa and of her 17ᵗʰ birthday. For this opulent opera Burnacini created 23 different stage decorations that captivated the audience through rapid changing of scenes and through other stage machines of various kinds. Il pomo d'oro became known all over the world through the prints by Matthäus Küsel and Frans Geffels based on Burnacini's designs. This and other operas, whose libretti were magnificently complimented with large-format engravings, such as Il fuoco eterno delle Vestali (1674) composed by Antonio Draghi and the Monarchia latina trionfante (1678) composed by Draghi and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer vastly contributed to Burnacini's international reputation.
  
  In 1688, after a visit to Vienna, the Swedish architect and art collector Nicodemus Tessin the younger wrote:
  Bejim H. Burnacini der trusser undt ingegner vom Keijsser ist, habe ich alles höffligkeit genossen, in theatern undt festen wirdt heüt zu tage dass gröste lumiere von allen haben.
  ("At Mr. Burnacini's, who is steward and engineer of the emperor, I enjoyed all courtesy; concerning theater and festivities nowadays he will be the most luminous one").
  Tessin also described some features of the famous theater, which had to be dismantled shortly before the Turkish siege in 1683, because of the high risk of fire.
caption: Interior of the court theatre in Vienna in a print by Frans Geffels after Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini, c. 1668.
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