----------------------------+----------------------+---------- | Depth from Curtain | Depth of | to back of Boxes. | Stage. ----------------------------+----------------------+---------- | feet. | feet. La Scala, Milan | 105 | 77 San Carlo, Naples | 100 | 74 Carlo Felice, Genoa | 95 | 80 New Opera House, Paris | 95 | 98 Opera House, London (old) | 95 | 45 Turin Opera House | 90 | 110 Covent Garden, London | 89 | 89 St. Petersburg, Opera | 87 | 100 Académie de Musique, Paris | 85 | 82 Parma, Opera | 82 | 76 Fenice, Venice | 82 | 48 Munich Theatre | 80 | 87 Madrid Theatre | 79 | 55 ----------------------------+----------------------+---------- The Opera House of La Scala, at Milan, is generally said to be the finest of all for seeing and hearing what goes on upon the stage: it was begun in 1776 and finished two years later. San Carlo, Naples, holds the second place, and was first erected in 1737, but was almost destroyed by fire in 1816, and was afterward thoroughly rebuilt. The new Opera House of Paris is interesting to us because it has been built so recently and so much written and said of it that we are familiar with it. Any description that would do it justice would occupy more space than we can afford for it, but this cut (Fig. 127) gives an excellent idea of its size and exterior appearance. It is distinguished by great richness of material and profusion of ornament, its interior decorations being especially splendid. It has been criticised as lacking repose and dignity, but its elegance and magnificence compel admiration. [Illustration: FIG. 127.--THE NEW OPERA HOUSE. _Paris._] Music halls are only another sort of theatre, and have come into great favor in recent days, especially in England. The Albert Hall, South Kensington, is the finest music hall that has been erected. It seats eight thousand people, besides accommodating an orchestra of two hundred and a chorus of one thousand singers; it is one hundred and thirty-six feet from the floor to the highest part of the ceiling. This hall has some defects, but is so far successful as to prove that a theatre or music hall could be so constructed as to seat ten thousand persons and permit them to hear the music as distinctly as it is heard in many halls where only two or three thousand can be comfortable. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.