Editing Opera house (section)

===Greco-Roman antiquity===
Based on [[Aristoxenus]]'s musical system,<ref>[[Vitruvius]], ''[[De architectura]]'', Book V Chapter IV, ''Harmonic music according to the doctrine of Aritoxene'', p. 223</ref> and paying homage to the architects of [[Theatre of ancient Greece|ancient Greek theater]], [[Vitruvius]] described, in the 1st century BC, in his treatise ''[[De architectura]]'', the ideal acoustics of theaters. He explained the use of brazen vases that [[Lucius Mummius Achaicus|Mummius]] had brought to Rome after having had the theater of [[Corinth]] demolished, and as they were probably used in the [[Theater of Pompey]]. As wooden theaters were naturally sonorous, these vases, placed between the seats on the stands, served as resonators in the stone buildings: "By means of this arrangement, the voice, which will come from the stage as from a center, will extend in circles, will strike in the cavities of the vases, and will be made stronger and clearer, according to the relationship of consonance that it will have with one of these vases."<ref>[[Vitruvius]], ''[[De architectura]]'', Book V Chapter IV, ''Harmonic music according to the doctrine of Aritoxene'', p. 243</ref> The [[Odeon of Pericles|odeon]] built by [[Pericles]] near the [[Theater of Dionysus]] in [[Athens]] was, according to the ''[[Suda]]'', intended for the rehearsal of music that was to be sung in the grand theater or, according to [[Plutarch]], for the jury to audition musicians competing for a prize.<ref>[[Vitruvius]], ''[[De architectura]]'', Book V Chapter IV, ''Harmonic music according to the doctrine of Aritoxene'', p. 286</ref>

Ancient theaters provided the ideal conditions, but it was not yet time for opera: the aim was to worship the deities, not to venerate the [[muses]]. The subject was religious, it was accompanied by singing and instrumental music. Worship was public, and the audience was made up of citizens as well as other categories of the population. Four centuries later, the [[Christian Church|Church]] abandoned spectacles as practiced in Antiquity. [[Histrion]]s, representative of [[Greco-Roman civilization]], gradually disappeared.