Reports of representatives to European countries mention the word “opera” during the Ottoman period. Ambassadors’ frequently mention “opera”, and as a result an interest in opera started to develop at the palace. The first musical play to be staged at the palace was during the reign of Murat III (1574-1595). One palace clerk noted that Sultan Selim III (1761-1808), who was also a composer, was influenced by those reports and invited a foreign company to stage an opera at Topkapı Palace in 1797.
Reports about opera continued to be written by Ottoman ambassadors during the 18th and 19th centuries. Italian companies performed operas by Verdi at the theatres built in Istanbul following administrative reforms. The Italian art of opera was taken as a model, and particular advantage was taken of teachers from Italy, the home of the art. The first important example was the opera “Ernani’ by the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), which was performed by an Italian company in Beyoğlu in 1846, seven years after the reforms. Researchers have firmly established that operas by Verdi were performend in Istanbul between 1846-1877, a few years after their world premieres in Italy. Posters and newspaper reports regarding operas performed by Italian companies at Beyoğlu theatres in Istanbul reveal that operas reached a wide audience.
Gaetano Donizetti’s opera “Belisario” was the first to be translated into Turkish, and was performed in 1840 at the first theatre built by the Italian architect Bosco. In 1844, that theatre was transferred to Tütüncüoğlu Michael Naum Efendi who served the citizens of Istanbul for 26 years. The first opera performed at the Naum Efendi Theatre was Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” in 1844. The theatre burned down in 1846, and Naum Efendi built a new one where Tokatlıyan İşhanı stands today. Sultan Abdülmecit watched his performances.
On account of a second fire at Michael Naum’s theatre on 5 June 1870, and given the political problems of the Ottoman Empire, opera failed to be taken seriously. Even so, Naum staged plays regularly until the building burnt down. As the holder of the only licence to stage plays in foreign languages, he enjoyed a monopoly. Opera groups established by minorities were also important. Works by Dikran Çuhacıyan, Güllü Agop, Küçük İsmail and Minakyan are the most important of these.
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