Puppet opera

The earliest known operas for puppets were Venetian burlesques staged at the Teatro S Moisè from 1679. There were puppet theatres in Paris and London during the 18th century, and Haydn wrote puppet operas for performance at the summer palace of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Interest in puppet theatre then declined, but the late 19th century brought a regeneration in several countries. Falla's El retablo de Maese Pedro is perhaps the best-known 20th-century puppet opera.