Vienna State Opera: history, photo, repertoire

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The pearl of European culture, especially music, is the Vienna State Opera, which is one of the three best opera houses in the world along with La Scala (Milan) and Covent Garden (London).

Center of musical geniuses

The current capital of Austria was the center of development of the musical direction known as the "Viennese classical school", the main representatives of which were Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Vienna is undoubtedly the most important center of world culture in general, but especially of music. And the embodiment of this statement, like nothing else, is the Vienna State Opera.

The capital of Austria has been the center of opera art since the middle of the 17th century, and since the 16th century the court of the multinational state of the Habsburgs has been located here.

Urgent need for a special building

The Court Opera that emerged here was originally located in various buildings, for example, in 1748 - in the Burgtheater, since 1763 - in the Kärntnertorteater. But the need for an opera among the inhabitants was sois immeasurable, and the importance attached is so great that in the second half of the 19th century, the authorities decided to erect a special building that could permanently house the Court Opera. And in 1861 construction began. The Opera House is being built according to the design of the famous Viennese architects Eduard van der Nüll (participated in the construction of the Vienna Arsenal) and August Sicard von Sicardsburg. The work was completed in 1869, and the current Vienna State Opera (until 1819, the year of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - the Court Opera) opened with a production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

Symbol of the splendor of the era

The Die Wiener Staatsoper was destroyed in 1945 by bombing. It was restored in 1955. A year later, the tradition of holding the famous Vienna Opera Balls was resumed.

This is a tribute to the "Era Ringstrasse", or the brilliant time of the Habsburgs, which Franz Joseph himself described as "an era of splendor and splendor", which began with the wedding of Marie-Louise - the daughter of Emperor Franz I - with Napoleon, which took place in 1810 until the fall of the Great Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. These balls are listed by UNESCO in the list of intangible cultural heritage. The first of these took place on December 11, 1877. The younger brother of the famous Johann Strauss Eduard conducted the orchestra. The most brilliant period of the Habsburgs' reign dates back to the moment of radical rebuilding of the center of Vienna, when in two years thethe central street of the Ringstrasse, the grand opening of which took place on May 1, 1865, and then the huge Staatsoper building was built.

Building parameters

The Vienna State Opera, whose history was resumed after a ten-year break and a long restoration on May 11, 1955, began its new creative life with a production of Beethoven's opera Fidelio. Herbert von Karajan became the artistic director of the theater. The height of the restored building, made in the Neo-Renaissance style, is 65 meters, the hall is designed for 1709 seats. All of the above data suggests that the Staatsoper is the largest opera house in Austria.

Main attraction

It is difficult to overestimate its significance for the inhabitants of Vienna - they are even sure that you can feel the real spirit of Vienna only by visiting the opera house. Everything has been done for this - for people who do not like this type of art, there are daily 45-minute excursions to the opera house, they start at 13-00, ticket prices vary from 2 to 5 euros.

Tourists are offered a tapestry foyer and a grand staircase, a tea room of Emperor Franz Joseph and a marble hall. Of course, visitors look around the huge magnificent auditorium and the hall of G. Mahler and the foyer of Moritz von Schwind.

The most famous director

The names of composers are connected with Vienna, not only those mentioned above. The names of Schubert and Brahms, Gluck and Mahler, as well as the musical dynasty of Strauss are inseparable from this city. Lots of musical geniusespast and present were related to the Vienna Opera. I would especially like to mention Gustav Mahler, who for 10 years (1898-1908) was the director of the Staatsoper and, devoting himself entirely to work in this field, was forced to forget that he was also a brilliant composer and a talented singer. It was during his tenure that Tchaikovsky's operas The Queen of Spades, Iolanta and Eugene Onegin were staged on the famous stage for the first time.

Besides him, during the existence of the Vienna Opera, its directors were Bruno W alter and Richard Strauss, Clement Kraus and Wilhelm Furtwängler, Karl Böhm and Lorin Matzel. The Vienna State Opera, along with St. Stephen's Cathedral, the building of the Austrian Parliament and monuments to Mozart and Strauss, is one of the main attractions of the capital of this state.

Exterior and interior decoration

What does this great building look like? Five bronze statues stand out on the richly decorated facade, personifying the muses patronizing the art of opera - these are Heroism and Love, Drama, Comedy and Fantasy. The author of these five sculptures is Ernst Henel.

Magnificent statues of muses are clearly visible from the windows of Moritz Schwind's foyer on the second floor. On the walls of this front foyer, fragments of the famous Singspiel opera (musical and dramatic genre, or “play with singing”) by Mozart “The Magic Flute” are imprinted.

Sad pages of the construction of the opera house

The object of admiration of the inhabitantsand guests of the Austrian capital - the Vienna State Opera (photo of the building is attached) in the second half of the 19th century was subjected to such harsh criticism, including from the Kaiser, that one of the authors of the project, architect Vann der Noll, could not bear it, hanged himself.

And two months later, another co-author of the project, August Sickardsburg, also died of a heart attack. It seems that this was not criticism, but harassment. The massive building that initially offended the idea of \u200b\u200bthe city's inhabitants about the "elegant" excess of stucco and sculptures is the Vienna State Opera, the history of which was marked by such tragic events.

Great Contributors

But the acoustic properties of the building were originally great and perfect! The interior of the opera is admirable. The foyer on the second floor is decorated with paintings by the artist Moritz von Schwind. The author of the sculptures framing the famous marble staircase is Joseph Gasser. There are seven of them, all of them are allegories of fine arts. The topmost platform features beautiful frescoes by Johann Preleitner.

Brilliant repertoire

Certainly, both then and now, the Vienna State Opera is a global phenomenon. Its repertoire includes more than 50 productions, which allows the famous theater to carry out daily performances throughout the season, which lasts 10 months a year. It should be noted that the repertoire is very diverse, there are also modern productions, but the Staatsoper is the guardiantraditions of the Vienna School of Music - the classics are always present (for example, in February this year there were performances of Massenet's Manon and Rossini's The Barber of Seville), and Mozart's operatic masterpieces are his calling card. Comprehensive data on the repertoire with detailed daily placement of performances for all 10 months, with indications of performers and conductors, are widely available.

Ticket price and address

Ticket prices vary from 11 to 240 euros. However, there are lodges where seats are valued in the thousands of euros. Standing places are offered for any performance (there are more than 100 of them), tickets for which are sold an hour before the performance, and they cost from 2.5 euros. To attend a performance of the legendary Vienna Opera, but not pay big money for an entrance ticket, you can take advantage of listening to productions of category "B" (everyday performances with sparing prices). The Vienna State Opera, whose address (Opernring, 2) is known to every musician in the world, is located in the center, and you can get to it both by metro (lines U1, U2, U3, stop Karlsplatz), trams (No. 1, 2, 62, 65 and D) and bus 59A.