Vienna State Opera: history, photo, repertoire
The pearl of European culture, especiallythe Vienna State Opera, which is one of the three best opera houses in the world, together with La Scala (Milan) and Covent Garden (London).
The center of musical geniuses
The current capital of Austria was the center of developmenta musical direction known as the Vienna Classical School, whose main representatives were Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Vienna, undoubtedly, is the most important center of world culture in general, but especially musical. And the embodiment of this statement, like nothing else, is the Vienna State Opera.
An urgent need for a special building
The court opera that was created here originallywas located in various buildings, for example, in 1748 - in "Burgtheater", from 1763 - in "Kertntnertoreatre". But the need for opera among the residents was so immense, and the importance attached so great that in the second half of the XIX century the authorities decided to erect a special building in which the Court Opera could permanently be located. And in 1861 construction begins. The Opera House is built according to the project of the famous Viennese architects Eduard van der Nüll (who participated in the construction of the Vienna Arsenal) and August Sicard von Sikarsburg. Works were completed in 1869, and the present Vienna State Opera (until 1819, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - the Court) opened with the production of the opera "Don Giovanni" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The symbol of the splendor of the era
The "Wiener Staatsoper" was destroyed in 1945 as a result of the bombing. It was restored in 1955. A year later the tradition of holding the famous Vienna opera balls resumed.
Building parameters
The Vienna State Opera, whose historyresumed after a ten-year break and a long restoration on May 11, 1955, began her new creative life with the production of Beethoven's opera Fidelio. The artistic director of the theater was Herbert von Karajan. The height of the restored building, made in the Neo-Renaissance style, is 65 meters, the hall is designed for 1709 seats. All the above data indicate that the "Staatsoper" is the largest opera theater in Austria.
Main attraction
Its significance for the people of Vienna is difficult to overestimate- they are even sure that you can feel the real spirit of Vienna only by visiting the opera house. To do this, everything is done - for people who do not like this art, there are daily 45-minute excursions to the opera house, they start at 13-00, the cost of tickets varies from 2 to 5 euros.
The most famous director
With Vienna are associated the names of composers, not onlymentioned above. Not inextricable with this city are the names of Schubert and Brahms, Gluck and Mahler, as well as the musical dynasty of Strauss. Many musical geniuses of the past and modern times had to do with the Vienna Opera. Especially it would be desirable to mention Gustav Mahler, who for ten years (1898-1908) was the director of "Shtatsoper" and, giving himself up to this work entirely, was forced to forget that he is also a brilliant composer and a talented singer. It was during his tenure at the famous stage that the operas of PI Tchaikovsky, "The Queen of Spades", "Iolanta" and "Eugene Onegin" were staged for the first time.
External and internal decoration
What does this great building look like? On the richly decorated facade are five bronze statues, personifying the muses that patronize the art of the opera - Heroism and Love, Drama, Comedy and Fantasy. The author of these five sculptures is Ernst Henel.
The sad pages of the building of the opera house
The subject of admiration of residents and guests of the Austrianof the capital - the Vienna State Opera (photo of the building attached) in the second half of the XIX century was subjected to such harsh criticism, including from the Kaiser, that one of the authors of the project, architect Vannes der Noll, could not stand it, hanged himself.
Great Contributors
But the acoustic properties of the building were originallywere magnificent and perfect! The interior of the opera is admirable. The foyer of the second floor is decorated with paintings by Moritz von Schwind. The author of the sculptures framing the famous marble staircase is Josef Gasser. They are seven, all of them are allegories of graceful art forms. At the top of the site are the beautiful frescoes created by Johann Preleutner.
An ingenious repertoire
Of course, both then and now the phenomenon of the worldscale is the Vienna State Opera. Its repertoire includes more than 50 productions, which enables the famous theater to perform daily productions throughout the entire 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 custodian of the traditions of the Vienna musical school - the classics are always present (for example, in February of this year there were performances of "Manon" Massenet and "The Barber of Seville" Rossini), and his The visiting card is Mozart's operatic masterpieces. Exhaustive data on the repertoire with detailed daily placement of performances for all 10 months, with the instructions of performers and conductors, are widely available.
Ticket price and address
The cost of tickets varies from 11 to 240 euros. However, there are lodges, the places in which are estimated in thousands of euros. For any performance, standing places (there are more than 100 of them) are offered, tickets for which are sold an hour before the performance, and they cost from 2.5 euros. To attend the performance of the legendary Vienna Opera, but not to pay a lot of money for the entrance ticket, you can take advantage of listening to performances of category "B" (weekday 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 reach it by metro (lines U1, U2, U3, Karlsplatz stop), trams (Nos. 1, 2, 62, 65 and D) and bus 59A.