Vienna State Opera

The Opernhaus at night

The Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera), located in Vienna, Austria, is one of the most important opera companies in Europe and throughout the world. Until 1920 it was named the Vienna Court Opera (k.k. Hofoper).

The company

Camping for tickets. Tickets to the performances are very sought-after.

Gustav Mahler is one of the many illustrious conductors who have worked in Vienna.The staatsoper of Vienna is the first opera house constructed in Vienna. During his tenure, Mahler cultivated a new generation of singers, such as Anna Bahr-Mildenburg, Selma Kurz and recruited a stage designer who replaced the lavish historical stage décors for sparse stage scenery corresponding to modernistic, Jugendstil tastes. Mahler also introduced the practice of dimming the lighting in the theatre during performances, which was initially not appreciated by the audience. However, Mahler's reforms were maintained by his successors.

The company is currently headed by the State Opera's Musical Director Seiji Ozawa. Other conductors at Vienna's State Opera have included Hans Richter, Felix Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Clemens Krauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Arturo Toscanini, Victor de Sabata, Hans Knappertsbusch, Josef Krips, Karl Böhm, Erich Kleiber, Ernest Ansermet, Fritz Reiner, Rafael Kubelik, Antal Dorati, Herbert von Karajan, Tullio Serafin, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Igor Strawinsky, Paul Hindemith, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Pierre Monteux, Robert Stolz, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Erich Leinsdorf, Georg Solti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Colin Davis, Franz Welser-Möst, John Eliot Gardiner, Roger Norrington, Daniele Gatti, Christian Thielemann.

Until the directorship was taken over by Karajan, Vienna maintained a more or less permanent ensemble, enriched by guest singers. Karajan introduced the policy of predominantly engaging guest singers. Surprisingly (by today's standards), prior to Karajan's tenure, operas at the Vienna State Opera were performed in German. Karajan changed this so that operas were always performed in their native language.

Opera Vienna, Poster

The Vienna State Opera is closely linked to the Vienna Philharmonic, which is an incorporated society of its own, but whose members are recruited from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

Among the stage directors working for the Staatsoper were Margarete Wallmann (Tosca, 1956), Franco Zeffirelli (La bohème, 1964), Otto Schenk (Jenůfa, 1964), Wieland Wagner (Lohengrin, 1965), Luchino Visconti (Falstaff, 1966), Günther Rennert (Il barbiere di Siviglia, 1966), Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (Manon, 1971), August Everding (Tristan und Isolde, 1967), Götz Friedrich (Moses und Aron, 1973), Tom O'Horgan (Les Troyens, 1976), Lotfi Mansouri (La fanciulla del west 1978), Gian Carlo Menotti (La Cenerentola, 1981), Harold Prince (Turandot, 1983), Giorgio Strehler (Simon Boccanegra, 1984), Ken Russell (Faust, 1985), Ruth Berghaus (Fierrabras, 1990), Luca Ronconi (Il viaggio a Reims, 1988), Pier Luigi Pizzi (Don Carlo, 1989), Jürgen Flimm (Der ferne Klang, 1991), Jonathan Miller (Le nozze di Figaro, 1991), Istvan Szabo (Il trovatore, 1993), Hermann Nitsch (Hérodiade, 1995), Robert Carsen (Jérusalem, 1995), David Pountney (Rienzi, 1997), Hans Neuenfels (Le Prophète, 1998), Herbert Wernicke (I vespri siciliani, 1998), Peter Stein (Simon Boccanegra, 2002), Laurent Pelly (La fille du régiment, 2007).

The Wiener Staatsoper is one of the busiest opera houses in the world producing 50 to 60 operas per year in approximately 200 performances. It is quite common to find a different opera being produced each day of a week. As such, the Staatsoper employs over 1000 people. As of 2008, the annual operating budget of the Staatsoper was 100 million Euros with slightly more than 50% coming in the form of a state subsidy.

The opera house

The interior of the Staatsoper

Vienna State Opera chandelier

The rear of the Staatsoper during the day, showing the stage wings

The original Opernhaus, a neo-romantic building severely criticised when it was built, was inaugurated on May 25, 1869 with Mozart's Don Giovanni.

During World War II, the stage was destroyed by Allied bombs and the building gutted by fire on March 12, 1945. The foyer, with frescoes by Moritz von Schwind, the main stairways, the vestibule and the tea room were spared. Almost the entire décor and props for more than 120 operas with around 150,000 costumes were destroyed. The State Opera was temporarily housed at the Theater an der Wien and at the Volksoper.

The rebuilt theatre, the Staatsoper, seating more than 2,200, reopened on November 5, 1955 with Beethoven's Fidelio with Karl Böhm conducting.

For many decades, the opera house has been the venue of the Vienna Opera Ball.

General directors

• Franz von Dingelstedt (1867-1870)
• Johann von Herbeck (1870-1875)
• Franz von Jauner (1875-1880)
• Wilhelm Jahn (1881-1897)
• Gustav Mahler (1897-1907)
• Felix von Weingartner (1908-1911)
• Hans Gregor (1911-1918)
• Richard Strauss / Franz Schalk (1919-1924)
• Franz Schalk (1924-1929)
• Clemens Krauss (1929-1934)
• Felix von Weingartner (1935-1936)
• Erwin Kerber (1936-1940)
• Heinrich Karl Strohm (1940-1941)
• Lothar Müthel (1941-1942)
• Karl Böhm (1943-1945)
• Franz Salmhofer (1945-1954)
• Karl Böhm (1954-1956)
• Herbert von Karajan (1956-1964)
• Egon Hilbert (1964-1968)
• Heinrich Reif-Gintl (1968-1972)
• Rudolf Gamsjäger (1972-1976)
• Egon Seefehlner (1976-1982)
• Lorin Maazel (1982-1984)
• Egon Seefehlner (1984-1986)
• Claus Helmut Drese (1986-1991); Musical Director: Claudio Abbado
• Eberhard Waechter (1991-1992); Secretary General: Ioan Holender
• Artistic Director: Ioan Holender (1992-present); Musical Director: Seiji Ozawa (2002-present)

See also

• Vienna Volksoper

External links

• Wiener Staatsoper official website
• Reviews, articles, production photos and future schedules for the Vienna State Opera from The Opera Critic
• History of the Opera before Mahler

48°12′10″N 16°22′06.5″E