Vienna

The Vienna State Opera House - Creating A Home For the Opera

 

Even though Vienna enjoyed a rich artistic life of concerts and operas, these forms of music could only be heard within small theatres that could not effectively accommodate the scale of these productions.  Music could be heard throughout Vienna in the numerous monasteries and chapels that were constructed during the reconstruction period after the second Turkish invasion, but the Vienna Court Opera needed to have a facility where it could produce the operas composed by Viennese composers on a grand scale.  

 

Public concert halls were scarce and in order for a performance to occur, “you had to find and rent a hall, engage and pay an orchestra, and usually compose the music yourself, in addition to arranging for publicity, the box office, and all the logistics that a concert requires”.  Composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven could not perform their symphonies and other works within the few theatres that existed in the city, such as the Theatre an der Wien, because they could not accommodate a large audience or have enough room for performers.  A large location where operas and other orchestras could perform was needed in order to meet the demands of music patrons and the public.  The Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) was soon constructed and became the first major building on the Wiener Ringstrasse, the official location of the Vienna Court Opera Company, and the first opera house to be built in Vienna.  Construction began in 1861 and the building was completed in 1869 in the Neo-Renaissance style. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite all of the efforts to create the Vienna State Opera and provide composers with a space to create music and increase Vienna’s reputation, the opera house was not popular with the public.  The Viennese did not believe that the opera house was as grand as the Heinrichshof in Salzburg and were upset that the funds used to construct the building came from a controversial Viennese ‘city expansion fund’.    The opening premiere of the opera house was Don Giovanni by Mozart on May 25, 1869.    Through the works of composers such as Mozart, Wagner, and Strauss, the building slowly became more popular with music patrons and the general public and showed the value in having such a large opera house.   Strauss got inspiration from the Danube River and composed The Blue Danube in 1866 and this piece soon became the unofficial anthem of Vienna.  Below is a segment from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's New Years Eve performance of The Blue Danube within the Vienna State Opera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wartime bombing by the Americans in the end of World War II destroyed the building and the entire opera house burned.  However, the front section of the opera house that had been walled off during the war remained intact including the foyer, main entry frescos, main stairwells, the vestibule and the tearoom.   Sadly, almost all of the interior décor, copies of music, costumes, and props for more than 120 operas were completely destroyed and the Vienna State Opera was temporarily housed at the Theatre an der Wien, as it was during Beethoven’s time.

 

Many debates took place regarding the future of the Vienna State Opera and whether the opera house should be restored to its original state in the original site, or if it should be completely demolished and rebuilt at the same or a different location.  People questioned the value of the opera house to Viennese society, but many argued that the opera house had become part of the city's identity.  Eventually, the decision was made to rebuild the opera house as it had been, and today the Vienna State Opera House is one of the busiest opera houses in the world.  This opera house alone produces 50 to 60 operas per year with approximately 200 performances and employs over 1000 Viennese citizens.  Keeping the original infrastructure has allowed this opera house to maintain its history and illustrate the influence of opera music culture within the city of Vienna.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Vienna State Opera is not the only major opera house within Vienna today, and opera houses such as the Theatre an der Wien, the Volksoper Wien (Vienna People’s Opera), the Neueoper Wien, and the Wiener Kammeroper (Vienna Chamber Opera) have expanded in order to provide musicians with a space where they can produce their music and increase Vienna’s reputation as one of the major musical centres of the world.