Berlin State Opera
Staatsoper Unter den Linden | |
Named after | Unter den Linden boulevard |
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Formation | 1743 |
Location |
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Coordinates | 52°31′00″N 13°23′41″E / 52.51667°N 13.39472°E |
Matthias Schulz | |
General Music Director | Christian Thielemann (designate, effective 1 September 2024) |
Website | staatsoper-berlin.de |
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden (lit. State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (German: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from 1741 to 1743 according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in the Palladian style. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II, the former Royal Prussian Opera House was rebuilt from 1951 to 1955 as part of the Forum Fridericianum square. Nicknamed Lindenoper in Berlin, it is "the world´s oldest state opera"[1] and "the first theater anywhere to be, by itself, a prominent, freestanding monumental building in a city."[2]
History
Names
Originally called the Königliche Oper ('Royal Opera'), the company was renamed the Preußische Staatsoper ('Prussian State Opera') in 1919. After World War II it began operating as the national opera company for Communist East Germany, taking the name Deutsche Staatsoper ('German State Opera') in 1955.
In the West and colloquially, however, people used the name Staatsoper Unter den Linden ('State Opera Unter den Linden') after the boulevard on which the theatre sits. This usage became more common after the collapse of East Germany in 1990, but, contrary to the company's website,[3] it was not officially adopted until 1995 and the old name still appeared on new recordings issued by the company as late as the following year.[4][5]
Early years
King
In 1821, the Berlin Opera—hosted at the
On 18 August 1843 the Linden Opera was destroyed by fire. The reconstruction of the building was supervised by architect
20th century
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Royal Court Opera, Berlin, attracted many illustrious conductors. They included
In the 1920s, Kurt Adler, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Bruno Walter occupied the conductor's post. In 1925, Alban Berg's Wozzeck, was given its premiere in a production conducted by Erich Kleiber in the composer's presence.
After having undergone an extensive renovation, the Linden Opera reopened on 28 April 1928 with a new production of Mozart's
After the
Postwar years
The second rebuilding took a long time. From 1945, the opera company performed at the Admiralspalast. From 1949, the company served as the state opera of East Germany. It moved back to its original home after the rebuilding in freely adapted baroque forms was finally completed in 1955. The newly rebuilt opera house was opened, again, with Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The capacity is now about 1,300. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the Opera was somewhat isolated, but still maintained a comprehensive repertoire that featured the classic and romantic period together with contemporary ballet and operas.
After reunification, the Linden Opera rejoined the operatic world. Important works that had already performed in the past were rediscovered and discussed anew within the framework of a "Berlin Dramaturgy". Baroque Opera in particular was at the center of attention, with Graun's Cleopatra e Cesare, Keiser's Croesus, Florian Leopold Gassmann's L'opera seria and Scarlatti's Griselda. These works were performed by Belgian conductor René Jacobs together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Freiburger Barockorchester on period instruments. In the 1990s, the opera was officially renamed Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
In 1992, the Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim was appointed Generalmusikdirektor (GMD). In 2000, the orchestra (according to its official website) elected Barenboim "conductor for life." During the 2002 Festtage, he led a Wagner cycle in ten parts, a production created in collaboration with director Harry Kupfer.
In 2009, the Berlin State Opera was closed for renovation work led by German architect
On 6 January 2023, the company announced the resignation of Barenboim as its GMD, for health reasons.[8] In January 2023, Christian Thielemann stepped in as an emergency substitute conductor for Barenboim in a new company production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. In September 2023, the company announced the appointment of Thielemann as its next GMD, effective 1 September 2024.[9][10][11]
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Exterior of the State Opera at evening blue hour, 2018
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Auditorium of the State Opera on the day of reopening on 3 October 2017, after seven years of refurbishment
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Auditorium, 2021
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Apollo Hall, 2021
Leadership
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References
- ^ "Berlin State Opera".
- ISBN 978-0-262-06089-9, p. 104.
- ^ "Homepage | Staatsoper Berlin". www.staatsoper-berlin.de.
- better source needed]
- better source needed]
- ^ T. Blanning, Frederick the Great (London, 2015) p. 139
- ^ Uehling, Peter (10 December 2017). "Bewährungsprobe für die Staatsoper Zwei Premieren an einem Wochenende". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 23 December 2017.
- ^ Alex Marshall (6 January 2023). "Daniel Barenboim, Titan of Conducting, Steps Down in Berlin". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ "Christian Thielemann wird neuer Generalmusikdirektor der Staatsoper Unter den Linden" (Press release). Staatsoper Unter den Linden. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ^ "Thielemann wird Nachfolger von Barenboim an Berliner Staatsoper". Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb24). 27 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
- ^ Javier C. Hernández (27 September 2023). "Christian Thielemann to Succeed Daniel Barenboim at Berlin State Opera". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ^ Amsterdam: avec privilege de nos seigneurs, les états de Hollande et de West-Frise (in French). 1743.
- ^ Sweerts, Ernst Maximilian, Baron v. Reist Archived 14 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine quellen.perspectivia.net
External links
- Official website (in German and English)
- Berlin State Opera at Google Cultural Institute
- "Immersion in centuries of music history". Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2007.