Opernring 2, A- 1010
Tel. 01- 51444- 2606
Subway: Karlplatz
Bus: 1, 2, D, J
Open: for performances
www.wiener-staatsoper.at
Wiener Staatsoper or simply Vienna State Opera is a beautiful neo- Renaissance building that was constructed in 1861- 69 under supervision of architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. The Vienna State Opera, the "First House on the Ring", is one of the most famous opera houses in the world and is located in the 1st district of Vienna Inner City. It was opened on May 25, 1869 with a premiere of Don Giovanni by Mozart. From the members of the State Opera Orchestra recruiting the Vienna Philharmonic. The choir of the Vienna State Opera appears externally as Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor.
Viennese Court Opera / Court Theater
As a
cultural institution, the Vienna State Opera is the successor to the
Vienna Court Opera, which was founded and promoted by the Habsburgs.
Even the Court Opera was a leading European house and had many
premieres. Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705) was a passionate musician
and also a gifted composer with 230 works. For the imperial court
Kapellmeister he appointed for the first time a non-Italian, namely
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. One of the highlights of Viennese Baroque
opera history was the premiere of the opera Don Chisciotte by
Francesco Bartolomeo Conti in the early 18th century.
A great
patron of the Court Opera was Emperor Joseph II (Regent 1764-1790).
For his wedding Christoph Willibald Gluck composed opera Il Parnaso
confuso. As later sole regent and friend of Mozart, Joseph II.
1785-1786 went to his suggestion to write an opera on the subject of
aristocratic privileges and feudal arbitrariness, which corresponded
to the political intentions of the reformed emperor. The world
premiere of Figaro's wedding took place at the Vienna at the
National Court Theater (the "Old Burgtheater") instead. The
overwhelming success of the work in Prague earned Mozart the
commission for the next opera (Don Giovanni).
Since the 1810s
the performances of the Hofoper have been almost exclusively in the
Hof-Theater am Kärntnertor, in which after the opening of the new
house until 1870 various works were heard