Operalnia
Operalnia was the name of the Royal Polish Opera House in Warsaw in the 18th century , which was built in 1748 at the behest of August III. (1733–1763) on the edge of the Saxon Garden ( Ogród Saski ) by Carl Friedrich Pöppelmann (1696 / 97–1750) was built.
The opera house was built on the site of the Royal Court Theater built under August the Strong (1697–1733), which was built in 1725 as the first permanent public theater in Poland and for whose performances anyone could buy tickets in the Saxon Palace ( Pałac Saski ) in Warsaw.
The new, more spacious opera house from 1748 offered space for around 600 people and was largely intended for visits by the Polish bourgeoisie; only the smaller part of the house was reserved for the nobility and the diplomatic corps. As under August the Strong, August III. invited the best artists of the time to Warsaw. The famous prima donna Regina Mingotti (1722–1808) sang under the direction of Johann Adolph Hasse (1699–1783 ); Europe's leading set designers, the brothers Francesco and Giuseppe Galli da Bibiena from Venice provided the equipment. As ballet choreographers, Antoine Pitrot (1727–1792) and Jean Georges Noverre (1727–1810), also the leading artists of the time, worked. In addition to opera and ballet, the house also looked after the theater, for example the work of Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793).
The repertoire met with strong reservations among the Warsaw audience. The “foreign” character of the program (mainly presented in Italian and French) was criticized. A number of representations were also felt to be too revealing and sometimes obscene. Several sets and performances under Augustus the Strong, who invited French drama troops to Warsaw and had plays by Molière , Corneille and Racine , had already led to public scandals.
After the death of August III. The Operalnia was no longer held and was rededicated on November 19, 1765 by the new King Stanislaus Poniatowski (1764–1795) in the first Polish National Theater .
literature
- Karyna Wierzbicka-Michalska: Teatr Warszawski za Sasów ( The Warsaw Theater at the Time of the Saxon Kings ), Breslau 1964 (with a French summary).
- Maria Gordon-Smith: Opera, theater and ballet at the Warsaw court under the kings August II and August III. . In: Poland and Saxony: between proximity and distance ( Dresdner Hefte ; Vol. 50). Dresden 1997, pp. 35-39, ISBN 3-910055-40-0 .
