Prague State Opera
Státní opera Praha (German State Opera Prague ) is an opera house in the Czech capital Prague . The stage was founded as the Neues Deutsches Theater (1888-1938) and was subsequently called Divadlo 5. května (Theater of May 5, 1945-1948) and Smetanovo divadlo (Smetana Theater, 1949-1992).
history
The opening of the Czech National Theater in 1883 awakened the desire for their own opera stage among the German-speaking Prague population. For this purpose, the German Theater Association was founded that year and the collection of financial resources began. In 1886 the plan was approved, a piece of land was acquired from Leopoldine Grustner von Grussdorf (Landgut Smetanka), on the grounds of which the Neustädter Theater already stood, built according to plans by Josef Niklas von Stöger. The Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer was commissioned to plan the Deutsches Theater .
The New German Theater was completed in the neo-renaissance style from 1886 to 1887 . The building stood out for its spacious stage and neo-coco interior design. The statues were contributed by the sculptors Otto Mentzel (1838–1901; director of the Prague School of Goldsmithing) and Theodor Friedl . The busts of Goethe , Schiller and Mozart were located above the loggia . The paintings were by Eduard Veith .
Richard Wagner's Meistersinger von Nürnberg was played for the premiere on January 5, 1888 . For the first time in Bohemia, Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen was performed here. The ongoing operation of the theater was financed almost entirely from private donations from German industrialists. The audience came almost exclusively from the German-speaking part of the population of Prague. Despite its declining population, ticket sales were remarkably high.
Angelo Neumann became the first director of the New German Theater . Neumann was able to win many important artists for the stage, including conductors such as Carl Muck , Franz Schalk , Anton Seidl , Leo Blech , Gustav Mahler and Richard Wagner, soloists such as the alto Valesca Nigrini , the tenor Adolf Wallnöfer , Eleonora Duse and others through the the opera house achieved a high artistic level.
After Neumann's death, his protégé Heinrich Teweles took over the management. Shortly afterwards, Alexander von Zemlinsky , composer and conductor, took up the post as first conductor and music director. His employment lasted from 1911 to 1927, where he also met Teweles' successor Leopold Kramer . He staged works by Mozart, Ernst Krenek , Paul Hindemith , Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Franz Schreker as well as his own works. Zemlinsky directed the world premiere of Schönberg's expectation on June 6, 1924. He also managed to bring great artists to Prague, including Maria Hussa , Paul Pella , Friedrich Schorr , Leo Slezak , Richard Tauber , Lotte Lehmann and others.
His successor as opera director was Hans Wilhelm Steinberg from Cologne , who later worked at the New York Metropolitan Opera and with the major orchestras in Pittsburgh and Boston .
He was followed by George Szell from Budapest , who concentrated on works by contemporary authors. The theater played a wide repertoire. This included works by the German composers Fidelio F. Finke , Theodor Veidl and Hans Krása , interpreted by soloists such as Rose Pauly , Risë Stevens and Hans Hotter .
Of the extraordinary artists who performed here, we should also mention: Felix Mottl , Arthur Nikisch and Felix Weingartner , soloists Anna Bahr-Mildenburg , Berta Lauterer-Foerster , Maria Jeritza , Nellie Melba , Karel Burian , Enrico Caruso , Beniamino Gigli , Jan Kiepura , Richard Kubla and Tino Pattiera .
On September 25, 1938, the theater association terminated its contracts and sold the theater building to the Czechoslovak state. On March 15, 1939, the German Wehrmacht marched into Prague and on March 16, Adolf Hitler proclaimed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in Prague . The “German” theater now played under completely different conditions. During the Second World War , there were only a few guest performances in the German Opera House in Prague.
In 1945 a theater company played in the theater building, which was named Divadlo 5. května (Theater of May 5), or D5K for short , after the war in memory of the Prague uprising of May 5, 1945 . The opera returned from 1946 to 1947. Under the new name Great Opera of May 5th, this ensemble, which quickly became internationally known and could have represented competition, was incorporated into the National Theater in 1948 as its third stage. In 1949 the opera house was renamed the Smetana Theater . The name was changed to the Prague State Opera in 1992 and was the result of efforts to make the theater independent again; the Prague State Opera was henceforth an independent legal entity. Karel Drgáč became the director . Under his direction, Peter Lauscher staged the operetta Die Fledermaus in German in 1991 , with Marcela Cerno as Adele, Herwig Pecoraro as Alfred, Klaus Ofczarek as Frank and Felix Dvorak as Frosch. Since this year one tries to build on the tradition of the German theater.
Merged with the Národní Divadlo
Since January 1, 2012, the ballet troupes, the ensembles and the technical apparatus of the two opera houses in Prague have been merged for financial reasons, the Státní opera has its own choir and orchestra. The opera was closed in 2017 due to general renovation. It reopened on January 5, 2020, exactly after 132 years. The general renovation cost the equivalent of just under 51 million euros. The highlight is the new stage curtain, a replica of the original work by the Austrian painter Eduard Veith that was lost in the chaos of war .
literature
- Tomáš Vrbka: Státní opera Praha. History divadla v obrazech a datech / The Prague State Opera - the history of theater in pictures and dates. Opera 1888-2003. Slovart, Prague 2004, ISBN 80-239-2831-7 . (Online, PDF) ( Memento from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The State Opera, History
- ↑ Michael Heitmann: The hub of history - State Opera in Prague will reopen after three years . In: Dresdner Latest News . Dresdner Nachrichten GmbH & Co. KG, Dresden January 4, 2020, p. 11 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 50 ″ N , 14 ° 25 ′ 58 ″ E