Zurich Opera House
Opernhaus Zürich (Zürich Opera House) is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zürich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz square, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891.
History
The first permanent theatre, the Aktientheater, was built in 1834 and it became the focus of Richard Wagner’s activities during his period of "exile" from Germany.
The Aktientheater burnt down in 1890. The new Stadttheater Zürich was built by the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who changed their previous design for the theater in Wiesbaden only slightly. It was opened in 1891.[1] It was the city's main performance space for drama, opera, and musical events until 1925, when it was renamed Opernhaus Zürich and a separate theater for plays was built.
By the 1970s, the Opernhaus was badly in need of major renovations; when some considered it not worth restoring, a new theatre was proposed for the site. However, between 1982 and 1984, rebuilding took place but not without huge local opposition which was expressed in street riots. The rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekhov opera Der Kirschgarten.
As restored, the theater is an ornate building with a neo-classical façade of white and grey stone adorned with busts of Weber, Wagner, and Mozart. Additionally, busts of Schiller, Shakespeare, and Goethe are to be found. The auditorium is built in the neo-rococo style and seats approximately 1200 people. During the refurbishment, the issue of sightlines was not adequately addressed. As a result, the theater has a high number of seats with a limited view, or no view, of the stage. This is unusual in international comparison, where sightlines in historic opera houses have been typically enhanced over time.
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The opera house and Bernhardtheater, seen from Lake Zurich
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Auditorium interior
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Foyer
The as of today Musikabteilung (literally: music departement), located in the choir of the Predigern church in Zürich was founded in 1971, being a scientific music collection of European importance. It also houses corporate archives and historical library collections of important music institutions such as the Opernhaus Zürich, the Konzerthalle concert hall, the conservatory and the so-called Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft (AMG). The music department publishes the materials entrusted to it at irregular intervals as CDs, the repertoire ranges of early 16th-century spiritual mucic of Huldrych Zwingli's to the late 20th century, published under the label "Musik aus der Zentralbibliothek Zürich".[2]
See also
References
- ^ "Tonhalle" (in German). planet-zurich.com. 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
- ^ "Musikabteilung" (in German). Zentralbibliothek Zürich. Retrieved 2014-12-25.
External links
- Zürich Opera’s official website
- Marco Badilatti (2005). "Opernhaus Zürich, Zürich ZH". In Andreas Kotte (ed.). Theaterlexikon der Schweiz / Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse / Dizionario Teatrale Svizzero / Lexicon da teater svizzer [Theater Dictionary of Switzerland] (in German). Vol. 2. Zürich: Chronos. pp. 1350–1352. ISBN 978-3-0340-0715-3. LCCN 2007423414. OCLC 62309181.
- Opera houses in Switzerland
- Theatres in Switzerland
- Concert halls in Switzerland
- Buildings and structures in Zürich
- Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Zürich
- Visitor attractions in Zürich
- Theatres completed in 1834
- Music venues completed in 1834
- Theatres completed in 1891
- Music venues completed in 1891
- Fellner & Helmer buildings