Alte Oper | |
---|---|
Former names | Opernhaus |
General information | |
Status | Rebuild |
Type | Concert Hall |
Architectural style | Neo-Renaissance [1] |
Location | Bankenviertel, Altstadt |
Address | Opernplatz 1 |
Town or city | Frankfurt am Main |
Country | Germany |
Coordinates | 50°06′57″N8°40′19″E / 50.11583°N 8.67194°E |
Construction started | 1873 [2] |
Completed | 1880 |
Inaugurated |
|
Renovated | 1976–81 |
Destroyed | 23 March 1944 [3] |
Cost | 20 million German mark (1871) |
Renovation cost | 200 million Deutsche Mark [4] |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Richard Lucae |
Main contractor | Philipp Holzmann |
Renovating team | |
Architect(s) | Helmut Braun, Martin Schlockermann [5] |
Other information | |
Seating capacity |
|
Parking | Alte Oper underground car park |
Public transit access |
|
Website | |
www.alteoper.de |
Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It is located in the inner city, Innenstadt, within the banking district Bankenviertel. Today's Alte Oper was built in 1880 as the city's opera house, which was destroyed by bombs in 1944. It was rebuilt in the 1970s as a concert hall with a large hall and smaller venues, opened in 1981. The square in front of the building is still known as Opernplatz (Opera Square).
Many important works were performed for the first time when it was Frankfurt's opera house, including Schreker's Der ferne Klang and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in 1937. The Oper Frankfurt now plays in the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt, completed in 1951.
The building was designed by the Berlin architect Richard Lucae, financed by the citizens of Frankfurt and built by Philipp Holzmann. Construction began in 1873. [6] It opened on 20 October 1880. Among the guests was Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, who was impressed and said: Das könnte ich mir in Berlin nicht erlauben. (I couldn't permit myself this sort of thing in Berlin.) [7]
The costs increased from the originally planned 2 million marks to a multiple. [8] Alluding to the inscription on the frieze
the folkloristic Frankfurt poet Adolf Stoltze wrote, in his best Hessian dialect:
The opera house was extensively damaged by bombing raids during World War II in 1944, though many of the outside walls and façades survived. In the 1960s the city magistrate planned to build a modern office building on the site. The then Minister of Economy in Hessen Rudi Arndt, earned the nickname "Dynamit-Rudi" (Dynamite Rudi) when he proposed to blow up "Germany's most beautiful ruin" with "a little dynamite". [10] Arndt later saved the Alte Oper. [11]
A citizen's initiative campaigned for reconstruction funds after 1953 and collected 15 million DM. It ended costing c. 160 million DM, and the building was reopened on 28 August 1981 to the sounds of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand". [12] [3] A live recording of that concert conducted by Michael Gielen is available on CD. [13] [14]
Alte Oper has venues of different size:
The Oper Frankfurt is a German opera company based in Frankfurt.
The Schauspiel Frankfurt is the municipal theatre company for plays in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is part of Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt.
The Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester(Frankfurt Opera House and Museum's Orchestra) is the resident orchestra of the Oper Frankfurt. Its somewhat peculiar name is derived from the series of "Museum Concerts", organized by the Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft since 1808. The orchestra is ranked as an "A-list" ensemble under the German TVK regulations. Its music director and principal conductor is Sebastian Weigle.
The Rheingau Musik Festival (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, in the wine-growing Rheingau region between Wiesbaden and Lorch.
Alois Kottmann was a German violinist, music pedagogue, university professor and patron. He was based in Frankfurt, where he founded several ensembles, and taught at both the Hoch Conservatory and the Musikhochschule Frankfurt. He founded concert series in the area, and a prize for young violinists.
The Dreikönigskirche is a Lutheran Protestant church and parish in Frankfurt, the city's largest Protestant parish. It is located on the south bank of the Main in Sachsenhausen, opposite the Frankfurt Cathedral. The present church building, replacing an older church, was erected from 1875 to 1880 on designs by Franz Josef Denzinger in Gothic revival style. It features stained glass windows by Charles Crodel, installed in 1956, and an organ by Karl Schuke from Berlin completed in 1961.
Tanja Ariane Baumgartner is a German operatic mezzo-soprano. A member of the Oper Frankfurt since 2009, she has enjoyed an international career, appearing in major European and American opera houses and the Salzburg Festival.
Marc Soustrot is a French classical conductor. He was the music director of the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire from 1976 to 1994, and from 1995 to 2003 GMD of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn which plays in both opera and concert. He has worked at major opera houses in Europe and made several recordings, such as Leonore, Beethoven's first version of Fidelio, the piano concertos and symphonies by Camille Saint-Saëns, Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, and Penderecki's St Luke Passion.
Nikos Athineos is a Greek conductor, composer and pianist with a long career as conductor in significant theaters and orchestras of Germany, first Artistic Director of Thessaloniki Concert Hall for ten years, director of Athens Conservatory.
The Bockenheimer Depot is a former tram depot and main workshop of the Straßenbahn Frankfurt am Main, built around 1900. It is located in the Bockenheim quarter of Frankfurt. A listed monument, it now serves as a theatre venue of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt, mostly for Baroque and contemporary opera.
Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt is the municipal theatre company of Frankfurt, the largest city of Hesse Germany. The name dates back to 1919. The company is structured today in two organisations, Oper Frankfurt for opera, and Schauspiel Frankfurt for drama (Schauspiel).
Broadcasting House Dornbusch is headquarters and main broadcasting facility of the German public broadcaster for the state of Hessen, Hessischer Rundfunk.
Bernd Loebe is a German music journalist and opera manager. After working as a journalist with a focus on opera and voice for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Neue Musikzeitung, Opernwelt and Hessischer Rundfunk, he was artistic director of the opera house of Brussels, La Monnaie, from 1990, and has been Intendant of the Oper Frankfurt since 2002, where he encouraged a capable ensemble, international guest artists, and the production of rarely performed operas. He received the 2018 International Opera Award in the category Leadership in Opera.
Figuralchor Frankfurt is a mixed choir in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1966 as a youth choir for the broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk by Alois Ickstadt, who conducted it for 45 years. From 1977 to the 1990s, the choir was known as Figuralchor des Hessischen Rundfunks. It performs in concerts, radio productions and recordings, with a focus on a cappella music, but has also participated in joint symphonic productions such as Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand for the opening of the Alte Oper concert hall in 1981. The choir has been conducted by Paul Leonard Schäffer since 2016.
Hildegard Heichele is a German soprano in opera, concert and recital. A member of the Oper Frankfurt from 1974, she has appeared in major European opera houses, concert halls and international festivals. She is known for Mozart roles such as Susanna, Blonde and Despina. Heichele is featured on opera recordings, including a DVD of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss from the Royal Opera House in London, and singing concerts, such as the opening of the Alte Oper with Mahler's Eighth Symphony in 1981.
The Frankfurter Museums-Gesellschaft is a cultural association in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, which is responsible for the Frankfurt museum concerts. It manages the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, which is both the municipal orchestra of Frankfurt and the orchestra of the Oper Frankfurt. Concerts take place in the Alte Oper concert hall. The orchestra is regarded as an important German symphony orchestra.
Giedrė Šlekytė is a Lithuanian conductor, who works in Europe with a focus on opera. After she was one of three conductors for the Young Conductor Award of the Salzburg Festival in 2015, she worked at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt for two seasons. She conducted Schreker's Die Gezeichneten at the Opernhaus Zürich, and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Oper Frankfurt in 2021.
Die ersten Menschen(The first humans) is an opera in two acts by Rudi Stephan. For the libretto the composer chose a drama of the same name by Otto Borngräber. The opera was premiered at the Oper Frankfurt on 1 July 1920.
Rudi Arndt was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He served in several positions in the Hesse state government, and as the Mayor of Frankfurt between 1972 and 1977. At different points in his political career he was a member of the Landtag of Hesse and the European Parliament as well as the Frankfurt City Council.
Anthony Robin Schneider is an operatic bass from Austria and New Zealand, based in Germany at the Oper Frankfurt. He has appeared in leading roles internationally, such as Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Santa Fe Opera, Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Houston Grand Opera, and Fafner in Wagner's Das Rheingold at the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl.
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