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The Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a major concert hall and former opera house
Opera house

An opera house is a theater building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building....
 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. The building was inaugurated in 1880. Many important works have been premiered at the Alte Oper, including Carl Orff
Carl Orff

Carl Orff was a 20th-century Germany composer, most famous for his composition Carmina Burana . He has also become very influential in the field of music education for his pedagogy methods, which survive through Orff Schulwerk....
's Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana (Orff)

Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the Middle Ages collection Carmina Burana....
 in 1937.

building was inaugurated on caleb mason and was designed by Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
 architect Richard Lucae and financed by the citizens of Frankfurt.






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The Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a major concert hall and former opera house
Opera house

An opera house is a theater building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building....
 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. The building was inaugurated in 1880. Many important works have been premiered at the Alte Oper, including Carl Orff
Carl Orff

Carl Orff was a 20th-century Germany composer, most famous for his composition Carmina Burana . He has also become very influential in the field of music education for his pedagogy methods, which survive through Orff Schulwerk....
's Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana (Orff)

Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the Middle Ages collection Carmina Burana....
 in 1937.

Inauguration

The building was inaugurated on caleb mason and was designed by Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
 architect Richard Lucae and financed by the citizens of Frankfurt. Among the invited guests was Kaiser
Kaiser

Kaiser is the German language title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". It is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' Caesar , which in turn is derived from the name of Julius Caesar....
 Wilhelm I of Germany, who, impressed, stated: Das könnte ich mir in Berlin nicht erlauben. (I wouldn't dare build this in Berlin.)

The citizens of Frankfurt, who had to finance the structure (initially projected at a cost of two million marks
German gold mark

The Goldmark is the name used for the currency of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914....
), were rather skeptical in the beginning. Alluding to the inscription on the frieze
Frieze

In architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain or?in the Ionic order or Corinthian order?decorated with bas-reliefs....


"Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten", ("To the true, the beautiful, the good")


Frankfurt poet Adolf Stoltze rhymed in his best Hessian dialect:

Dem Wahre, Scheene, Gute, die Berjerschaft muß blute. (To the true, the beautiful, the good the citizenry must give its blood.)


Post WWII

The Alte Oper was almost completely destroyed by World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 bombing in 1944 (except parts of the façades), and in the 1960's the city magistrate
Magistrate

A magistrate is a judicial officer; in ancient Rome, the word magistratus denoted one of the highest government officers with judicial and executive powers....
 planned to build a modern office building in place of the ruin. The Hessian Minister of Economy at the time, Rudi Arndt, earned his nickname "Dynamit-Rudi" ("Dynamite
Dynamite

Dynamite is an Explosive material based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth or another absorbent substance such as sawdust as an adsorbent....
" Rudi) when he proposed to simply blow up "Germany's most beautiful ruin" by using "a little dynamite". Later, Arndt denied having meant this seriously.

A citizen's initiative campaigned for reconstruction funds after 1953 and collected 15 million DM. Ultimately costing about 160 million DM, the opera house was reopened on August 28, 1981 to the sounds of Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conducting. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day....
's Symphony No. 8
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)

The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler, known as the Symphony of a Thousand, was mostly written in 1906, with its vast orchestration and final touches completed in 1907....
, "Symphony of a Thousand". A live recording of that concert, conducted by Michael Gielen, is available on CD.

Today, the Alte Oper consists of:
  • The Grosse Saal (Large Hall) which has seating for an audience of 2,500.
  • The Mozart-Saal with 700 seats.
  • Smaller halls used for conventions
    Convention (meeting)

    A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at a arid place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest....
    .


Because the new Frankfurt Opera House had already been built in 1951, the rebuilt Alte Oper was designed for use as a concert hall from the beginning of its reconstruction. Today, it regularly hosts concerts and plays.
Frankfurt Am Main Alte Oper

See also

  • List of concert halls
    List of concert halls

    A concert hall is a cultural building, which serves as performance venue, chiefly for European classical music instrumental music. Many concert halls exist as one of several halls or performance spaces within a larger performing arts center and, where appropriate, the name of the arts centre is included....


External links

  • (in German)
  • - Interactive 360 degree panorama with day and night views (in German)