The
Theater an der Wien (The Theatre on the Wien River) is an
opera houseAn 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
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
.
The theater opened in 1801 and was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical
impresarioImpresario Impresario Impresario (from the Italian impresa, an enterprise or undertaking Origin: mid 18th century, from Italian impresa, ‘undertaking.’ New Oxford American Dictionary.
Impresa: enterprise; deed; company...
Emanuel SchikanederEmanuel Schikaneder , born Johann Joseph Schickeneder, was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, and singer. He was the librettist of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and the builder of the Theater an der Wien.-Earlier career:Schikaneder first appeared with the theatrical troupe of F. J. Moser...
, who is best known to history as
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
's
librettistA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
and collaborator on the opera
The Magic Flute (1791). Schikaneder's troupe had already been successfully performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller (800-seat)
Theater auf der WiedenThe Theater auf der Wieden, also called the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden or the Wiednertheater, was a theater located in the then-suburban Wieden district of Vienna in the late 18th century.-History:...
, where
The Magic Flute had premiered.
The
Theater an der Wien (The Theatre on the Wien River) is an
opera houseAn 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
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
.
Origin
The theater opened in 1801 and was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical
impresarioImpresario Impresario Impresario (from the Italian impresa, an enterprise or undertaking Origin: mid 18th century, from Italian impresa, ‘undertaking.’ New Oxford American Dictionary.
Impresa: enterprise; deed; company...
Emanuel SchikanederEmanuel Schikaneder , born Johann Joseph Schickeneder, was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, and singer. He was the librettist of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and the builder of the Theater an der Wien.-Earlier career:Schikaneder first appeared with the theatrical troupe of F. J. Moser...
, who is best known to history as
MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
's
librettistA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
and collaborator on the opera
The Magic Flute (1791). Schikaneder's troupe had already been successfully performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller (800-seat)
Theater auf der WiedenThe Theater auf der Wieden, also called the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden or the Wiednertheater, was a theater located in the then-suburban Wieden district of Vienna in the late 18th century.-History:...
, where
The Magic Flute had premiered. Schikaneder, whose performances often emphasized spectacle and scenery, felt ready to move to a larger and better equipped venue.
He had already been granted an imperial licence to build a new theatre in 1786, but it was only in 1798 that he felt ready to act on this authorization. The building was designed by the architect Franz Jäger in Empire style (it has since been remodeled). Construction was completed in 1801. The theater has been described as "the most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age.".
The theatre opened on 13 June 1801 with a prologue written by Schikaneder followed by a performance of the opera "Alexander" by Alexander Teyber. In 1807 it was acquired by a group of court nobles that included Count
Ferdinand Palffy von ErdödCount Ferdinand Pálffy von Erdöd was a mining engineer and civil servant of the Austro-Hungarian Empire who is better remembered for his role in managing the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, in pursuit of which he lost his not inconsiderable fortune and retired from his creditors in Vienna.The son of...
, who bought the theater outright in 1813. During the period of his proprietorship, which lasted until 1826, he offered
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and
balletBallet is a formalized type of performance dance, which originated in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century French courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form...
and, to appeal to a wider Viennese audience, popular
pantomimePantomime is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season.-History:A pantomimos in Greece was...
and variety acts, losing money in elaborate spectacles until he was forced to sell the theater at auction in 1826.
Only a part of the original building is preserved: the Papagenotor ("Papageno gate") is a memorial to Schikaneder, who is depicted playing the role of Papageno in
The Magic Flute, a role he wrote for himself to perform. He is shown with his three children, playing the Three Boys in the same opera.
Premieres at the theatre
As a prominent theatre in an artistically vital city, the Theater an der Wien has been the location for the premieres of many works of theatre and music that endure to this day, among them:
- 1805 (November 20) Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and...
's opera FidelioFidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux...
. Beethoven actually lived in rooms inside the theater, at Schikaneder's invitation, during part of the period of composition.
- Other Beethoven premieres:
- 1803 (April 5) Second Symphony
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 in D major was written between 1801 and 1802 and is dedicated to Prince Lichnowsky.-Background:...
- 1805 (April 7) Third Symphony
The Symphony No. 3 in E flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven is a musical work sometimes cited as marking the end of the Classical Era and the beginning of musical Romanticism....
- 1806 (December 23) Violin Concerto
Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written in 1806.The work was premiered on December 23, 1806 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Beethoven wrote the concerto for his colleague Franz Clement, a leading violinist of the day, who had earlier given him helpful advice on...
- 1808 (December 22) Fifth
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and well-known compositions in all of European classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata allegro, an...
and SixthLudwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major , known as the Pastoral Symphony, was completed in 1808. One of Beethoven's few works of program music, the symphony was labeled at its first performance with the title "Recollections of Country Life".-Background:Beethoven was a lover of nature who...
Symphonies, Choral FantasyThe Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, op. 80, was composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven.-Background, composition, and reception:...
, and the Piano Concerto No. 4Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, op. 58, was composed in 1805–1806, although no autograph copy survives.-Musical forces and movements:...
. (For the full program see Symphony No. 5Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and well-known compositions in all of European classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata allegro, an...
)
- 1817 Die Ahnfrau by Franz Grillparzer
Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer , an Austrian dramatic poet, was born in Vienna.-Early life:His father, severe, pedantic, and a staunch upholder of the liberal traditions of the reign of Joseph II, was an advocate of some standing; his mother, a nervous, high-strung woman, belonged to the well-known...
- 1823 Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern (Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus), a play by Wilhelmine von Chézy. According to one critic, "dreadful beyond imagination" and utterly forgotten today, except for the incidental music
Rosamunde can refer to:* The German name for the Beer Barrel Polka* Music by Franz Schubert:**Rosamunde incidental music**Rosamunde String Quartet **Impromptu in B flat major, Op. 142 No. 3...
by Franz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
- 1844 Der Zerrissene by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy
- 1874 (April 5) Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
by the younger Johann StraussJohann Strauss is the name of three Austrian composers:*Johann Strauss I , or Johann Strauss Sr., composer, popularizer of the waltz*Johann Strauss II , or Johann Strauss Jr., composer, known as the "Waltz King", son of Johann I...
- 1882 (December 6) Der Bettelstudent
Der Bettelstudent is an operetta in three acts by Karl Millöcker with a German libretto by Friedrich Zell and Richard Genée, based on Les Noces de Fernande by Victorien Sardou and The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton...
by Karl MillöckerKarl Joseph Millöcker , was an Austrian composer of operettas and a conductor.He was born in Vienna, where he studied the flute at the Conservatory. While holding various conducting posts in the city, he began to compose operettas...
- 1891 (January 10) "Der Vogelhändler
Der Vogelhändler is an operetta in three acts by Carl Zeller with a libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held based on Varin and Biéville's Ce que deviennent les roses....
" by Carl ZellerCarl Adam Johann Nepomuk Zeller was an Austrian composer of operettas.Zeller was born in Sankt Peter in der Au, the only child of physician Johann Zeller and Maria Anna Elizabeth. Zeller's father died before his first birthday, after which his mother remarried Ernest Friedinger...
- 1898 (January 5) Der Opernball
Der Opernball is an operetta in three acts with music by Richard Heuberger, and libretto by Victor Léon and Heinrich von Waldberg, based on the 1876 comedy Die Rosa-Dominos by Alfred Charlemagne Delacour and Alfred Hennequin. Alexander von Zemlinsky assisted Heuberger with the orchestration...
by Richard HeubergerRichard Franz Joseph Heuberger was an Austrian composer of operas and operettas, a music critic, and teacher....
- 1905 (December 30) The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story — concerning a rich widow, Hanna Glawari, and her attempt to find a husband — on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade by Henri Meilhac.-Performance...
by Franz Lehár----Franz Lehár , known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was a Hungarian composer, mainly known for his operettas.- Biography :...
- 1908 (November 14) The Chocolate Soldier
The Chocolate Soldier is an operetta composed in 1908 by Oscar Straus based on George Bernard Shaw's 1894 play, Arms and the Man...
by Oscar StrausOscar Straus may refer to:*Oscar Straus , a Viennese composer of operettas*Oscar Straus , United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor from 1906 to 1909...
- 1909 (November 12) Der Graf von Luxemburg
Der Graf von Luxemburg is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German libretto was by A. M. Willner, Leo Stein and Robert Bodanzky.-Performance history:...
by Franz Lehár----Franz Lehár , known in Hungarian as Lehár Ferenc, was a Hungarian composer, mainly known for his operettas.- Biography :...
Later history
The theatre experienced a golden age during the flourishing of Viennese
operettaOperetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Operetta in French:...
. From 1945 to 1955, it was one of the temporary homes of the
Vienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house — and opera company — with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera ; in 1920, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera...
, whose own building had been destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II.
In 1955, the theater was closed for safety reasons. It languished unused for several years, and by the early 1960s, the threat had emerged that it would be converted to a parking garage (this was the same era of "urban renewal" that in America nearly destroyed
Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
).
Fortunately, in 1962 the theater found a new and successful role for itself as a venue for contemporary musical theater. Many English-language musicals had their German premieres there. In 1992, the musical
ElisabethElisabeth is a Viennese, German-language musical commissioned by the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien , with book/lyrics by Michael Kunze and music by Sylvester Levay. It portrays the life and death of the Empress consort of Austria, Elisabeth of Bavaria, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I...
(about
Franz Joseph I of AustriaFranz Joseph I , reigned as Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 and as King of Hungary and Crotia from 1848 until 1916 .-Early life:Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the oldest son of...
's wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi), premiered there. The musical
CatsCats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. It introduced the song standard "Memory."...
directed and choreographed by
Gillian LynneGillian Barbara Lynne , CBE is a British ballerina, dancer, actor, theatre director, television director and choreographer noted for her popular theatre choreography associated with the iconic musicals Cats and the current longest running show in Broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera.- Early...
played successfully for seven years.
Recent years: revival as a full time opera house
In 2006, the 250th anniversary year of Mozart's birth, the Theater an der Wien presented a series of major Mozart operas and it has since become a full-time venue for opera and other forms of classical music under the direction of Roland Geyer. The first opera to be given was Mozart's
Idomeneo with
Neil ShicoffNeil Shicoff is an American opera singer known for his lyric tenor singing and his dramatic, emotional acting.- Beginnings :...
in the title role and
Peter SchneiderPeter Schneider is an Austrian conductor and opera administrator.Schneider served as kapellmeister of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf-Duisburg from 1961 to 1968; general music director of the Bremer Philharmoniker from 1978 to 1985; opera director and general music director of...
conducting the new production by
Willy DeckerWilly Decker is a German theatre director, particularly known for his opera productions. He staged the world premieres of Hans Werner Henze's Pollicino , Antonio Bibalo's Macbeth , and Aribert Reimann's Das Schloss .Decker was born in Pulheim near Cologne and was educated first at the Rheinischen...
. Other members of the cast were
Angelika KirchschlagerAngelika Kirchschlager is an Austrian mezzo-soprano opera and lieder singer.Kirchschlager began her musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she studied percussion and piano. In 1984, she went to the Vienna Music Academy, where she studied with Gerhard Kahry and Walter Berry. Her first...
, Genia Kühmeier, and
Barbara FrittoliBarbara Frittoli is an Italian soprano born in Milan in 1967 and graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. She is one of the least recorded and greatest sopranos of her time, holding the capability of singing a wide gammit of roles from lyric Mozartian to dramatic Verdian....
.
Geyer is quoted as saying that he wishes to "present cutting edge directors and interesting productions" , and his three main areas of focus are on Baroque opera, contemporary opera, and Mozart.
The theater's seasons have included the following works:
- Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini was an Italian-born composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries.-Biography:Cherubini was born Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini...
: MédéeMédée , or Medea , is an opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann was based on Euripides' tragedy of the same name and Pierre Corneille's play Médée.The first version of the opera was in French and premiered on 13 March 1797 in Paris at the Théâtre Feydeau...
; conducted by Fabio LuisiFabio Luisi is an Italian conductor.-Biography:Fabio Luisi attended the Conservatorio Nicolò Paganini and was a student of Memi Schiavina...
, staged by Torsten Schäfer
- Claude Debussy
Achille-Claude Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of Impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
: Pelléas et Mélisande conducted by Bertrand de BillyBertrand de Billy, , is a French conductor.After his career as an instrumental musician, de Billy began his conducting career in Paris. He later moved to Germany and built up his career as an opera conductor. He was the general music director at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau from 1993 to...
- Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
: Orfeo ed EuridiceOrfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
conducted by René JacobsRené Jacobs is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor but in recent years has become renowned as a conductor of Baroque and early Classical opera...
- Georg Friedrich Händel:
- Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Giulio Cesare in Egitto is an Italian opera in three acts written by George Frideric Handel in 1724. The libretto was written by Nicola Francesco Haym.-Performance history:...
, conducted by René JacobsRené Jacobs is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor but in recent years has become renowned as a conductor of Baroque and early Classical opera...
, staged by Christof Loy
- Ariodante
Ariodante is an opera seria in three acts by Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso...
, conducted by Christophe RoussetChristophe Rousset is a French harpsichordist and conductor, specializing in the performance of baroque music on period instruments.- Biography :...
, staged by Lukas Hemleb
- Partenope
Partenope is an opera by George Frideric Handel, first performed at the King's Theatre in London on 24 February, 1730.-Background:...
, conducted by Christophe Rousset, staged by Pierre Audi
- Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer. He was one of the most important, prolific and prominent composers of the classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these genres...
: Orlando Paladino; conducted by Nikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the classical era and earlier.-Biography:...
, staged by Keith Warner
- Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie is an American composer and pianist.Jake Heggie is the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking , The End of the Affair , At The Statue of Venus , and To Hell and Back . He is also the composer of more than 200 art songs as well as chamber and concert works...
: Dead Man WalkingDead Man Walking is the first opera by Jake Heggie, with a libretto by Terrence McNally; it premiered on October 7, 2000 at the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco Opera.-Roles:...
, conducted by Sian Edwards, staged by Nikolaus Lehnhoff
- Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janáček , was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style...
: Káťa KabanováKáťa Kabanová is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Vincenc Červinka, based on The Storm, a play by Aleksandr Ostrovsky. The opera was also largely inspired by Janáček's love for Kamila Stösslová. This is often considered his first "mature" opera, despite the fact...
, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, staging by Keith Warner
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as...
:
- La finta semplice
La finta semplice , K. 51 is an opera buffa in three acts for soloists and orchestra, composed in 1769 by then 13-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by the court poet Marco Coltellini based on an early work by Carlo Goldoni...
, conducted by Fabio Luisi, staged by Laurent PellyLaurent Pelly is a French opera and theatre director. At the age of 18, he founded the Compagnie Théâtrale du Pélican which, since 1982, has been co-directed by Agathe Mélinand...
;
- Mitridate, Re di Ponto
Mitridate, re di Ponto , K. 87 , is an early opera seria in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi after Giuseppe Parini's Italian translation of Jean Racine....
conducted by Harry BicketHarry Bicket is a British conductor, harpsichordist and organist.Bicket was educated at Radley College, Christ Church, Oxford, where he was organ scholar, and the Royal College of Music...
, staged by Robert Carsen;
- Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Graeme Jenkins
Graeme Jenkins is a British conductor, specializing in opera. He read music at the University of Cambridge, and later studied conducting at the Royal College of Music. He worked with Norman Del Mar and Sir David Willcocks, and as an Adrian Boult Conducting Scholar, Jenkins conducted Britten's...
, staged by Kasper Bech HoltenKasper Bech Holten is a Danish stage director and Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera. He was appoointed in 2000, at age 27, and six years later was still the youngest person running a European opera house....
;
- Die Zauberflöte, directed by Jean-Christophe Spinosi
Jean-Christophe Spinosi is a French conductor and violinist, the founder of Quatuor Matheus , a group that later grew into Ensemble Matheus. He is especially well-known for his interpretation of the instrumental and vocal music of the Baroque, most notably the operas of Vivaldi...
, staged by Achim FreyerAchim Freyer is a German stage director, set designer and painter. A protege of Bertolt Brecht, Freyer has become one of the world's leading opera directors, working throughout Europe and, since 2002, in the United States, principally with the Los Angeles Opera...
.
- Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
: Dialogues des CarmélitesThe Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead the screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on...
; conducted by Bertrand de BillyBertrand de Billy, , is a French conductor.After his career as an instrumental musician, de Billy began his conducting career in Paris. He later moved to Germany and built up his career as an opera conductor. He was the general music director at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau from 1993 to...
, staged by Robert Carsen
- André Previn
André George Previn KBE is a German-born American pianist, conductor, and composer...
: A Streetcar Named DesireA Streetcar Named Desire is an opera composed by André Previn with a libretto by Philip Littell in 1995. It is based on the play by Tennessee Williams and received its premiere at the San Francisco Opera during the 1998-99 season.-Cast:...
, conducted by Sian Edwards, staged by Stein WingeStein Winge is a Norwegian actor, stage producer and theatre director.He has produced numerous plays and operas, and was theatre director at the National Theatre from 1990 to 1992. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St...
- Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems...
: IntermezzoIn music, an intermezzo , in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work...
conducted by Kirill Petrenko
- Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of...
: The Rake's ProgressThe Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
conducted by Nikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the classical era and earlier.-Biography:...
- Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba was a Spanish composer, born in Madrid.-Biography:Moreno Torroba is often associated with the zarzuela, a traditional Spanish musical form. Directing several opera companies, Moreno Torroba helped introduce the zarzuela to international audiences...
: Luisa Fernanda, conducted by Josep Caballé-Domenech, staged by Emilio Sagi
Among the singers have been Marijana Mijanovic,
Frederica von StadeFrederica von Stade , is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname Flicka in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
,
Olaf BärOlaf Bär is a German operatic baritone.Bär received his musical training in his home city of Dresden, studying at the city's Hochschule für Musik. His career has concentrated on the lyric baritone roles of the operatic repertoire, and as a performer of lieder...
,
Patricia PetibonPatricia Petibon is a French coloratura soprano who has been acclaimed for her interpretations of French Baroque music....
, Anatoli Kotscherga,
Anja SiljaAnja Silja Regina Langwagen, born April 17, 1940, in Berlin, is a German soprano who is known for her great abilities as a singing-actress and for the vastness of her repertoire....
,
Diana DamrauKs. Diana Damrau is a lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.-Biography:http://www.qobuz.com/blogs/annesophiejacouty/files/2008/03/diana-damrau.jpg...
,
Plácido DomingoJosé Plácido Domingo Embil , better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor...
, Maria José Montiel,
Andrea RostAndrea Rost is a Hungarian lyric soprano. She has performed in leading roles with the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera and the Salzburg Festival...
,
Christine SchäferChristine Schäfer is a German soprano. She studied from 1984 until 1991 at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where her teachers were Ingrid Figur, Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. She also took masterclasses with Arleen Augér and Sena Jurinac.After finishing her studies in 1992,...
, David Daniels.
The Theater an der Wien frequently collaborates in co-productions with other opera houses, such as the Washington Opera, the
Los Angeles OperaThe Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
, the
Teatro RealThe Teatro Real or simply El Real , is a major opera house located in Madrid, Spain.-History:...
in
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
, De Nederlandse Opera in
AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
, and the
Sächsische StaatsoperThe Semperoper is the opera house of the Saxon State Opera Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in Dresden, Germany...
in
DresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
.
It has been reported that in 2013, the opera
A Harlot's ProgressA Harlot's Progress is a series of six paintings and engravings by William Hogarth. The series shows the story of a young woman, Mary Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country and becomes a prostitute...
will receive its world premier at the house. By young British composer Iain Bell, it will feature German soprano
Diana DamrauKs. Diana Damrau is a lyric coloratura soprano of the operatic stage.-Biography:http://www.qobuz.com/blogs/annesophiejacouty/files/2008/03/diana-damrau.jpg...
in the title role.
Nomenclature
"Wien" is the German word for "Vienna"; but the "Wien" in the name of the theater is not the name of the city but rather the name of the Wien River (Wienfluss), which once flowed by the theater site; "an der Wien" means next to (that is, on the banks of) the Wien. In modern times the name has become somewhat opaque, since the river has been covered over in this location; the covered riverbed now houses the
NaschmarktThe Naschmarkt is Vienna's most popular market. Located at the Wienzeile over the Wien River it is about 1,5 kilometers long.The Naschmarkt has existed since the 16th century when mainly milk bottles were sold...
, an open-air market.
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