- Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien "(The Theatre on the Wien River)" is a
theatre inVienna . Opened in 1801, it has a fabled history, and continues to be an important venue to this day.Origin
The theater was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario
Emanuel Schikaneder , who is best known to history as Mozart's librettist 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 Wieden , 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. [Braunbehrens 1990]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 inEmpire 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." ["Emanuel Schikaneder" in "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians"] .The theatre opened on 13 June 1801 with a prologue written by Schikaneder followed by a performance of the opera "Alexander" by
Alexander Teyber .Only a part of the original building is preserved: the "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 's opera "Fidelio ". 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
**1805 (April 7) Third Symphony
**1806 (December 23) Violin Concerto
**1808 (December 22) Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, Choral Fantasy, and the Piano Concerto No. 4. (For the full program see "Symphony No. 5")
*1817 "Die Ahnfrau" byFranz Grillparzer
*1823 "Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern" ("Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus"), a play byWilhelmine von Chézy --according to one critic, "dreadful beyond imagination" [Source:Eric Bromberger 's program notes for a performance of Schubert's work by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, 12 November 2007; [http://www.la-jolla-music-society.com/content/view/734/125/] ] - and utterly forgotten today, except for the incidental music byFranz Schubert
*1844 "Der Zerrissene " byJohann Nepomuk Nestroy
*1874 (April 5) "Die Fledermaus " by the youngerJohann Strauss
*1882 "Der Bettelstudent " byKarl Millöcker
*1898 (January 5) "Der Opernball" byRichard Heuberger
*1905 (December 30) "The Merry Widow " byFranz Lehár
*1908 (November 14) "The Chocolate Soldier " byOscar Straus
*1909 (November 12) "Der Graf von Luxemburg " byFranz Lehár Later history
, 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 Hall ).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 "Elisabeth" (aboutFranz Joseph I of Austria 's wife, aka Sissi), premiered there. The musical "Cats" directed and choreographed byGillian Lynne played successfully for seven years.Recent years: revival as a full time opera house
In the Mozart bicentennial year, 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 ".Geyer is quoted as saying that he wishes to "present cutting edge directors and interesting productions" [Anne Midgette, "In Mozart's Backyard, A Fraught Rebirth of an Opera House", "New York Times", 26 November 2006] , and his three main areas of focus are on
Baroque opera , contemporary opera, and Mozart.The theater's seasons have included the following works:
*
André Previn : "A Streetcar Named Desire", conducted bySian Edwards , staged byStein Winge
*Georg Friedrich Händel :
**"Giulio Cesare in Egitto", conducted byRené Jacobs , staged byChristof Loy
**"Ariodante ", conducted byChristophe Rousset , staged byLukas Hemleb
**"Partenope ", conducted by Christophe Rousset, staged byPierre Audi
*Jake Heggie : "Dead Man Walking", conducted by Sian Edwards, staged byNikolaus Lehnhoff
*Joseph Haydn : "Orlando Paladino"; conducted byNikolaus Harnoncourt , staged byKeith Warner
*Francis Poulenc : "Dialogues des Carmélites"; conducted byBertrand de Billy , staged byRobert Carsen
*Luigi Cherubini : "Médée"; conducted byFabio Luisi , staged byTorsten Schäfer
*Leoš Janáček : "Káťa Kabanová ", conducted byKirill Petrenko , staging by Keith Warner
*Fernando Moreno Torroba : "Luisa Fernanda", conducted byJosep Caballé-Domenech , staged by Emilio Sagi
*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :
**"La finta semplice ", conducted by Fabio Luisi, staged byLaurent Pelly ;
**"Le nozze di Figaro ", conducted byGraeme Jenkins , staged byKasper Bech Holten ;
**"Die Zauberflöte ", directed byJean-Christophe Spinosi , staged byAchim Freyer .Among the singers areMarijana Mijanovic ,Frederica von Stade ,Olaf Bär ,Patricia Petibon ,Anatoli Kotscherga ,Anja Silja ,Diana Damrau ,Plácido Domingo ,Maria José Montiel ,Andrea Rost ,Christine Schäfer ,David Daniels .The Theater an der Wien frequently collaborates in co-productions with other opera houses, such as the
Washington Opera , theLos Angeles Opera , theTeatro Real inMadrid , De Nederlandse Opera inAmsterdam , and the Sächsische Staatsoper inDresden .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
Naschmarkt , an open-air market.Artistic directors
*Roland Geyer
Notes
References
*Braunbehrens, Volkmar (1990) "Mozart in Vienna". New York: Grove Weidenfeld.
*"Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", online edition. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.External links
* [http://www.theater-wien.at/ Official Website (in German)]
* [http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/austria/a_wien_theateranderwien.htm Andreas Praefcke's "Carthalia" site] , entry for "Theater an der Wien". Pictures of both exterior and interior in the form of postcards, as well as a long list of premieres. The image labeled "Millöckergasse entrance" shows the Papageno gate with the memorial to Schikaneder.
* [http://www.bachtrack.com/find-a-concert/Where/venue=1223-Theater-an-der-Wien Event listings in English]
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