For many, it is the greatest opera house in the world: 300 evenings a year, the Vienna State Opera offers excellent productions with a programme that changes daily. . .
. . .When the old opera theatre next to the Kärntnertore proved too small for the majority of 19th-century operas, it was decided to build a new, larger opera house on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, then in the process of being widened into a magnificent new boulevard. Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg were the architects commissioned to carry out this project. The new the opera house on the Ring opened on 25 May 1869 with a performance of Mozart’s Don Juan. . . ~ Wiener Staatsoper website (info on the new Vienna State Opera Museum)The Staatsoper website offers so much, including a 360 degree panoramic tour of the opera house and fascinating background on the building - in part:
Exterior view
Looking at the building from the Opernring, in other words from the front, the historical part from the original 1869 building is visible. The façade remains in Renaissance arched style and the loggia on the Ringstrasse side underline the public character of the building.
Interior of the former opera house
Entering through one of the main doors into the box office foyer, which has remained in its original form, gives an immediate impression of the interior of the former opera house which was mostly destroyed on the 12th of March 1945 shortly before the end of hostilities in the Second World War. Remaining in its original form is the entire façade and main foyer, the central stairway (known as the ‘celebratory stairway’), the Schwindfoyer and loggia as well as the Tea Salon on the first floor.
This postcard was sent to me sometime around 1963 by my girlhood pen pal, who, since an earlier post, I still have not located.....and so am including the back of the card in the off-chance that it might stir up information concerning the well-being and whereabouts of Rosmarie Gugler. What a joy it would be to find her after so many years.
And to my friend, Francessa, in Vienna.....let's be sure to put the Staatsoper on the list of must-see places when I visit you one fine day in the future.
My life would be complete if I could hear any of Mozart's compositions at The Staatsoper. That would pretty much be heaven for me.
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