Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a
concert hall
A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats.
This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...
in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, Hesse, Germany. It is located in the inner city,
Innenstadt, within the banking district
Bankenviertel
Bankenviertel (; ''banking quarter'') is the name of the central business district in Frankfurt, Germany where many banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions are located. It is the most important German financial hub, if not o ...
. 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.
Historic opera house
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.
[Groß, p. 50] It opened on 20 October 1880. Among the guests was
Kaiser
Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...
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.'') The opening was also celebrated by Mozart's Don Giovanni.
The costs increased from the originally planned 2 million
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks
A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...
to a multiple.
Alluding to the inscription on the
frieze
In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
:"''Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten''", ("''To the true, the beautiful, the good''")
the folkloristic Frankfurt poet wrote, in his best
Hessian dialect
Hessian () is a West Central German group of dialects of the German language in the central German state of Hesse. The dialect most similar to Hessian is Palatinate German () of the Rhine Franconian sub-family. However, the Hessian dialects hav ...
:
:''Dem Wahre, Scheene, Gute, die Berjerschaft muß blude.'' (''To the true, the beautiful, the good, the citizens must bleed.'')
Concert Hall
The opera house was extensively
damaged by bombing raids during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in 1944, though many of the outside walls and façades survived. In the 1960s the city
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
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
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...
".
Arndt later saved the Alte Oper.
A
citizen's initiative campaigned for reconstruction funds after 1953 and collected 15 million
DM. It ended costing 160 million DM, and the building was reopened on 28 August 1981 to the sounds of
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
's
Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand".
A live recording of that concert conducted by Michael Gielen is available on CD.
Alte Oper has venues of different size:
* Großer Saal (Large Hall) with 2500 seats
* Mozart-Saal, 700 seats
* and smaller halls for
conventions.
Gallery
Alte Oper Frankfurt am Main 2012.jpg, Front
Alte Oper East Facade.JPG, Eastern facade in September 2014
FFM-AlteOper-HDR--DINA4.jpg, Alte Oper at night
Oper1880.jpg, Frankfurt opera house, 1880
See also
*
Alte Oper (Frankfurt U-Bahn)
References
Notes
Sources
*
External links
*
Stadt-Panorama Alte Oper– Interactive 360 degree panorama with day and night views (in German)
*
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Frankfurt
Culture in Frankfurt
Opera houses in Germany
Concert halls in Germany
Tourist attractions in Frankfurt
Music venues completed in 1880
Theatres completed in 1880
Frankfurt-Altstadt
Bankenviertel
Rebuilt buildings and structures in Germany
Defunct opera houses
Frankfurt Radio Symphony