A historic opera house from 1880 was destroyed in World War II, and reconstructed as a concert hall, theAlte Oper. The presentopera house, built in 1963, is under one roof with the stage for drama. The opera orchestra is calledFrankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester. Today's venue for Baroque and contemporary opera is theBockenheimer Depot, a former tram depot.
Voted best 'Opera house of the year' byOpernwelt several times since 1996, including 2020, 2022 and 2023, Oper Frankfurt is part of theStädtische Bühnen Frankfurt. It received the "Opera Company of the Year" award at the 2013International Opera Awards.[2]
Frankfurt's first opera wasJohann Theile'sAdam und Eva, performed in 1698 by Johann Velten's touring company. The youngGoethe's first operas in his home town of Frankfurt were productions by Theobald Marchand's company.[3]
Opened in 1782, theComoedienhaus was the first permanent venue of the Frankfurt Theater (drama and opera).[4] In 1878 German violinistWilly Hess took up the leadership of the Oper Frankfurt. He resigned from that post in 1886 to take up a professorship in the Rotterdam Conservatorium voor Muziek.[5]
The first representative opera house of the city was inaugurated in Frankfurt in 1880 atOpernplatz. Under the direction of the first IntendantEmil Claar [de] and the first KapellmeisterFelix Otto Dessoff, the house was opened with Mozart's operaDon Giovanni.[6]
During the 1920s, the opera in Frankfurt had more prominent Jewish singers than any other company in Germany, including the tenorHermann Schramm, bassHans Erl (the first King in Schreker'sDer Schatzgräber), baritoneRichard Breitenfeld and contraltoMagda Spiegel, who also toured with Frankfurt Opera performing Wagner in the Netherlands. These singers were forced to leave the opera in June 1933. Orff'sCarmina Burana was premiered at Oper Frankfurt in 1937.[7] Jewish members of the opera company among those rounded up at 9 November 1938 at theFesthalle Frankfurt, where Erl sangIn diesen Heilgen Hallen, from theMagic Flute for the deportees.[8] Members of Frankfurt Opera were sent to Auschwitz and other camps where they perished.
The opera house was damaged in an air raid in January 1944, and then almost completely destroyed in March.[9] In 1952,Georg Solti becameGeneralmusikdirektor (GMD) andIntendant of the Oper Frankfurt, where he remained in charge for nine years.[10] A new house for opera and play was built, completed in 1963 at the Theaterplatz (nowWilly-Brandt-Platz).[11]
From 1977 to 1987, Frankfurt Opera was led byMichael Gielen.[12][13][14][15] This decade became known as the "Gielen Era",[16] notable for the music of a conductor who was also a composer, and directors includingRuth Berghaus andHans Neuenfels, whose productions of standard works such as Verdi'sAida and Wagner'sRing Cycle were thought-provoking.[17][18] Operas which received their world premieres at the house were also performed again, including Franz Schreker'sDie Gezeichneten.[16]
Since 2002,Bernd Loebe has served as Intendant of the company. The company's current GMD isThomas Guggeis, succeedingSebastian Weigle, who held this position since 2008 until the end of season 2023–24. Weigle has made commercial recordings of opera with the company for the OEHMS Classics label.[20][21][22][23]
Oper Frankfurt was voted "Opera House of the Year" by the magazineOpernwelt, in 1996, 2003, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023.[24][25] In 2023, they were distinguished also in the categories Chorus, directed byTilman Michael, World premiere (forBlühen), and Rediscovery (forDie ersten Menschen).[26] The company receiced the distinction again in 2024, with recognition also in the categories Chorus and Production (shared) for Wagner'sTannhäuser, conducted by Guggeis and directed by Matthew Wild. Director of the year wasLydia Steier, including for her Frankfurt production of Verdi'sAida, and Singer of the yearJohn Osborn, including for his Frankfurt portrayal of Éléazar in Halevy'sLa Juive.[27]
As of 2023[update], new buildings for the Städtische Bühnen are planned.[28][29][30]
The opera house has 1.369 seats.[33] As of April 2023[update], the occupancy rate of the Oper Frankfurt in the 2022/23 season was 81%.[34] About 11 premieres and 15 revivals were shown per season.[35]
^Michalzik, Stefan (17 April 2012)."Ermatteter Selbstläufer".Offenbach-Post (in German). Offenbach.Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved17 April 2019.
^Kutsch, K.J.; Riemens, L.; Rost, H. (2012).Hans Erl. Grosses Sängerlexikon (in German). De Gruyter. p. 1349.ISBN978-3-598-44088-5.Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved25 November 2021.
^Die Frankfurter "Alte Oper": Baumonographie eines Opernhauses Christiane Wolf Di Cecca – 1997 p225 "Das Frankfurter Opernhaus erfährt am 29. Januar 1944 durch einen Luftangriff zunächst eine leichte, schließlich in der Nacht zum 23. März 1944 eine schwere Beschädigung. Nach dem Krieg fehlt vor allem zunächst das Geld für Abriß und ..."
^Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen ix David J. Levin – 1999 "For a decade, 1978 to 1988, Frankfurt Opera under Michael Gielen was such a place. ' He hired some of the most interesting and innovative production teams — stage directors as well as set and costume designers ..."
