Hamburg Staatsoper
The Opera's front façade on Dammtorstraße in 2010
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| Former names | Hamburgische Oper Hamburgisches Stadt-Theater |
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| Location | Große Theaterstraße 25, 20354 Hamburg, Germany |
| Coordinates | 53°33′24″N 9°59′20″E / 53.55667°N 9.98889°ECoordinates: 53°33′24″N 9°59′20″E / 53.55667°N 9.98889°E |
| Public transit |
 Gänsemarkt (50 m) Stephansplatz (100 m) |
| Type | opera house |
| Capacity | 1,690 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1678 |
| Opened | 2 January 1678 |
| Renovated | 2002–05 |
| Rebuilt | 1826–27 1953–55 |
| Architect |
Girolamo Sartorio (1678 building) Carl Ludwig Wimmel (1827 building) Gerhard Weber (1955 building) |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Hamburgische Staatsoper) is one of the leading opera companies of Germany. The theatre near the square of Gänsemarkt was founded in 1678, making it Germany's oldest public opera house.
Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the Oper am Gänsemarkt was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile. It was not a court theatre but the first public opera house in Germany established by the art-loving citizens of Hamburg, a prosperous member of the Hanseatic League.
The Hamburg Bürgeroper resisted the dominance of the Italianate style and rapidly became the leading musical center of the German Baroque. In 1703, George Friedrich Handel was engaged as violinist and harpsichordist and performances of his operas were not long in appearing. In 1705, Hamburg gave the world première of his opera Nero.
In 1721, Georg Philipp Telemann, a central figure of the German Baroque, joined the Hamburg Opera, and in subsequent years Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Adolph Hasse and various Italian companies were among the guests.
To replace the aging wooden structure, the first stone was laid on 18 May 1826 for the Stadt-Theater on the present-day site of the Hamburg State Opera. The new theater, with seating for 2,800 guest, was inaugurated less than a year later with Beethoven's incidental music to Egmont.
The building was renovated in 1873, when both the exterior and interior remodeled in the reigning "Gründerzeit" style of the time, and again in 1891, when electric lighting was introduced.
Under the direction of Bernhard Pollini, the house mounted its first complete Ring Cycle in 1879. In 1883, the year of Wagner's death, a cycle comprising nine of his operas was commenced. The musical directors Hans von Bülow (from 1887 to 1890) and Gustav Mahler (from 1891 to 1897) also contributed to the fame of the opera house.
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Wikipedia