Oper am Gänsemarkt
Early 18th-century engraving of the opera house
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| Address | Gänsemarkt square, Hamburg |
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| Construction | |
| Opened | 2 January 1678 |
| Closed | 1750 |
| Demolished | 1756 |
| Architect | Girolamo Sartorio |
The Oper am Gänsemarkt was a theatre in Hamburg, Germany, built in 1678 after plans of Girolamo Sartorio at the Gänsemarkt square. It was not a court opera, as in many other towns. Everybody could buy a ticket, like in Venice. Most works were in the German language or translated librettos (from Italian).
The building was torn down in 1756, but rebuilt in 1765.
Hamburg was a rich city and hardly affected by the Thirty Years' War.
The founding of the Hamburg opera was an initiative of the well-traveled lawyer and alderman Gerhard Schott, who was impressed by Italian opera and Johann Adam Reincken, a local church organist.Johann Theile, Kapellmeister of Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who lived during the years 1675-1679 and 1684-1689 in exile in the city, organised its first performance. For the construction of the stage the Italian engineer and architect Girolamo Sartorio was attracted by the private company. Protests and accusations by some Hamburg ministers before and after the opening held on for several years, and is known as the first "Hamburger Theaterstreit".
The opening of the house took place on 2 January 1678 with Johann Theile's sacred opera Adam und Eva, succeeded by works of Nicolò Minato and Antonio Sartorio, Johann Wolfgang Franck with Cara Mustapha (1686), Agostino Steffani, Carlo Pallavicino and Johann Sigismund Kusser. Because of an argument with the management, Kusser organized an opera in the refectory of the local Dom.
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