A historic opera house from 1880 was destroyed in World War II, and reconstructed as a concert hall, the Alte Oper. The present opera house, built in 1963, is under one roof with the stage for drama. The opera orchestra is called Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester. Today's venue for Baroque and contemporary opera is the Bockenheimer Depot, a former tram depot.
Voted best 'Opera house of the year' by Opernwelt several times since 1996, including 2020, 2022 and 2023, Oper Frankfurt is part of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt. It received the "Opera Company of the Year" award at the 2013 International Opera Awards.[2]
History
Early history
Frankfurt's first opera was Johann Theile's Adam und Eva, performed in 1698 by Johann Velten's touring company. The young Goethe's first operas in his home town of Frankfurt were productions by Theobald Marchand's company.[3]
1782 – 1880
Former theater and opera venue Comoedienhaus in 1902
Opened in 1782, the Comoedienhaus was the first permanent venue of the Frankfurt Theater (drama and opera).[4] In 1878 German violinist Willy 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 at Opernplatz. Under the direction of the first Intendant Emil Claar [de] and the first Kapellmeister Felix Otto Dessoff, the house was opened with Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.[6]
During the 1920s, the opera in Frankfurt had more prominent Jewish singers than any other company in Germany, including the tenor Hermann Schramm, bass Hans Erl (the first King in Schreker's Der Schatzgräber), baritone Richard Breitenfeld and contralto Magda Spiegel, who also toured with Frankfurt Opera performing Wagner in the Netherlands. These singers were forced to leave the opera in June 1933. Orff's Carmina Burana was premiered at Oper Frankfurt in 1937.[7] Jewish members of the opera company among those rounded up at 9 November 1938 at the Festhalle Frankfurt, where Erl sang In diesen Heilgen Hallen, from the Magic Flute for the deportees.[8] Members of Frankfurt Opera were sent to Auschwitz and other camps where they perished.
1945 – 1970s
Interior of the opera house in 2024
The opera house was damaged in an air raid in January 1944, and then almost completely destroyed in March.[9] In 1952, Georg Solti became Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) and Intendant 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 (now Willy-Brandt-Platz).[11]
From 1977 to 1987, Frankfurt Opera was led by Michael 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 including Ruth Berghaus and Hans Neuenfels, whose productions of standard works such as Verdi's Aida and Wagner's Ring Cycle were thought-provoking.[17][18] Operas which received their world premieres at the house were also performed again, including Franz Schreker's Die Gezeichneten.[16]
Since 2002, Bernd Loebe has served as Intendant of the company. The company's current GMD is Thomas Guggeis, succeeding Sebastian 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 magazine Opernwelt, in 1996, 2003, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023.[24][25] In 2023, they were distinguished also in the categories Chorus, directed by Tilman Michael, World premiere (for Blühen), and Rediscovery (for Die ersten Menschen).[26] The company receiced the distinction again in 2024, with recognition also in the categories Chorus and Production (shared) for Wagner's Tannhäuser, conducted by Guggeis and directed by Matthew Wild. Director of the year was Lydia Steier, including for her Frankfurt production of Verdi's Aida, and Singer of the year John Osborn, including for his Frankfurt portrayal of Éléazar in Halevy's La Juive.[27]
As of 2023[update], new buildings for the Städtische Bühnen are planned.[28][29][30]
Artistic leadership
The first conductors had the title Kapellmeister. From 1924 it was GMD, who often also held the administrative leadership Intendant (Int.).
Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) and Schauspiel Frankfurt (Theatre Frankfurt) are part of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt am Main GmbH.[32]
Statistics
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]
^Manchester Faces & Places. Mamchester: JG Hammond & Co Ltd. February 1895. pp. 76–77.
^"Chronology & history". alteoper.de. Frankfurt. 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
^Michalzik, Stefan (17 April 2012). "Ermatteter Selbstläufer". Offenbach-Post (in German). Offenbach. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 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. Retrieved 25 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 ..."
