The Vienna State Opera

A dark chapter in the history of the house occurred in the years from 1938 to 1945, when the Nazism persecuted, expelled and murdered numerous members of the house, and many works were not allowed to played. On 12th March 1945, the house on the ring was devastated by a bombing, but already on the 1st May 1945, the "Staatsoper in the Volksoper" was opened with a performance of Mozart's MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, and on 6th October 1945 the re-opening of the hastily restored Theater an der Wien occurred with Beethoven's FIDELIO. In this way, for the following 10 years, there were two venues for the State Opera house while the headquarters were being restored at great expense.

For the re-opening of the renovated State Opera, a glamorous opera festival was prepared, in which over the space only 4 weeks, 8 premieres played on stage. On the morning of the 5th November, the day of the celebratory re-opening, there was a ceremony. Members of the government, led by Chancellor Raab, Vice-Chancellor Schärf and Foreign Minister Figl, took their places in the centre box, with Federal President Körner in the left stage box. On stage, the entire Artistic and technical personnel came together. After the fading away of the national anthem, the King's Fanfare from Franz Schmidt's opera Fredigundis and the Air from Bach's 3rd Orchestral suite, Ernst Marboe came on to the lecturn to thank all those who were instrumental in bringing about the reconstruction of the Vienna State Opera. Then the Secretary of Commerce Illig handed the keys to the State Opera to the Minister of Education Drimmel, who then in turn handed the keys to Director Karl Böhm. With Leonores words from FIedlio "Gott, welch ein Augenblick" (God, what a moment), he began his speech of thanks. He subsequently raised his baton to play the Meistersinger, which was the "unofficial national anthem" - which Böhm told the members of the public - followed by the Danube waltz.

On the evening of the Gala Premiere of Fidelio was a similar picture, only there were many music enthusiasts around the opera, following the performance through speakers. 40 radio stations from all around the world were broadcasting, and this day, 5th November 1955 basically saw the birth of the still young Austrian television.

Today, the Vienna State Opera is considered one of the most important opera houses in the world; in particular, it is the house with the largest repertoire. It has been under the direction of Dominique Meyer since September 1, 2010 with Ballet Director Manuel Legris.

The showpiece of this historic wing is the tearoom. This room is the only one which was originally reserved for the imperial court, and which survived the destruction at the end of World War II. The ceiling and walls are decorated with 22 carat gold leaf. Once referred to as the Hoflogensalon, it served on special occasions as a salon of the Emperor. The design of the salon comes from Sicardsburg- and student of van der Null, Josef Storck.