Originally called the Königliche Oper ('Royal Opera'), the company was renamed the Preußische Staatsoper ('Prussian State Opera') in 1919. After World War II it began operating as the national opera company for Communist East Germany, taking the name Deutsche Staatsoper ('German State Opera') in 1955.
In the West and colloquially, however, people used the name Staatsoper Unter den Linden ('State Opera Unter den Linden') after the boulevard on which the theatre sits. This usage became more common after the collapse of East Germany in 1990, but, contrary to the company's website,[3] it was not officially adopted until 1995 and the old name still appeared on new recordings issued by the company as late as the following year.[4][5]
Early years
The Court Opera, about 1745
King Frederick II of Prussia, shortly after his accession to the throne, commissioned the original building on the site. Though architecturally significant as an early example of the Palladian revival in Germany, the north and west façades are direct copies of Colen Campbell's elevations at Stourhead and Wanstead respectively.[6] Construction work began in July 1741, with what was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff to be the first part of a "Forum Fredericianum" on present-day Bebelplatz. Although not entirely completed, the Court Opera (Hofoper) was inaugurated with a performance of Carl Heinrich Graun's Cesare e Cleopatra on 7 December 1742. This event marked the beginning of the successful, 250-year co-operation between the Staatsoper and the Staatskapelle Berlin, the state orchestra, whose roots trace back to the 16th century.
On 18 August 1843 the Linden Opera was destroyed by fire. The reconstruction of the building was supervised by architect Carl Ferdinand Langhans, and the Königliches Opernhaus (Royal Opera House) was inaugurated the following autumn by a performance of Meyerbeer's Ein Feldlager in Schlesien. In 1849, Otto Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor was premiered at the Royal Opera House, conducted by the composer.
20th century
Auditorium, view to the stage
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Royal Court Opera, Berlin, attracted many illustrious conductors. They included Felix von Weingartner, Karl Muck, Richard Strauss, Leo Blech and George Szell. After the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, the Opera was renamed Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Königliche Kapelle became Kapelle der Staatsoper.
After having undergone an extensive renovation, the Linden Opera reopened on 28 April 1928 with a new production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. The cast included Delia Reinhardt, Richard Tauber, Friedrich Schorr and Leo Schützendorf, conducted by Erich Kleiber. The same year, the famous Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin and Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes with conductor Ernest Ansermet were guest performers. In 1930 Erich Kleiber conducted the premiere of Darius Milhaud's Christophe Colomb. However, in 1934, when symphonic pieces from Alban Berg's Lulu were performed by Kleiber, the National Socialists provoked a scandal and the conductor was forced into exile.
After the Machtergreifung by the Nazis, members of Jewish origin were dismissed from the ensemble. Many German musicians associated with the opera went into exile, including the conductors Kurt Adler, Otto Klemperer and Fritz Busch. Clemens Krauss became a prominent German conductor first at the Berlin State Opera in 1933 and was then appointed as its director in 1935 due to Fritz Busch and Erich Kleiber resigning, respectively, their positions in protest over Nazi rule. In Nazi Germany, Robert Heger, Herbert von Karajan (1939–1945) and Johannes Schüler were the "Staatskapellmeister".
Postwar years
Damaged opera house, 1951 condition
The second rebuilding took a long time. From 1945, the opera company performed at the Admiralspalast. From 1949, the company served as the state opera of East Germany. It moved back to its original home after the rebuilding in freely adapted baroque forms was finally completed in 1955. The newly rebuilt opera house was opened, again, with Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The capacity is now about 1,300. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the Opera was somewhat isolated, but still maintained a comprehensive repertoire that featured the classic and romantic period together with contemporary ballet and operas.
After reunification, the Linden Opera rejoined the operatic world. Important works that had already performed in the past were rediscovered and discussed anew within the framework of a "Berlin Dramaturgy". Baroque Opera in particular was at the center of attention, with Graun's Cleopatra e Cesare, Keiser's Croesus, Florian Leopold Gassmann's L'opera seria and Scarlatti's Griselda. These works were performed by Belgian conductor René Jacobs together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Freiburger Barockorchester on period instruments. In the 1990s, the opera was officially renamed Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
In 1992, the Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim was appointed Generalmusikdirektor (GMD). In 2000, the orchestra (according to its official website) elected Barenboim "conductor for life." During the 2002 Festtage, he led a Wagner cycle in ten parts, a production created in collaboration with director Harry Kupfer.
In 2009, the Berlin State Opera was closed for renovation work led by German architect HG Merz. The roof of the opera building was raised and the proscenium prolonged to improve the acoustics. Other renovation and extension efforts included the director's building, the below-ground connection building and the depot building. The latter houses the new rehearsal center. The house was reopened in 2017 with premieres of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea on one weekend.[7] The opera house also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.
On 6 January 2023, the company announced the resignation of Barenboim as its GMD, for health reasons.[8] In January 2023, Christian Thielemann stepped in as an emergency substitute conductor for Barenboim in a new company production of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. In September 2023, the company announced the appointment of Thielemann as its next GMD, effective 1 September 2024.[9][10][11]
Exterior of the State Opera at evening blue hour, 2018
Auditorium of the State Opera on the day of reopening on 3 October 2017, after seven years of refurbishment
Auditorium, 2021
Apollo Hall, 2021
Leadership
1743 Baron von Götter and Ernst Maximilian, Baron von Reist Sweerts (aka the Baron de Schwertz)[12][13]
^Michael Forsyth: Buildings for Music. The Architect, the Musician, and the Listener from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day. MIT Press, Cambridge 1985, ISBN978-0-262-06089-9, p. 104.
