Vienna State Opera House
World’s sacred musical arena :
Wu Liming, Liu Gang
The Chinese opera ‘Mulan’ staged at the Vienna State Opera House on
Saturday is the first Chinese musical drama performed at the famed opera
house, which is widely considered as a sacred arena for musicians from
all over the world.
The following is a brief introduction to the opera house: The Vienna
State Opera House, together with La Scala Opera House in Milan of Italy
and The Metropolitan Opera House in New York of the United States, are
considered as top three opera houses in the world.
Ever since its founding, the Vienna State Opera House has become a
symbol of sacred musical arena. Singers, musicians, conductors and
dancers from across the globe feel proud and honored when they perform
at this prestigious opera house.
Built between 1861 and 1869, The Vienna State Opera House is a
magnificent architecture of Roman renaissance style.
 Boasting
high archways and delicately-engraved windows and graceful roof, the
house is a mansion with imperial grandeur in the downtown Vienna.
The interior decoration of the opera house is even more splendid. On
May 25 of 1869, The Vienna State Opera House staged its first
performance - Mozart’s Don Giovanni, thus unveiling a prelude to its
magnificent musical legend.
During the Second World War, however, the opera house was severely
damaged by bombings. After the war, it took Austria 10 years to
reconstruct it.
On Nov. 5 of 1955, the house unveiled its renewed face by staging
Beethoven’s Fidelio, symbolizing the second phase of its development.
At present, the opera house still boasts magnificence and splendor
after repeated renovations over the past decades. It is capable of
accommodating over 2,000 audiences, and the stage is 500 square meters,
which is also equipped with sloat and other sophisticate scenic
facilities.
Since its establishment, the house has striven to recruit and invite
world-renowned conductors, musicians and singers, like Gustav Mahler and
Herbert von Karajan, to perform there. The Vienna Philharmonic, one of
the finest orchestras in the world, regularly perform at The Vienna
State Opera House.
It is stipulated that initial performance of a certain musical work
should not be staged at the house and merely full-fledged musical works
are allowed to set foot on its stage. Such regulations help the opera
house cap extremely prestigious reputation among the international
musical arena, thus making the opera house a symbol for Vienna, which is
dubbed “capital of music”.
As one of the busiest opera houses in the world, approximately 300
performances stages here each year, including opera, some ballet and
musical opera.
The grand building, classic operas, and famous conductors, musicians
and singers have made the opera house a “global opera center”.
Xinhua
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