The Leipzig Opera ( German : Oper Leipzig ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte , Germany.
10-606: Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspiel performances beginning in the year 1693. The composer of many early operas at the first opera house, the Oper am Brühl , was Telemann . He was director of the house from 1703 to 1705. The Leipzig Opera does not have its own opera orchestra – the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performs as its orchestra. This relationship began in 1766 with performances of
20-537: A new word, "Songspiel", to describe his work Mahagonny-Songspiel . Notes Sources Die verwandelten Weiber Die verwandelten Weiber, oder Der Teufel ist los, erster Teil ( The Metamorphosed Wives, or The Devil to Pay, Part 1 ) is a three-act German : comische Oper by the German composer Johann Adam Hiller , incorporating 14 musical numbers from the popular farce Der Teufel ist los by Johann Georg Standfuß [ de ] . The libretto
30-431: Is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera . It is characterized by spoken dialogue , which is alternated with ensembles , songs , ballads , and arias which were often strophic , or folk-like. Singspiel plots are generally comic or romantic in nature, and frequently include elements of magic , fantastical creatures, and comically exaggerated characterizations of good and evil. Some of
40-527: The Prussian ambassador to England commissioned a translation of the ballad opera The Devil to Pay . This was successfully performed in the 1740s in Hamburg and Leipzig. A further version of this was made by Johann Adam Hiller and C. F. Weiße in 1766 ( Der Teufel ist los oder Die verwandelten Weiber ), the first of a string of such collaborations which led to Hiller and Weisse being called "the fathers of
50-526: The Singspiel Die verwandelten Weiber, oder Der Teufel ist los by Johann Adam Hiller . The previous theater (the " Neues Theater ") was inaugurated on 28 January 1868 with Jubilee Overture by Carl Maria von Weber and the overture for Iphigénie en Aulide by Gluck and Goethe 's play Iphigenia in Tauris . From 1886 to 1888, Gustav Mahler was the second conductor; Arthur Nikisch
60-621: The German Singspiel." French operas with spoken dialogue ( opéras comiques ) were frequently transcribed into German and became very successful in Vienna in the late 1770s and early 1780s. By contrast, German translations of contemporary Italian opere buffe , which were quite successful in England and France at the time, were significantly less frequent. Singspiele were considered middle-to-lower class entertainment – as opposed to
70-749: The company in 2009. He was elected artistic director ( Intendant ) in 2011 for a five-year term. Schirmer stood down from both posts in 2022. Tobias Wolff became Intendant of the company in 2022. Christoph Gedschold became music director of the company as of the 2022–2023 season. In May 2023, the company announced that Gedschold is to stand down as its music director as of the close of the 2023–2024 season. Several operas received their premiere in Leipzig, including: 51°20′25″N 12°22′53″E / 51.34028°N 12.38139°E / 51.34028; 12.38139 Singspiel A Singspiel ( German pronunciation: [ˈzɪŋʃpiːl] ; plural: Singspiele ; lit. ' sing-play ' )
80-520: The first Singspiele were miracle plays in Germany, where dialogue was interspersed with singing. By the early 17th century, miracle plays had grown profane, the word "Singspiel" is found in print, and secular Singspiele were also being performed, both in translated borrowings or imitations from English and Italian songs and plays, and in original German creations. In the 18th century, some Singspiele were translations of English ballad operas . In 1736,
90-631: The predominantly aristocratic genres of opera, ballet and stage play – and were usually performed by traveling troupes (such as the Koch, Döbbelin and Koberwein companies), rather than by established companies within metropolitan centers. Mozart wrote several Singspiele: Bastien und Bastienne (1768), Zaide (1780), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Der Schauspieldirektor (1786), and finally Die Zauberflöte (1791). E. T. A. Hoffmann , who admired him, composed Singspiele, such as Liebe und Eifersucht in 1807. In 1927, Kurt Weill created
100-500: Was his superior. During an air raid in the night of 3 December 1943, part of the bombing of Leipzig in World War II , the theater was destroyed, as were all of Leipzig's theatres. Construction of the modern opera house began in 1956. The theater was inaugurated on 8 October 1960 with a performance of Wagner 's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg . Ulf Schirmer became Generalmusikdirektor (General Music Director, or GMD) of
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