Halle Opera House

It is one of two opera houses in Saxony-Anhalt. It was built in the years 1884-1886. The opening took place in October 1899. After it suffered severe damage in 1945, it was reopened in 1951 with a different appearance. The building was gradually renovated and reconstructed, so the south and east facade was restored to its original appearance. The restoration of the dome and west facade are still planned.

Halle received its own theater again in 1811. However, it was only used by traveling companies during the bathing season. The initiator was a doctor. In the first four seasons, Goethe's troupe came from Weimar and played its operas and plays. The town band and town choir took on choral and orchestral duties under the direction of the town music director. The young Carl Loewe, a student of the Francke Foundation, sang in the latter until he moved to Stettin in 1820. The audience followed the performances in the dim twilight and in the stuffy air of smoking oil lamps. The »Schauspielhaus« was located on the property where the university stands today. After it was sold and demolished in late 1827, a private joint-stock company built a new one seven years later on the site where the opera now stands. It was made entirely of wood, a kind of larger Bad Lauchstadt, with steep stairs and narrow corridors, sweltering hot in summer, and was popularly known as "the art barn." The musical direction was entrusted to the 20-year-old Friedrich Wilhelm Stade, who was born in Halle. He was so good that the audience asked for the overtures da capo.In the very first season, Beethoven's »Fidelio« had its Halle premiere on June 30, 1837, after excerpts had been heard in concerts since 1814. Since 1839, Albert Lortzing has made regular guest appearances as a singer and conductor of his own works and those of others. Wagner's first Rienzi, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin Josef Tichatschek arrived in early 1842 and bankrupted the director with his whims. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient inspired the people of Halle in 1844 in four different roles. Under director Friedrich Lorenz, Albert and Johanna Wagner were part of the ensemble from 1842 to 1844. Albert, the agile tenor, was Richard's eldest brother. Johanna, Albert's daughter, began her brilliant career in Halle at the age of 15. Richard visited the family in June 1842 while traveling from Paris to Dresden and read Tannhäuser to them. Johanna became his first Elisabeth. »Lohengrin« was the first Wagner opera to be performed in Halle in 1872. In a small cast in the narrow wooden theater. That must have sounded wonderful.Source: buehnen-halle.de/de/oper/ueberdieoper

A very beautiful old building.