Ok folks, so I realize that you have not had ENOUGH with the concerts yet, so we're going to keep the fun moving along be visiting the Staatsoper (National Opera of Austria) in Vienna....
Here is our trust tram to take us there - did you buy your ticket?....be sure to 'stamp' it!
Not too exciting, but I just thought I'd show you what the inside of a tram looks like.
Thank you Mr. Trolley (Mr. Rogers)!
See you soon...
And as Mr. Trolley rides off to deliver more people....
BAM! The Staatsoper!
So this is the National Opera of Austria and tonight we will go see Richard Strauss's 'Der Rosenkavalier' (Knight of the Rose).
Firstly, let's take in the building...
Some SCARY looking geeses! 'We're on patrol! We're the Austrian Geeses!' ;)
Work commenced on the building in 1861 and was completed in 1869 and was originally called the Vienna Court Opera (Wiener Hofoper). After the establishment of the Austrian Republic it was renamed Vienna State Opera in 1920. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from its orchestra.
Now let's turn our attention to tonight's performance. 'The Knight of the Rose' by Richard Strauss is an opera with four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin, her very young lover Octavian Rofrano, a part sung by a woman (that was INTERESTING! This young teenager BOY is played by a woman and sung as a SOPRANO! Umm...yeah...), her coarse, skirt-chasing country cousin Baron Ochs, and his young prospective fiancée Sophie, the lovely daughter of a rich Viennese bourgeois. Baron Ochs, having arranged with Sophie's father Faninal to combine his noble rank with Faninal's money by marrying Sophie, asks the Marschallin to suggest an appropriate young man to be his Knight of the Rose, who will present a silver rose to Sophie on his behalf as a traditional symbol of courtship. She recommends Octavian. When Octavian delivers the rose, he and Sophie fall in love on sight, and must figure out how to prevent Baron Ochs from marrying Sophie. They accomplish this in a comedy of errors that is smoothed over with the help of the Marschallin
And there you have it....are you ready?
The foyer...
Ceiling decor....
So lavish!! This is the refreshment lounge for the intervals....wow!
Outside veranda....
Looking to the left....
(Until 1857 this street and area consisted of the old city walls of Vienna. This area encircled all of the 'old city'. In 1857 Emperor Franz Joseph I decreed that the city walls, etc., be removed. And hence the birth of 'the Ring' - that is what all Viennese call this 'circle-road' that runs around Vienna...)
And looking to the right...
People getting ready for the performance...by boozin' it up! Whatever...
The curtain! (I honestly started to think a few shows back and 'the why' behind theaters, curtains, etc., usually being in red - the thought came that it's all 'psychological' - red 'heightens/awakens' the senses and passions...maybe the color of the theater you watch a show in can affect your reaction to it....hmmm....)
The seating in the Staatsoper....very interesting....
Now you might be tempted to call it a 'Glowing Doughnut', but I would rather dare to say that it was a chandelier of tremendous and impressive proportions!
The audience is waiting patiently for the opera to begin...
Are you ready?!!
There were 3 acts, so there were 2 breaks/intervals. And did we ever need it! It makes sense now why summer is the 'off' season for opera in Vienna - that Staatsoper was SO stinkin' hot! Poor people who got all 'dressed up' - they had a worse time than I ;)
Looking down the marble staircase....
Looking up the marble staircase.....
Back in the 'snack room' - haha...
MORE BOOZE! (Apparently that is what you need to TRULY enjoy opera! LOL)
Whatever....
I'll enjoy the room!
Outside....people, and me, just cooling off....whoosh!
In a quiet little corner of the opera house, 'Drammatica' looks on....
To me she sure seems like a 'calm' 'Drammatica'! ;) She looks more like 'Pensivita' or 'Calmattica', but not DRAMA-queen-atica....
And here you go...if the pictures didn't do it for you, here is a short video so you can experience the Staatsoper for yourself...
And here you go...if the pictures didn't do it for you, here is a short video so you can experience the Staatsoper for yourself...
During the last break I snuck out for some cool air...
WHAT A GOOD-LOOKING BUILDING, NO?!
And...the CURTAIN CALL! Oh, it went by all so fast, you might say...and yes, for you it did...
I usually don't take photos like this, but this was their 3rd or 4th curtain call and most people had left (just a few die-hards) by then, so I decided to get them.
NOW FOR THE REVIEW: Richard Strauss's music is 'GOOD'. The music, etc., his work on this was a good solid 'GOOD'! In the first act, what he wrote for the 'Marschallin' to sing about ageing, etc., was PURE POETRY! I was SO THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED with his lyrics for that part of the opera! ('Time is not perceivable, yet it is all around us. We never care for it, but then there arrives a time when time (age/old) makes itself painfully present and doesn't leave' - some VERY badly paraphrasing, but the whole thing that she sings at the end of the First Act is PURE POETRY/PURE HUMAN CONDITION! SO, SO IMPRESSED!) The playing of the music was also a 'GOOD' - the Viennese Symphony the other day was MUCH better in quality, etc. (could've been also where I was sitting and the sound waves, etc.). The singing of the actors was 'VERY GOOD' and at times was 'EXCELLENT' - I was VERY impressed by their singing abilities!
So, overall I was VERY happy I went and I hope you all enjoyed your time as well!
Gute Nacht, Staatsoper!
