Semper Opera, Dresden

The architect Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) believed in using local materials and craftsmen whenever possible. So what looks like marble in the Semper Opera usually isn't. It's plaster, carefully molded, painted and polished by skilled craftsmen who passed their professional secrets down from father to son, or took the secrets with them to their graves.

Some of them mixed honey with the final layer of plaster to give it a particular mute shimmer, and then painted and polished it carefully.

Even a lot of the apparent wood paneling isn't made of wood at all, but is plaster carefully painted to look like wood.

The tour guides are usually people who were directly involved in rebuilding the Semper Opera from 1977 to 1985, so they can explain all this in great detail.


For more tours of German opera houses, see the travelogues on my Leipzig, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt am Main pages.

The opera house of Dresden was first built by Semper in 1841. Over the years, it had been subjected to its fair share of natural calamities and the ravages of World War II. Wagner premiered three of his operas at this magnificent opera house. Most of the opera house was destroyed during World War II but reconstructed between 1977 and 1985. Today, the opera house stands proud in the Opera Square and on closer examination, you can make out the original older portion and the newer rebuilt portion of the building. It is the performing home of the Staaskapelle and Staasopern Dresden.

On the walls in all the various foyers of the Semper Opera there are elaborate decorations and paintings in honor of composers, dramatists and librettists who were well known at the time.

Some of them are still well known today, but most have been forgotten.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, for instance, was a London playwright and politician who lived from 1751 to 1816. He rates a mention in gold letters on a wall of the Semper Opera (enlarge the photo to see his name) because one of his plays, The Duenna, was made into an opera which was very popular in its day, composed by his father-in-law Thomas Finley.

the operahouse is beautiful from the inside and the outside! A night at the opera would truly be something special, but taking a tour through the Semper Oper might be a great alternative as well!

The Semperoper has suffered greatly from the flood, but has re-opened meanwhile!

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The paved square was originally located on the edge of the city, which was centered around the Altmarkt, a historic square just southeast of the Theaterplatz.

The most prominent building at the mostly pedestrianized square is the Semper Opera House, originally known as the Hoftheater, hence the name of the square. A first version of the opera house was built in the 17th century, but was replaced by a new, grander structure between 1838 and 1841.

On the west side, the square is bordered by a large wing of the Zwinger Palace. The wing houses two museums, the Gemälderie Alte Meister - an art gallery - and the Rüstkammer, an armory. Flowerbeds and two 19th century fountains grace the area in front of the Zwinger.

Opposite the palace, along the Elbe River, is the Italian Dörfchen. The low baroque structure was built in 1912 by Erlwein. It is named after the Italian stonemasons who lived here when they were working at the nearby Hofkirche, which borders Theaterplatz on the south-east side.

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The glory to Dresden as a city of music was brought by its drama and opera theatres. The most beautiful and perfect of them is located on the Theatrical square and was erected by architect Gottfrid Semper in the second half of XIXth century.
The Semperoper surpassed even Milan La Skala on acoustics.
The Theatre became the sample for construction of many opera theatres of the world.

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The construction of the Semper Oper or the Royal National Opera building was started in 1838.
The design was by architect Gottfried Semper. The building is known for the many world premieres of world works of Richard Wagner.

The opening was on April 12, 1841 with a play by Goethe called Torquato Tasso and Carl Maria from Webers Jubel Ouverture.

In 1869 the building was detroyed by fire causing by workers in the attic. In 6 weeks time a wooden temporary theater was constructed that stayed in use till 1878.

The construction of the second Semper Oper was started in 1871 under supervision of Gottfried Semper's son Manfred. The opening was on February 2, 1878.

The building was complety destroyed during the WWII bombardments in the night of February 13 to 14, 1945.

Between 1952 and 1956 the outer walls were restored, but the reconstruction lasted till the seventies. The restored builing was opened at February 13, 1985.

In the nineties the big hall was reconstructed.

In 2002 the Elbe river water level became that high, it flooded the area including the Semper Oper. The Dresden Fire Brigade worked hard to save as much as possible and to pump as much water out of the building.

The building was partly reopend at November 9, 2002.

Most Dresden buildings have been, to put it mildly, rather unlucky. And the Semperoper has certainly had it's share of back luck -

1. To start with, it burned down a couple of decades after it was first opened, and it took over 30 years to rebuild

2. Then, there was World War II when much of Dresden's city centre was razed to the ground, and again it took over 30 years to rebuild and some more to get the musicians back in

3. And, as if that was not enough, the recent floods have damaged the building rather badly

When it was open in the middle of all of this, it was the venue of choice for the premieres by some of Europe's most celebrated composers - R. Strauss, Wagner, Carl Maria v. Weber: the Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, Daphne, DOktor Faust just to name a few

Today, it is as much a concert venue as it is an architectural gem which fits in perfectly with the nearby Zwinger and Dom.