Staatoper

During our visit to Vienna this past weekend, we toured their Staatoper (State Opera House). I had heard great things about this opera house and was expecting its theater to rival if not surpass Prague’s State Opera House. The entrance into the building didn’t disappoint. It was beautiful on the inside, and the grand staircase was ornate. Once we entered the actual theatre, however, as the first stop on our tour, I was surprised. It wasn’t very large and did not have nearly the grandeur of Prague’s.

We continued the tour, and were taken to three impressive intermission rooms. Each of them was decorated in a different style, and was used by the theater guests during the intermission to visit one another and trade compliments. We learned that when the theater was first built, the aristocracy came foremost to show of their exquisite attire and to be seen at the social event. Most people didn’t even like the operas, and originally, the lights of the theatre were left on during the production and the doors remained opened. It was only later that one of the directors became exasperated with all of the noise and lack of attention, and changed the policy so that the doors remained closed and the lights off. This wasn’t a popular decision at the time, because the people were only interested in socializing, but in the end it was accepted and became the norm.

After learning this interesting history, I thought it shed light on the interior of the opera house. No, the actual theater wasn’t very impressive, but that wasn’t the main function of the building! The main purpose of this grand building was originally to be a place for the elite to socialize and display their ornate dresses, and therefore the abundance of intermission rooms and decorated hallways was accounted for. I suppose form really follows function in this case…

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