Sign in with Facebook"Operas and cycling in Berlin" Berlin by Nemorino
Berlin Travel Guide: 6,873 reviews and 15,326 photos
When I think of Berlin I think of opera and construction sites -- and in my lead photo I was lucky enough to get both in the same picture, because they happened to be ripping up the street "Unter den Linden" right in front of the State Opera House (Staatsoper) when I was there in 2005.
Soon the State Opera House itself will be a construction site, because they are planning to spend three years giving it some badly needed restoration and repairs from 2010 to 2013. During this time the State Opera company will take up temporary quarters in the old Schiller Theater in the Bismarckstraße, in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg.
What this means is that for three seasons there will be two major opera houses in the Bismarckstraße, within three blocks of each other!
The other one is the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which is housed in this large monolithic building that was erected in something of a hurry in the 1960s.
Across the street from the Deutsche Oper is a bust of a very distinguished gentleman who seems to be casting a skeptical eye at this large opera house. He is none other than the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616), whose bust was given to the city of Berlin by the city of London on the occasion of Berlin's 750th birthday.
Up to now I have only seen four performances at the Deutsche Oper, and didn't like any of them very much, but I will definitely give this house another try -- the next time I'm in Berlin for three or more days.
Berlin is the only German city that has three full-scale professional opera houses.
This one here is called the "Komische Oper" or Comic Opera, but that doesn't mean everything they do is hilariously funny. The name Comic Opera was originally meant to suggest that this opera house (like the Opera Comique in Paris) isn't as elitist as the others, and what this means in practice is that they perform all their operas in the vernacular, i.e. in German, no matter what language they were originally written in.
This somewhat limits the singers they can get, because none of the really big stars is willing to learn the German text of, say, Verdi's Rigoletto, when they can earn twice as much money singing it in Italian anywhere else in the world. But that's all right because the Komische Oper couldn't afford to hire these big stars anyway, so you can see and hear some fine young singers here who are willing to learn the German words. They're not all Germans, incidentally. In Rigoletto the leading roles were sung by American and Dutch singers, and the orchestra conductor was Japanese.
The only other opera houses I know of that have this only-sing-in-German policy are the Gärtnerplatz opera house in Munich and the Volksoper in Vienna. Otherwise even the smallest houses tend to do operas in their original languages, for the most part.
Update: In 2007 the Komische Oper in Berlin was voted Opera House of the Year (along with the city theater in Bremen) by the critics of Opernwelt magazine.
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Comments (71)
I enjoyed your pages on berlin a lot. I remember visiting Berlin several times during the DDR period and once a few years ago, how dramatically it has changed! You added detail to some things I only knew a bit about. Danke
Thanks for your ratings and comments on my Berlin tips. I'm glad I could add some detail to your old memories.
Hello Don, I'm just back from a museum trip to Berlin. Great content but ugly buildings and "Bauwerke" everywhere!
Hi Eddy, I’m glad you had a museum trip to Berlin. Thanks for taking another look at my Berlin tips on your return. I haven’t been back to Berlin for a couple years because none of my family members are living there at present.
Yes, Berlin certainly has changed since the Cold War days. It’s well worth seeing again, especially if you remember how it used to be. Thanks for your ratings and comment on my Berlin page.
I visited Berlin during the Cold War when it was a divided city. (That was one of the most fascinating things I've seen during all my travels). I understand it has changed greatly since then, and I'd be interested to see what the city is like now.
Excellent page on Berlin. Looking forward to my visit next year.
Thanks for your ratings and comment. I hope you will have a great visit to Berlin next year.
excellent tips on Berlin i will have to visit soon
I was surprised to hear that there are around 50 lakes in Berlin, even though Lietzensee looks like a man made pond. The flea market at Strasse des 17 looks like a nice place to visit for "looking".
Like all the memorials here, even though some are rather sad.
I have a folding bike myself, very handy for fitting in our car.
I had a new look at your tips because I hope to go back to Berlin this year in order to visit the renovated Egyptian collection plus my favorites like the GemäldeGalerie and Pergamon museum.
I made a new visit to your page. Great updates on Berlin. The Egyptian museum has just reopened. An absolute must. Good idea to explain our use of a comma.
The Berlin Cathedral is so beautiful. The Trains to Death and To Life Sculpture pulls at the heart. Glad he survive to create such a beautiful piece of art. Fantastic page Don!