Blick zurück ... Fidelio 1912 - Deutsche Oper Berlin
Libretto #2 (2022)
Looking back ... Fidelio 1912
An historical photo gallery
7 November 1912 – A mere eighteen months elapsed between the signing of the lease agreement for the plot of land and the grand opening of the opera house. When the curtain rose on the new venue on Bismarckstraße on 7 November 1912, the inaugural work being performed was Beethoven’s FIDELIO. Ignatz Waghalter was at the conductor’s stand for the premiere and he remained as one of the principal conductors of the »Deutsches Opernhaus« for the next 12 years. Elsa Bland sang the part of Leonore on the brand-new stage, the only photo of the performance in our archives showing her alongside Alexander Kirchner, who took the role of Florestan.
14 September 1926 – Premiere of a new FIDELIO production, this time entirely under the aegis of General Music Director Bruno Walter, who not only conducts but also directs himself.
26 November 1937 – Under the changed auspices of the times, General Director Wilhelm Rode is on stage himself in his FIDELIO production as Don Pizzaro, alongside Elsa Larcén as Leonore.
2 September 1945 – After the war, the "Deutsche Opernhaus" is reopened with a new production of FIDELIO. The premiere takes place as a closed performance for the armed forces of the United Kingdom.
4 September 1945 – Two days later, the public is allowed to take a look at the alternative venue in the Theater des Westens on Kantstraße. The opera house on Bismarckstraße was destroyed in an allied bombing raid on 23 November 1943. A look at the programme shows the conductor Robert Heger and the premiere cast.
5 June 1949 – Another new FIDELIO. In the role of Don Fernando: the 24-year-old sensational talent Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who had just been accepted into the ensemble. The conductor is Ferenc Fricsay, the director is the reappointed artistic director Heinz Tietjen.
7 November 1962 – 50 years of opera in Charlottenburg! Exactly half a century to the day after the opening premiere, the sixth new production of FIDELIO is already on the programme. Christa Ludwig will perform the role of Leonore, assisted by James King as Florestan.
10 February 1984 – Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's interpretation of FIDELIO once again features two absolute stars of their time on the stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin: Peter Hofmann as Florestan and Catarina Ligendza as Leonore. Guest conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
26 February 2002 – It is now twenty years since the last FIDELIO premiere at the Bismarckstraße. In Christof Nel's production, Eva Johansson played Leonore, here next to Fionnuala McCarthy as Marzelline.
25 November 2022 – On 25 November, almost 110 years to the week after the opera house opened its doors, the premiere of our ninth new production of Beethoven’s only opera comes to the stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
