Theater an der Wien, Theatre:
Vienna′s "New" Opera House

The "Theater an der Wien" („Theatre by the River Wien") is a traditional theatre in Mariahilf, the sixth district of Vienna. It is situated just by the Naschmarkt, Vienna′s biggest market for farm products and fresh food - and the Secession building is just around the corner. The area was a lot less illustrious, when the theatre manager Emanuel Schikaneder chose it in 1798 for the construction of a new theatre.

Schikaneder was a close friend and free mason brother to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Together, they had produced "The Magic Flute" (you might recall these events from the movie "Amadeus"), which became a huge success and made Schikaneder a wealthy man. On the site of the "Freihaustheater", Schikaneder′s former stage, he built a new, bigger and better theatre.

The Theater an der Wien was designed by Franz Jäger in "Empire Style", although very little of the original building is preserved today. If you want to get an idea of what the theatre had looked like just after its opening in 1801, approach it from the Millöckergasse. Here you find the Papagenogate, in which Emmanuel Schikaneder and his three children are depicted as Papageno with the three boys from the "Magic Flute". Between 1803 and 1804, Ludwig van Beethoven lived in the theatre for a few weeks whilst working on his only opera "Fidelio". There is a small memorial site in the theatre that commemorates this.

First Night of the "Magic Flute" in Theater an der Wien

Whether or not the "Magic Flute" was first produced for the Theater an der Wien depends on your view on the "continuation" of the Freihaustheater. However, even after the opening of today′s Theater an der Wien, many very important operas and later operettas were first produced here. This earned the theatre a reputation as an important "Premierentheater". These plays and operas include "Fidelio", the 5th and the 6th symphony by Beethoven, plays by Heinrich von Kleist, Franz Grillparzer and Nepomuk Nestroy, opera buffas and operettas by Albert Lortzing, Johann Strauss Sohn and Franz Lehar.

By the second half of the 19th century, the "Theater an der Wien" had become a stage primarily known for its light operettas. This was briefly interrupted after WWII, when it became the substitute stage for the Wiener Staatsoper. The national opera had been bombed and seriously damaged, and so its ensemble moved down the Wien to perform here.

Operetta & Musical: Dark Age of the Theater an der Wien

Once the Staatsoper had been opened again, the "Theater an der Wien" went back to operettas by Lehar and alike. From here, it was only a small step down in the social hierarchy of theatrical production to start performing musicals. Ever since my childhood, I remember the "Theater an der Wien" as a musical stage.

Theatre manager Peter Weck ruled over the Theater an der Wien from 1983 and transformed it into a musical stage. Starting with Andrew Lloyd Webber′s "Cats", the theatre later successfully produced Austrian musicals. The most successful one ever was "Elisabeth", most originally dedicated to the life and death of Empress Elisabeth.

After five million sold tickets and spin-off productions worldwide, the theatre went one step further (and lower) and produced another musical determined to pimp out an Austrian legend: "Mozart!" (note the very fancy exclamation mark!) was a pretty big success and voted "Best Musical" (meaning: "least bad"?) in 2000. Great!

Theater an der Wien today: Vienna's new Opera Venue

Thank god, the owner (the city of Vienna) decided in 2006 that this was enough. The theatre went back to its roots - opera and the Viennese Classic. Together with the Staatsoper and the Volksoper (two theatres of the federal republic) and the small Kammeroper, the city′s theatre now competes as the third opera stage with its "big brothers".

Unfortunately, most people in Austria still think of it as "that musical place" (be it with a positive glare or in disgust), and so the theatre has a hard time in establishing itself. This is unfortunate, since the program so far has been of high quality and very promising. The focus is on Baroque opera, the Viennese Classic, a bit of concert and occasionally contemporary composition.

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Vienna by District

District Overview - 1st (Innere Stadt) - 2nd (Leopoldstadt) - 3rd (Landstraße) - 4th (Wieden) - 5th (Margareten)- 6th (Mariahilf) - 7th (Neubau) - 8th (Josefstadt) - 9th (Alsergrund) - 10th (Favoriten) - 11th (Simmering) - 12th (Meidling) - 13th (Hietzing) - 14th (Penzing) - 15th (Fünfhaus) - 16th (Ottakring) - 17th (Hernals) - 18th (Währing) - 19th (Döbling) - 20th (Brigittenau) - 21st (Floridsdorf) - 22nd (Donaustadt) - 23rd (Liesing) -  Ringstraße - Surroundings

Further Reading

Theater an der Wien, official website

Official website of the Vienna Tourist Information

Wikipedia on the Theater an der Wien