The Carnival of Animals

Oper Leipzig, Concert Foyer Opernhaus, Leipzig, Germany

All photos (5)

Select date and time

11 AM

Request for Tickets

Important Info

Type: Ballet

City: Leipzig, Germany

Starts at: 11:00

Duration: 45min

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Overview

"The Carnival of the Animals" is probably the best-known work by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, who was already legendary during his lifetime. Composed for chamber orchestra and two pianos and initially not intended for children, the composer has created an impressive work with special charm. Camille Saint-Saëns loved musical fun. In the 14 pieces of music he was less concerned with depicting animals than with dealing with the music of his time. The “Carnival of the Animals” can therefore also be described as a “mask train” in which the composer quotes his contemporaries and himself in a humorous manner. Because, in addition to various mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, ironically, the fossils and pianists are among the portrayed animals, there are numerous quotes and allusions to own works and those of contemporaries. The composer only allowed three performances during his lifetime. Only for the famous prima ballerina Anna Pavlova did he release the "swan", which became world famous under the title "The dying swan". After the composer's death, "The Carnival of the Animals" conquered the concert halls of the world and the hearts of young and old.

History

The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work was written for private performance by an ad hoc ensemble of two pianos and other instruments, and lasts around 25 minutes.

Venue Info

Oper Leipzig - Leipzig
Augustusplatz 12

Oper Leipzig is one of the most famous and oldest opera houses in Europe. Oper Leipzig stands for the highest musical and craft quality. It is based on active ensemble culture and the promotion of young singers. The program ranges from opera, opera, operetta, musical to classic and modern ballet. There are also numerous offers and in-house productions for children, young adults and families.

Oper Leipzig forms the roof for a three-division house consisting of an opera, Leipzig ballet and musical comedy. Located in the Opera House (Opera & Leipzig Ballet) in the center of Leipzig and in the Dreilinden House (Musical Comedy) in the Lindenau district, it has a tradition of more than 325 years of musical theater care in Leipzig. In 1693 the first opera house on Brühl was opened as the third bourgeois music theater in Europe after Venice and Hamburg. Since 1840, the world-famous Gewandhaus Orchestra has played on all performances of opera and ballet. Prof. Ulf Schirmer has been General Music Director of the Leipzig Opera since the 2009/10 season. Under his musical direction, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss' works in particular become the focus of the repertoire.

Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspiel performances beginning in the year 1693. The director of many of those early operas at the original Opernhaus auf dem Brühl was Telemann.

The Leipzig Opera does not have its own opera orchestra – the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performs as its orchestra. This relationship began in 1766 with performances of the Singspiel Die verwandelten Weiber, oder Der Teufel ist los by Johann Adam Hiller.

The previous theater (the "Neues Theater") was inaugurated on 28 January 1868 with Jubilee Overture by Carl Maria von Weber and the overture for Iphigénie en Aulide by Gluck and Goethe's play Iphigenia in Tauris. From 1886 to 1888, Gustav Mahler was the second conductor; Arthur Nikisch was his superior. During an air raid in the night of 3 December 1943, part of the bombing of Leipzig in World War II, the theater was destroyed, as were all Leipzig's theatres.

Construction of the modern opera house began in 1956. The theater was inaugurated on 8 October 1960 with a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Since 2009, Ulf Schirmer is the Generalmusikdirektor (General Music Director, or GMD); he was elected artistic director in 2011 for a five-year term.

Important Info

Type: Ballet

City: Leipzig, Germany

Starts at: 11:00

Duration: 45min

Choralkantaten

St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig - Leipzig

30 Nov -0001, Mon, 12 AM

Sleeping Beauty

Oper Leipzig - Leipzig

14 Nov 2020, Sat, 7 PM