Vienna State Opera tickets 22 April 2025 - Arabella | GoComGo.com

Arabella

Vienna State Opera, Main Stage, Vienna, Austria
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7 PM
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US$ 104

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.

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).

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 1
Duration: 3h

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.

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).

Cast
Performers
Soprano: Sabine Devieilhe (Zdenka)
Soprano: Camilla Nylund (Arabella)
Mezzo-Soprano: Margaret Plummer (Adelaide)
Tenor: Michael Laurenz (Matteo)
Baritone: Michael Volle (Mandryka)
Bass: Wolfgang Bankl (Count Waldner)
Creators
Composer: Richard Strauss
Librettist: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Costume designer: Marianne Glittenberg
Sets: Rolf Glittenberg
Staging: Sven-Eric Bechtolf
Overview

Director Sven-Eric Bechtolf and set designer Rolf Glittenberg moved the action to the time when the opera was written, around 1930, in order to emphasize more clearly that the characters in the play are not operetta archetypes.

Inspired by Mozart's Idomeneo, Strauss created a very transparent score despite the large orchestra. At the same time, he gave this comedy a deeply lyrical underpinning, into which he wove themes from South Slavic folk songs.

Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal's last joint opera Arabella is spanned between two statements by the title character: "But the right one, if there is one for me, will one day stand before me" in Act 1 and "So we are bound together in sorrow and joy and pain and forgiveness!" in Act 3. The work was originally intended to be an operetta or a second Rosenkavalier. The result is a declaration of unconditional faith in the love between two people who belong to each other - and who find each other even when all the signs initially point against it.

Short Summary
The beautiful Arabella doesn't want to make a commitment until she meets the right man, "who will one day stand before her". And she does indeed find him in Mandryka: a country nobleman unspoiled by the decadent big city. But before the happy ending, a misunderstanding and Mandryka's jealousy jeopardize their relationship, which is based on great mutual love.

History
Premiere of this production: 01 July 1933, Sächsisches Staatstheater, Dresden

Arabella is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration.

Synopsis

Time: 1860s
Place: Vienna

Act 1

In a hotel in Vienna

As the curtain opens, Countess Adelaide is having her fortune told. The fortune teller predicts Arabella will marry a man from far away, but that trouble may be in store. The Waldners have a second daughter, Zdenka, but since they cannot afford two daughters marrying, they have indulged her tomboyishness by pretending she is a boy, whom they present as "Zdenko." Zdenka secretly loves Matteo, a penniless officer who loves Arabella. To prevent him from committing suicide, Zdenka writes him love letters she signs with Arabella's name. Zdenka reproaches Arabella for her unsympathetic treatment of Matteo, but Arabella says that she is hoping for the "Right Man," to whom she can give her heart completely. Meanwhile, Arabella is wooed by three suitors, Elemer, Dominik and Lamoral, and acknowledges that she may have to accept one of them, but has fallen in love at first sight with a stranger she passed in the street.

Count Waldner, in dire straits, has written to all his friends for financial help, to no avail. He was hopeful for an answer from an old and immensely wealthy Croatian friend of his, Mandryka, even sending him a portrait of Arabella in hopes of a marriage. A visitor announced as Mandryka arrives and Waldner is surprised to see that it is not his friend. The man explains he is Mandryka's nephew, also named Mandryka. His uncle is dead, and as his only heir, he has acquired his fortune; he also received the letter and portrait. From seeing the portrait, he has fallen in love with Arabella. He offers to marry her and gives Waldner money.

A carnival ball is to be held that night. Matteo asks "Zdenko," his supposedly male friend, when he will receive another letter from Arabella; "Zdenko" answers that he will have one that very evening at the ball. Arabella continues to muse about the strange man she noticed, but when Count Elemer arrives to be her escort for the evening, she tries to banish these thoughts and look forward to the excitement of the Fasching.

Act 2

In a ballroom (The Coachman's Ball)

Arabella meets Mandryka, who turns out to be her fascinating stranger. Mandryka tells her about his life and his country's customs, in which young women offer their fiancés a glass of water as a token of agreeing to be married. Mandryka tells Arabella that she will be mistress of all the things he owns, and that she will be the only thing ranked above him besides the Emperor himself; Arabella happily agrees to marry him, saying, "I give myself to you, for eternity." Then Mandryka agrees to Arabella's request that she be allowed to stay for another hour to say farewell to her girlhood, during which she thanks her suitors for their interest in her and bids them goodbye.

Meanwhile, Zdenka gives Matteo a letter with the key to the room next to Arabella's, saying that it is Arabella's room and promising that Arabella will meet him there that night. Mandryka overhears this conversation and, mad with jealousy and disappointment (after first trying to evade these feelings), raises a commotion, flirting with the Fiakermilli, the ball's mascot. Since Arabella is nowhere to be found, the Waldners insist that he meet Arabella to talk things out, and they head for the hotel.

Act 3

A lobby in the hotel

A passionate orchestral prelude depicts the lovemaking of Matteo and Zdenka.

Arabella enters the lobby and comes across Matteo. As Matteo is in love with Arabella and thinks it is she with whom he has just made love in a darkened room, their conversation is at once confused and emotional. The Count, the Countess, and Mandryka arrive and further the misunderstanding. After Mandryka accuses Arabella of infidelity and plans to go back to his land, Zdenka rushes in, no longer in disguise and in her negligee (making it clear that it was she who had the encounter with Matteo). She declares her intention to drown herself in disgrace. The situation is finally cleared up. Matteo learns that the letters were forged by Zdenka and that it was she and not Arabella in the room. He suddenly realizes he is in love with Zdenka, whom he agrees to marry. Mandryka begs forgiveness, and Arabella tells him they will think no more of the night's events. Arabella asks his servant to bring her a glass of water, and Mandryka thinks she has requested it for her refreshment. Arabella goes upstairs and Mandryka, ruminating on his indecorous behavior and blaming himself, stays downstairs. Arabella comes down the stairs and, seeing that he has stayed and having forgiven him, offers him the glass of water, signifying reconciliation and marriage. They happily kiss and Arabella goes up the stairs to her room.

Venue Info

Vienna State Opera - Vienna
Location   Opernring 2

The Vienna State Opera is one of the leading opera houses in the world. Its past is steeped in tradition. Its present is alive with richly varied performances and events. Each season, the schedule features 350 performances of more than 60 different operas and ballets. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from the Vienna State Opera's orchestra. The building is also the home of the Vienna State Ballet, and it hosts the annual Vienna Opera Ball during the carnival season.

The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, and designs by Josef Hlávka. The opera house was inaugurated as the "Vienna Court Opera" (Wiener Hofoper) in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It became known by its current name after the establishment of the First Austrian Republic in 1921. The Vienna State Opera is the successor of the Vienna Court Opera, the original construction site chosen and paid for by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1861.

The opera house was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstrasse commissioned by the Viennese "city expansion fund". Work commenced on the house in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the renowned Czech architect and contractor Josef Hlávka.

Gustav Mahler was one of the many conductors who have worked in Vienna. During his tenure (1897–1907), Mahler cultivated a new generation of singers, such as Anna Bahr-Mildenburg and Selma Kurz, and recruited a stage designer who replaced the lavish historical stage decors with sparse stage scenery corresponding to modernistic, Jugendstil tastes. Mahler also introduced the practice of dimming the lighting in the theatre during performances, which was initially not appreciated by the audience. However, Mahler's reforms were maintained by his successors.

Herbert von Karajan introduced the practice of performing operas exclusively in their original language instead of being translated into German. He also strengthened the ensemble and regular principal singers and introduced the policy of predominantly engaging guest singers. He began a collaboration with La Scala in Milan, in which both productions and orchestrations were shared. This created an opening for the prominent members of the Viennese ensemble to appear in Milan, especially to perform works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss.

Ballet companies merge

At the beginning of the 2005–2006 season, the ballet companies of the Staatsoper and the Vienna Volksoper were merged under the direction of Gyula Harangozó.

From the 2010–2011 season a new company was formed called Wiener Staatsballet, Vienna State Ballet, under the direction of former Paris Opera Ballet principal dancer Manuel Legris. Legris eliminated Harangozós's policy of presenting nothing but traditional narrative ballets with guest artists in the leading roles, concentrated on establishing a strong in-house ensemble and restored evenings of mixed bill programs, featuring works of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, and many contemporary choreographers, as well as a reduced schedule of the classic ballets.

Opera ball

For many decades, the opera house has been the venue of the Vienna Opera Ball. It is an internationally renowned event, which takes place annually on the last Thursday in Fasching. Those in attendance often include visitors from around the world, especially prominent names in business and politics. The opera ball receives media coverage from a range of outlets.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 1
Duration: 3h
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