SEMPER OPER - OPERA SEMPER
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Completed in 1878 and named after its builder Gottfried Semper, the charismatic Dresden architect, the Semper opera is a masterpiece of historicizing classicism. Destroyed during the Allied bombardments on the night of 13-14 February 1945, it was rebuilt between 1977 and 1985. Exactly forty years after that terrible night, this high point of German musical life was inaugurated by a performance of Carl Maria von Weber's Freischütz, in homage to the last performance that had been given on stage before its destruction.
Its convex and richly decorated facade is the symbol of this architectural jewel. It is surmounted by a famous bronze sculpture by Saxon artist Johannes Schilling (1828-1910). This is the Panther Quadrige (Pantherquadriga), a quadrige pulled by four felines and ridden by Dionysus and Ariadne. Statues of Goethe and Schiller greet the visitor on either side of the entrance to the opera; Molière and Euripides are also represented on the right of the façade, Sophocles and Shakespeare on the left. The presence of these poets in this place dedicated to dance and music is due to the history of the Semperoper. Originally, in 1841, the building housed the Hoftheater. It burned in a fire in 1869, but the statues of the poets were preserved and found a prominent place in the decoration of the new building. This one is dedicated to opera. It was rebuilt by Semper and inaugurated in 1878. Today, as in the past, the Semperoper is a place of very high quality production.
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