Directors of the Vienna State Opera
Franz von Dingelstedt (1867-1870)
Johann von Herbeck (1870-1875)
Franz von Jauner (1875-1880)
Wilhelm Jahn (1881-1897)
Gustav Mahler (1897-1907)
Felix von Weingartner(1908-1911)
Hans Gregor (1911-1918)
Richard Strauss / Franz Schalk (1919-1924)
Franz Schalk (1924-1929)
Clemens Krauss (1929-1934)
Felix von Weingartner (1935-1936)
Erwin Kerber (1936-1940)
Heinrich Karl Strohm (1940-1941)
Lothar Müthel (1941-1942)
(more…)

The opera house

The original State Opera House, a neo-romantic building severely criticised when it was built, was inaugurated on May 25, 1869 with Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

During World War II, the stage was destroyed by Allied bombs and the building gutted by fire on March 12, 1945. The foyer, with frescoes by Moritz von Schwind, the main stairways, the vestibule and the tea room were spared. Almost the entire décor and props for more than 120 operas with around 150,000 costumes were destroyed. The State Opera was temporarily housed at the Theater an der Wien and at the Volksoper.

The rebuilt theatre, seating more than 2200, reopened on November 5, 1955 with Beethoven’s Fidelio with Karl Böhm conducting.

For many decades, the opera house has been the venue of the Vienna Opera Ball.

The Staatsoper building from behind

The company is currently headed by Seiji Ozawa. Other conductors at Vienna have included Hans Richter, Felix Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Clemens Krauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, and Riccardo Muti.

Until the directorship was taken over by von Karajan, Vienna maintained a permanent ensemble. Von Karajan introduced the policy of engaging guest singers.

The Vienna State Opera is closely linked to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which is an incorporated society of its own, but whose members are recruited from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

Industries in Vienna

Vienna State Opera located in Vienna, Austria, is one of the most important opera companies in Europe and throughout the world. Until 1920 it was named the Vienna Court Opera (k.k. Hofoper).

The company

Vienna Opera is one of the world’s leading opera houses, known especially for performances of works by Richard Wagner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Strauss. The original theatre, located on the Ringstrasse, was built in 1869 to house the expanded operations of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper), by which name it was originally known. Particularly famed during the conductorship of Hans Richter (artistic director 1880–96) were productions of Wagner’s cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The directorship of the composer Gustav Mahler (1897–1907) was one of the artistic high points of the opera’s history. Among directors from 1908 until the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938 were Richard Strauss and the conductors Clemens Krauss and Felix Weingartner.
(more…)

Attractions of Vienna

Inner City
Hofburg (Imperial Palace, winter residence)
Kahlenberg
Parlament
Ringstraße
Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace and gardens, summer residence)
Belvedere Palace
Stephansdom (St. Stephens Cathedral)
Schönbrunner Tiergarten (Vienna Zoo)
Wiener Prater with the Riesenrad(ferris wheel), a local recreation area and Wurstelprater and the Schweizerhaus beer garden and restaurant.

Air traffic : Transportation in Vienna

Southeast of Vienna is Vienna International Airport. In 2005, there were over 230,900 separate flights departing or arriving, and the airport was used by 15.86 million passengers.

Water transportation : Transportation in Vienna

Vienna is connected to water by the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal via the port in Rotterdam and its nearby German Industrial areas, as well as Eastern European countries up to the Black Sea. The planned Danube-Oder canal remains unfinished.

Vienna Central (Landstraße) : Transportation in Vienna

Between these, there are still many smaller stations that are particularly important for local passenger traffic. Since the mid 1990s, the West and South stations have handled all long-distance travel. Many trains stop at Hütteldorf or Meidling, especially when inbound.

In order to bundle all long-distance traffic it has become necessary to build a tunnel, colloquially known as the Wildschweintunnel ("boar tunnel"), underneath Lainzer Tiergarten linking the West Railway to the South Railway. The new bundled train line will connect to a new train station called Vienna-Central Europe that will be constructed somewhat to the south of today’s South Station. This new station will give Vienna a main train station for the first time.
(more…)

Railways : Transportation in Vienna

Historically, all traffic facilities were oriented towards the main capitals and residential cities of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy consequently, Vienna has several train stations that form the beginning of several train lines:
Vienna Franz Josefs Station is the starting point of the Franz Josefs Railway
Vienna West Station is starting point of the West Railway
Vienna South Station (Former South and East Station) for the South Railway and the East

Railway as well as several through train stations:

Vienna Hütteldorf on the West Railway
Vienna Heiligenstadt on the Franz Josefs Railway
Vienna North (Viennese lines: Praterstern) on the North Railway. The convenient North Station was destroyed in World War II and was not built again after the decay of the Danube monarchy, especially when the Iron Curtain closed almost all passenger traffic to the north. Since World War II a smaller station called “Vienna North” has served as a transit station between S-Bahns, the U1 U-Bahn line, trams, and buses. In 2004 it was essentially completely torn down and is being rebuilt. In 2008 the extended U2 will also stop here.
Vienna Meidling (Philadelphia bridge) - South Railway. This is Vienna most frequented transit station.

Public Transporation : Transportation in Vienna

The ULF tram stock, designed by Porsche and built by Siemens boasts an entry height of 180 mm (7 inches), the lowest in the world. About 150 of these vehicles are currently in use on Vienna’s tram network, along with around 400 older high-floor models

Vienna has a large public transportation network.
Vienna S-Bahn
Vienna U-Bahn
Local Railways (Lokalbahn Wien-Baden)
Wiener Linien (Company operating U-Bahn, trams, and most bus routes)

Vienna has an extensive tram network, which is one of the largest in the world, and also large number of bus routes. As all routes in densely populated areas operated at dense intervals, even during off-peak hours, it is usually not necessary to remember the time when the train or bus goes. Public transportation is thus used quite a lot.
(more…)

Culture

Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, in the areas of theatre, opera, classical music and fine arts. Apart from the Burgtheater which, together with its branch, the Akademietheater is considered one of the best theatres in the German-speaking world, the Volkstheater and the Theater in der Josefstadt also offer high-quality theatre entertainment. Also, there is a multitude of smaller theatres, often equal in quality to their larger counterparts and in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.

Vienna also offers a great many opportunities for opera lovers: The Staatsoper and the Volksoper offer something for everyone, the latter being especially devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Concerts of classical music are performed, among others, in the well known Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and in the Wiener Konzerthaus. In addition, various concert venues offer concerts aimed at visitors, featuring the best known highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).
(more…)

Districts

The city itself is composed of 23 districts (Bezirke), which, although they all have their own names, are numbered for the sake of convenience. Legally, they are not districts in the sense of administrative bodies with explicit powers (such as the districts in the other Austrian states, but mere subdivisions of the city administration. However, there are elections on the district level, which gives the representatives of the districts some political clout (e.g. in matters of planning, traffic etc.).

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

History of Vienna

Founded around 500 BC Vienna was originally a Celtic settlement: “Uindobona” ‘Fair Bottomland’.

In 15 BC, Vienna became a Roman frontier city ("Vindobona") guarding the Roman Empire against German tribes to the north. During the Middle Ages, Vienna was home of the Babenberg Dynasty and in 1440 became residence city of the Habsburg Dynasties from where Vienna eventually grew to become the secret capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural center for arts and science, music and fine cuisine. The Ottoman-Turkish invasions of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries were stopped twice just outside Vienna. See the Siege of Vienna (1529) and the Battle of Vienna (1683).

In 1804 Vienna became capital of the Austrian Empire - the later Austro-Hungarian Empire, both played a major role in European and World politics. (See Congress of Vienna, 1815)

In 1918 after World War I Vienna became capital of the First Austrian Republic. After 1945 Vienna and neutral Austria was a hotbed for international espionage between the Western and Eastern blocs (Cold War). Since the end of the Cold War the city of Vienna is actively rebuilding ties with its Eastern neighbors.
(more…)

Fast Facts of Vienna

Politics
Mayor and governor Michael Haupl (SPÖ)
Governing Party SPÖ
Seats in the Municipal Council
(100 seats): SPÖ 55
ÖVP 18
Greens 14
FPÖ 13
Last Election: 23 October 2005
Next Election: October 2009

Population

Population: 1,631,082 (2005)
2,165,357 metro area
Population density: 3.931,3/km²

Vienna

Vienna (German: Wien [vi?n]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Croatian and Serbian: Bec Romanian: Viena, Hungarian: Becs, Czech: Viden, Slovak: Vieden, Romany Vidnya;) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. With a population of about 1.6 million (2.2 million within the metro area), Vienna is the largest city in Austria as well as its cultural economic and political center.

Vienna is one of Europe’s finest cities and the long and rich history give her a prominent place in Western Civilization and World Culture.

Situated both sides of the River Danube, and only 60 kilometers off Austria’s Eastern border, Vienna lies on the South East corner of Central Europe and in close reach to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.