In the opera, various forms of art (music, singing, drama, dance) and craftsmanship (costume, stage, light) are combined to create a spectacular total work of art. It transcends the boundaries of reality, thrives on dramatic extremes, the magical and irrational, and as an art event is unique and ephemeral.
Based on the beginnings of opera in Italy, our exhibition stages kaleidoscopic views of various opera constellations. It presents the baroque spectacles at the European courts and explores the variety of commercial venues in Venice in the 17th century. Using the example of famous opera houses such as La Scala in Milan, the Vienna Court Opera or the New York Met, she tells of the growth and change of the institution in the 19th and 20th centuries and of people who come together to give their inner images the sensual form that the audience sees and hears.
Accompanied by recordings of numerous opera works, paintings and costumes, posters and stage set models, caricatures and programs tell well-known and unknown stories of a genre and institution that is constantly being reinvented.