What is Berlin State Opera?
[[Image:Berlin Opera UdL asv2018-05.jpg|thumb|300px|Staatsoper Unter den Linden, 2018]] The '''Berlin State Opera''', known in [[Germany]] as '''Staatsoper Unter den Linden''' is a world famous [[Germany|German]] [[opera]] company. Its permanent home is the Opera House on the Unter den Linden boulevard in [[Berlin]]. ==Early history== The opera house was opened on 7 December 1742. It was the beginning of a 250-year co-operation between the Staatsoper and the orchestra called [[Berlin Staatskapelle]]. Famous [[Conductor (music)|conductors]] and [[composer]]s associated with the opera house include [[Gaspare Spontini]], [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]] and [[Richard Strauss]]. On 18 August 1843 the Linden Opera was destroyed by fire. The new building was built a year later. It was called Königliches Opernhaus (Royal Opera House), and it opened with a performance of Meyerbeer's ''Ein Feldlager in Schlesien''. In 1821, the Berlin Opera gave the first performance of Weber's ''[[Der Freischütz]]''. In 1849, it gave the first performance of [[Otto Nicolai]]'s ''[[Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor|The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'', conducted by the composer himself. ==20th century== At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Royal Court Opera, Berlin, had many famous conductors. They included [[Felix von Weingartner]], [[Karl Muck]], [[Richard Strauss]], and [[Leo Blech]]. After the collapse of the [[German Empire]] in 1918, the Opera was renamed ''Staatsoper unter den Linden'' and the ''Königliche Kapelle'' became ''Kapelle der Staatsoper''. In the 1920s, [[Wilhelm Furtwängler]], [[Erich Kleiber]], [[Otto Klemperer]], [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]], [[Bruno Walter]] conducted. In 1925, [[Alban Berg]]'s ''[[Wozzeck]]'', was given its first performance conducted by Erich Kleiber with the composer in the audience. After having had many repairs and improvements, the Linden Opera reopened in April 1928 with a new production of ''[[Die Zauberflöte]]''. In the same year, the famous [[Russia]]n bass [[Feo