Opernhaus am Salvatorplatz

The Opernhaus am Salvatorplatz stood on today’s Salvatorplatz in Munich’s old town. Built between 1651 and 1657 on the site of an old grain store called the Haberkasten, it was the first permanent opera house in what is now Germany. The building was commissioned by Elector Ferdinand Maria and designed by Venetian architect Francesco Santurini, with Munich architect Marx Schinnagl also contributing. The house opened in January or February 1657 with the opera Oronte by Johann Caspar von Kerll. For almost a century it served as the court opera, staging works by Kerll, Ercole Bernabei, Pietro Torri and others. The house became famous for its Italian-style productions and the leading singers of the day. Women’s roles were sung by castrati, including Bartolomeo Sorlisio and Giovanni Antonio Cavagna in the opening season. Pietro Torri composed the opera Adelaide for the wedding of the heir Karl Albrecht in 1722, and in 1728 the celebrated castrato Farinelli appeared there. Mozart’s La finta giardiniera had its premiere in the house in 1775 in the presence of Elector Max III Joseph. After the new Residenz opera house opened in 1753, the Salvatorplatz building was used mainly for lighter works until it was finally demolished in 1802. No images of the exterior survive, but the building appears on Matthäus Seutter’s 1740 city plan. Today the site is part of Salvatorplatz, a quiet square in the heart of Munich. The only remaining trace is the name of the place itself, which recalls the old theatre. Visitors can still sense the scale of the original structure and the role it played in Munich’s musical life during the 17th and 18th centuries.