Oper am Gänsemarkt

The Oper am Gänsemarkt was a theatre in Hamburg-Mitte, built in 1678 by Girolamo Sartorio at Gänsemarkt square. It was Germany’s first public opera house, open to all ticket buyers, unlike court operas elsewhere. Works were mainly in German or translated Italian librettos. The building stood for nearly eighty years before being torn down in 1756. It was rebuilt in 1765 and later used as a national theatre. The house owed its start to Gerhard Schott, a lawyer inspired by Italian opera, and Johann Adam Reincken, a local organist. Johann Theile organised the first performance, Adam und Eva, on 2 January 1678. Later leaders included Reinhard Keiser, who ran the house for over twenty years, and Georg Philipp Telemann, who managed it from 1722 to 1738. Handel played there as a young musician and took part in a famous duel with Mattheson during a performance of Cleopatra. Visitors today find a quiet square where the opera once stood. The rebuilt theatre served as the Deutsches Nationaltheater between 1767 and 1770 under Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Nearby, the Gänsemarkt area keeps its old name and feel, linking the present to Hamburg’s lively 17th-century cultural life.