Estates Theatre
This great Prague stage is inextricably linked with the name of Mozart, who came here in person to conduct his opera The Marriage of Figaro and present the world premiere of Don Giovanni. It offers a fabulous setting for a rich programme of ballets and operas, in which Mozart’s work is of course given pride of place.
Commissioned by the enlightened aristocrat František Antonín Nostitz, the theatre was built at the end of the 18th century right next to Charles University, thanks to the personal support of Emperor Joseph II. The foundation stone was laid in 1781 and the theatre opened in 1783 with Lessing’s tragedy Emilia Galotti. This beautiful neo-classical building, with its facade adorned with double columns and semi-circular arched windows, was designed by the architect Antonín Haffenecker: it is one of the few European theatres of the period to have remained virtually unchanged since its construction. Dedicated “To the Motherland and the Muses” (Patriae Et Musis), it has been known as the “Estates Theatre” since it was bought by the Czech Estates in 1798.
A German-speaking Czech, Count Nostitz initially devoted the stage to German dramas and Italian operas, which dominated the repertoire until 1920, when the Estates Theatre merged with the National Theatre to form a single institution. The theatre’s most famous guest is of course Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who came here in person to conduct his opera The Marriage of Figaro, and then to present the world premiere of Don Giovanni, which was a huge triumph with the Prague public. Other internationally renowned artists have performed here, from Carl Maria von Weber to the virtuoso Nicolo Paganini, and famous conductors such as Rubinstein, Carl Goldmark and Gustav Mahler have conducted concerts that have gone down in history. Czechs will also remember that the operetta Fidlovačka by Josef Kajetán Tyl, from which the national anthem Kde Domův Muj? (“Where is my homeland?”) is derived, was first performed here.
With its magnificent neo-baroque décor and excellent acoustics, the hall offers around 600 seats in different categories (orchestra, balcony and boxes) for a rich programme of ballets and operas. In this enchantingly historic venue, the ghost of Mozart is never far away...
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