The Conductor on the Wanted Poster - Theaterplatz
In May 1849, Royal Court Conductor Richard Wagner helped arm the barricades and climbed the Kreuzkirche tower to signal to rebels, then fled Dresden under a false name with a high treason warrant on his head. The opera house in front of you was designed by his co-conspirator, architect Gottfried Semper, while both men were banned from setting foot in Saxony.
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On 3 May 1849, Dresden's provisional government seized power and barricades rose across the old city. Richard Wagner, the Royal Court Conductor, helped arm the insurgents and climbed the Kreuzkirche tower to signal rebel lookouts across the rooftops. Architect Gottfried Semper designed the main barricade on Wilsdruffer Gasse. On 6 May, rebels set fire to the old opera house beside the Zwinger, a building Semper had created; rumours that Wagner gave the order to torch it circulated for years, though the truth was never established. Prussian troops crushed the revolt by 9 May, leaving roughly thirty soldiers and around two hundred insurgents dead. Bakunin and Röckel were sentenced to death, sentences later commuted. Wagner fled under the alias Professor Werder; a wanted poster issued on 16 May 1849 named him for high treason, and full amnesty only came on 28 March 1862. Banned from Saxony, Semper designed the very opera house in front of you from exile; his son Manfred supervised construction, and the building opened in February 1878.
Fatti principali
- 1849 year — A wanted poster for Richard Wagner was issued on 16 May 1849, naming him for high treason after his role in the Dresden uprising.
- 13 years in exile — The length of Wagner's exile from the German Confederation before full amnesty arrived on 28 March 1862, during which he composed Tristan und Isolde and much of the Ring cycle.
- 1878 year opened — The Semperoper opened on 2 February 1878, built to designs by the exiled Gottfried Semper, who remained banned from Saxony throughout the entire seven-year construction.