As if we had suspected it: On Saturday it was rain...

As if we had suspected it: On Saturday it was raining, so you would have to go to the opera, said my wife and I, more precisely to the Semperoper. In Dresden this meant that you bought tickets from Dresden Information or ordered them online. The groups waited outside at the agreed meeting point and were picked up on time for the tour. Photography without a flash was allowed, but it cost an additional 3 - quite business-minded, our Saxons! After all, you were allowed to take photos at all, in contrast to the new Green Vault. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, approachable and tried very hard to familiarize us with the subject - also for non-opera lovers; Pictures of earlier views of the Semperoper he brought with him underlined his representations. Our guide was very knowledgeable about history, and various bon mots never let his short lectures get boring. The neo-renaissance building originally dates from 1869, rebuilt by Gottfried Semper in 1878, and was ultimately completely destroyed as a result of the Anglo-American bombing raids in February 1945. Interestingly, the Semper Opera was reconstructed in GDR times and completely renovated until it reopened in 1985 , four years before the end of the GDR. I will probably not be able to understand why the comrades revived such an art form as the opera, which is normally decried as arch-bourgeois art. Overall, the guided tour through the building and the explanations from our extremely competent tour guide made for an entertaining morning. We were more than impressed by the splendor inside the opera house, but we would have imagined the interior of the opera house to be much larger - as the perspective of the television cameras can be deceiving. Would my wife and I spend at least 200 on tickets to e.g. B. to hear Mrs. Netrebko sing? If the alternative to this were a concert with Roland Kaiser on the Elbwiesen, we would definitely prefer Roland Kaiser, no offense, dear friends of classical music, but for us, "Santa Maria" would come a long way before "O Sole mio" or " Nessun dorma ". Nevertheless, a visit to the Semperoper, with or without an opera performance, is highly recommended.