Letter from Dresden.(Semper Opera House )(August flood causes evacuation)

The Saxon State Opera Dresden Semperoper has long been something of an icon in Germany's operatic life. Dresden's musical history is rich, with great names such as Heinrich Schutz, Carl Maria von Weber and the two Richards, Wagner and Strauss, looming large. Apart from being a beautiful building, constructed in 1841 by architect Gottfried Semper, the Semper Oper is famous for being the theater where no fewer than nine of Richard Strauss's operas first saw stage lighting, from his second attempt, Feuersnot, in 1901, via Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier, to Daphne in 1938. Destroyed for the second time at the end of World War II--the first time was by fire in 1869--it was rebuilt and reopened in 1985, a great day of national rejoicing.

This year, disaster struck again. Monday, August 11, was a day of high winds and torrential rain, against which neither coat nor umbrella gave any protection. I was in the city as administrator of master classes for young Japanese musicians, organized by a Viennese cultural exchange association. By afternoon, the Music University's main building was flooded, badly damaging all the instruments in the cellars, as well as the library on the ground floor. Our students were evacuated to another building on the other side of the city.

The next day, the streets on two sides of my hotel were raging torrents, and the electricity failed. Going to bed by candlelight may sound romantic, but the climb to the seventh floor, where my room was, was anything but. Not only the Elbe but the Feistritz, an Elbe tributary from the Erzgebirge, had overflowed its banks under the weight of more than three times the highest rainfall ever registered. Many towns and villages were inundated; the famous porcelain-making town of Meissen was largely under water and much of the factory heavily damaged. Large areas of Dresden were cut off from the center, where public transport was at a standstill; apart from a few private automobiles ploughing a heavy wash through many streets, almost the only traffic moving was composed of fire tenders, emergency services, police and ambulance convoys evacuating hospitals, the thoroughfares resounding to the clamor of their horns. Few shops were open, even for food, and most restaurants were closed.

At the Semper Oper, the valuable collection of paintings had been removed from the cellars ...