The first stone-building built for theatre purposes in Prague was the building of the Stavovske divadlo - originaly "Nostic Theatre". This building has been builtin classicistic style by F. A. Nostic between 1781 and 1783. Shortly after opening became this theatre world-famous.
In 1787 Mozart's Don Giovanni has been performed here for the first time and it has been a great succes. Since that loved Mozart Prague very much and wrote some opuses for the citizens of Prague. Also an other opera of W.A.Mozart had its premier in this theatre, it was the La Clemenza di Tito in 1791.
The main language of Stavovske Divadlo was German, but from 1785 to 1862 played this theatre weekly once in czech language. After 1862 ceme again a period of German, lasting till 1920. In 1920 became the Stavovske divadlo a part of the National Theatre.
The Central-European cities of the 18th century were rich in attractive theatres. Although there were theatre performances in Prague, they were performed either in buildings which were not built for this purpose or at private locations of noble people. The period of enlightenment however required universities and theatres, as they were considered to be most important for cultural and educational development. Among the enlightens were enough people of considerable wealth willing to support and sponsor a theatre.
The splendid theatre was finished very quickly. In 1781 the cornerstone was laid and two years later came the first performance. Antonin Haffenecker designed it in neo-classical style. On the front wall is written
"Patria et musa".
For homeland and music, which indicates the aim of its founders. The theatre particularly drew attention in the 18th century with a special opera in Italian. The pride of its history is the world premiere of Don Giovanni, which was conducted by the composer himself, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But the theatre had more important guests. At the beginning of the 19th century there was the renowned German musician and opera director Carl Maria von Weber and in 1828 there was a performance of the violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini...
The repertoire consisted of works of the most important composers such as Verdi, Donizetti, Rossini, Beethoven, Wagner etc... A zenith was reached in 1848 with the premiere of Bianca a Giuseppe aneb Francouzi pred Nizzou (Bianca and Giuseppe or the French before Nizza), composed by the Czech J. B. Knittl from a libretto of Richard Wagner. The opera was performed three days before the February revolution in Paris. Also the repertoire of plays contained
the best dramas of contemporary authors - Goethe, Schiller and others. From the classics was most loved Shakespeare.
It is necessary to say that besides the great plays many average and lighter entertaining acts were performed also. The Stavovske theatre is available and
unique architectural monument. Except for the ones in Brno and Teplice, all the theatres from the 18th century in Bohemia were either abolished, liquidated or completely rebuilt. The Stavovske theatre is one of the largest.
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