An auction that allows you to dress as Rigoletto or "share" clothes with Domingo

Dress up as a Rigoletto or a Madama Butterfly. Putting on the clothes that Placido Domingo or Anna Netrebko once wore. Possessing, in short, a piece of music history is the opportunity offered by the Vienna State Opera with its first auction of part of its impressive collection of dresses.

If every wardrobe needs to be renewed, with a collection of more than 30,000 pieces, this theater's wardrobe also needed to make room for the costumes for new productions.

The Opera, in collaboration with the Dorotheum auction house, has organized an "online" sale of 76 garments and some costume jewelery for which you can bid until June 29.

UP TO 180,000 EUROS

Estimates of value range from €200 ($238) for a costume worn by one of the choir members in a 2006 production of Otello, to as much as €6,000 ($7,150) for Elisabeth's stunning dress in the play Roberto Devereux. by Donizetti who came on stage for the first time 21 years ago.

In total, if the announced price estimates are met, the collection could reach 180,000 euros ($214.00). The money will go entirely to finance and promote the youth projects of the opera.

In the catalog there are pieces from the version of "Madama Butterfly" released in 1957, a "Carmen" suit worn by, among others, Elina Garanca, or the bloody nightgown with which Anna Netrebko or Diana Damrau embodied "Lucia di Lammermoor ".

You can also buy Edgardo's suit, from this same work, which was worn at different times by stars such as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Alfredo Kraus or Piotr Beczala; or that of the Duke of Mantua, of the "Rigoletto", worn by Rolando Villazón, Marcelo Álvarez or Roberto Alagna.

MUSEUM PIECES

The costume director of the Viennese Opera, Vera Richter, admits to Efe that it is difficult to get rid of clothes that she considers "museum pieces."

"A lot of dresses are very valuable, just because of the material, because of how they are made," she adds, explaining that designers often work for a whole year before the premiere, and most are made in specialized companies, many of them in Italy.

BEAUTY AND FUNCTIONALITY

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Richter reminds us that costumes are essential to telling the story, as they help define the character, their context, and her mood.

Thus, materials such as silk are reserved for rich characters, while cotton or linen are used for the poor, Richter details.

But beauty and the ability to convey must be combined with functionality and quality, explains Oliver Láng, one of the opera's playwrights, since the dresses will be worn in some cases for decades and by different singers, which means being able to perform size adjustments without messing them up.

As his favorite among the pieces up for auction, Láng chooses Elisabeth's dress, by "Roberto Devereux", designed for the soprano Edita Gruberova, a silver silk model with gold details and an armor to give the skirt a flare, and which It is accompanied by several pearl necklaces and two bracelets with rhinestones.

The outfit, which Láng calls "iconic," starts at €1,500 ($1,790), but Dorotheum estimates it will sell for at least four times as much.

Richter, however, chooses the set of jacket and pants made of silk, linen and cotton, covered with a bath of silver paint, worn by Roberto in that same opera, and worn on up to 17 occasions by the Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas.

"It's worked in an artistic way, enameled gold and silver, I think it's very special and fascinating," says Richter.

"A GIFT FOR THE PUBLIC"

"The theater is ephemeral, it becomes the past when you leave the room," says Láng, who believes that for those who seek to preserve those special moments, having a dress is "having a piece of opera history."

For this reason, he considers that offering the opportunity to acquire something like this is "a gift to the public" that will be welcomed with open hands by those who appreciate this genre.

Maider Gamero