This post features the Helsinki Opera House stamps from Finland in 1993. Music institutions such as theaters, symphony halls, and opera houses are common features on postage stamps. Such buildings are often among the most important civic buildings in a country or state. For example, they can be monuments to the fine arts, and gathering spots for the cultural, economic, and political elite. Consequently, you can find other posts of mine about stamps honoring major anniversaries of the Khedevial Opera House in Cairo, the Mariinsky/Kirov Ballet and Opera house in St. Petersburg, and La Scala in Milan. You can also read about the set of stamps featuring the more modern Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Germany.
Finnish National Opera and Ballet
The Finnish Opera began in 1873 under the direction of Kaarlo Bergbom. Before that, touring companies sporadically presented opera in Finland. However, the Finnish opera went bankrupt in 1879 and there was no resident opera company there for more than three decades. Then, in 1911, another company was founded that eventually became the Finnish Opera. In 1956, it became the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.
From 1918, the home of the Finnish National Opera was the Alexander Theater. However, this theater was not purpose built as an opera house. It took until 1993 for the country to build a national home for the opera and ballet.
Finnish National Opera House
By Paasikivi – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
The opera house is in the center of the city with beautiful views of the nearby Töölönlahti bay in Helsinki. It is the design of the Finnish architects Eero Hyvämäki, Jukka Karhunen and Risto Parkkinen. The building has two auditoriums, the large stage that seats 1,350 people and a smaller hall that has room for an audience of five hundred.
Although it presents classics of the opera repertoire, the company also produces one new Finnish opera every season. Currently, there are fifty singers in the opera chorus, ninety dancers in the ballet, 110 members of the orchestra, and a permanent company of thirty solo singers. In addition, guest artists from around the world make special appearances. Each year there are 140 opera performances and more than 100 ballet performances. Learn more about the opera and the ballet at the organization’s website.
The Stamps
Scott Number FI 927
To celebrate the opening of the new opera house a set of four stamps was made and released on October 8, 1993. The stamps were designed by Pirkko Vahtero and they also appear in a commemorative souvenir sheet (see above). The four stamps each feature a photography of a scene from a production of the opera or the ballet. Meanwhile, the surrounding souvenir sheet is a line drawing that shows the new building in the upper left corner above what looks like a fountain. Above the stamps, on the upper right of the souvenir sheet is a musical score.
The first stamp in the sheet, in the upper left, features a production of The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Mozart. It has the valuation of 3.50 Finnish markka. To its right, is a stamp featuring a scene from the Adolphe Adam opera Giselle, with the value of 2.90 Finnish markka. The third stamp, in the lower left of the quartet of stamps shows a scene from the opera Pohjalaisia by Leevi Madetoja, a Finnish composer. Finally, the last stamp of the quartet shows dancers in a production set to the music of Afternoon of a Faun by the composer Claude Debussy.
Now make sure to check out this really fun tour of the building and the workers it takes to make the opera house work.
