Since 1536, Pressburg/Bratislava (Pozsony/Prešporok) had been the seat of the Hungarian administration and coronation site of the Kingdom of Hungary. Despite the relocation of the authorities under Joseph II. to Pest/Buda in 1783, Hungarian coronations continued to take place in St. Martin’s Cathedral in Pressburg until 1830, which led to numerous prestigious and sustainable investments in cultural life and urban infrastructure. On the other hand, despite the relocation of the authorities the financially and ideally influential Hungarian aristocracy largely remained in Pressburg. With its polyglot and various ethnic and religious groups combining character, the geographically well-located city offered a fruitful ground for theatre activities. The interval between the two coronations of Caroline Auguste (1825) and Ferdinand I./V. (1830) can be seen as a peak of operatic theatre in Pressburg. Extensive modernisation of the stage and a lively exchange of staff – on and beyond the stage – particularly with the Viennese theatres enabled a flourishing theatre business that was characterised by an elaborate repertoire and high-level performances. Based on the two coronation ceremonies, archival sources in Bratislava and Vienna were used to investigate the question of how music and opera – as a genre as well as an institution – were operated, promoted, and perceived as a medium of cultural transfer, affiliation and differentiation within the Habsburg monarchy.