Bremen City Theater (1792)

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1822 Am Wall , left the Comödienhaus , in the background the Ostertorzwinger

The Bremer Stadttheater from 1792 (also called the Comödienhaus , later called the old theater ) was the first permanent theater in Bremen built specifically for the purpose of performing plays . It lasted from 1792 to 1843.

prehistory

As a Hanseatic city, Bremen did not have a princely sponsored court theater like royal cities, but was dependent on guest performances by traveling theater groups such as those of Karl Josephi , Karl Friedrich Abt and Gustav Friedrich Großmann until the 18th century . In addition, the Calvinist authorities of the city met the art of acting with mistrust for a long time and, in particular, the clergy in the form of the Venerandum Ministry  - the supreme body of the Reformed Church in Bremen - vehemently disputed permission for drama troops to perform in the city in order to protect the population from their harmful influence .

After privately organized amateur theater performances , such as those of the students of the Athenaeum or those of Adolph Freiherr Knigge at the end of the 18th century, aroused interest in a permanent theater operation in the city, theater troop leader Großmann applied for a license in 1788 to set up a theater for his drama troupe. The Senate rejected this first request from Großmann and a second request in 1789 before it - with the support of theater lover and later theater director Daniel Schütte  - subjected the third request to a detailed examination and specially directed an expert opinion (one relation ) by four senators by Christian Abraham Heineken , in which the moral harm and benefits of such an enterprise was discussed. On August 1, 1792, the application was finally approved, Großmann was granted a five-year license and the construction of a theater building was approved.

construction

The ramparts with the theater in a drawing by Johann Heinrich Menken

The theater was built in just seven weeks under the direction of Carl Ludwig Murtfeldt on the Junkernbastion Am Wall near the Ostertor. The building, which was built in timber frame and then plastered, had a rather simple external shape and was only 16 × 32 meters in size plus a cloakroom extension of around 4 × 6 meters at the rear. A hipped roof completed the construction. However, thanks to two tiers of boxes it offered space for around 1500 people, with the simple parquet seats only having benches without backrests. The construction costs 6,600 Reichstaler , most of this sum was made available to Großmann as an interest-free loan from Bremen theater friends. Part of the inventory and the fund were taken over from the former Knigges amateur theater.

In the following years the building received a portico - a porch with a row of columns. Gilded candlesticks were installed inside and 16 busts of famous poets were placed, including Seneca and Voltaire as well as Schiller , Goethe , Lessing , Herder and Wieland .

business

Theater ticket for the performance of the play Bürgerglück on the occasion of the inauguration of the theater in 1792

At the opening of the theater on October 16, 1792 - after a short "prelude with choirs" under the title Das Fest des Apollo  - the play Bürgerglück by Joseph Marius von Babo was performed. In Großmann's first season there were a total of 55 performances by the end of December. In addition to some classics by Shakespeare and individual works by Schiller, Goethe and Lessing, especially plays by Iffland , Kotzebue and Schröder were performed. Operas made up about a third of all performances, the most frequently works by Paisiello , Mozart and Ditters von Dittersdorf were performed here . The performances always took place during the week, starting at 5:00 p.m. The entrance fees were divided into four categories and were 12, 18, 36 and 48 Grote respectively .

The performances were very popular - at the last performance of the first season alone, over 200 people were said to have been on stage because the theater was completely sold out. Nevertheless, the company was constantly threatened with bankruptcy, so the departure of Großmann's troops was delayed in December due to outstanding claims from his creditors. One reason for this was that there was now a permanent stage, but not a permanent ensemble . Großmann's troupe only played in the winter months (October to December or January) in Bremen, the rest of the year they performed in various other places in Germany, so that a lot of time and money was lost in traveling.

After Großmann's death, Daniel Schütte took over the theater in 1797 and continued to run it with changing actors. In the meantime he leased it, which resulted in financial losses. From 1810 he ran the house again. In addition to plays and operas, he now also organized concerts. During the occupation of Bremen by Napoleonic troops between 1811 and 1814, the theater temporarily became the “Départmentstheater” of the Bouches du Weser region  - the repertoire hardly changed, apart from a few guest appearances by French actors and the performance of a few operas by Nicolas Dalayrac . The theater now also played on weekends, an innovation that was retained after 1814.

From 1824 on, the theater was called the “City Theater”. In the following years, attempts were made in vain to persuade the Senate to promote theater operations. The house finally received support from the theater association founded in 1826 by Senator Georg Heinrich Olbers . a. set up a theater and music library. In 1829 Schütte sold the building to theater director C. F. Gütschow, known as "Bethmann", who in turn leased it. Bethmann had a side extension built and stoves installed on the ground floor.

In order to improve the profitability of the theater business in Bremen, a theater share association (later renamed Theater-Neubauverein ) was founded in 1835. It had 153 members, including senators and well-known merchants. The aim of the association was to replace the previous theater with a larger new building with a standing ensemble. In addition, the new city theater was to become a “true temple of the muses” again, because since the end of Großmann's seasons there had been an increasing number of comedies and singspiele , the quality of which was criticized by the city's theater lovers.

In 1841 the construction of the second Bremen city theater began on the bishop's needle bastion not far from the old theater. This had been bought up by the association for 1,500 Reichstaler a year earlier so that it would not compete with the new city theater. For the completion of the new house in 1843, the old building was closed and demolished after 50 years of existence. A few years later, in 1850, was at this point today in the park of the ramparts preserved Olbers monument erected.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See: About the "real evils in the plays" in the memorandum of the Venerandum Ministry of 1765, in: Wiltrud Ulrike Drechsel, Heide Gerstenberger , Christian Marzahn: Contributions to the social history of Bremen. Book 10: Fine Arts and their Audiences in the 18th and 19th Centuries . University of Bremen, pp. 26–31
  2. ^ Wiltrud Ulrike Drechsel, Heide Gerstenberger, Christian Marzahn: Contributions to the social history of Bremen. Book 10: Fine Arts and their Audiences in the 18th and 19th Centuries . University of Bremen, p. 51
  3. ^ Andreas Schulz: Guardianship and protection. Elites and citizens in Bremen 1750–1880 . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2002, p. 403

literature

  • Behncken, Johann Heinrich: History of the Bremen theater . Bremen 1865 ( digitized version )
  • Wiltrud Ulrike Drechsel, Heide Gerstenberger, Christian Marzahn: Fine arts and their audience in the 18th and 19th centuries . University of Bremen, Edition Temmen, Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-88722-149-4 . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen, issue 10)
  • Frank Schümann: Bremen Theater 1913–2007 . Carl Ed. Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-7961-1903-3 .
  • Andreas Schulz: Guardianship and protection. Elites and citizens in Bremen 1750–1880 . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-486-56582-6 .
  • Rudolf Stein: Classicism and Romanticism in the architecture of Bremen . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1964.
  • Hermann Tradel: On the Bremen theater history. Continuation (1792–1796) . In: Historical Society Bremen (Hrsg.): Bremisches Jahrbuch . Volume 42, Bremen 1947, pp. 152-202.

Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 27 ″  N , 8 ° 48 ′ 48 ″  E