Central Theater (Dresden)

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The Central Theater around 1901
Memorial plaque Central-Theater and Heinrich Mau, Dresden, Prager Str. 7

The Central Theater , in the secondary sources also Central Theater , was a theater in Dresden . It was located on Waisenhausstrasse between Prager Strasse and Trompeterstrasse in the Seevorstadt district .

history

The Central Theater was built from 1897 to 1898 on behalf of the court jeweler Heinrich Mau by the Dresden architects William Lossow and Hermann Viehweger in place of the rococo - classicist Palais Boxberg with a facade in neo-baroque style based on designs by Heino Otto and opened on November 21, 1898 . The Central Theater, along with the Komödienhaus on Reitbahnstrasse, the Albert Theater and the Residenz Theater, was one of the city's private theaters. At the same time, it was one of the largest theaters in Dresden with around 2000 seats. In addition to a 12.5 meter wide main stage, the theater had other theater rooms. The operation also included the Central Theater Café, a wine restaurant, a billiards and games room and a beer restaurant with 1000 seats. The basement was designed as a passage that ended on three sides.

The theater was later owned by Bank für Bauten AG , which leased it to theater entrepreneurs. In addition to variety evenings, the theater soon became a stage for operettas and revues. The in-house Central Theater Ballet also became popular.

The building burned down during the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and was demolished after 1950. As early as 1945, actors from the destroyed Central-Theater formed the Central-Theater-Spielgemeinschaft, thus continuing the tradition of theater at new venues in Dresden, including the Faunpalast cinema on Leipziger Strasse 76. The community existed until 1950.

Numerous parts of the stage technology could be recovered from the rubble by hand and were used again when the operetta theater was rebuilt in Leuben . The same applies to iron girders, pipes and cables, as well as bricks that were carted to Leuben by handcart .

In June 2017, a memorial plaque for the Central Theater, its luxurious arcades and the builder Heinrich Mau was inaugurated at the location of the former entrance from Prager Str. 7 (today roughly the entrance to the P&C department store ).

The building

Auditorium of the Central Theater, around 1900

Like the Kaiserpalast on Pirnaischer Platz , the Central Theater represented the “pompous neo-baroque style” in Dresden. The theater facade of the 26-meter-wide house was strictly symmetrically structured, laid out on four floors, with a simple ground floor and three richly structured upper floors. The facade of the upper floors was divided into seven window axes and two lateral window axes. The two lateral window axes with one -hip window arches were flanked by embossed corner pilasters .

The first floor was designed as a high main floor, its windows showing alternating basket and round arches as the upper end . The windows on the second floor were designed as curved and straight ends . The attic was hidden behind a strongly curved cornice line with a high tail gable . Above this central gable was a female bust with a dome crown .

This structure was designed with an abundant decoration in the neo-baroque style and contained festoons , cartouches , shellwork and sculptures , which completely overlaid the clear design concept.

The schedule and theater operations

Newspaper advertisement 1906

The Central Theater was - next to the Residenz Theater - the Operetta House in Dresden. Works such as Emmerich Kálmán's Die Csárdásfürstin or Eduard Künneke's Der Vetter from Dingsda as well as numerous operettas by Franz Lehár were performed here for the first time in Dresden . In addition to classical operettas, especially new plays, comedies and operettas were included in the program promptly, for example Franz Lehár's The Tsarevich was also shown in the Central Theater in the first year of 1927. In addition to its own productions, the theater also presented guest performances by prominent actors, including Fritzi Massary in Madame Pompadour , Claire Waldoff in Die wilde Auguste and Adelheid Bernhardt and her acting troupe. In 1940 Ernst Marischkas Franzi with music by Peter Kreuder was one of the premieres at the Central Theater .

During the Second World War , there were repeated collaborations with Berlin theaters. Productions from Berlin theaters were also shown on the stage of the Central Theater. This led, among other things, to a guest appearance by Johannes Heesters in Friedrich Schröder's play Wedding Night in Paradise in 1944 . The ensemble of the Central Theater gave guest performances in other German cities, especially in the summer.

Ensemble members of the Central Theater (selection)

literature

  • Fritz Löffler: The old Dresden - history of its buildings . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1981, ISBN 3-363-00007-3 .
  • Volker Helas: Architecture in Dresden 1800–1900 . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1991, ISBN 3-364-00261-4 .
  • Central theater . In: Stadtlexikon Dresden A-Z . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1995, ISBN 3-364-00300-9 , p. 89.
  • Volker Helas, Gudrun Peltz: Art Nouveau architecture in Dresden . KNOP, Dresden 1999, ISBN 3-934363-00-8 .
  • The Central Theater . In: Hansjörg Schneider: “Play was pleasure and play was danger” - Dresden Theater 1933–1945 . Henschel, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89487-456-2 , pp. 154-160.
  • Andreas Schwarze: An entertainment department store. The history of the Centraltheater . In: Metropolis of pleasure. Musical folk theater in Dresden from 1844 until today. The stories behind the laughter . Saxo'Phon, Dresden 2016, ISBN 978-3-943444-59-9 , pp. 54-75

Web links

Commons : Central Theater (Dresden)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helas, Peltz, p. 41 and p. 207
  2. ↑ Peter Gunold: 50 years of the Dresden State Operetta - 225 years of musical folk theater in Dresden . Weimar Verlag and Galerie Buchkunst Läzer, 1997, without ISBN. P. 32 (facsimile of the program sheet for the opening). Numerous other data in other literature are thereby refuted.
  3. ↑ Hansjörg Schneider: "Play was pleasure and play was danger" - Dresden Theater 1933–1945 . Henschel, Berlin 2003, p. 154.
  4. ↑ Hansjörg Schneider: "Play was pleasure and play was danger" - Dresden Theater 1933–1945 . Henschel, Berlin 2003, p. 157.
  5. ↑ Andreas Schwarze: Metropolis of pleasure . Dresden: SAXO'Phon 2016. ISBN 978-3-943444-59-9 . P. 75.
  6. ↑ Stadtlexikon, p. 89.
  7. ↑ Helas, p. 184; Löffler, pp. 392, 431, 433 image no. 525.

Coordinates: 51 ° 2 '47.2 "  N , 13 ° 44' 8.4"  E