Waldstein rock stage
The Waldstein rock stage is an open-air stage on the Großer Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains.
history
Beginnings in romance
After peaks and mountain ridges with medieval ruins were discovered as excursion destinations for the higher society in the course of the romanticism of castles throughout Germany , they began to be developed for tourism. Several pavilions and shelters for travelers were built on the Waldstein . Of these, for example, the deep notches on the devil's table , which served to stabilize parasols for a seating group, are still visible. According to legend, they come from the game of the devil with iron cards. There were two shelters nearby, but with the construction of the Waldstein hospice in 1853, which was built in a “sociable Swiss style”, they had become superfluous. In this predecessor of the Waldsteinhaus , smaller concerts and theatrical performances were held, which were supposed to add to the amusement of the hikers, before a year later, on July 23, 1854, the first performance was relocated to the castle courtyard with the play The Cither Player and the Gaugericht . Since that time there have been plans to build a permanent stage for performances in front of the imposing castle ruins, which, however, were never pursued for unknown reasons.
The first festival
In 1523, in addition to 18 other “robbery castles”, the five von Sparneck castles were also set on fire by the troops of the Swabian Federation and blown up with powder (→ Wandereisen woodcuts from 1523 ). Among them were the basis of their location was West Castle called Veste on the Waldstein summit. To commemorate the destruction of the Sparneck residence on July 11, the Münchberg branch of the Fichtelgebirgsverein staged the play Your castles have fallen apart , written by the then editor of the Münchberg-Helmbrechtser Zeitung, Christian Sümmerer, for the 400th anniversary of the fateful day . If you initially only thought of a one-off spectacle, the public response exceeded all expectations, which is why Sümmerer set out to write a pure theater festival that same year, which was first performed in 1924. To stage Des Waldstein's miracle flower , which is based on the legend of the same name, a grandstand with 1,500 seats was built into the rocky areas. The total of ten performances at this Waldstein Festival were attended by 20,000 spectators. A year later, a similar success was achieved.
The preliminary end
If the Münchberg-Helmbrechtser Zeitung of July 28, 1925 still read that the next year's performances were already being looked forward to "with joyful confidence", but there were no further festivals for the time being. The exact reasons for this are not known, but Sümmerer's move to Munich for professional reasons may have played a major role. After his departure, the fileman’s actor , Oskar Nothaft, directed until the end of the season, but there was no successor. It was not until the Münchberg teacher Oskar Froschauer took the initiative and wrote the piece Des Roten Schloss Untergang , which, like Sümmerer's first work, dealt with the destruction of the Waldsteinburg in 1523. After the first performance at the regional festival of the Evangelical Union on August 24, 1929 in the Münchberg rifle house, the decision was made to give two more performances at the Waldstein summit due to the great public interest. These performances also exceeded all expectations, but at the same time they marked the end of the Waldstein Festival. The reason for this was, among other things, the dilapidated grandstand, which meant that many spectators had to watch the action while standing. Nobody could and would not raise the urgently needed financial expenses. Thus, the time of the festival ended only five years after the first performance. One last attempt to bring it back to life also failed: The Hofer hero tenor and Wagner actor Josef Schöffel came up with a concept that, similar to the Luisenburg Festival, provided for the issuance of shares of 100 Reichsmarks each Secure funding. In the absence of investors, the project was finally discontinued.
New beginning
In 1995 the director of the Selber Heimatbühne, Dieter Sailer, worked with the Sparneck local researcher Reinhardt Schmalz to develop a new concept for the revival of the festival. To implement their idea, the Felsenbühne Waldstein association was founded and acted as the sponsor. Due to these innovations, the play Des Waldstein's Wunderblume was able to take place again three years later , which had been rebuilt directly in front of the Waldsteinhaus . Since then, a total of five pieces of local history have been staged:
- The Waldstein's Wonder Flower , 1998 and 1999
- Downfall of the Red Castle , 2001 and 2002
- The secret of the Waldstein , 2004 and 2005
- The Legacy , 2007 and 2008
- The Heretic , 2010 and 2011
The pieces
The Waldstein's miracle flower
The knight's son Konrad von Schauenstein has disappeared since the family castle was destroyed by Rüdiger von Sparneck . What nobody knows, however, is that the file cutter rescued him from the burning rubble and took him in. A few years have now passed and Konrad is a shepherd at Waldstein Castle . He and Rüdiger's daughter Mechthilde have been a couple for some time, but the difference in class stands in the way of a wedding between the two. The file cutter finally sends Konrad on a search for the mysterious wonder flower, because with its help he can get Rüdiger to release his daughter. After Konrad has said goodbye to his close friend, Mechthilde comes over to see the future at the Feilenhauer, who travels as a ghost banner in the villages around the Waldstein. In her hand he reads that she will one day marry a knight. Mechthilde, who has not yet known anything about Konrad's past, initially believes that the knight Kunz von Uprode , who has been ensnaring her for some time, is meant by this. The file cutter confides his secret to her and shows her a talisman that Konrad was wearing around his neck when he saved him from the flames. He has been looking for the miracle flower for three days now and meets all sorts of local legendary figures on his journey through the forests. A St. John's beetle that he catches in his hand turns into a beautiful flower. At the same time, the silver bell sounds and the mountain opens up. In a gold-flooded chapel appears the mountain queen, who had sent him the miracle flower in the form of the beetle. Well aware of the success of his mission, the shepherd Konrad falls asleep calmly. During the night dive more legendary figures like the Gnome King , the card-playing devil and the moss little woman on that roams on the run from the savage army forests. The next day he happily goes to the castle, where Kunz von Uprode has just arrived together with Wolf von Schauenstein, Rüdiger's former enemy. The two now have a deep friendship. Just as Kunz wants to ask for Mechthilde's hand, Rüdiger makes it a condition that his future son-in-law bring him the miracle flower of the Waldstein before he gives his blessing. At this very moment Konrad appears and shows the flower to the amazed crowd. At the same time, Wolf von Schauenstein recognizes his long-lost son in him and happily falls around Rüdiger's neck when he agrees to the wedding of the two lovers.
In his play, Sümmerer took no account of historical sources, but rather summarized all the legends of the Waldstein into one story, drawing from his own resources: Christian Sümmerer is one of the most important local poets of the Fichtelgebirge alongside Ludwig Zapf . In addition to countless lyrical works, some of which have not yet been published, his works also include a lost novel and other plays that were not written for the Felsenbühne.
The fall of the red castle
The feud of Hans Thomas von Absberg in 1523 against the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg is the climax of the Franconian War . In order to put a stop to the increased horror of Franconia and to punish its helpers who are scattered all over the country, the Swabian Federation is asked for help, which sets up a powerful army near Dinkelsbühl at the beginning of June and thus moves against 23 robbery castles across Franconia. After the federal troops set up camp in Sparneck on July 10th, they marched against the Waldstein on July 11th and completely destroyed the castle.
The only remaining documents besides the war files are the Wandereisen woodcuts from 1523 , which show the burning castles. The author of the play was the Münchberg teacher Oskar Froschauer, who was in a lively exchange of ideas with Sümmerer and after his departure tried to keep the festival going.
Anno 1523
Christian Sümmerer wrote another three-act play in 1930, which was originally intended to be called the Robber Baron, but was later renamed to Anno 1523 . His early death in 1931 prevented him from witnessing the world premiere of his last work, which was given due to the dilapidated stage on the Waldstein in the clubhouse in Münchberg. After only two well-attended performances, the curtain fell forever: in the turmoil of World War II, both the Sümmeres manuscript and the copies were lost. The rough content of the game was given by the Münchberger Ludwig Blank in an obituary Sümmeres: The robber baron Hans Thomas von Absberg flees from the troops of the Swabian Federation and also passes the Waldstein. Since he saved the life of the Sparneck knight Christoph a few years ago, the latter grants him protection in his castle. When the Nuremberg Truchsess demands the delivery of the Absberger, with Christoph's help, he manages to escape, whereupon the Waldsteinburg goes up in flames. When his peasants refuse to tithe in the last act , he sees himself robbed of all his possessions and swears vengeance on the Nuremberg people. His son Wolf, who has joined an order of monks, comes into play just in time. He succeeds in dissuading his father from his plans, whereupon he throws away the sword and accepts the cross from his son.
The secret of the forest stone
The play was written by Reinhardt Schmalz, chairman of the Felsenbühne, and Karl Dengler, begins shortly before the destruction of the Waldsteinburg and describes how the turning point in the history of the Lords of Sparneck came about : they live safely entrenched on their rock castle of raiding and robbing merchants and traveling people. When a merchant remains seriously wounded, the herbalist Anna von Schaumberg takes him in and nurses him back to health. The young woman falls in love with Philipp von Sparneck of all people, which his parents do not approve of. When they finally find out that Anna saved the badly injured merchant, they explain this with magic and accuse the woman of witchcraft. When the first flames blaze up from the pyre , she is saved by her lover.
Witch trials and persecutions can also be documented in the Fichtelgebirge area. Just like the activities of the Knights of Sparneck at the beginning of the 16th century, there is also a wide variety of written evidence that the castle was destroyed.
The legacy
During the 14th century, the knight Rüdiger von Sparneck held important offices in the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. As the imperial palace administrator in Eger , he reports directly to Emperor Charles IV and a powerful knight in the Upper Franconian region. Despite the more or less quiet life, feuds and fights threaten security on the Waldstein again and again. The nearby Epprechtstein Castle was stormed by the Nuremberg burgraves in 1352 and the families of the savages and the sacks were driven out. After this “robbery castle” was razed, the people of Nuremberg feel threatened by Rüdiger's new position in the empire and fear that the von Sparneck family could become too powerful and thus a threat to their monopoly position. When Münchberg was finally granted Nuremberg city rights by them , the Sparneckers received the same privileges as the burgraves. A real stroke of luck for her is the death of Rüdiger von Sparneck, who shortly before divided his property to his four sons. One of them, Hans, made a mistake with grave consequences when in 1361 he pledged a third of the town of Münchberg and Sparneck himself to his cousin Konrad von Neuberg . When he breaks the contract and does not want to hand over the property, the Neuberger pulls up with his troops in front of the western castle and threatens to destroy everything. At the last moment, Emperor Charles IV can settle the dispute by buying the pledged places from Neuberger and giving them back to the Sparnecker friends.
This piece by Reinhardt Schmalz and Karl Dengler is also based on true events: Rüdiger von Sparneck was actually the administrator of the imperial palace in Eger and Münchberg was granted city rights on July 13, 1364. Finally, the pledging can also be proven by a document dated July 11, 1361. The inclusion of the knight Pabo in the order of the Teutonic Knights, which is briefly mentioned in one scene of the play, is also based on facts.
The heretic
The Münchberg merchant Johannes Reichel is a supporter of the troops from Bohemia , known as Hussites , who try to enforce the teachings of Jan Hus with all their might. In the daughter of the knight Rüdiger von Sparneck, Veronica, he finds a like-minded person. At a secret rendezvous, they fall in love and swear eternal loyalty beyond the class boundaries that stand in the way of a wedding between the two. When the father of the Waldstein Chapel secretly observes the two of them, he realizes that if Reichel is convicted he can rise in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and he decides to accuse the merchant of heresy. At the trial, Reichel is found guilty and sentenced to death at the stake . At the last second Veronica manages to get him to renounce because she is expecting a child from him. When the Hussites storm the Waldstein and the Margrave Friedrich I , who is present there, tries to run away together with the Father, Reichel sees his time has come and stands alone against the troops around Andreas Prokop . Through a letter from St. Joan of Arc he succeeds in saving the Waldstein. The troops move on to Weißenstadt .
The piece was written by the Hussite expert Bernd Kemter from Gera and, like all the others, is based on a true background: Burgrave Friedrich VI. received the Margraviate of Brandenburg from King Sigismund at the Council of Constance in 1415 , who on October 13, 1417 provided Rüdiger von Sparneck with the Bohemian fiefs, including the Waldstein. The reformer Jan Hus was sentenced to death at the council and burned at the stake. The existence of Münchberger Johannes Reichel, who finally renounced the teachings of Jan Hus in 1427, can be documented as well as the storm of the Hussites: Karl Dietel assumes that a layer of fire found during excavations in the western castle spread to the destruction of the castle bring back the Hussites. The chapel, which originally belonged to the east castle , has since been in ruins. The reason for the destruction of the Sparneck possessions can be considered to be the fact that Hans and Arnold von Sparneck and 80 riders had thrown themselves against the Hussite troops in front of the town of Hof . That the knight Arnold lost his horse in the process is also shown in the play.
The entrance area to the rock stage
Knight Arnold von Sparneck becomes a knight of the order
Rows of spectators
Trial against Johannes Reichel
Shortly before the execution of the death sentence
The pyre
The burning chapel after being stormed by the Hussen
The Hussites storm the Waldsteinburg
literature
- Karl Dietel : The Great Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains . Ed .: District of Münchberg. 1st edition. tape 7 . Münchberg 1968, p. 120 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Karl Dietel: The Great Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains , series: Between Waldstein and Döbraberg, Volume 1, p. 80
- ^ Karl Dietel: Münchberg, History of an official and industrial city , p. 116
- ^ Karl Dietel: Münchberg, History of an official and industrial city , p. 105
- ^ Karl Dietel: Münchberg, history of an official and industrial city , p. 117
- ^ Karl Dietel: The Great Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains , p. 66
- ^ A b Karl Dietel: The Great Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains , p. 67
- ↑ Karl Dietel: The Great Waldstein in the Fichtel Mountains , p. 63
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 44 ″ N , 11 ° 51 ′ 3 ″ E