Gerhard Schott (Councilor)

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Gerhard Schott (left), portrait of Friedrich August de LaBelle (1815)

Gerhard Schott (born April 16, 1641 in Hamburg ; † October 25, 1702 in Hamburg) was a Hamburg lawyer and councilor. He became known as the founder and director of the Opera at Gänsemarkt and as a client of a model of the Temple of Solomon .

Life

Schott was the son of the businessman Arnold Reinhold Schott and Maria Arens. After attending the Johanneum and the Academic Gymnasium , he studied law in Helmstedt , Heidelberg and Basel . He graduated in 1665 with a licentiate in both rights. Then he went on the usual Grand Tour , which led to Germany , the Netherlands , France and Sweden and then settled in Hamburg as a lawyer .

Although it was only his grandfather who settled in Hamburg, Schott was appointed actuary at the Lower Court in 1682 and a member of the council in 1693. The family's good contacts and his marriage in 1671 to Anna Caecilia von Spreckelsen , who came from an old Hamburg family, contributed significantly to the promotion of his career. The marriage resulted in two sons and three daughters. In the political disputes between the council and the citizenry, Schott acted in an equalizing manner and was therefore not dismissed, although he was a supporter of the council party.

Schott had acquired a comprehensive education and dealt with science and technology as well as with literature and art. At the suggestion of Christian Albrecht von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , Schott founded the Oper am Gänsemarkt in 1677, making it the first public opera in Germany. Schott was not only the most important patron of the new theater, but also its director and important artistic advisor until his death. In order to defend the opera house against the criticism of some clergymen who saw morality at risk, he obtained university reports. During his time in the theater he maintained a friendly collaboration with the librettist Christian Heinrich Postel .

Schott also designed stage machines and decorations for the performances. In 1680 he commissioned a model of the Temple of Solomon , which is considered to be one of the most important architectural models of the Baroque: the model in its preserved form measures about three meters in length and width and is built after the temple reconstruction by the Spanish Jesuit Juan Bautista Villalpando . It was exhibited in the opera for several years. After Schott's death in 1702 it was only brought to London and then to Dresden, where it was part of the royal collection in the Zwinger . Today it is in the Museum of Hamburg History .

The Schottweg in Hohenfelde is named after Gerhard Schott .

Works

  • Disputatio Inauguralis Iuridica De Substitutione Vulgari. Deckerus, Basel 1665.
  • (Ed.): Vier Bedencken lead theological and legal faculties, as well as Mr. Doct. Johann Friederich Mayers… What to think of the operas so referred to. Georg Heinrich Oehrling, Frankfurt am Main 1693 ( preview in Google book search).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Hanke: Hamburg's street names tell a story. Medien-Verlag Schubert, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-929229-41-2 , p. 194.
personal data
SURNAME Schott, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician, Hamburg councilor, founder of the opera on the Gänsemarkt
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1641
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1702
Place of death Hamburg