Master hall

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Interior view of the Meistersaal

The Meistersaal is a listed former chamber music hall in Berlin-Kreuzberg near Potsdamer Platz . It gained fame through its temporary use as Studio 2 of the Hansa recording studios . The Meistersaal has been used for various events since the 1990s.

history

1910–1913: The founding of the Meistersaal

In 1910, the Association of Construction Businesses of Berlin and Suburbs e. V. - later the building trade guild - took the property at Köthener Straße 38 to build his association house there. The architects Giesecke & Wenzke were commissioned with the planning. After three years of construction, the building included the offices of the association, several law firms and a bookstore and was inaugurated on October 6, 1913 by the chairman of the association, Otto Heuer. In the actual core of the building, which consists of a 266 square meter chamber music hall, conferences and concerts were held early on. The hall got its name Meistersaal through a competition held at the time. In addition, after passing their exams, the journeymen were given their master craftsman's certificates in the hall by the Association of Construction Businesses.

The twenties

In the 1920s , the Meistersaal gained increasing artistic importance for the city of Berlin. The Malik publishing house under the direction of Wieland Herzfelde and the George Grosz gallery set up shop on the ground floor of the building . On January 23, 1921, Karl Kraus held the first of his four lectures in Berlin in this hall. Only a few days later, on January 27, 1921, it was possible to hold a reading with Kurt Tucholsky in the Meistersaal.

Advertising Meistersaal 1932

In addition, performances by the silent film actor Carl de Vogt and programs by the actor Ludwig Hardt in the Meistersaal are known. The building trade guild, which saw itself as an employer representative, did not extend the lease with the unloved tenants, whose socially critical exhibitions in the gallery repeatedly caused a stir, so that the Malik-Verlag gave up its business again in 1926 at Köthener Straße 38 had to. Today an information board on the building reminds of the Malik publishing house.

1933–1945: National Socialism and World War II

From 1933 the Reichsmusikkammer used the Meistersaal for concerts. In 1936 the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau performed a series of concerts in the Meistersaal with the entire piano works of Johann Sebastian Bach , which was to help him to great fame. During an Allied air raid on the night of November 22nd to 23rd, 1943, the rear wing of the building was completely destroyed by a bomb. The Meistersaal itself was largely spared from the destruction, but the events were completely stopped until the end of the war.

1945–1961: Ballhaus Susi and cabaret

In 1945 the guild was expropriated by the victorious Allied powers. The house was placed under compulsory administration and after a makeshift restoration, the hall was used as a concert hall by various operators, while a cinema was operated on the ground floor of the house. Although the attempt to establish a theater in the Meistersaal failed, cabaret events continued there, such as multiple appearances by the magician Fredo Marvelli . In 1948 the Meistersaal was converted into Ballhaus City , from 1953 as Ballhaus Susi , until the construction of the Wall in 1961 put an end to public events. The Meistersaal, previously located in the center of the capital, was now isolated from the political and cultural life of Berlin.

1961–1976: Ariola used it as a recording studio

The building complex Köthener Straße 38 in 1975 before the renovation

From 1961, the Ariola record label used the Meistersaal for recordings. The best-known artists who recorded their music in the Meistersaal at that time were the composer and conductor Robert Stolz , the tenor Rudolf Schock , Peter Kreuder , Ivan Rebroff , Erika Köth , René Kollo , Norbert Schultze , Peter Alexander and the Swedish singer and actress Zarah Leander . The now quiet location of the Meistersaal near the Berlin Wall favored its use as a recording studio.

1976–1991: used by the Hansa recording studios

In 1976, Meisel Musikverlage acquired the entire property at Köthener Strasse 38 in order to set up their five Hansa recording studios there. All floors of the building that were still marked by the bombing were renovated and adapted to the requirements of recording studios. A restaurant opened on the ground floor, while the Meistersaal was renamed Studio 2 . During this time, the Meistersaal gained worldwide fame in the music world, as from then on it played to many internationally known artists (including U2 , Iggy Pop , Depeche Mode , David Bowie , Eartha Kitt , Richard Clayderman , Marillion , Mike Batt , David Byrne , Nick Cave , Snow Patrol , Jon Bon Jovi , Supergrass ) served as the recording room. Well-known national artists who recorded their music in the Meistersaal include: Einstürzende Neubauten , Peter Maffay , Udo Lindenberg , Udo Jürgens , Roland Kaiser , Nina Hagen , Nena , Marianne Rosenberg , Die Toten Hosen , Heiner Pudelko , Ute Lemper , Trio , Reinhard Mey , Max Raabe , Jack White or Paul Kuhn . With the fall of the wall, the previously quiet location of the Meistersaal was lost. There was also no longer any need for recording studios of this size, so it was decided to close Studio 2 for cost reasons . With the last production in October and December 1990, the Meistersaal experienced another high point, as the group U2 recorded parts of their album Achtung Baby there.

Since 1991

Thomas Meisel , co-founder of Hansa Musik Produktion and owner of the building, decided to return the Meistersaal to its purpose as an event location and - as far as possible - to restore it to its original state. The restoration work began on March 1, 1993 and took 18 months, more than twice as long as originally estimated. One of the reasons for this was that the commemorative publication for the opening of the Meistersaal appeared after its completion in 1913, which contained previously unknown image material from the Meistersaal and the adjoining rooms. Almost all the work had already started or was partially completed; whole areas were changed again. From October 1994, the Meistersaal was directed by director Kurt Lutz, co-founder of the “Berlin Globe Theater” in the former Hotel Esplanade on Potsdamer Platz, partly by Kurt Lutz himself. The program focus was on piano and song recitals, theater and readings, but without municipal subsidies, which turned out to be unprofitable. At the end of 2002, they parted ways; The former auctioneer Mark Karhausen became the new operator of the Meistersaal and successor to Kurt Lutz. Here, too, they parted ways after six years. In February 2009, after some technical renovations, the third reopening of the Meistersaal took place, this time by BESL Business Event Services & Locations GmbH. Since then, the Meistersaal has served as an event location and venue for cultural events; Since the move of the Emil Berliner Studios (the former recording studio of Deutsche Grammophon ) to Berlin, it has been increasingly used again for music recordings.

architecture

The Meistersaal ensemble with the associated rooms extends over two floors. The total area is around 650 square meters, with the Meistersaal itself (including the stage) accounting for 266 square meters. The entrance foyer with cloakroom is on the ground floor. From there, a staircase leads to the location on the first floor foyer , which precedes the Meistersaal and this with the Green Salon connects. The 79 square meter green salon is the official bar area of ​​the Meistersaal with a permanently installed bar counter. There are men's and women's toilets on both the ground floor and the first floor. As a result of the legal ban on smoking , a smoking lounge was set up next to the Green Salon at the beginning of 2009.

The street front

Front view of the Meistersaal today

The street front of the Meistersaal was kept in a strictly neoclassical style. Six Ionic columns separate the Meistersaal in the northern part of the building from the rest of the building. The name of the association is engraved in the frieze directly above the pillars and the year of construction is engraved in the triangular gable. Today, the words “Meistersaal” can be found in the frieze, while the newly built gable has no inscriptions or ornaments.

The entrance

The entrance to the building, lined with black marble - originally called the vestibule - accommodates access to the entrance foyer of the Meistersaal as well as access to the stairwell with elevator to the offices. On the left is a showcase of the Meistersaal, which was uncovered and restored in the course of the restoration work. In the center of the room there is a golden plaque with the logos of all the companies located in the house, on the right there is a large mirror surface. In the meantime there was a porter's house at the entrance, which was probably removed during the restoration work.

The entrance foyer

Today's entrance foyer was designed as a vestibule to the Meistersaal, the staircase of which winds towards the foyer. The original floor plan from 1913 shows that this section of the building has undergone the greatest structural change. Large parts of the cloakroom at that time were separated by a wall and are now part of the restaurant adjacent to the Meistersaal. In the original floor plan, only women's toilets are shown on the ground floor; these were supplemented by men's toilets. There is still an old ticket booth on the ground floor, but it is no longer recognizable.

The foyer

The foyer . On the left the doors of the Meistersaal, in the background the passage to the Green Salon.

Due to the reconstruction of the foyer based on the original photos from the brochure for the opening of the Meistersaal, its original appearance has largely been preserved. The clearest feature of the foyer, in addition to many stucco decorations on the ceiling, are two large mirror surfaces, whereby a mirror surface was broken through in the course of the restoration in order to connect the foyer to the stairwell by means of a door (also mirrored). In addition to the entrances to the Meistersaal and the passage to the toilets, the smoking room and the Green Salon, there is a passage to the kitchen of the Meistersaal in the foyer. The pure area of ​​the foyer is 90 square meters. When the Meistersaal was used as the Ballhaus Susi, there was a permanently installed counter in the lobby as a beer buffet and a liqueur buffet.

The master hall

Detail of the coffered ceiling of the Meistersaal

One of the main structural features of the Meistersaal, designed as a chamber music hall, is its wooden coffered ceiling, modeled on the old Berlin Philharmonic , seven meters high . Other architectural characteristics of the hall, which is also almost in its original state, are sparingly gilded stucco on the ceiling and the partitioning of the walls with wooden columns. Two large hall doors provide access to the master hall. The Meistersaal has a 4 × 6 m stage with a two-storey artist cloakroom attached to the right. The originally permanently installed row seating was lost in the Second World War or shortly after the end of the war and was no longer replaced. After its reopening in 1994, the Meistersaal was gradually equipped with modern lighting and sound technology in compliance with the preservation order. The last, more complex technical renovation work began in spring 2009 and was completed in the middle of the same year.

The Green Salon

The 79 square meter bar of the Meistersaal, still called the Green Hall after it was built , later renamed the Green Salon , and the permanently installed counter are almost entirely in green tones. The ceiling is also decorated with stucco. In the 1950s, the Green Salon was used as a restaurant for the guests of the ballrooms. From 1961 to 1990, the Green Salon acted as the control room for the sound recordings and was connected to the Meistersaal by camera.

meaning

The Meistersaal is one of the few buildings on Köthener Straße that survived the Second World War (see History of Köthener Straße ), and at the same time one of the few remaining concert and event halls in Berlin in the 1920s. However, the Meistersaal gained its real importance through its use as a recording studio after the wall was built in 1961.

The scenery, which was created by the ambience of the extraordinary recording room and the location on the inner German wall, was particularly attractive and inspiring for Anglo-American artists. The most prominent example of this is the song " Heroes " by David Bowie , which was composed during Bowie's time in Berlin. At that time the Meistersaal became known worldwide as “the big hall by the wall” or “the studio by the wall” .

Nowadays there are regular tours of the Meistersaal and the Hansa recording studios.

Trivia

Web links

Commons : Meistersaal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/liste_karte_datenbank/de/denkmaldatenbank/daobj.php?obj_dok_nr=09031183
  2. ^ Central Gazette for the German Construction Industry, Number 41 of October 10, 1913, pp. 1 ff
  3. ↑ Brochure on the reopening of the Meistersaal, Meisel Musikverlag, Berlin, 1st edition 1994, pp. 5–8
  4. ^ Lecture by Karl Kraus. Program in the Meistersaal
  5. ↑ Brochure on the reopening of the Meistersaal, Meisel Musikverlag, Berlin, 1st edition 1994, p. 10. An original event poster is in the Schiller Museum
  6. ↑ In two letters dated April 6, 1948 and April 13, 1948, the magician Marvelli was granted revocable permission by the Berlin Police Headquarters [...] to perform his performances on the stage with lit cigarettes lit with matches (source: Meistersaal Private archive)
  7. ↑ Brochure on the reopening of the Meistersaal, Meisel Musikverlag, Berlin, 1st edition 1994, p. 15
  8. ↑ a b Brochure on the reopening of the Meistersaal, Meisel Musikverlag, Berlin, 1st edition 1994, p. 17
  9. ↑ a b Image material exhibited in the entrance area of ​​the Meistersaal
  10. ↑ The legend is over - the sound is turned off in Hansa-Studio 2 , Oliver Glasenapp in Berliner Zeitung No. 196, date unknown, unknown page, around 1990, source: Meistersaal private archive
  11. ↑ Brochure on the reopening of the Meistersaal, Meisel Musikverlag, Berlin, 1st edition 1994, p. 18
  12. ^ Central Gazette for the German Construction Industry, Number 41 of October 10, 1913
  13. ↑ Brochure on the reopening of the Meistersaal, Meisel Musikverlag, Berlin, 1st edition 1994, p. 21
  14. ↑ Close your ears and open all your questions , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of December 28, 2002
  15. ↑ Symphony of a Big City , Tagesspiegel of January 5, 2003, p. 27
  16. ↑ Adventure Culture: Auctioneer uses the old Meistersaal , Berliner Morgenpost from January 13, 2003
  17. ↑ www.emil-berliner-studios.com: The Meistersaal
  18. ↑ Zentralblatt für das deutsche Baugewerbe, number 41 of October 10, 1913, p. 330.
  19. ↑ Zentralblatt für das deutsche Baugewerbe, number 41 of October 10, 1913, p. 345
  20. ↑ Zentralblatt für das deutsche Baugewerbe, number 41 of October 10, 1913, p. 333
  21. ↑ Location and seating plan checked by the building authorities from August 18, 1953
  22. ↑ "Postcard from Berlin", news entry on the REM homepage ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / remhq.com
  23. ^ Rolling Stone, July 14, 2010

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 22.4 "  N , 13 ° 22 ′ 37.2"  E