Residenz Theater (Dresden)

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The Residenztheater 1875

The Residenz Theater , also known as Residenztheater, was a theater on Zirkusstrasse in Dresden . Along with the Nesmüller Summer Theater, the Central Theater , the Komödienhaus on Reitbahnstraße and the Albert Theater, it was one of five major private theaters in the city.

history

The Residenztheater was built from 1871 to 1872 by Franz Albert Stock , Hugo Schönherr and Richard Weise for Oswald Baumgart in line with the Parisian Théâtre-Lyrique . Oswald named the theater after his wife Herminia-Theater , the new name Residenztheater was given to the venue in 1879 under the director Engelbert Karl . The opening ceremony of the theater took place in May 1872.

The theater with a floor area of ​​1200 square meters accommodated 1118 spectators. Predominantly rascals, operettas and comedies were played, with the directors changing frequently. The theater was renovated in 1902. The interior was painted in white and gold and the stage curtain was painted with the representation of Apollon and Terpsichore . In addition, a new lighting system was installed.

In 1934 it was closed by the building authorities. The building was then used as a warehouse. During the bombing of Dresden in 1945 it was destroyed and the ruins cleared.

building

Floor plan (approx. 1878)

The Residenz Theater was located within the closed development in the Pirnaische Vorstadt , built into a row of houses. The facade, which took up individual motifs from the Semper Opera House , was three-story and structured with five window axes. Three portal or window axes on the ground floor and upper floor in the middle of the facade had round arches as the upper end. Single-axis round arch niches with decorative gables flanked the three-axis central front. The three-tier auditorium was rounded and a dome vaulted the room.

The schedule and theater operations

The Residenztheater was Dresden's popular theater. Even under the directorship of the actor and author Hugo Müller (1873–1878), operettas by Jacques Offenbach , among others, were presented to the Dresden audience . Well-engineered stage technology and Müller's imaginative direction made the house attractive for guest performances by prominent actors in the first few years. The Strampfer-Theater from Vienna played with Alexander Girardi and Felix Schweighofer in the first season . This was followed by guest appearances by Josefine Gallmeyer (1874), Marie Geistinger (1875) and Albin Swoboda (1876), before Müller handed over operations to Ferdinand Dessoir . This in turn held the directorship for only one year.

On May 6, 1882, Engelbert Karl , director of the theater since 1879, celebrated the 1000th performance under his direction with Carl Millöcker's Madame Dubarry . However, differences led to his resignation as artistic director in 1884. With part of the severance payment he had received from Jauner, Franz Steiner took over the Residenztheater for one year in 1884 (together with Angelika Strauss, the second wife of Johann Strauss (son) ). In 1885 Steiner leased the Walhalla Operetta Theater and went to Berlin with Angelika Strauss . Engelbert Karl returned again as director.

Numerous plays were premiered in Dresden at the Residenztheater; Various operettas by Rudolf Dellinger , who was Kapellmeister at the Residenztheater, were premiered : 1894 Die Chansonette , 1901 Jadwiga and 1910 The last Jonas .

Engelbert Karl died in 1891, the house was now run by his widow, Magdalena Karl, as well as Carl Friese and Alexander Rotter as vice directors.

Around 1900 Adele Sandrock (1901) and Josef Kainz (1902) gave guest performances at the theater, while Emmerich Kálmán himself stood at the podium at the Dresden premiere of his gypsy primate on December 5, 1913. While the directorship had increasingly specialized in operettas and completely removed the drama from the program from 1912 onwards, the First World War led to considerable gaps in the ensemble. Now mainly pieces that glorified the war were given, after the end of the war mainly shallow pieces that lagged far behind the success of earlier productions.

From 1920 onwards the theater again presented more artistically demanding pieces such as Die Fledermaus and in 1922 dared to perform Arthur Schnitzler's Reigen , whereby the performance was secured by the police and forbidden to viewers under 30 years of age. The theater now became the leading Dresden operetta theater again, also because the larger central theater was increasingly removing operettas from its repertoire at that time. German premieres also made the Residenztheater attractive again, for example Franz Lehár's operetta Frasquita in 1922 and Edmund Eysler's Die golden'ne Meisterin in 1927 . In 1930 Emil Jannings was a guest at the theater.

Due to the global economic crisis , the necessary investments were not made, so that the theater finally had to be closed by the building authorities in 1934 and had to be foreclosed.

Actors and employees at the Residenztheater

Unless already mentioned, the following also worked at the Residenz Theater:

literature

  • Volker Helas: Architecture in Dresden 1800–1900 . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1991, ISBN 3-364-00261-4 .
  • Klaus Herrich: Residenztheater - Dresden's popular theater . In: Dresdner Hefte . 22nd year, issue 79, 3/2004, pp. 48-53.
  • Fritz Löffler : The old Dresden - history of its buildings . Verlag EA Seemann, Leipzig 1981, ISBN 3-363-00007-3 .
  • Residenztheater . In: Folke Stimmel, Reinhardt Eigenwill et al .: Stadtlexikon Dresden . Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1994, p. 346.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Herrich, p. 48.
  2. ↑ Stadtlexikon, p. 346.
  3. ↑ Helas, p. 54 f., Image no. 102; P. 102, image no. 395.
  4. ↑ Herrich, p. 52.

Coordinates: 51 ° 2 ′ 49.8 "  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 55.9"  E