Seylersche Drama Society

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abel Seyler

The Seylersche Drama Society (also Seylersche Truppe ) was a German touring stage in the years 1769–1779. It was considered "the best drama company that existed in Germany at that time" and one of the most famous theater companies in Europe in the 18th century. It was founded in 1769 by Abel Seyler , a former Hamburg merchant of Swiss origin, and attracted some of the most famous actors, playwrights and composers of the time. It had about 60 members at any one time.

Seyler received in 1769 from the Hanoverian Elector Georg III. the privilege of being "director of the royal and electoral court actors". In 1771, at the invitation of Duchess Anna Amalia , the Seylersche Gesellschaft went to the Weimar court, where they were warmly received. At that time Weimar was about to reach its heyday, the Weimar Classic ; Through her patronage, Duchess Anna Amalia attracted a number of the brightest minds of her time to what was later to be dubbed the “ Weimar Court of the Muses ”. After the castle fire in 1774, the troops had to leave Anna Amalia's court and went to Gotha and Leipzig . In 1775 Seyler received the Electoral Saxon privilege and in 1776 he opened a newly built summer theater in Dresden .

Seyler promoted the concept of a national theater in the tradition of Ludvig Holberg , dramas by the young generation of Sturm und Drang and German-language opera . He employed young dramatists as theater poets and had Klinger's play Sturm und Drang premiered in 1777 , which gave the epoch its name . His work also contributed significantly to making the works of Shakespeare known in Germany. The opera Alceste , which established a German operatic tradition, was written for the Seylersche Gesellschaft by Anton Schweitzer with a libretto by Christoph Martin Wieland and premiered on May 28, 1773 at the Weimar Court Theater.

Members

Konrad Ekhof

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Duchess Anna Amalie von Weimar and her theater," in Robert Keil (ed.), Goethe's diary from the years 1776–1782 , Veit, 1875, p. 69.

literature

  • Thomas Bauman: "New directions: the Seyler company". In: North German Opera in the Age of Goethe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1985, ISBN 0-521-26027-2 , pp. 91-131.
  • Thomas Bauman, Music and Drama in Germany: A Traveling Company and Its Repertory, 1767–1781 , dissertation on the Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft, University of California, Berkeley, 1977.
  • Magazine for the history of the German theater , 1773, VI, pp. 264–276