Kassel State Theater

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Today's theater building

The Staatstheater Kassel is a state-run three-part theater with music theater, drama, dance, children's and youth theater and concerts. The building from 1955 to 1959, executed according to the plans of the architects Paul Bode and Ernst Brundig , replaced the previous building, the court theater , also known as the Prussian State Theater , which was destroyed in 1943 . The theater complex comprises an enclosed space of 92,000 m³, which is made up of the large and small houses . The State Theater is located on the southeastern part of Friedrichsplatz , on the Karlsaue side .

history

Previous buildings

Ottoneum (1606–1690 used as a theater)
Court theater on Königsstrasse, corner of Spohrplatz
Kassel Court Theater around 1900
Third theater building on Friedrichsplatz (1909–1943 / 53)

The tradition of Kassel as a theater city can be traced back to Landgrave Moritz (1572–1632). With the construction of the Ottoneum 1603–1606, Germany's first permanent theater building was built at the beginning of the 17th century. Named after Landgrave Moritz 'favorite son, it is one of the oldest of its kind north of the Alps. Master builder Adam Müller, witness and construction supervisor Hans Heinrich von Siegerordt, as well as landgrave physician Hermann Wolff and the stonemason workshop Wilhelm Vernukens were responsible for its execution. In 1696 it was converted into an art house under Landgrave Karl , which was done by Paul du Ry . The use of the Ottoneum has been limited to the exhibition of natural history exhibits since 1884 . As a witness and mirror for the theater tradition of Kassel, it fits into the cityscape not far from the former and today's state theater.

The Landgrave's (later electoral) opera house was built on Königsstrasse in 1765–1769 according to plans and under the direction of Simon Louis du Ry , in which the composer and conductor Louis Spohr (1784–1859) celebrated successes. A memorial dedicated to him on Opernplatz commemorates the glory days of the opera house.

Under Kaiser Wilhelm II , a completely new theater was built between 1907 and 1909 based on designs by Anton Karst and Hans Fanghänel . The New Royal Court Theater or Prussian State Theater was built on the southeast side of Friedrichsplatz . The neo-baroque building made of white sandstone blocks had one of the largest stages in Germany with 1425 seats. It stood on the longitudinal axis of Friedrichsplatz and closed it off in the middle of the floodplain, but the building negated the basic urban planning concept of Friedrichsplatz by obstructing the side of the square that was open to the landscape. At the same time, the historic Aue gate had to be demolished for the construction period; it formed the war memorial in the square after the building was completed .

In the air raid on Kassel on October 22nd, 1943 during the Second World War , it was badly damaged on October 22nd, 1943 and then fell victim to the disintegration due to vacancy. In 1953 the building was demolished.

New building: architectural competition

The destruction was so great that the state of Hesse decided to demolish the war ruin and plan a new building in its place. Numerous protests by the Kassel population preceded this demolition, although it was a relatively young building of the then frowned upon historicism . But due to the massive destruction of the building and stage technology, the poor structural condition after the air raids, which made the use of the foundations out of the question, as well as the uneconomical size of the building and the growing demands on a theater, continued use was not permitted. In 1951, the state of Hesse came to the decision to organize an architecture competition. In 1952, the Hans Scharoun / Hermann Mattern / Willem Huller working group won this competition . They prevailed against the 2nd placed architects Bartels and Schweitzer (Braunschweig), 3rd placed Becker and Stübing (Hamburg) and 4th placed Fritz Bornemann (Berlin). At this point in time, there is no talk of the architect Paul Bode , who also took part in the competition and will later play an important role in the construction of the new building.

The plans and drafts were available to the public from October 1952 in the Kassel Ballhaus . The competition jury praised Scharoun's design for the excellent fulfillment of the requirements and the "new free form that matched the zeitgeist". The Ministry of Culture is hoping for “an attraction for Kassel as well as for the entire theater world”. The design was given particular preference through its urban planning measures and Scharoun's idea of ​​relocating Frankfurter Strasse so that it runs between Ottoneum and the new state theater building. Scharoun's explanation of this decision is based on the statement that for him the Ottoneum belongs to the old part of the city and should not be separated from the old city center by a street. He also planned a pedestrian bridge over Frankfurter Strasse, onto the theater's plateau. But he was by no means only concerned with embedding the theater in the cityscape of Kassel and the perception of the population, but also with the people for whom the theater should serve as a place of work. His modern stage design was also praised, for which he worked with the theater stage specialist Willem Huller . In his opinion, the audience should almost be able to sit on the stage, which was to be understood spatially as an arena. But the opinions of Kassel citizens and the Kassel theater construction association were rather negative. The criticism came from the feeling that the design was too unusual and the still existing hope of rebuilding the theater ruins. From all appearances, one could not and would not accept him.

Planning and start of construction under Scharoun & Mattern (1951–1954)

The site plan from 1952 by the architects for the plot of land to be built on included the old plot of land for the theater and a large area to the northeast of it. However, during the foundation work in December 1954, subsoil problems were found. At that time, the press indicated that parts of the city wall, the so-called casemates of the old fortifications, had been found. Despite the difficult soil conditions and the special measures that were actually taken, the foundation stone for the new building was laid on October 15, 1954. But at the beginning of December of the same year the problems with the excavation and foundation work became apparent. It was found, as it is said in the festschrift of 1959 and 1999, that “the project was not within the scope of the foreseen deadlines and financial limits”. In mid-December, the state government stopped construction work completely. In 1955, the “Scharoun draft” was declared impracticable.

The architectural community was released from its obligations and the Kassel architect Paul Bode was commissioned. Bode had also submitted his designs to the competition, but did not make it into the shortlist until the point in time when Scharoun's design was classified as unrealizable. In the February days of 1955 he was commissioned by the building management to investigate the possibilities of building a theater on the intended site. He accepted the order and submitted to the "command of silence" that was imposed on him. He was told that hiring the architects Scharoun and Mattern was as good as obsolete. Until the end of April 1955, no one knew about the “secret order” from Paul Bode, who was supposed to develop an alternative project that would make do with the estimated construction costs. With the help of Ernst Brundig, Paul Bode planned his 'new building' on the foundations of Scharoun, with an even closer proximity to the Ottoneum and Friedrichsplatz to enable a harmonious closure of the square. On April 24, 1955, the Lord Mayor of Kassel Lauritz Lauritzen announced that the State of Hesse had officially bid farewell to Scharoun and Mattern and that Paul Bode and Ernst Brundig would now be employed as architects for this project.

New building under Bode & Brundig (from 1955 to 1959)

Existing theater building after its inauguration in 1959

The two architects erected a new building that differed significantly from their competition design in 1952, because the plans from Scharoun's winning design were adopted, clearly recognizable by the 'organic' shapes as we can see them from Scharoun's design. This can be clearly seen in the central wing made up of cubic bodies, which is on a rectangular floor plan and has convex and concave shapes. At the beginning of the construction work was estimated at around 4 million Deutschmarks. Unpredictable things were factored into the estimate, but none of those responsible had any idea what was to come. And although Paul Bode had been instructed to keep the construction costs as low as possible, they ended up being 20 million Deutschmarks.

Because of his illness, Paul Bode had hardly been able to take part in the construction work since November 1956. On September 12, 1959, the Kassel State Theater was inaugurated by the Hessian Prime Minister Georg August Zinn . This theater building was to remain Bode's first and only one.

description

Night view of the building

location

As already mentioned, the new theater building by Bode and Brundig is located on Friedrichsplatz, just like its predecessor. Together with the Documenta Hall, the State Theater forms the eastern end of the straight line, from the main train station to the Auepark . Led by Kurfürstenstrasse and stairsstrasse, the path leads directly to Friedrichsplatz, where the Fridericianum and Ottoneum are also located. Behind the State Theater there is an unobstructed view of the Orangery Palace Karlsaue and the Auepark.

Architecture and building description

overview

Playhouse at the Kassel State Theater

Paul Bode's theater is a steel frame building made up of cubic structures and forming a rectangle. The middle wing, between the opera and the theater, consists of the stage tower in the west, the workshop building in the north and the administration wing to the east and south. The two foyers emerge from the central wing to the east and west. Due to the difficult subsoil, which had caused problems from the start, it was necessary to treat each part of the building differently. The stage tower was placed on deeply founded banquets and the auditorium of the large house with reinforced concrete banquets on the casemates filled with lean concrete.

facade

Based on the west facade of the opera house, it can be seen that the outer wall is divided into two storeys and curved in a concave manner. The steel end wall is glazed and perforated by a meandering band of horizontal, transparent and opaque glass strips. Behind her rises a semicircular and outwardly curved barrel made of exposed concrete, that of the auditorium. There is a cantilevered copper roof over the four entrances of the Great House, about 11.5 meters in size. Behind the workshop building, more precisely at its eastern end, is the foyer of the theater. This is in direct contrast to the opera house and therefore has a convex curved facade. Here the walls are also made of exposed concrete, but the front is covered with red brick. The foyer of the theater is transversely in front of the auditorium.

Interior work

In the foyer of the opera house, the entrance of which faces Friedrichsplatz, the cash desk and cloakrooms are located to the side of the entrance doors. From there, visitors can access the upper foyer via freely swinging stairs. You can now get to the parquet and the upper level via the glazed staircase of the auditorium. Like the opera foyer, the foyer of the Schauspielhaus also houses the ticket office and cloakrooms. From there, however, two flights of stairs lead down to the parquet floor. The interior design by the artist Blasius Spreng offers the viewer a somewhat different representation in contrast to the exterior, which is characterized by restraint and thriftiness, accentuated only by sheet metal, copper, concrete and red tuff. In the opera house in particular, the effort involved in this is clearly visible. The floor consists mostly of light parquet with dark lines. The walls and ceilings of the auditorium and foyer are artfully clad or paneled with wood. This wood is partly gold-plated or silver-plated and partly coated with special wax. As in the upper foyer of the opera house, the oak veneer, with its different color and line structure, was specially designed by the artist and provided with inlays made of silver leaf. The lighting consists of countless lights that are extended downwards from the ceiling.

Redevelopment

Foyer 2003
Auditorium 2003

In the years 1990 to 1995, a gradual but fundamental renovation of the stage technology took place, which did not affect financially or the operation of the theater. In 1994, the stage technology was completely renewed, which showed that both the safety equipment and the building services no longer met the requirements. However, the funds available to those responsible were not sufficient for an urgently needed basic renovation.

From 2000 to 2001 emergency fire protection measures were carried out, during which the considerations for a complete technical renovation developed. In August 2002, the feasibility study of September 19, 2002 by the Kassel State Building Authority came to the conclusion that renovation could be carried out within a budget of 24.4 to 41 million euros. That led to the draft planning at the end of 2002, with the selection of the planning team Gerling + Arendt, Becker + Becker, Duschl Ingenieure. A press conference held in July 2004 by the State Secretary in the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art, Joachim-Felix Leonhard , announced that the renovation of the State Theater will cost 30.39 million euros

Replacement venues were opened during the renovation and renovation work. The tif (theater in the Fridericianum), as well as the documenta hall (drama) and the dome theater on Friedrichsplatz (opera) were in use until the beginning of 2007. The reopening of the opera house and the theater took place on February 3rd and 4th, 2007.

Classification of the building

Paul Bode had already taken on some tasks in the reconstruction, for example the Schlosshotel Wilhelmshöhe. The modern design of the theater building can be explained with the modernization efforts of Kassel in the post-war period. The convex and concave shapes are reminiscent of an 'organic building' in the style of Hans Scharoun . But despite new constructions and shapes, Bode stuck to a traditional construction method, which is evident from the cubic and right-angled structures. In doing so, he combined his more conservative view of architecture with an attempt to incorporate more modern forms, which can be seen in the curved lines of the foyer. He evidently tried to follow the models of functionalism, rationalism and organic building, which is reflected in the variety of styles in the building complex. “Between tradition and modernity” - this is the best way to describe and locate this building.

Theater operations

In the Staatstheater Kassel performances take place almost every day and every year around 30 pieces are staged in different branches. The State Theater employs a total of around 500 people and is under the direction of artistic director Thomas Bockelmann , who succeeded Christoph Nix in 2004 (as of 2018). Johannes Wieland has been dance director at the State Theater since 2006 . In the opera house there are 953 seats, in the playhouse 540 and in the theater of the Fridericianum an additional 99 seats, which results in 1592 seats. In the 2011/2011 season 210,855 people visited the theater facilities. In the 2007/8 season, the Kassel State Theater received 26.6 million euros in public funds and was able to raise 3.1 million euros. The state orchestra is one of the oldest in Germany. In 1502 it was mentioned as a court chapel .

Directors

Hofkapellmeister and general music directors

Historical lore

The documents handed down by the Kassel State Theater are kept in the Hessian State Archives in Marburg . The stock Kassel State Theater (159) , a runtime has from 1814 to 1968 and covers nearly 30 Ser. Meters of shelf space, is almost completely information about the artistic activities on the stage and the infrastructure behind the stage. It contains files on the performances, the repertoire, the guest performances, the cloakroom, costume and decorations as well as finance and accounting. A large part of the materials are personal files of the artists who worked at the theater in the fields of drama, opera, choir, orchestra and ballet, including some well-known personalities such as the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler . The files, some of which contain photographs, press reviews and references, provide an insight into the work of the ensemble members and the theater as a whole. At the same time, however, the collection also sheds light on the dark period of Kassel's theater history from 1933 to the end of the war, when Jewish employees and opponents of the party were dismissed and persecuted. The documents are fully indexed and can be researched online using the database of the Hessian State Archives HADIS.

literature

  • Stefan Haub, Axel Marbach, Peter Eickholt, Martin Fässle: Kassel State Theater - Freshly renovated . Edited by Hessian construction management. 1st edition. Frankfurt, February 2007.
  • Sylvia Stöbe: Why not a new theater by Hans Scharoun. Paul Bode - architect of the 50s . Issue 7. Ed. Sylvia Stöbe, Architektursalon Kassel. Self-published in Kassel 2010.
  • Julia Herdes: The Kassel State Theater - A case study for the reconstruction concept of the city of Kassel in the 1950s . Master's thesis at the University of Kassel 2011.
  • Arnt Cobbers: 50 years of the Kassel State Theater . In: Bühnentechnische Rundschau 6, 2009, pp. 60–63.
  • Berthold Hinz, Andreas Tacke: Architectural Guide Kassel . Edited by Hinz / Tacke, 2002. Dietrich Reimer Verlag Berlin.
  • C. Schick: The new Royal Theater in Kassel: Architects: A. Karst u. H. Fang Hänel in Kassel . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Volume 29 (1909), no. 69, urn : nbn: de: kobv: 109-opus-43063 , pp. 453–457 (first part) and no. 71, urn : nbn: de: kobv: 109-opus -43082 , pp. 470-472 (second part).
  • 500 years of orchestral culture in Kassel: 1502–2002, with contributions by Hans Joachim Schäfer and Manfred Schumann; Euregio-Verlag Kassel 2001.
  • Horst Zimmermann: The forgotten Hans: Kapellmeister, composer, trumpeter and construction clerk to Cassel: Johann Heugel (approx. 1510–1585) ; Hessian music history (s) told by Horst Zimmermann; Pro Business Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3-86460-320-4 .

Web links

Commons : Staatstheater Kassel  - collection of pictures

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cobbers, 2009, pp. 60-63.
  2. ↑ a b See Herdes, 2011, p. 46.
  3. ↑ See Herdes, 2011, p. 49.
  4. ↑ C. Schick: The new royal court theater in Kassel. Zentralbaltt der Bauverwaltung, pp. 453ff, August 28, 1909, accessed on September 13, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Schick, 1909, pp. 453–457.
  6. ↑ Stöbe, 2010, p. 19.
  7. ↑ Stöbe, 2010, pp. 10-13
  8. ↑ Stöbe, 2010, p. 12
  9. ↑ Stöbe, 2010, p. 13
  10. ↑ Stöbe, 2010, pp. 15-17
  11. ↑ a b Stöbe, 2010, p. 25
  12. ↑ Hinz / Tacke, 2002, p. 9
  13. ↑ Stöbe, 2010, p. 29
  14. ↑ See Herdes, 2011, p. 51
  15. ↑ a b See Herdes, 2011, pp. 59–62
  16. ↑ See Herdes, 2011, p. 61.
  17. ↑ Eickholt / Fässle, 2007, pp. 14-25
  18. ^ Haub / Marbach, 2007, p. 1
  19. ↑ See Herdes, 2011, p. 63.
  20. ↑ faz.net: State Theater - a lot of art for little money , December 22, 2010 .
  21. ↑ Hannes Heer, Sven Fritz, Heike Drummer, Jutta Zwilling: Silent voices. The expulsion of the "Jews" and "politically intolerable" from the Hessian theaters 1933 to 1945 . Metropol-Verlag and Commission for the History of the Jews in Hesse , Wiesbaden 2011.
  22. ↑ Overview of the holdings “Staatstheater Kassel” in the Hessen archive information system (Arcinsys Hessen). Retrieved September 2, 2016.

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 45 "  N , 9 ° 29 ′ 56"  E