State Theater Nuremberg

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Nuremberg Opera House (2011)
Schauspielhaus Nürnberg (2012)
Aerial photograph (2014)

The State Theater Nuremberg is one of the largest multi-branch theaters in Germany. As the fourth state theater in the Free State of Bavaria , it emerged on January 1, 2005 from the former Nuremberg Municipal Theaters . Under the direction of State Director Jens-Daniel Herzog , 550 permanent employees in the fields of opera, drama, ballet and concert currently enable more than 650 performances for over 270,000 visitors per season. The most striking building is the Nuremberg Opera House, which can be seen from afar in the city skyline. Other venues are the Nuremberg theater with the Kammerspiele and the “3. Floor ”(formerly“ BlueBox ”) and the Meistersingerhalle . Concert series of the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg , the orchestra of the Staatstheater under the direction of General Music Director Joana Mallwitz, take place there .

Theater and opera history of Nuremberg

Forerunner of the opera and master singer

The Nuremberg opera history can be traced back to the Middle Ages - with all its predecessors . The imperial castle was a center for love and trouvaille singing, in St. Sebald there was a group of students of the blind organist Conrad Paumann in the middle of the 15th century , the first institutional music training center in Nuremberg . Spiritual mystery plays took place mainly during the Passion and Easter time in the Sebalduskirche and the monasteries of St. Egidien , St. Katharina and St. Klara . Important church music centers were in St. Lorenz , the Frauenkirche and the Heilig-Geist-Schule. There, the care of the Moresques , pantomime character dances and as ancestors of the opera was carried out. At the end of the 15th century, the carnival games replaced these early forms of opera. Later they became extremely popular , especially through Hans Sachs . Singing schools with performances in inns, courtyards, but also in the hospital church of St. Martha , where the master singers practiced , were a central movement. Nuremberg developed into a center for minstrels and poets: Walther von Stolzing was often a guest at the Kaiserburg, Tannhäuser and the Parzival poet Wolfram von Eschenbach were born in the region, and a guest performance by Oswald von Wolkenstein can be traced back to 1431. A significant work in Nuremberg's operatic history is Seelewig , composed by the Nuremberg organist Sigmund Theophil Staden . This piece is the first surviving German opera. The text was written by Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, a co-founder of the literary association of Pegnese Flower Orders .

Day and night comedy house 1628–1800

On June 16, 1628, the fencing or tag comedy house opened its doors with over 3000 seats on three floors on the Pegnitz island of Schütt. The first musical dramas were performed there. It was also the first municipal theater in Germany. The concept was multifunctional. In addition to amusing exhibition fights, artistic performances and bloodthirsty animal hunts, however, the main use was for the theater. A disadvantage of this venue was that it could only be used in summer and during the day due to the lack of technology. The last performances took place there in 1766. After the subsequent use by a glass grinding shop, it was demolished in 1811.

The conversion of a material house located south of the Lorenzkirche in 1668 into a heated and illuminated night comedy house brought Nuremberg a new venue. In the same place, two more theaters were operated until 1944: the Auernheimer National Theater and the Old City Theater. For more than 140 years, Lorenzer Platz was a central venue of the Nuremberg theater. First performances of singspiele by the organist Johann Löhner ( Der just Zeleukus , 1686 and Theseus , 1688) have survived. Guest performances by the surrounding courtly music centers in Ansbach , Amberg or Erlangen only rarely took place. The opening of the season 1714/15 was contested by the "Hochfürstlich Bayreuthischen court comedians". In 1754 and 1757, ballets and plays by the “Anspachian High Princely Privileged Court Comedians” are documented. From the middle of the 18th century, operas such as Alceste by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1782) and Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1794) could be attended to an increasing extent. On September 17, 1800, the night comedy house, long known by the population as the “opera house”, had to be closed because it was dilapidated.

The Auernheimer National Theater 1801–1827

The innkeeper Georg Leonhard Auernheimer built a new theater building in Nuremberg at his own expense . The "Auernheimer National Theater" was opened on April 6, 1801 with the play Bayard, the man without fear and blame by August von Kotzebue after only six months of construction. It was also located on Lorenzer Platz and, with a simple exterior with three ornate portals, was built as a classicist- oriented building. The public space, made up of two wooden galleries and parquet, offered space for 500 spectators. An orchestra with 20 musicians, a size common for the time, could make music in the orchestra room. Mostly, however, spoken theater took place there. In 1808, economic problems forced Auernheimer to sell his theater.

Under the following directors, the focus of the repertoire and the economic situation of the theater also changed. The bassist and opera director Joseph Reuter (until 1816) put music theater in the foreground, his wife, the coloratura soprano Caroline Reuter (until 1819) above all operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Domenico Cimarosa . The next manager of the Georg Braun house again ran into financial difficulties. However, a stroke of luck saved him and the National Theater in 1822: Carl Maria von Weber's finances were in dire straits. That is why he offered Braun his opera Der Freischütz for the astonishingly low fee of just 20 ducats just one year after its premiere in Berlin . Sheet music, libretto and all performance rights were included. The first Nuremberg performance took place on August 26, 1822. With 17 performances initially, the work was a great success with the public. In 1823 the piece even lured King Maximilian I to Nuremberg. Full of enthusiasm, he then promoted Georg Braun to "Economy Inspector" for life at the Munich Court Theater. During the time as director of his successor, Marianne von Trentinaglia, an actress, works by Friedrich Schiller dominated the program. On June 10, 1827, the 26-year-old theater building was closed due to dilapidation.

Interim theater 1827–1833

As a result, first concert operas were performed in the town hall hall . A little later, a temporary wooden structure was built, the so-called interim theater on the island of Schütt . It was an unadorned, functional building with an amphitheatrical auditorium. At the opening on August 26, 1827, the festival was played by Kaiser Ludwigs Traum . Financial problems with ensuing strikes by the ensemble members due to lack of payments forced Ms. von Trentinaglia to flee Nuremberg. The attempt to keep the business going brought only a few significant performances such as B. Carl Maria von Weber's opera Oberon , Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio and also Giacomo Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil with Him. Above all, the poor conditions for actors and singers caused displeasure. Trips to Fürth , Erlangen and Bamberg with their permanent venues increased. The last performance took place on September 29, 1833, the demolition followed in March 1834.

Old City Theater on Lorenzer Platz 1832–1945

On April 30, 1832, the foundation stone of the New City Theater (from 1905 Old City Theater) was laid on the site of the former Auernheimer National Theater on Lorenzer Platz. The building, which can hold around 1,000 spectators, was completed on September 30, 1833. The architect Leonhard Schmidtner designed the late classical building. The construction costs amounted to 75,000 guilders. This theater was also relatively unadorned and resulted in tight spaces in the auditorium and on the stage, which is why it was soon called "Vuglhäusla" in Franconian vernacular. The opening took place on October 1, 1833 with the play The Crown of Cyprus by Eduard von Schenk . Up until the 1850s, there were frequent changes in management, which resulted in poor artistic quality. Isolated highlights such as B. the appearance of the leading German soprano Wilhelmine Schroeder-Devrient in 1835 as Leonore in Ludwig van Beethoven's opera Fidelio were the exception. There were frequent guest trips to Fürth and Erlangen - but also long closing times in Nuremberg. From 1842 to 1844 the management completely withdrew from the opera, shortly afterwards a total of 285 musical theater performances were carried out again from 1844 to 1848 under the direction of Ferdinand Röder , an experienced theater director (previously in Bamberg , Bayreuth , Meiningen and Regensburg ) . Due to financial problems, also caused by the annual lease costs of 1,100 guilders, Röder later fled from Nuremberg.

Gustav August Brauer achieved consolidation from 1850 onwards . During his time the theater privilege in Nuremberg was abolished (1868) and subsidies were introduced by the city. Now the theater could really call itself the city theater. The artistic quality increased under Brauer's direction and operas by Giuseppe Verdi ( Ernani , 1850) and Richard Wagner ( Tannhäuser , 1856) could be performed for the first time. Industrialization brought about the professionalization of the entire profession. Popular ideas among the rapidly growing workforce provided reliable sources of income.

From 1858 Maximilian Reck took over the management for 27 years. This time went down as a glamorous epoch in the Nuremberg theater history. A northern Bavarian theater association was created together with Fürth and Erlangen, from 1870 Bamberg and temporarily also Coburg . A regular season was introduced and in the summer there was seasonal theater with mostly operettas and comedies . Incidentally, this was the beginning of a hundred-year period of intensive operetta maintenance in Nuremberg. In 1860 dance evenings with a ballet company from Rome took place for the first time . The Nuremberg Theater developed into the second most important house in Bavaria. Guest performances by the Munich Court Opera could now also be offered. The orchestra had around forty permanent positions, which was indispensable for the first performance of Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on March 28, 1879 , among other things . Since then, this work has been the most performed opera in Nuremberg. As a significant lifetime achievement of the director Reck, there have recently been further structural improvements and higher municipal grants. Reck died on May 6, 1885 and was buried in the Rochus Cemetery with great sympathy from the population . The 28-year-old son Hans Reck moved the works of Richard Wagner more into focus as his successor. In 1893, for example, the first cyclical performance of the Ring des Nibelungen was realized in Nuremberg. The nearby Bayreuth repeatedly sent young and well-known guest singers. The first thoughts on a more modern and larger new theater arose due to the growing population and the high wear and tear of the old city theater on Lorenzer Platz. On the 100th anniversary of Friedrich Schiller's death, May 10, 1905, Wilhelm Tell was the last performance for the time being.

In the 20th century, the old city theater was used again for performances. From 1924 until its final destruction on January 2, 1945, it was the home of the Nuremberg theater. In addition, in 1935 the music ensemble moved into the more than hundred-year-old building for a few months during the renovations in the opera house.

The Nuremberg Opera Quarter on the Altstadtring (Frauentorgraben) left / east of the opera the Sigmund-Schuckert-Haus, right / west of it the Hotel Deutscher Hof ; in the background the theater opened in 1959

New city theater on the Ring from 1905

The beginnings at the beginning of the 20th century 1905–1933

The splendid opening of the New City Theater on the Ring with over three hundred invited guests on the site of the general hospital that was demolished in 1903 and was in operation from 1845 to 1897 took place on September 1, 1905, among other things with the presentation of the festival scene from the third act of Opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner held. In its first season the ensemble had 315 performances, mostly with works by Richard Wagner. Due to the city's strict conditions in an outdated lease system that was reminiscent of the former theater privilege, the artistic level was not exactly high over time. Richard Strauss , who only one day after the premiere of his opera Der Rosenkavalier, complained in Dresden headed this work in Nuremberg as a guest conductor, about the quality of the entire ensemble in an open letter to the mayor. In doing so, he pursued the goal of abolishing the leasing system and called for subsidies and a doubling of the orchestra's strength.

“As already indicated, at that time I found an orchestra with you that was as bad as I have found only once in Lviv in Galicia in my entire life - and I have conducted orchestras in almost all of the civilized world. In many smaller cities [...] I have found orchestras of far better quality and training than in your big city. "

- Richard Strauss : Letter to the Lord Mayor of Nuremberg, 1911

The first owner of the city theater, Richard Balder , resigned in 1914 due to the financial situation. The new director Alois Pennarini not only took on directing duties, but also sang a number of title roles as a tenor himself. During the First World War , gaming operations were maintained as good as possible. In 1918, drama and light musical revues dominated. Pennarini also survived the beginning of the Weimar Republic , but in 1920 was exposed to great criticism regarding his schedule design and poor audience numbers. Thereupon he gave back his directorship.

This resignation marked a major turning point in the history of the opera house. The licensed company became the municipal theaters. The new in-house operation of the city of Nuremberg brought the employees greater security and the newly appointed director Willy Stuhlfeld from Würzburg artistic planning security. However, during his tenure until June 1922, he had to contend with inflation and its consequences as well as internal intrigues. His successor Johannes Maurach was an experienced theater man. Under him, the Philharmonic Orchestra Nuremberg, founded in 1890, and the orchestra of the Stadttheater merged to form the Nuremberg Municipal Orchestra (today the Nuremberg State Philharmonic ). Only then did the orchestra, now with 110 musicians, reach the minimum size recommended by Richard Strauss in 1913. After overcoming inflation, the theater's economic situation also stabilized. Maurach and the city of Nuremberg pushed ahead with plans to renovate the 90-year-old city theater on Lorenzer Platz as a venue for spoken theater. It was reopened on September 21, 1924. The New City Theater on the Ring was now increasingly called the Opera House . Mauracher developed both branches further and made the Nuremberg stage a veritable “springboard theater” for talented people. A large corps de ballet made ballet evenings possible in Nuremberg. Poor occupancy rates in the late 1920s and the economic crisis in the early 1930s forced the theater to take austerity measures. Nevertheless, the reconciled Richard Strauss judged the house's 25th anniversary in 1930:

"Nuremberg has a first-class musical theater."

- Richard Strauss : for the 25th anniversary, 1930

The Opera House during the National Socialism (1933–1945)

With the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship , the opera in general and the Nuremberg Opera House in particular was misused for propaganda and representation. From 1933, the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was repeatedly used for Nazi purposes. All Nazi party rallies up to 1938 opened with a presentation of this work. High financial subsidies from the Nazi regime made it possible, in addition to the renovation of the entire interior according to ideological ideas, to achieve a high level of artistic quality. However, artistic director Johannes Maurach had to accept more and more restrictions in the design of the schedule. Slavic, Russian and Jewish composers were banned from concert life. The operetta experienced an increased focus. In June 1939 Maurach, who was too headstrong to the regime, was ousted from office. His successor Wilhelm Hanke was responsible for five seasons during the war. In 1943/44 the complete Ring des Nibelungen was shown for the first time as the last production ; The 39th season ended with the presentation of Götterdämmerung on August 31, 1944. An unofficial, last concert with orchestra members who were not called up for military service is occupied for April 15, 1945, in the middle of the hail of gunfire - seven listeners were there.

From the city theater to the state theater in Nuremberg from 1946 to today

After the reconstruction, the "Nuremberg Opera House" was initially used mainly by the United States Army as a cinema and theater. A bar, the so-called Stork Club, was set up in the large first-tier foyer. The Nuremberg City Theater was officially put back into operation on October 1, 1945. The occupying power allowed occasional game operations that only took place in the afternoon and on a maximum of two days of the week. The theater bandmaster Rolf Agop took over the direction of the orchestra at the first performances after the war (first post-war concert in the opera house on September 23, 1945) and subsequently carried out the important reconstruction work. When GMD Alfons Dressel returned after his denazification , Agop left the house.

Since the stage on Lorenzer Platz was completely destroyed during the war, all sections were initially in the opera house. From 1947 until the 1950s, the Bucher halls in Nuremberg-Thon were used as another venue. With the commitment of the new, longstanding general manager Karl Pschigode , the spatial situation relaxed. In 1946 he founded the private Lessing Theater for drama performances. This became the official venue of the city theater until 1959. Thanks to the cooperation with the Stadttheater Fürth, five venues were now available: the opera house, the Bucher halls, the Lessing Theater, the Stadttheater Fürth and a school auditorium as a venue for the Kammerspiele. The program for 1958/59 included the performance of a total of 48 musical works, including the first ring tetralogy after the Second World War, as well as six Philharmonic concerts.

Wagner bust on Richard-Wagner-Platz in front of the opera house

The main focus in the 1950s and 1960s was on maintaining operettas and contemporary works. This was expressed with the week of contemporary theater from 1952 and the week of contemporary opera. On September 22, 1951, the opera house and the Fürth city theater were completely returned by the American occupation forces. In 1955 the 50th anniversary was celebrated. In 1961, 900,000 spectators visited the venues on Richard-Wagner-Platz, which had been expanded in 1959 by the new theater and in 1963 the Meistersingerhalle on Luitpoldhain was further relieved.

After the opening of the new theater under director Hesso Huber, the theater ensemble had to cope with new productions “on the assembly line”, which were looked after by five to six dedicated directors and a few guests. A recognizable profile could not develop in this way. Artists like Luc Bondy , Nicolas Brieger and Christa Berndl worked as young talents in Nuremberg during Huber's time as director until 1975. This was followed by a season under Hans Dieter Schwarze and another under the young Friedrich Schirmer .

Hans Gierster , General Music Director from 1965, had made some merits in organizing the orchestra during his 23 years of service. The orchestra was increased from 77 to 87 positions and at the end of the 1970s it was upgraded from a B to an A orchestra, now known as the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Nuremberg. In addition, in the 1970s he prevented the Philharmonic Concerts from being abolished and organized closer collaboration with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra in so-called cooperation concerts . Here came z. E.g. the Symphony of a Thousand by Gustav Mahler (1977) and Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder (1980) for performance.

A nationally recognized first performance was the revised, so-called Nuremberg version of the work Intolleranza 1960 by Luigi Nono on May 10, 1970 . The original version was enhanced with electronic music by Nono himself, and Yaak Karsunke's lyrics were updated with themes such as the Vietnam War and the Prague Spring . In January 1974 the production called Intolleranza 1970 went to the Teatro Comunale in Florence for four performances .

On December 14, 1974, the “wave of idiosyncratic directorial theater for the opera genre” had its trigger in Nuremberg. Hans Neuenfels ' first opera directing work premiered with Verdi's The Troubadour . Since then he has been at the "spearhead of the staging revolution". This performance was subsequently and is still reflected nationwide not only as a theater scandal , but also as a milestone in opera directing:

“The surprising and actually outstanding thing about this production is not the theatrically gaudy, unaffected exposure of operatic nonsense behind an entertainment film, but the meaning that Neuenfels gives to the opera. […] This haunting opera debut by Hans Neuenfels can be classified in the new narrative styles of music theater, the endgame mood that currently dominates opera. [...] It goes without saying that the production was not only acclaimed, but very bad words were uttered on the floor. "

- Jens Wendland : DIE ZEIT, December 20, 1974, No. 52

“Anyone who witnessed this 'troubadour' can still see the dreamlike images. That was a new experience, a psychoanalytically grounded picture puzzle, an (according to the young music critic) an evening at the opera, 'which one should have seen if one takes the word music theater seriously'. "

- Rainer Wagner : Hannoversche Allgemeine, August 21, 2011

"His Nuremberg troubadour debut in 1974 led to the horror cabinet of a sadomasochistic freak, where horror became slapstick and comedy became horror."

- Gerhard R. Koch : Frankfurter Allgemeine, May 29, 2011

Hans Neuenfels, who was followed by other directors at the Nuremberg Opera House, reports on his work at the time:

"When I staged my first opera, Troubadour 1974 in Nuremberg, we managed to get two months of rehearsal, which was unusually long at the time."

- Hans Neuenfels in an interview with Antje Kaiser and Antje Schmelcher : Berliner Zeitung, October 29, 2004

“The costume designer protested the most [about the planned appearance of an angel performing]. The discussion lasted a long time. The next morning I felt a cool pain on the left side of my head. In front of the mirror I discovered a bald spot about five marks the size of my hair. 'Verdi's revenge', the costume designer smiled happily. It was a so-called alopecia areata, a circular hair loss, with which the surrealist Roger Vitrac provided his main female character in his play The Coup of Trafalgar. But I was convinced that Verdi did not want to take revenge on me and insisted on my idea. "

- Hans Neuenfels : DIE ZEIT, 05/2001

On October 6, 1976, the play Schweig, Bub! premiered by Fitzgerald Kusz . With a total of around 350,000 spectators in over 700 performances, it is the most successful Nuremberg production and, with numerous adaptations, is one of the most popular German dialect pieces.

From 1977 to 1992, the Nürnberger Schauspiel was headed by Hansjörg Utzerath, “probably the most important director that the theater has had to this day”. Among other things, he brought out the opera Palestrina by Hans Pfitzner , together with the new GMD Thielemann. Christian Thielemann was appointed as the youngest general music director in Germany in 1988 , still under Artistic Director Burkhard Mauer . Under his leadership, German high romanticism was given particular attention. He achieved his artistic breakthrough with a performance of Tristan . In 1992 he left the house due to internal differences.

After a change of policy in Nuremberg, a new beginning also took place at the opera house. In 1996, Wulf Konold was appointed general manager who, together with GMD Philippe Auguin, reorganized the program programmatically. An almost complete Mahler symphony cycle was realized by Auguin, and in the summer of 2003 a complete Ring of the Nibelung was performed for the first time in 44 years . At the Beijing Music Festival 2005 the house made a guest appearance with this production, for which it received the festival's special prize. The Staatstheater Nürnberg took another guest performance to Asia in the 2005/2006 season: in March of the Mozart Year 2006 the opera performed Mozart's Don Giovanni four times at the Hong Kong Arts Festival .

On May 21, 2003, Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber announced that the Free State of Bavaria would share half of the costs of the four-division house. The Nuremberg Municipal Theaters were elevated to the status of the Nuremberg State Theater. With the establishment of a sponsorship foundation on January 1, 2005, this regulation and award came into force.

History of the construction of the state theater venues

Nuremberg Opera House

Nuremberg Opera House
Nuremberg State Theater 2012.jpg
location
Address: Richard-Wagner-Platz 2
City: Nuremberg
Coordinates: 49 ° 26 '47 "  N , 11 ° 4' 31"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 26 '47 "  N , 11 ° 4' 31"  E
Architecture and history
Construction time: 1903-1905
Opened: September 1, 1905
Spectator: 1421 seats
Architect: Heinrich Seeling
Internet presence:
Website: www.staatstheater-nuernberg.de

Planning and design

The industrialization in the 19th century had a tenfold increase in population in Nuremberg result. The need for a new theater was recognized as early as 1887, but it took more than ten years for these plans to be implemented. A building site was found at Frauentorgraben on the site of the old city hospital. On the recommendation of several experts, a public tender was dispensed with and the experienced Berlin theater architect Heinrich Seeling was commissioned with a design. He already had experience with the shape, structure, acoustics, visibility and safety of modern theater buildings. In June 1898 a contract was drawn up in which Seeling was urged to orientate himself on the forms of the old Nuremberg architecture of the 16th century.

The new theater on a picture postcard, around 1910

The architect delivered the first draft in September 1898. It consisted of a building complex with a theater and a hall. The buildings were connected to one unit by an elongated wing. Various roof shapes with numerous gables and towers decorated the facades with stylistic elements from the Gothic and Renaissance periods . Two towers, the stage dome and a tall, slender tower were arranged diagonally in balance with architectural proportions. The building was based on the Kaiserjubiläums-Theater (today Volksoper Wien ) designed by the architects Alexander Graf and Franz von Krauss . In general, the first draft was initially approved, but after a public exhibition, a vehemently controversial discussion for and against the Nuremberg style and between building based on the past and the search for modern architecture broke out.

Seeling redesigned the facade in a second draft, keeping the floor plan. This was submitted in May 1900 and implemented after renewed public debate. However, due to the time pressure (completion date October 1, 1902) and due to higher costs, the city initially decided to only build the theater without the hall construction. The construction of the concert and ballroom was never realized.

The construction work, which lasted from 1901 to 1905, cost 4.3 million marks . The new theater building was therefore the most expensive in Europe at the time. When it opened on September 1, 1905, the theater capacity in Nuremberg improved from around 1000 seats in the Old City Theater to 1421 seats in the New City Theater on the Ring. The most modern equipment with electricity, heating systems and stage technology brought the highest level of comfort. In 1908, Seeling was made primarily responsible for the sharp rise in costs, as he was building the Frankfurt theater at the same time and therefore allegedly lost track of everything.

The curtain of the new city theater on a picture postcard, around 1905

Equipment and architecture

The structure extends in an east-west orientation along the Frauentorgraben between Lessingstrasse and Treustrasse and has a rectangular floor plan. A long narrow magazine construction, u. a. for the backdrops , is added to the southwest corner. The structure of the main building is based on that of the Paris Opera by Charles Garnier , which was later considered a generally accepted scheme. It consists of three main floors, divided into three functional blocks as traditional theater locations for encounters, collection and action: the entrance area with the entrance hall, vestibule and main stairwells, the auditorium with a U-shaped auditorium including foyer and the stage with the side staircases. A stylistic mixture of forms of neo-renaissance, neo-baroque and timid echoes of art nouveau characterizes the facades. These consist of sandstone blocks from the Nuremberg area, the base is made of Lower Franconian shell limestone and the roofs are covered with green glazed interlocking tiles.

The mosaic above the main entrance The three norns under the world ash

The rich figurative decoration is graded on all fronts according to value. The most lavishly decorated is the eastern side as the representative main facade - the southern front, on the other hand, remains almost completely unadorned. The motifs of the figures and sculptures come from the Nordic world of legends, the musical dramas of Richard Wagner, the city of Nuremberg and the theater with the background of the Dionysian cult. The group of figures above the main entrance, like most of the sculptural works, was designed by the sculptor Philipp Kittler from Schwabach. The larger-than-life central figure of Noris triumphs over the Nuremberg coat of arms , with the “Funny Council” and the Meistersinger sitting at her feet . The mosaic picture above the main facade was advertised as a competition across Bavaria. The Nuremberg painter Hermann Schwabe jun. emerged as the winner and artistically implemented the given theme The Three Norns under the World Ash . Also on the east side is a balcony at the level of the first tier, which is accessed via the refreshment room (today Gluck Hall).

The auditorium originally consisted of parquet, three tiers , a gallery, boxes and lounges. The first tier is divided into boxes. The two Prozeniumsloge and the middle box had a front box or an upstream oval salon. Two representative staircases in the parquet flooring lead to the first tier, another three staircases to the tiers.

The interior was designed by Seeling together with Karl Selzer , a Passau decorative painter and professor at the Nuremberg State School for Applied Arts . Not contractually stipulated, they opted for a decoration in the then modern, lush Art Nouveau style. Above all, the foyers , the auditorium and the first-tier foyer , which was expanded to serve as a refreshment room, were given lavish furnishings.

This room, now known as the Gluck Hall, which is located transversely to the depth axis of the theater and is vaulted with a barrel, opened up to the auditorium with five arched arcades up to the third gallery. The barrel ceiling was painted using a fresco technique and, through the rich vegetation and arbor architecture, opened up an illusionistic view of the balcony and the open sky. A painted park landscape with a central two-part fountain and human staffage extended the space on the northern front. The four seasons were represented by three- dimensional figures by the Berlin sculptor Hermann Feuerhahn .

As a further decoration, there was a silver-plated frieze with children playing in front of the skyline of Nuremberg above the double door of the central box of the first tier. In the parquet parquet, a cave robe fountain was built between two pillars, modeled on the cave mountains of the baroque garden halls of the 18th century.

Destruction and rebuilding

During the National Socialist era , the opera house was completely redesigned inside by Paul Schultze-Naumburg in 1935 . All Art Nouveau elements have been eliminated. The interiors were to be made more objective in line with the National Socialist ideals of art, with the aim of banishing the spirit of Art Nouveau. The valuable furnishings had to give way to a simplified neo-classical design.

Even after the war and the severe damage to the house in 1945, the interior was only restored in a simple form. The outer shell, on the other hand, was reconstructed and completely rebuilt.

The main facade with mosaic and group of figures

The general renovation since 1989

In 1989, the preparatory work for a general renovation of the Nuremberg Opera House began: an asbestos removal, the renovation of the balustrade of the east facade and the erection of the lantern above the stage. In 1991 the first construction phase followed with the renovation of the workshops and rehearsal rooms and the installation of new sanitary facilities in the visitor area. In the second construction phase from 1993 to 1996, the facades were renovated and the bronze figures in the east gable were reconstructed and erected. The extensive third construction phase in 1998 mainly concerned the interior. The auditorium was gutted, the air conditioning system renewed, new lighting installed, and the sound and lighting systems in the stage area improved. This largest construction phase only lasted six months. Finally, the ticket hall, the walkways and the foyer were redesigned. Further modifications, such as B. the installation of a lift for the disabled, new windows throughout the building, new rooms for staff and workshops, among others, were carried out as well as the redesign of Richard-Wagner-Platz in front of the opera house.

The house was only locked for eight and a half months and was able to reopen in autumn 1998. The general renovation cost more than 40 million DM , about 50 percent of which was taken over by the Free State of Bavaria . Finally, the renewed Valkyrie was placed back on the west gable of the opera house.

In the previous renovations, the heating system, which is still at the level of 1905 today, the upper machinery, which is only released for operation by the TÜV reluctantly, as well as the problem of the backstage being too small with the result that stage sets that In the past two-dimensional, now mostly three-dimensional, must be completely dismantled. Because of the narrow passage to the stage, some of the backdrops even have to be sawn and put back together. Guest performances and collaborations with other venues are therefore only possible under difficult conditions. In 2012, the Nuremberg Opera House was forecast to undergo several years of general renovation and a possible closure. The renovation is coupled with the planning of a new concert hall at Luitpoldhain and the upcoming renovation of the Meistersingerhalle. This should serve as an alternative venue during the multi-year closure period.

View of the renovated theater (2012) and the opera house from the south

Schauspielhaus Nuremberg

The Schauspielhaus Nürnberg is within sight south of the opera house between Richard-Wagner- and Karl-Pschigode-Platz. The Hercules Velodrome was located on the site from 1898 to 1944, which was initially built as a cycle track, but was quickly converted into an event location, restaurant and meeting place. In 1951 an army theater for the occupation troops was built on this site. This cinema received an attached stage from the beginning, so that in 1959 it only had to be rebuilt for 4.7 million marks. The theater was opened on September 9, 1959 with Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein . The large hall offered space for 942 spectators, which soon turned out to be too big. In 1962, for example, a room in the basement of the building was poorly converted for the Kammerspiele for smaller productions. The first general renovation of the house followed in 1976 with the reduction of the large hall to 539 seats. In 1990 there was another closure due to asbestos pollution.

From May 2008 to October 2010 the Nuremberg theater and the Kammerspiele were temporarily closed due to an urgently needed general renovation. As a backup game sites served the Tafelhalle , the theater in KaLi (former chamber-air theater at Plärrer) and the Concert Hall of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra at the Congress Hall on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds .

In addition to the facade, the entrance area, the foyer, the auditorium and the entire stage technology were renewed for around 37 million euros. The design for the renovation came from the Hamburg architect Jörg Friedrich . The completely renovated theater was reopened with a ceremony on October 17, 2010. A spacious staircase with bars and open foyers on three levels now connects the Kammerspiele with 205 seats, the theater with 538 seats and the new "BlueBox" (now: 3rd floor), which was erected as a tent extension directly in front of the entrance before the renovation . It has flexible seating with up to 99 seats.

Divisions and events

Opera

The Nuremberg opera ensemble consists of 17 singers in the 2018/2019 season. There are also numerous guests and scholarship holders from the International Opera Studio in Nuremberg. This has existed since 2003 in cooperation with the Nuremberg University of Music and supports students in the post-graduate course International Opera Studio with practical additional training for a year . The choir of the Staatstheater Nürnberg comprises 45 singers under the direction of choir director Tarmo Vaask . General music director has been the conductor Joana Mallwitz since the 2018/19 season . The program includes musical theater from the “classical” opera repertoire to children's operas to musicals and contemporary works.

View from the opera house towards the theater

play

The spoken theater, housed in the renovated Schauspielhaus since 2010, has been headed by Drama Director Jan Philipp Gloger since the 2018/19 season . Anne Lenk is the in-house director . With Philipp Löhle there is for the first time a house author at the Schauspielhaus. The ensemble consists of 24 actors and actresses as well as a musician and a musician. Since the 2018/19 season, drama has for the first time also included performative forms of theater and the independent scene in its work at the State Theater. With Import / Export , a series of intercultural exchange takes place at the theater of the State Theater Nuremberg.

ballet

The ensemble, which has been operating under the name Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballett since the 2008/09 season (previously Tanztheater Nürnberg) and has been under the direction of ballet director Goyo Montero since then, will stage three premieres, two revivals and an international ballet gala in 2016/2017. 19 dancers are employed in the ballet ensemble.

concert

The Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg is the orchestra of the State Theater, which has been under the direction of GMD Joana Mallwitz since 2018 . Several series of concerts are organized: once a month, lunch concerts under the name Phil & Lunch take place in the café of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg , in cooperation with the European FilmPhilharmonie the orchestra plays film music for Charlie Chaplin's silent films . Further concert series are Phil & Chill in a Nuremberg discotheque and Phil & Young with concerts for children and young people , as well as a series of chamber concerts by the Philharmonie Nürnberg e. V. with performances in the Gluck Hall of the opera house. In the 2016/17 season, the orchestra performed eight philharmonic concerts in the Meistersingerhalle Nuremberg with 101 employed musicians .

The opera house at night

PLUS

PLUS summarizes all programs of the State Theater Nuremberg, which relate to the teaching of theater education, as well as to trying it out on the stage. Under the direction of Anja Sparberg, PLUS operates six theater clubs for young people and adults, offers theater tours, workshops and school support for productions. The 360 ° project funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation , which is a four-year concept phase that deals with changing urban society, also falls under PLUS . A special feature of the state theater's youth work is the school space rental, which has existed since 1948: pupils can watch up to six selected productions from opera, drama and ballet during the season at greatly reduced prices through their schools.

Regular events

Some of the regular events at the State Theater Nuremberg are:

statistics

In the 2013/2014 season, the Nuremberg State Theater achieved income from performance of 7.01 million euros. With 11,592 subscribers, a high was reached this season. In 2014, the State Theater received grants of 17.8 million euros from the state.

Events and number of visitors to the opera house
Playtime Performances, including: Opera Operetta / musical ballet Children / concerts Visitors Space utilization in%
1998/1999 183 97 36 34 16 133,152 72.3
1999/2000 187 97 34 39 16 133,861 71.7
2000/2001 202 129 22nd 30th 18th 134.998 65.9
2001/2002 197 117 28 35 17th 132.018 67.5
2002/2003 193 111 36 22nd 14th 130.182 66.6
2003/2004 190 124 34 16 16 129,313 66.5
2004/2005 216 118 49 33 16 140.904 67.5
2005/2006 197 106 52 25th 14th 138,694 72.4
2006/2007 178 99 37 29 13 116.197 66.4
2007/2008 202 111 38 31 18th 138,670 73.1
2008/2009 169 87 42 22nd 18th 127,482 74.1
2009/2010 185 91 32 43 19th 145,671 76.6
2010/2011 192 115 23 38 16 150,398 76.1
2011/2012 192 100 23 45 24 158.025 80.0
2012/2013 190 103 26th 38 23 155.991 79.6
2013/2014 184 82 38 44 20th 158,950 83.9
2014/2015 191 93 29 41 28 161,869 82.5
2015/2016 194 85 37 39 33 161,335 81.1
2016/2017 190 86 38 40 26th 148.063 76.1
Events and number of visitors to the theater
Playtime imaginations Visitors Space utilization in%
1998/1999 221 85,587 77.6
1999/2000 219 88.040 78.3
2000/2001 197 78,543 75.4
2001/2002 187 73,379 74.5
2002/2003 190 85,782 84.4
2003/2004 203 85,541 79.1
2004/2005 213 86,659 76.1
2005/2006 218 89,353 75.6
2006/2007 211 90,555 80.7
2007/2008 168 67.173 77.9
2008/2009 142 46,330 83.5
2009/2010 109 32,583 71.6
2010/2011 197 78,682 75.5
2011/2012 207 76,635 71.0
2012/2013 199 85,611 81.6
2013/2014 187 78,583 80.2
2014/2015 188 66,669 66.8
2015/2016 190 79.917 79.6
2016/2017 187 79.015 79.6
  1. ↑ Congress hall as a replacement venue
  2. ↑ Congress hall as a replacement venue
Events and attendance at the Kammerspiele
Playtime imaginations Visitors Space utilization in%
1998/1999 187 28,435 83.5
1999/2000 202 29,238 82.4
2000/2001 164 24,275 80.9
2001/2002 150 22,592 81.6
2002/2003 172 24,873 76.6
2003/2004 170 24,860 76.4
2004/2005 160 24,766 82.0
2005/2006 156 24,768 83.3
2006/2007 157 24,837 83.3
2007/2008 182 31,496 84.9
2008/2009 127 33,766 87.7
2009/2010 116 31,005 86.0
2010/2011 158 22,375 66.7
2011/2012 176 27,857 77.0
2012/2013 147 25,084 80.6
2013/2014 160 27,526 81.9
2014/2015 177 30,145 82.7
2015/2016 173 30.192 83.6
2016/2017 144 25.006 82.8
  1. ↑ Tafelhalle as a replacement venue
  2. ↑ Tafelhalle as a replacement venue
Events and visitor numbers at other venues
Playtime imaginations Visitors Space utilization in%
1998/1999 34 2,356 49.7
1999/2000 37 4,285 51.0
2000/2001 167 18,571 76.3
2001/2002 207 16,152 67.0
2002/2003 165 11,849 72.7
2003/2004 157 13,583 77.3
2004/2005 134 10.135 69.4
2005/2006 171 20,335 66.4
2006/2007 198 24,779 67.8
2007/2008 187 23,340 64.1
2008/2009 187 23,606 66.9
2009/2010 233 30,854 70.3
2010/2011 219 27.603 75.9
2011/2012 219 28,220 73.0
2012/2013 241 30,336 72.0
2013/2014 177 23,970 77.2
2014/2015 200 27,257 79.7
2015/2016 230 26,037 81.9
2016/2017 223 23,441 73.1
  1. ↑ These statistics include events in the Blue Box, on the rehearsal stages, in the foyer and events of the State Theater in the Meistersingerhalle.

Source: Statistical Yearbook of the City of Nuremberg 2003, 2011, 2012 and 2015

people

The general managers
Period Surname
1905-1914 Richard Balder
1914-1920 Alois Pennarini
1920-1922 Willy Stuhlfeld
1922-1939 Johannes Maurach
1939-1945 Wilhelm Hanke
1946-1947 Walter Bruno Iltz
1947-1971 Karl Pschigode
1971-1985 there was no general manager at that time
1986-1991 Burkhard Mauer
1991-1996 Lev Bogdan
1996-2008 Wulf Konold
2008-2018 Peter Theiler
2018– Jens-Daniel Herzog
The general music directors
Period Surname
1923-1925 Ferdinand Wagner
1925-1938 Bertil Wetzelsberger
1938-1946 Alfons Dressel
1946-1948 Rolf Agop
1948-1955 Alfons Dressel
1956-1964 Erich Riede
1965-1988 Hans Gierster
1988-1992 Christian Thielemann
1993-1998 Eberhard Kloke
1998-2005 Philippe Auguin
2006-2011 Christof Prick
2011-2018 Marcus Bosch
2018– Joana Mallwitz
The ballet directors
Period Surname
1955-1975 Hildegard Kramer
1975-1991 Horst Mueller
1991-1994 David Sutherland
1994-1998 Jean Renshaw
1998-2008 Daniela Kurz
2008– Goyo Montero
  1. ↑ Chief choreographer, “Doppelspitze” with Horst Müller, who was still the “headmaster of the ballet”
The acting directors
Period Surname
1959-1975 Hesso Huber
1975-1976 Hans Dieter Black
1976-1977 Friedrich Schirmer
1977-1992 Hansjörg Utzerath
1992-1993 Raymund Richter
1993-1994 Lev Bogdan
1994-1999 Holger Berg
1999 Wulf Konold
2000-2018 Klaus Kusenberg
2018– Jan Philipp Gloger

literature

  • Jens Voskamp u. a .: State Theater Nuremberg 1905–2005 . Opera house, state opera; From the New City Theater on the Ring to the State Theater. Ed .: State Theater Nuremberg. Müller, Nuremberg 2005, ISBN 3-924773-12-2 .
  • Dieter Stoll u. a .: The new theater in Nuremberg . From "American cinema" to ensemble theater. Ed .: State Theater Foundation Nuremberg. Henschel, Nuremberg 2010, ISBN 3-89487-674-3 .
  • E. Weber: For the inauguration of the new city theater in Nuremberg on September 1, 1905 . Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 1905 (with: In the new house , festival for the inauguration of the new city theater in Nuremberg, written by F. von Jäger).
  • Friedrich Bröger [Red.]: Schauspielhaus on Richard-Wagner-Platz. Municipal theaters Nuremberg-Fürth . Städtische Bühnen Nürnberg-Fürth, Nürnberg 1959 (guide booklet for the opening ceremony of the theater in 1959, 68 pages).
  • Gisela Schultheiß, Ernst-Friedrich Schultheiß: From the city theater to the opera house . 500 years of music theater in Nuremberg. Verlag A. Hofmann, Nuremberg 1990, ISBN 3-87191-151-8 (preface by Mayor Dr. Peter Schönlein ).
  • Charlotte Bühl: theater . In: Michael Diefenbacher; Rudolf Endres (Hrsg.): Stadtlexikon Nürnberg . W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 1999, ISBN 3-921590-69-8 .
  • Franz Eduard Hysel: The theater in Nuremberg from 1612 to 1863 together with an appendix about the theater in Fürth . An essential contribution to the history of German theater. Ed .: Franz Eduard Hysel. Self-published by the author, Nuremberg 1863, ISBN 1-144-52219-6 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Staatstheater Nürnberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): p. 12 ff.
  2. ↑ www.nuernberginfos.de, accessed on July 12, 2012, 10:46 p.m.
  3. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): p. 16
  4. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): p. 17 f.
  5. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): p. 19
  6. ↑ www.nordbayern.de, accessed on July 9, 2012, 11:24 p.m.
  7. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): pp. 20-25
  8. ↑ Manfred Vasold: On the situation of the Nuremberg public hospitals and hospitals from 1770 to 1845. In: Würzburger medicalhistorische Mitteilungen 17, 1998, pp. 399–438; here: p. 434.
  9. ↑ Nürnberger Zeitung, June 19, 2006, accessed online on June 12, 2012, 11:33 p.m.
  10. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): pp. 26-39
  11. ↑ Nürnberger Zeitung, June 19, 2006, accessed online on June 12, 2012, 11:38 pm
  12. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): pp. 40-47
  13. ↑ Stoll u. a. (2010): p. 39 f.
  14. ↑ www.operone.de, accessed on July 12, 2012, 10:47 pm ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was 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 / www.operone.de
  15. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): p. 62
  16. ↑ www.nmz.de, accessed on July 12, 2012, 10:49 p.m.
  17. ↑ welt.de, accessed on May 3, 2012, 10:06 p.m.
  18. ^ DIE ZEIT, December 20, 1974, No. 52, accessed online on May 3, 2012, 10:19 p.m.
  19. ↑ Hannoversche Allgemeine, August 21, 2011, accessed online on May 3, 2012, 10:21 p.m.
  20. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine, May 29, 2011, accessed online on May 3, 2012, 10:25 p.m.
  21. ↑ Berliner Zeitung, October 29, 2004, accessed online on May 3, 2012, 9:55 pm
  22. ↑ , 05/2001, called Die Zeit online on May 3, 2012 22:15
  23. ↑ Stoll u. a. (2010): p. 41
  24. ↑ Voskamp et al. a. (2005): pp. 78-91
  25. ^ Nürnberger Nachrichten, March 6, 2012, accessed online on May 5, 2012, 12:34 p.m.
  26. ↑ www.opernnetz.de, September 24, 2012, accessed online on January 30, 2017, 6:50 p.m.
  27. ↑ accessed online on February 1, 2017, 12:53 p.m. ( Memento from February 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ↑ www.nuernberginfos.de, accessed on March 28, 2013, 6:53 p.m.
  29. ↑ Stoll u. a. (2010): p. 23
  30. ↑ Stoll u. a. (2010): p. 27 f.
  31. ↑ www.nuernberg.de, accessed on July 12, 2012, 10:50 pm ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nuernberg.de
  32. ↑ www.staatstheater-nuernberg.de, accessed online on February 1, 2017, 12:42 p.m. ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was 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 / www.staatstheater-nuernberg.de
  33. ↑ www.nuernberg.de, accessed online on February 1, 2017, 12:45 p.m.
  34. ^ Statistical yearbooks of the city of Nuremberg
  35. ↑ www.br-klassik.de, accessed on January 30, 2017, 6:28 pm
  36. ↑ www.br-klassik.de, accessed on January 30, 2017, 6:29 pm ( Memento from August 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ↑ www.br-klassik.de, accessed on May 15, 2018, 1:48 p.m.
  38. ↑ according to Stoll u. a. (2010): front cover
  39. ↑ www.merkur.de, accessed on January 30, 2017, 6:32 p.m.