City Theater Magdeburg
_(Zeno_Ansichtskarten).jpg)
The Stadttheater Magdeburg was a theater in the old town of Magdeburg and was destroyed in the Second World War.
history
Establishment
Between 1873 and 1876 a new city theater was built on Kaiserstraße on the site of the previously demolished fortifications . The client was a joint-stock company that had previously been specially founded . The planning was entrusted to the director of the Berlin building academy Richard Lucae . The stage machinery was created by the Darmstadt company E. Schwerdtfeger, which also worked for Richard Wagner's Bayreuth Festival Hall .
The theater had 1200 seats.
The opening took place on May 6, 1876 with Goethe's Egmont .
Beginning under Friedrich Schwemer, 1876–1877
The first theater director was Friedrich Schwemer , who also acted as chief director . He was subordinate to a general director and a major representing the supervisory board. The theater was divided into three sections ( opera , operetta and drama ), with opera dominating.
The first program was neither politically daring nor aesthetically innovative. In addition to Egmont, Der Freischütz , The Taming of the Shrew and Fidelio were shown. In the first eight months, a total of 19 operas were on the program.
The only risk was staging the play En Fallit by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , which turned into a financial fiasco. Schwemer had to file for bankruptcy and was fired.
Ludwig Ubrich, 1877–1882
Ludwig Ubrich became his successor . Ubrich tried to run the theater economically with austerity measures and much simpler performances. There were demands that the city should take over the theater.
Adolf Varena, 1882-1891
Under the successor Adolf Varena , the great opera at the city theater continued to gain in importance. The existing capacities also made it possible to carry out Wagner performances exclusively with our own staff. Structurally, the Aktienverein withdrew from theater work in 1882. The city of Magdeburg took over all shares in 1890, six years before the originally planned date, and thus became the owner of the property. At the same time, the theater was leased for 30 years. Mayor Friedrich Bötticher became chairman of the administrative committee . Varena moved to the Königsberg City Theater in 1891 , which he directed until his death.
Arno Cabisius, 1891–1907
The artistic rise of the theater continued under Arno Cabisius . A ring production and a Mozart cycle attracted national attention. The quality of the city theater received positive reviews in the specialist press. The focus was still on opera, the success of which the theater did not come close to.
In 1901, the May Festival was celebrated with great success on the occasion of the 25th theater anniversary.
In 1897 the orchestra became urban; it has now been rented from the theater.
Cabisius died in March 1907. His widow, Baroness Elisabeth von Fels (1845–1936), whose first marriage was to Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis , continued the business until the end of the 1907/1908 season.
Carl Coßmann, 1908–1912
Carl Coßmann was won as the new theater director . Like his predecessors, he too had to lease the theater from the city. A rapid decline in the level and importance of the theater set in. The unfavorable lease situation and the increased competition due to the opening of the new Central Theater (on today's Universitätsplatz ) led to increasing economic difficulties.
Although the new head director Heinrich Vogeler succeeded in giving the drama greater importance again, in 1912 bankruptcy proceedings were opened against the assets of Coßmann.
Heinrich Hagin, 1912–1913
Heinrich Hagin became his successor . At the same time, however, he remained director of the Stadttheater Karlsruhe and the Kroll Opera in Berlin . After two years he gave up his office in Magdeburg.
Heinrich Vogeler, 1913–1930
The former head director Heinrich Vogeler was then asked to return to Magdeburg as director of the city theater. Vogeler leased the theater from the city, but at the same time he was guaranteed an annual income of 12,000 marks for the first time. He came into a difficult inheritance. The theater's magazine, cloakroom and library were completely empty due to seizures.
However, the first season was already a success. The focus was on Verdi and Wagner. Vogeler brought in well-known singers from the major opera houses for their own productions.
The beginning of the First World War also led to considerable problems in the theater. It was not until September 17, 1914, three weeks late that the new season began. The program was soon dominated by national-conservative plays such as The Iron Cross , Dear Fatherland, May You Be Calm and The People in Arms . Vogeler, however, left the plays by authors from now hostile countries (Verdi, Shakespeare and Puccini ) in the program. The patriotic pieces disappeared from the repertoire for a year. Instead, the audience's taste went to traditional pieces by Hebbel , Grillparzer and Ibsen . The performances of Expressionist works that began in other locations were completely overlooked by the Magdeburg City Theater during this time.
In addition to the problems with the conscription of employees to the military , the beginning of the population's economic problems also affect the theater. In order to counter the resulting decrease in audience numbers, Vogeler significantly reduced the entrance fees and the solo days. By the end of the war it was possible to create stable economic conditions for the theater.
In the summer of 1917 Vogeler leased the Magdeburg Viktoriatheater as a second venue, thus increasing the flexibility of the theater.
Despite the end of the war and the decline of the monarchy in 1918, the city theater, apart from a temporary turn to verism by opera , did not deal with the changed political conditions.
The most important artistic event during this period was the premiere of the Parsifal production in April 1920. It was repeated 32 times.
Changes were made in the structural area that led to a significant strengthening of the theater. By resolution of the newly elected city council, in which the SPD and USPD had 45 out of 81 seats, the season was initially extended and admission prices increased. This was followed by the conclusion of a first collective agreement and, on May 1, 1920, the theater was taken over by the city. The Magdeburg Municipal Theaters were founded, which in addition to the municipal theater also included the leased houses Viktoria-Theater and Wilhelm-Theater. Lord Mayor Hermann Beims took over the chairmanship of the theater committee.
Vogeler used the new situation to reorganize the divisions. The city theater became an opera venue. The city theater only used the drama on six days a month. The predominance of the classical pieces remained. Contemporary pieces played only a minor role. Exceptions to this were pieces by Albert Mattausch , who was the conductor at the Stadttheater.
The global economic crisis also led to considerable problems at the city theater. The city wanted to cut the ever-increasing grants. At the end of the 1920s there were annually motions from right-wing parliamentary groups in the city council with the aim of completely closing the theaters. This was rejected by a majority of the SPD, KPD and DDP , but there were plans to halve the subsidy while lowering the artistic claim. Vogeler resigned on January 22, 1930.
Egon Neudegg, 1930–1932
Egon Neudegg was appointed as his successor . He placed particular emphasis on the operetta, which was the first to form its own ensemble. Through considerable advertising efforts, the increased use of Schwank and Operetta and several premieres (ten premieres in four weeks), the number of visitors increased at short notice. As early as 1931, however, there was a further increase in the need for subsidies.
At Neudegg's suggestion, the central theater has now also been incorporated into the city's theaters. The operetta performances took place there. The city theater focused on opera, great drama and symphony concerts.
Although the proportion of operettas under Neudegg was increased from 4 to 40 percent, the economic situation and audience popularity deteriorated. Renting the Central Theater turned out to be a financial failure. In 1932 the central theater was spun off from the city's theaters - Neudegg announced his resignation.
Hellmuth Götze, 1932–1933
On May 11, 1932, the Magdeburg city council decided that the theater should continue to run for an initial year. Despite great hostility from the strengthened National Socialists , limited resources and limited time, Hellmuth Götze succeeded within seven months in creating a high artistic level and an artistic new beginning at the theater, which led to positive reviews in the national press.
A new price and entitlement system developed by Carl Werckshagen also enabled economic stabilization to be achieved.
The confrontation with the National Socialists, however, intensified. On the occasion of a performance of the play Der Silbersee by Georg Kaiser , Götze was accused by the NSDAP of "inartistic attempts at Bolshevation". The NSDAP calls on the population to boycott the theater . On February 27, 1933, the day of the Reichstag fire , the play was performed for the last time. National Socialist persecution began. In the local elections on March 12, 1933, the NSDAP achieved an absolute majority in the city council with the black-white-red battle front .
Fritz Landsittel, 1933
A short-term successor to Götze was the NSDAP member Fritz Landsittel . He brought the season planned by Götze to an end, with pieces by Jewish authors ( Jacques Offenbach ) being discontinued. After three months, Landsittel was dismissed again due to human and artistic concerns of the Prussian Theater Committee. During his time, the municipal conductor Jean-Siegfried Blumann was on leave.
Edgar Klitsch, 1933–1934
Edgar Klitsch was appointed Landsittel's successor on July 11th. Artistically, the city theater lost its quality and importance. Many former employees were no longer allowed to work, others left the city and went to other stages. Klitsch also left Magdeburg in early 1934 and became director in Königsberg .
Erich Böhlke, 1934–1939
After lengthy arguments about the successor, the non-party Erich Böhlke finally became director. Building on his professional skills, he developed Magdeburg into one of the most important music centers in Germany . He founded a city choir of 300 people. The stage performances were subject to censorship . The fixtures were presented in advance in Berlin and, if necessary, adapted to the local requirements.
The end under Kurt Ehrlich, 1939–1945
1939 NSDAP and was SS -member Kurt Ehrlich director. Böhlke remained as general music director at the city theater. With the beginning of the Second World War, the continuation of the theater business was initially in question. However, the Propaganda Ministry announced on September 20, 1939 that the Magdeburg city theaters are considered to be a state-important operation and that the 1939/1940 season is to be carried out.
The conscription of many ensemble employees to the military was problematic. In 1940 the air alarm increased (for example 11 times in September 1940). Therefore, only pieces with a short playing time were performed, the start of the performance was brought forward to 6 p.m. A bunker was built directly in front of the city theater . There was an increasing shortage of manpower and material in the theater.
On September 1, 1944, all German theaters were closed on Goebbels' instructions . The Stadttheater Magdeburg also stopped its performance. The last performance after 68 years was on August 31, 1944, Figaro's wedding .
During the later air raids, especially on January 16, 1945, the city theater was badly hit and destroyed.
After 1945
The ruins of the city theater remained standing for several years. During the GDR era, the ruins were blown up in 1958. The stones were partly used for the reconstruction of the Magdeburg town hall and for other building projects. Instead of the original dense development, a green area was created on the site of the city theater.
After the turn of 1989, the area was rebuilt. The newly assigned street name Am Alten Theater is reminiscent of the city theater .
The city stages are now in the opera house on Universitätsplatz and the theater on Otto-v.-Guericke-Straße.
literature
- Jürgen Goldammer: Theater ruins: trace of the stones to Cracau. In: Magdeburger Volksstimme from March 19, 2005.
- Friedemann Krusche: Theater in Magdeburg. 2 volumes. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1994–1995, ISBN 3-354-00835-0 and ISBN 3-354-00880-6 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 7 ′ 45.1 ″ N , 11 ° 37 ′ 48.7 ″ E