City Theater Fürth
The Stadttheater Fürth is located in the center of Fürth , between the Frauenkirche and the town hall. It was built in the neo-baroque style between 1901 and 1902 according to plans by the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer . The interior decoration follows the style of the neo-coco .
The architects were originally commissioned to plan and build a theater in Chernivtsi (now Ukraine ). However, the construction there was postponed due to financing problems. For a short time the architects used the plans for the Fürth theater. From 1904 to 1905, construction was carried out in Czernowitz. There are almost the same theaters in the two cities.
prehistory
There had been a permanent theater in Fürth since 1816, a plain, classical building, which today is only reminiscent of the street name “Theaterstrasse”. At the turn of the century, this house no longer complied with fire protection regulations and had become too small for the rapidly growing city. Instead, a representative building should be built. An appeal for donations by the theater committee founded in 1898 was intended to support the implementation of the new building project. Within a week, 283,873 marks were received in donations from the people of Fürth - a sum that corresponded to a quarter of the construction costs of the new building. It is noteworthy that the Jewish citizens of Fürth, which was also called "Franconian Jerusalem", contributed the majority of these donations with almost 60%.
The picture program of the Stadttheater Fürth
The theater architects Fellner and Helmer in Vienna, who were extremely popular around the turn of the century, were based on the formal language of Italian Renaissance architecture and the Baroque , with transfers of these architectural styles in Paris architecture around 1900 (e.g. Petit Palais ). They designed rich interior decorations with the aim of a perfect use of space and thus created a uniform work of art in just 14 months. The theater's visual program clearly indicates the characteristics of music and spoken theater: Inside, the masks in the stairwells are surrounded by script samples and musical instruments, and in the foyer there are also instruments and a putto kneeling on a pile of books. The facades are decorated with six representatives from the fields of music and drama in the form of portrait medallions or busts over the windows. Only representatives of German-speaking art are elected. With Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner for the music, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing for the literature, the theater building has become a monument to the German art of language and music. The gable is occupied by a colossal statue, a versatile female figure with a burning torch, the bringer of light. At her feet a male figure fallen on his back and behind her a lion. This composition suggests a connection to Orpheus , who is said to have charmed even wild animals with his singing and strings.
"Raising all the gems of art" (1902–1920)
The director Hans Reck made this promise at the end of the festive opening performance on September 17, 1902 with Beethoven's “ Fidelio ”. The history of the Fürth Theater on Hallplatz began with this work. The theater gained a reputation as a premiere stage, especially for operetta performances, some of which were conducted by composers such as Eduard Künneke or Paul Lincke themselves. During this time, the Fürth stage was a springboard for many artists such as Werner Krauss and Emil Jannings . The then director Reck had an annual income of 103,800 marks, which was more than three times the annual income in the old house. Although the theater was owned by the city, it was operated on lease : the city leased the theater building, including heating and electrical lighting. In addition, the theater was obliged to bring great operas, operettas and drama to the stage.
Departure to self-employment (1920–1944)
In 1920 the city theater finally went under city administration. In 1933 the existing theater contract between Nuremberg and Fürth ended; Despite the possibility of an extension with a slightly higher subsidy, the Fürth City Theater wanted to go into independence, stage drama and operetta (300 operettas in the first two years of play) under its own direction and enable opera performances through guest performances. Willy Seidl , the musical director of the Nuremberg operetta, became artistic director in Fürth, followed by Horst Platen and Günter de Resée after 1939 .
Sudden End (1944–1952)
In autumn 1944, theater life and Fürth's independence were brought to an abrupt end. After 1945, the city theater was confiscated by the Allies and converted into a cinema for US soldiers. In this context, the theater community with Nuremberg revived and the city theater was played on two evenings a week from Nuremberg.
The new beginning (1953–1970)
In 1952, the Fürth theater was returned to the city by the Allies. But this new beginning with the chance to reconnect with world literature and contemporary theater through regular performance turned out to be a difficult matter. Increasingly, general theater interest stagnated, and attendance and subscriber numbers followed this trend. Another shortcoming was the need for renovation of the house. It was therefore decided in 1965 to undertake a renovation in the next few years in order to guarantee building safety and fire protection and to install missing safety systems. Construction finally began at the end of 1969. In the next 18 months, the entire house was completely refurbished for around 7.7 million DM , and the structural and technical defects were corrected. The auditorium then shone in its old new splendor.
Reopening under the direction of Kraft-Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen (1970–1990)
On August 31, 1970, the theater contract between Nuremberg and Fürth ended. A renewal of the contract would have been conceivable through a higher subsidy from Fürth, but this time too, Fürth decided to go its own way. The theater crisis of this time should be overcome by the organizational form of the independent guest performance. After extensive renovations, the municipal theater was reopened on January 14, 1973 with the comedy "Professor Bernardi" by Arthur Schnitzler , a guest performance by the Bavarian State Theater . Under the management of Kraft-Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen (from 1972 to 1990), the theater was able to establish itself as its own venue in Fürth. International guest performances in particular, such as those of the Scottish Opera Edinburgh, the Warsaw National Opera or the Prague National Theater contributed to this. During this time, the Fürth City Theater was mainly considered a meeting place with Eastern European music theaters.
The three-step model (1990 to today)
Werner Müller has been director of the Stadttheater since 1990 . He developed the so-called three-stage model, which should lead the theater from guest performance to co-productions - mostly with independent groups and ensembles - to regular in-house productions.
In the first few seasons, guest performances focused on productions of important state and city theaters. In addition, the Fürth Theater has been established over the years as a touring stage for international dance companies - such as the Göteborg Ballet, the Nederlands Dans Theater or Elisa Monte Dance from New York.
In the following years, the realization of the second stage was on the program, the co-productions with other theaters. In doing so, the focus is initially on cooperation with innovative, regional theaters, such as the CZ dance theater by Jutta Czurda or the Pocket Opera Company from Nuremberg. In the children's and youth theater sector, the cooperation partners were Theater Mummpitz and Theater Pfütze . This was followed by co-productions with theaters such as the Theater an der Ruhr by Roberto Ciulli and the barracks of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.
In 1994 the third stage began to be realized with in-house productions. In September 1994 the first in-house production premiered with “ Biedermann und die Brandstifter ” under the direction of Werner Müller. Instead of a permanent ensemble, the Stadttheater Fürth relies on a staff of around 60 employees in the artistic field, with whom the in-house productions are continuously expanded, so that around ten to twelve productions can now be staged each season. The in-house productions from all branches regularly take up the themes of Fürth's history and Fürth's present. On February 1, 1997, the Fürth City Theater was accepted into the German Stage Association.
In 1998 the Stadttheater Fürth received the Bavarian Theater Prize for the production “The goods love or That is the moon over Soho” with Jutta Czurda . In 2003, the Fürth City Theater celebrated its 100th anniversary, accompanied by the completion of another extensive renovation. Since 2004 the Stadttheater Fürth has also played the stage of the former slaughterhouse, now the Kulturforum Fürth . In 2005, the Fürth Theater Youth Club was established at the Stadttheater, which received the Fürth Culture Promotion Prize in 2010 and the IHK Culture Prize of the Central Franconian Economy in 2011.
In 2007 Fürth hosted the 25th Bavarian Theater Days for the first time as part of the 1000th anniversary of the city . In the same year a rehearsal stage, fundus and workshops with a total of 1900 m² were inaugurated in the Fürth Uferstadt. The stage corresponds in size and technical equipment to the stage of the big house, so that the final rehearsal times can be kept very short.
In 2012 the Friedrich Baur Foundation and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts honored the work of the Fürth City Theater with the " Friedrich Baur Prize for the Performing Arts".
In 2014, the establishment of the KULT ensemble represented a milestone in the history of the house: for the first time in 70 years, the Stadttheater had its own ensemble with five actors and an artistic director. At the same time, the new KULT division was created in which in-house productions and co-productions are made for a young audience.
In the same year the citizens' stage was set up. At the Bürgerbühne, citizens produce theater under professional conditions and with professional guidance. This is how the citizens' theater at the city theater has an impact on the city. Across all social differences and age limits. With all forms of the performing arts. The Bürgerbühne includes the “Kids Club” (9–12 years), the “Theater Jugend Club” (16–20 years), the “Young Ensemble” and the “Bridge Building” community project.
Every year around 250 performances are realized in the venues of the city theater for well over 100,000 spectators. This corresponds to an average occupancy rate of around 90%, which has been stable for years.
The staff embodies the long tradition of going to the theater in Fürth like in no other theater. Since the mid-1970s, the receptionists have only been current or former students at Heinrich Schliemann Gymnasium , which is on the other side of Königstrasse.
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Coordinates: 49 ° 28 ′ 31.4 " N , 10 ° 59 ′ 29.2" E