Walter Bruno Iltz

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Walter Bruno Iltz, 1938

Walter Bruno Iltz (born November 17, 1886 in Praust near Danzig ; † November 5, 1965 in Tegernsee ) was a German theater director, director and actor.

Life

Walter Bruno Iltz was to embark on a pharmacist career, he went to Munich to study in 1907, but then became an actor and was on stage for the first time in Schweidnitz in 1908 . This was followed by engagements at the Zittau City Theater (1909) and at the Praise Theater in Breslau (1910–1913).

From 1913 to 1924 Iltz was engaged at the royal (from 1923 state) Dresden theater under the direction of Karl Zeiss as a youthful character player in the ensemble with Maria Fein and Theodor Becker , where he became known as an excellent speaker and as Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Jedermann and as Franz Moor in Schiller's Die Räuber impressed as well as Dauphin, as Ferdinand in Kabale und Liebe and in the title role of Hanns Johst's drama The King . In 1920 Iltz played in the world premiere of Walter Hasenclever's expressionist drama Jenseits , directed by Berthold Viertel and alongside Alice Verden, den Raul, a play that aimed to "invent a new dimension and language on the stage" ( Kurt Pinthus ) in a performance with which Iltz appeared again at the Praise Theater in Breslau in 1922. Max Brod dedicated his one-act play The height of feeling in the series “ The Youngest Day ” in the Kurt Wolff Verlag , which was premiered in 1918 with Iltz in Dresden: “Walter Bruno Iltz, the excellent actor of Orosmin.” From 1921 Iltz was dedicated - influenced by the work of Max Reinhardt  - then also worked as a director at the Dresden theater. Iltz's appearance was "youthful, energetic, strong-willed, with something boyish in his being". where he astonished his colleagues with his "dictatorial manner", but was very successful.

In 1917 Iltz married the soprano Helena Forti (1884–1942), who had come to the Dresden Court Opera in 1911 and remained a member of the house until 1924. In 1914 she sang Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Kundry in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival . The couple became acquainted with Siegfried and Winifred Wagner through their work in Bayreuth . In 1916 Iltz's wife sang the role of Myrtocle in the world premiere of Eugen d'Albert's opera Die toten Augen at the Dresden Court Opera . After leaving the opera stage, Forty trained the actors in the art of gestures at her husband's theaters in Gera and Düsseldorf. Many magazines and daily newspapers brought pictures of the wedding, especially because the couple got married at Tegernsee in the traditional national dress . The Iltz couple were friends with the German scholar Oskar Walzel during their time in Dresden .

Reussian Theater Gera

The Princely Court Theater in Gera , around 1908 ( colored picture postcard)

From 1924 to 1927 Iltz was general manager of the Princely Reussian Theater in Gera , a unique piece among the theaters of the 1920s: During the republican era, Gera was a stage under princely protection of the literary prince Heinrich XLV, named "Theater Prince" by Ernst Barlach . from the Reuss Princely House (whom Iltz made his dramaturge) and received neither support from the city nor the state. The theater, however, was not a “private-type palace stage”, but a state theater, opera, drama, operetta and offered space for 1,100 visitors.

Iltz became known as a modern young director, he was open-minded and enthusiastic and put numerous new authors on the program, such as Ernst Barlach ( Die Sündflut , 1925, in his own production, as well as Die Gute Zeit , 1925 and Der arme Vetter , 1927), Bertolt Brecht ( man is man ), Arnolt Bronnen , Walter Hasenclever ( A better gentleman ), Georg Kaiser (3 pieces), Carl Zuckmayer ( The happy vineyard , 1926, staged by the author himself) and Fritz von Unruh . Numerous world premieres took place under Iltz's direction, including Alexander Lernet-Holenia ( Saul ), André Gide ( The Return of the Prodigal Son ), Denis Diderot ( Is he good? Is he bad? ), Rosso di San Secondo ( The stairs , 1927), Bert Schiff and Kiesau, operas by Johann Staden , Georg Friedrich Händel ( Otto and Theophano ), Manuel de Falla ( A Short Life , 1926), Roderich Mojsisovics von Mojsvár ( The Magician , 1926) and Vittorio Gnecchi ( Rosiera , 1927 ). In the classical repertoire, the focus was on pieces by Schiller ( Die Jungfrau von Orléans ), Shakespeare ( The Merchant of Venice ), Kleist , Lessing ( Nathan the Wise ) and Goethe's Clavigo as well as Calderon , Chekhov and Büchner .

In the 1925/26 season, the avant-garde solo dancer Yvonne Georgi was the head of the dance group in Gera. She opened her work with a dance evening consisting of the Arabic Suite by Felix Petyrek (with Georgi as soloist), Saudades do Brazil by Darius Milhaud and the Persian Ballet by Egon Wellesz . Shortly before , Vittorio Rietis came out as a New Year's Eve premiere of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes dance comedy Barabau . The performance even lured Berlin critics to Gera and made guest appearances at the Leipziger Schauspielhaus and the Berliner Volksbühne . In 1926 Georgi choreographed Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella . Nevertheless, the dance troupe was dismissed “because of a lack of public interest”, and Yvonne Georgi moved to Hanover.

Iltz was a discoverer of young talents and traveled through Germany, where he attended the performances of small provincial theaters unannounced and unrecognized in order to look for new young talent. Hans Otto , Paul Hoffmann , Oscar Fritz Schuh and, from 1927, the young Bernhard Minetti were employed at the theater in Gera , and Iltz met the actress Dorothea Neff , who played Kleist's Penthesilea and Thusnelda in Die Hermannsschlacht and Iltz later at the Deutsche Volkstheater in Vienna committed.

In the season 1925/1926 the theater in Gera reached its highest attendance with 240,832 spectators.

Municipal theaters Düsseldorf

From 1927 to 1937 Iltz was general manager of the Düsseldorf City Theaters (opera, drama, operetta in two houses). In 1933, the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf (founded in 1904 by Louise Dumont and Gustav Lindemann ) was put under compulsory lease and Iltz was placed under the civic general manager. Set designers such as Caspar Neher , Hein Heckroth and Traugott Müller were employed at his house , but also the actors Bruno Hübner , Will Quadflieg , Peter Lühr , Karl Paryla , Ludwig Schmitz , Hanne Mertens , Marieluise Claudius and later Wolfgang Langhoff and Leon Askin , Kapellmeister Otto Ackermann and 1928 the ukrainian-Jewish conductor Jascha Horenstein (the Iltz by Erich Kleiber had been recommended), and from 1932 Leopold Lindtberg (Lemberger) as senior director what Iltz because of their Jewish origin from the " League of struggle for German Culture " and the NSDAP was accused .

Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf on Karl-Theodor-Strasse built by Bernhard Sehring 1904–1905; since 1933/34 another venue for the Städtische Bühnen, Düsseldorf

With Horenstein, Iltz was able to develop his concept for the promotion of the avant-garde, the cooperation proved to be ideal in order to give the music theater its own profile in emulation of the Berlin Kroll Opera under Otto Klemperer and to achieve supra-regional importance. But already in the first season, Iltz brought out several premieres of modern operas, all directed by Friedrich Schramm and under the conductor Hugo Balzer: Paul Hindemith's Cardillac (1927), Igor Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex (1928) and Kurt Weill's Der Tsar lets himself photograph (1928). Hindemith wrote to Iltz about Cardillac : "It was only your performance in Düsseldorf that showed me that the 'Cardillac' can survive in regular opera business!" In 1929, the new conductor Jascha Horenstein introduced himself with the world premiere of Jaromír Weinberger's Schwanda, the bagpiper . In 1930 the first performance of Ernst Krenek's burlesque operetta Schwergewicht or Die Ehre der Nation , Jacques Iberts Angélique, followed, as well as a spectacular performance by Wozzeck by Alban Berg (1930, in the presence of the composer), about which Berg wrote to Iltz: “I am more pleased with this recapitulation than some premieres, yes it makes me proud ”. The artistically and financially successful season of 1930/31 brought the world premiere of Manfred Gurlitt's The Soldiers (based on the drama by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz , 1930) and ended with a “Modern Opera Week” entitled “Major Works of Modern Music” three evenings From a House of the Dead by Leoš Janáček (director: Iltz), Der Lindberghflug by Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Weill and Igor Stravinsky's The Story of the Soldier and Wozzeck . This was followed by premieres of Hans Pfitzner's Das Herz (1931) and Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth (1932) as well as Kurt Weill's guarantee (text: Caspar Neher , conductor: Horenstein, director: Iltz, 1932), Hermann Reutter's The Prodigal Son (based on André Gide , 1933) and the world premiere of Der Rossknecht (based on the drama Rosse by Richard Billinger , 1933, with Erna Schlüter ) by the opera's solo coach and conductor, Winfried Zillig , whom Arnold Schönberg Iltz had personally recommended in 1928. After the " seizure of power ", however, the opera had to be discontinued. All performances were conducted by Jascha Horenstein. Even in Berlin, Düsseldorf's stage was seen as exemplary and progressive. In addition to the praise for the artistic achievements, political voices have already spoken, who saw in Horenstein the embodiment of a "Judaization" of the German theater industry.

After Horenstein's departure, forced by the Nazis, in 1933, Hugo Balzer returned to the house as general music director, whose program focused on Richard Wagner, Mozart and Richard Strauss. The program included Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss (1934, in the sets by Caspar Neher ), Iltz staged Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with Erna Schlüter and Die Walküre , Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Jacques Offenbach's stories of Hoffmann . Ernst Krenek's burlesque operetta Heavy Weight or Die Ehre der Nation (1934) and the world premiere of Die Heimfahrt des Jörg Tilmann by Ludwig Maurick (1935, for Alfred Rosenberg's “NS-Kulturgemeinde”) were shown in the modern repertoire .

In 1929/30, Iltz, who had a particular enthusiasm for modern ballet, brought Laban's student Ruth Loeser to the house as the first solo dancer and ballet master and thus, together with Aurèl Milloss Miholyi, pushed through the upswing of the Düsseldorf ballet. For the first time, an exemplary attempt was made to give the ballet of an opera house as the “dance stage of the city of Düsseldorf” the independence of its own art genre. Loeser choreographed Saudades do brazil by Darius Milhaud and Suites I and II for small orchestra . In 1933 Ruth Loeser had to be released as a Jew. Harald Kreutzberg , Niddy Impekoven , Yvonne Georgi , Gret Palucca and Hanna Spohr performed in Iltz 'series “German Master Dancers” in 1933/34 . Iltz also invited Mary Wigman and her dance troupe from the "German Dance Festival Berlin 1934" to a guest performance at his house on February 19, 1935.

Iltz's theater productions sometimes served more political demands, including Schlageter by Nazi playwright Hanns Johst (for the “Schlageter City” of Düsseldorf), The Banquet of the Gods by Paul Joseph Cremers (premiere) and the world premiere of the Goya drama Genie ohne Volk von Viktor Warsitz for the “4. Reichstheaterwoche "on June 15, 1937 with Werner Krauss in the leading role as well as Hermann Burtes Katte , Friedrich Griese's village comedy Die Schafschur (1934), Schiller's Wilhelm Tell , Goethe's Egmont and the world premiere of Pentheus by Hans Schwarz (1935, in the sets by Caspar Neher , with Peter Lühr ). On September 23, 1936 - announced across the empire - Iltz's own adaptation of the successful stage premiere of Christian Dietrich Grabbe's Die Hermannsschlacht premiered. Iltz created a new, shortened collage from set pieces from the three-day event at Grabbe. In Dusseldorf the play came on stage as a “Führerdrama”, which was openly and appellatively used to update current politics. After this staging, Gauamtsleiter Walter Steinecke made 12 etchings, which were given to Adolf Hitler in book form in January 1937. The production was also shown as a festive end to the “Grabbe Week” on October 2, 1936 in Detmold and was unanimously acclaimed by the press. Rainer Schlösser , the president of the " Reichstheaterkammer ", congratulated Iltz on "conquering a great piece for the German theater world".

Conflict with the NSDAP

In March 1932, Iltz came into conflict with the " Kampfbund für Deutsche Kultur " when the latter demanded that Kurt Weill's opera Die Bürgschaft be dismissed . In April the Gauleitung of the Düsseldorf NSDAP called for a “German game plan”, which also demanded that Iltz “put German artists ahead of Jews”: “We want the German artist who feels himself to be a servant and creator of German cultural assets. We are tired of seeing the best German art bent in a Jewish manner. ”Iltz bravely opposed the NSDAP and forbade any influence. In a nine-page response, he pointed out that masterpieces of German operatic art had emerged from working with Jews, for example with Mozart and Da Ponte or Nicolai and Mosenthal, and refused to implement the NSDAP's “personnel policy” at his theater:

“The repertoire of a publicly subsidized stage must be based on a unified will, and that can only be the will [...] of the theater director. He is to be expected to combine specialist knowledge and stage experience with an impartial artistic sense, with a truly impartial judgment. For myself, I believe that I have retained this impartiality. […] While I am fundamentally of your opinion on the question of foreigners, that German forces are to be preferred to foreign equities, I deviate from your point of view when it comes to the employment of Jews. […] There are differences here that even a blind anti-Semitism, which you do not represent yourself, could hardly deny, namely the differences between the Jewish demon, which is certainly worth fighting, and the Jewish spirit. - We are all bound to race and people, but spirit and will still exist alongside and above the laws of nature. Especially in the reproductive arts there are numerous Jews who are devoted to the German nature with sincere love and admiration and who put themselves at the service of German works of art. Strangers in particular can recognize our being better than we can. "

- Walter Bruno Iltz: Reply to the NSDAP Gauleitung Düsseldorf, Organization Department I, Department for Race and Culture of April 28, 1932

In addition to the NSDAP, Iltz also sent his reply to the German Stage Association and to colleagues in directors in Germany. Ernst Josef Aufricht congratulated Iltz: “I admire your incredibly skilful and clean answer.” The composer Kurt Weill wrote: “You always had enough personal conviction and personal courage to implement what you considered artistically important and necessary . “Through this open defense of his Jewish colleagues and strengthened by the seizure of power , the hostility between Iltz and the NSDAP increased. In February 1933 Iltz was attacked in the Volksparole , the organ of the Düsseldorf NSDAP, on the occasion of a festival concert on the 50th anniversary of Richard Wagner's death because of the Jewish conductor Jascha Horenstein :

“Unfortunately, Mr. Horenstein conducted the consecration. We have to say 'unfortunately', because it is unheard of that the German theater in Düsseldorf cannot find a German conductor for a Wagner celebration, that one has to work with Mr Sascha (!) Horenstein. (...) Mayor Lehr and General Director Iltz will still have to adapt, otherwise one day it will have to be ensured here in some way that the German spirit and German culture really comes into its own in all branches in German Düsseldorf. The criticism increasingly focused on Iltz: 'Mr Iltz still did not understand the signs of the times and did not want to give up his darling. Herr Iltz, who did not want to hear when there was still time, will now have to see that what he has failed to do of his own free will is being carried out against his will. The Russian Jew Horenstein has to disappear from the Düsseldorf theater. '"

- Alexander Schneider: How Düsseldorf celebrates Richard Wagner. A scandal . In: Volksparole , organ of the NSDAP, February 13, 1933

Finally, on March 7, 1933, an SA unit besieged the performance of Beethoven's Fidelio , which was conducted by Horenstein, and demanded the conductor's immediate removal. Horenstein had to flee the theater in the middle of the performance, was given leave and had to leave Düsseldorf. He was followed by Hugo Balzer by music director. Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian had police investigations carried out against Iltz and in April 1933 the Düsseldorf city administration demanded that Reich Minister Hermann Göring should dismiss Iltz, but was rejected. However, Iltz's room for maneuver as general manager was curtailed and a National Socialist-minded dramaturge, Alexander Schneider, who headed the “Art and Culture” department at “Völkischer Verlag” and the journalist who had attacked him in the popular slogan, was set at his side. In a service instruction, Iltz was given a free hand in artistic terms, combined with the stipulation that the schedule had to meet the requirements of the “national government”.

In 1933, Jewish ensemble members such as Leon Askenasy (Askin) , Leopold Lindtberg (Lemberger) and Erwin Parker as well as the dance master Ruth Loeser and other Jewish actors and singers had to leave the Düsseldorf theater, Bruno Hübner and Wolfgang Langhoff had also become intolerable as communists. Iltz increasingly left acting to his dramaturge and turned to his domain, opera, which he preferred to the theater and concert sector. With Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels (who had attended three performances in Düsseldorf in December 1933) and his protective hand over Iltz, Iltz complained in 1936 about the "resonance-free atmosphere".

When Iltz's contract as general director in Düsseldorf expired in 1937, the city administration refused to extend it, he was replaced by party member Otto Krauss and was supposed to go to Stuttgart as director, but this was prevented by "cross shots" by the Düsseldorf NSDAP. The Lord Mayor of Düsseldorf, Hans Wagenführ , gave Joseph Goebbels , who found in his diary that Iltz “was being treated badly by the authorities there” and even intervened over the phone, as reasons for the non-renewal that Iltz had “given preference to Jews and Communists ”against National Socialism. Iltz was refused entry into the NSDAP in December 1937 by the Düsseldorf-Pempelfort branch because he was accused of “liberalist-Marxist attitudes” and that he had not “brought himself into harmony with the Nazi spirit”.

At the "Reichsfestspiele" in Heidelberg in 1937 Iltz staged Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (with Gisela Uhlen , Lina Carstens , René Deltgen , set design: Traugott Müller ).

German Volkstheater Vienna

The (formerly German) Volkstheater in Vienna, 2017

In 1938 Iltz became director of the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna, the largest spoken theater in the German-speaking area, which was the first theater to be integrated into the Nazi leisure program " Kraft durch Freude " ( Kraft through Joy ). According to the wishes of the National Socialist regime, the people's theater should serve mass consumption. Iltz managed to create a calm atmosphere at the house and even to protect his ensemble in times of war. When it came to casting, Iltz even took into account which ensemble members had to perform in which pieces. He engaged O. W. Fischer , Curd Jürgens , Gert Fröbe , Paul Hubschmid , later Judith Holzmeister and Inge Konradi , plus Dorothea Neff , Annie Rosar , Lotte Lang , Karl Skraup and Robert Lindner . The later director Leon Epp played in Nestroys A Joke he wants to make himself in 1938 and was also employed as a director, the young Gustav Manker (later also director of the house) was hired as a set designer and was given his first directorial assignment in 1942.

Iltz knew how to create a program that followed on from the Viennese tradition and at the same time did not upset those in power who expected propaganda theater that was true to the line of the game. Iltz determined which directors could be “expected” which pieces. Trend pieces were mainly staged by himself, Walter Ullmann and the emphatically National Socialist senior director Erhard Siedel ; from 1942 on , the director and actor Günther Haenel was given the "literarily high quality pieces". In the last few years of the Iltz directorate, Haenel's direction even gave performances that showed a clear opposition to the regime. This was due to Iltz's internal management style, who engaged Haenel after Siedel's departure, around whom a group of artists soon gathered who were opposed to the Nazi regime and who were prepared to express this carefully on stage. Contemporary witnesses such as Inge Konradi , Gustav Manker and Judith Holzmeister agreed that it was also possible to put this intention into practice.

Günther Haenel's productions of G. B. Shaw's Die heilige Johanna (1943) and Ferdinand Raimund's magic fairy tale The Diamond of the Ghost King (1944), both in Gustav Manker's stage design , formulated a recognizable theatrical resistance for attentive viewers , which Iltz tolerated. In Der Diamant des Geisterkönig (April 1944), Haenel and Manker invented a parody of various stylistic details from present-day Nazi Germany for the “land of truth and strict custom”, in which only liars can actually be found. Manker's stage design cited neoclassical Nazi architecture , the land of truth appeared in the staging like an exaggerated "final version of the National Socialist paradise". The style and appearance of the costumes also paraphrase BDM girls with long blonde braids and a Teutonic center parting and Hitler Youth . The performer of Veritatius, Karl Kalwoda , even laid out his bold interpretation as a parody of Adolf Hitler.

Actress Inge Konradi paid tribute to the importance of Walter Bruno Iltz's liberal stance as director of the Deutsches Volkstheater during the Nazi era and his attitude towards the ensemble:

“The fact that the Volkstheater was an island for us is thanks to the great commitment and courage of Walter Bruno Iltz. You should actually put it on a pedestal because it was the lifesaver of the popular theater. He has had many stressed artists at his house, protected them through the war and achieved many permanent positions. He knew exactly what risk he was taking when he commissioned Haenel to direct 'Die Heilige Johanna' and 'Der Diamant des Geisterkönig'. His personal courage is rare. "

- Inge Konradi: Walter Bruno Iltz at the Deutsches Volkstheater . In: Evelyn Schreiner (ed.): 100 years of popular theater. Theater, time, history. Youth and People, Vienna 1989

Iltz opened on October 7, 1938 with Schiller's Die Räuber under his own direction and with the stage design by Gustav Manker, with Hans Frank (Karl), Robert Valberg (Graf Moor), Karl Skraup (Schufterle), Paul Hubschmid (Hermann) and O. W. Fischer (Kosinsky). He also staged this play at the Heidelberg Reichsfestspiele in 1939 in a version by Iltz and Max Mell , Rochus Gliese was the artistic adviser , with Paul Hoffmann (Franz), Liselotte Schreiner (Amalie), Eduard Wandrey (Swiss) and Will Quadflieg (Kosinsky). Walter Bruno Iltz arranged the repertoire at the Deutsches Volkstheater exactly according to the "Reich Dramaturgy" of the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in Berlin: of the 21 premieres of the first season, 3 were classics, 4 trend pieces, 7 German contemporary dramas, mostly comedies, 5 older pieces and 2 foreign works. Four world premieres and two first performances show Iltz's ambition for new pieces.

Iltz opened the second season - the fiftieth since the Deutsche Volkstheater was founded - with the world premiere of the historical drama Der Komet by Rudolf Kremser with O. W. Fischer as Elector Moritz of Saxony, Curd Jürgens as Elector of Brandenburg and Gert Fröbe as Margrave of Brandenburg. For the 50th anniversary of the Deutsches Volkstheater, Iltz staged Franz Grillparzer's Austrian drama King Ottokar's Glück und Ende in February 1940 . On the occasion of the Grillparzer festival week in 1941, Iltz staged Franz Grillparzers A loyal servant of his master with Eduard Wandrey , Dorothea Neff and O. W. Fischer. The 22-year-old Judith Holzmeister made her debut at the Deutsches Volkstheater as Schiller's Maiden of Orleans in March 1942 under the direction of Iltz , alongside her O. W. Fischer played Lionel and Egon von Jordan played Dauphin. Iltz's staging saw in the play less the national drama than the religious legend. With Friedrich Hebbel Demetrius with O. W. Fischer in the title role is director Walter Bruno Iltz, met in 1942 a personal wish for which he had to apply for at the "Empire drama" about a special permit because since the invasion of Russia , all Russian agents were prohibited. Gustav Manker used the stage incline in Vienna for the first time in this production .

In the last two years of the Walter Bruno Iltz management, the repertoire at the Deutsches Volkstheater changed, Iltz showed more courage and commitment outside the Nazi norms. New German pieces of inferior quality disappeared from the repertoire in favor of works of higher literary quality, albeit more controversial in party circles. Iltz used two tendencies per season as an alibi.

In the course of the general theater ban in the German Reich due to the war, the German People's Theater was closed on September 1, 1944.

post war period

Braunschweig State Theater , 2006

After the war, from 1946 to 1947, Iltz became director of the Nuremberg Theater . His contract was to last until August 31, 1947, but the American military government withdrew the license originally granted by Iltz on February 15, 1947, when it became known that Iltz “in Vienna was the head of an exposed Nazi theater ”, although the military government initially found this to be“ machinations by professionally interested and politically charged people ”.

The proceedings before the Nuremberg Spruchkammer against Iltz "on the basis of the law for the liberation from National Socialism and militarism" were discontinued in 1947, as it was found that he had "never campaigned for the party in a propagandistic sense". In 1949 Iltz was exonerated in the denazification process and he was certified that he had taken a “courageous stance” on the “ Jewish question ”:

"I. applied for membership in the NSDAP on November 28, 1937, which was rejected on October 31, 1938. There were no other burdensome connections to the NSDAP. I. took a courageous stance on the Jewish question. During his time in Vienna, he tried to keep the Nazi spirit away from the KdF stages as far as possible. The proceedings before the Nuremberg Spruchkammer were discontinued with the finding that the person concerned never sympathized with the party. "

- Main denazification committee for cultural workers of the city of Hanover R / H 4561 Kult., Hanover, April 7, 1949

From 1947 to 1951 Iltz was the artistic director of the State Theater in Braunschweig and, as a theater “miracle of Braunschweig”, made it the most popular theater in West Germany. On November 14, 1950, Artistic Director Iltz informed his superior office that he did not attach any importance to a possible intended extension of his contract, and gave the reason for competence problems with General Music Director Eugen Szenkar : “Because I was deprived of the opportunity to do my duties as Artistic Director to become."

The Düsseldorf city council brought 1951 Walter Bruno Iltz to Dusseldorf, he was "stage Dusseldorf Municipal" appointed general manager who, when Gustaf was limited in 1951 with the foundation of the "new drama-Gesellschaft mbH" in spoken theater and director of the Düsseldorf Theater was . On April 6, 1951, the contract was signed with Bruno Walter Iltz as General Director of the Städtische Bühnen. Iltz was considered a “temporary solution”, but made “solid music theater with interesting accents” Iltz attached greater importance to dance theater and once again engaged the now famous choreographer Yvonne Georgi , who stayed at the house for three seasons and rehearsed a total of 13 ballets. Her first works in 1951 were Francis Poulenc's Les animaux modèles (decorated by Marcel Escoffier) ​​and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and later a brilliant implementation of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique . Important opera premieres were the first performances of Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (conductor: Heinrich Hollreiser ) and Hans Werner Henze's ballet opera Boulevard Solitude (with Yvonne Georgi), a celebrated Salome by Richard Strauss (under Eugen Szenkar , with Inge Borkh ), the world premiere of Jurriaan Andriessen's ballet comedy Das Goldfischglas (1952) and in 1953 a double evening with Béla Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps (only the second performance in Germany, choreographed by Yvonne Georgi).

In 1956 Walter Bruno Iltz withdrew from the theater after reaching the age limit, but also because of attacks on his program. This made a general reorganization of the music theater and ballet area in Düsseldorf possible, which led to a two-city partnership between Düsseldorf and Duisburg ( Deutsche Oper am Rhein ).

Iltz died in 1965 shortly before the age of 79 on his country estate "Iltzenhof" in the Upper Bavarian community of Tegernsee am Tegernsee . He was married to the singer Käthe (Katharina) Königs for the second time.

literature

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c German stage yearbook . 1966/67 season. Cooperative of German Stage Members, German Stage Association , FA Günther & Sohn, Hamburg 1967
  2. ↑ Düsseldorf City Archives, V 71568
  3. ↑ Ludwika Gajek: The Breslau drama in the mirror of the daily press . Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008
  4. ↑ Heinz Schöffler (ed.): The youngest day . The library of an era . Volume 57. Facsimile edition. Scheffler, Frankfurt am Main, 1970 (Volume 1) and 1972 (Volume 2)
  5. ^ A b Oskar Walzel : Growth and Change. Life memories . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1956
  6. ↑ a b Ulrich Bubrowski (Ed.): Ernst Barlach's drama “ The Poor Cousin ”. Admission, criticism. Effect. Piper, Munich 1988
  7. ↑ Deutsches Bühnen-Jahrbuch , 1926, p. 351 (Gera, Reussisches Theater, acting and music directors).
  8. ^ Horst Koegler, Yvonne Georgi: Theater Today series . Friedrich Verlag Hannover 1963
  9. ↑ Walter Bruno Iltz in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  10. ^ Klaus Völker: Bernhard Minetti. My existence is my theater life . Propylaea, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-549-07215-8
  11. ↑ Erich Kleiber , who was musical director in Düsseldorf in the 1921/1922 season, performed compositions by the “Berliner Gruppe” and the Vienna School in a chamber concert as part of the 52nd Tonkünstlerfest, including songs by Horenstein. Martin Thrun: New Music in German Musical Life until 1933 . Bonn, 1995. Vol. 2
  12. ^ Heinrich Riemenschneider: Theater history of the city of Düsseldorf . 2 volumes.
  13. ↑ a b Jascha Horenstein, biography (English)
  14. ↑ Ulrich Krempel: In the beginning: the young Rhineland . Municipal art gallery Düsseldorf, 1985
  15. ↑ Theater of the World: Journal for the entire theater culture , Volume 1, Tiefland-Verlag, 1937
  16. ↑ Julia Freifrau Hiller von Gaertringen: The only völkisch visionary of his time. Grabbes "Hermannsschlacht" in the theater . llb-detmold.de
  17. ↑ From the Hermannsschlacht . Lemgo, undr. (1937). Fol. With 12 mont. Original etchings by Walter Steinecke. 20 text sheets Olwd. with gold stamp. - Bergmann 1954 (gives 13 etchings).
  18. ^ Central State Archives Potsdam, Reich Ministry for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, Volume 141.
  19. ^ Letter of October 8, 1936, Federal Archives Berlin, former Central State Archives, holdings: Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Volume 141.
  20. ↑ a b Barbara Suchy: Jewish musicians, composers and musicologists in Düsseldorf and in emigration . In: Expulsion of Jewish artists and scientists from Düsseldorf 1933–1945 . Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Droste, 1998
  21. ↑ Jakob Bracht: The play of the municipal theaters in Düsseldorf 1933-1945 . Master's thesis, Berlin 1992
  22. ^ Main denazification committee for cultural workers, Hanover, April 7, 1949
  23. ↑ Winfried Hartkopf, Winrich Meiszies, Michael Matzigkeit: Balance Dusseldorf '45: Culture and Society from 1933 to the Post-War Period . Grupello, 1992
  24. ↑ City Archives Düsseldorf IV b11. In: Christoph Guddorf: Concert and opera in Düsseldorf under the cultural policy of the National Socialists . Master's thesis, Osnabrück 2006
  25. ^ Letter from the NSDAP of February 13, 1939 to Joseph Goebbels, Bundesarchiv Berlin, former Central State Archives, holdings: Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Volume 141.
  26. ↑ David Farneth, Elmar Juchem, Dave Stein: Kurt Weill: a life in pictures and documents . 2000
  27. ^ Volksparole , organ of the NSDAP, February 13, 1933
  28. ↑ On the work of the conductor Jascha Horenstein in Düsseldorf (1928–1933) . (PDF; 1.34 MB)
  29. ↑ a b Hans-Peter Görgen: Düsseldorf and National Socialism . Gouder et al. Hansen, 1969
  30. ↑ Oliver Rathkolb : The German People's Theater under Walter Bruno Iltz . In: Faithful to the leader and God gifted. ÖBV, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-215-07490-7
  31. ^ Letter dated November 22, 1936, Federal Archives Berlin, former Central State Archives, holdings: Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Volume 141.
  32. ^ Joseph Goebbels , diary February 5, 1937, in: Die Tagebücher , Saur, Munich 2001
  33. ^ A b Paulus Manker : The theater man Gustav Manker . Amalthea, Vienna, 2010, ISBN 978-3-85002-738-0 manker.at
  34. ↑ Irene Löwy: Cultural Policy in National Socialism from 1938 to 1945 using the example of the German People's Theater in Vienna . Diploma thesis, Vienna 2010
  35. ^ Susanne Gruber-Hauk: The Vienna People's Theater between 1889 and 1987 in a social context . Diploma thesis, Vienna 2008
  36. ^ Dietrich Hübsch: Das Volkstheater 1889–1966 . In: Maske and Kothurn , 13, Böhlau, Vienna 1967
  37. ↑ a b c d Evelyn Schreiner (Ed.): 100 years of popular theater. Theater, time, history. Jugend und Volk, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-224-10713-8 .
  38. ↑ Clemens Wachter: Culture in Nuremberg, 1945–1950: cultural policy, cultural life and the image of the city between the end of the Nazi dictatorship and the prosperity of the fifties . Korn and Berg, 1999
  39. ^ Spruchkammer III of the Nuremberg district, III / 1546, April 11, 1947
  40. ↑ denazification -Hauptausschuss for cultural workers, Hannover, April 7, 1949
  41. ↑ Bankruptcy despite the economic situation . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3 , 1951 ( online ).
  42. ^ A b Wolfgang Horn, Rolf Willhardt: Rhenish Symphony: 700 Years of Music in Düsseldorf . G. Horn, 1987
  43. ^ Hans Hubert Schieffer, Hermann-Josef Müller, Jutta Scholl: New Music in Düsseldorf since 1945, a contribution to the history of music and the musical life of the city . Music library of the Düsseldorf city libraries, 1998
  44. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik 1951
  45. ↑ Made out of ruins, theater in Germany after the Second World War . Society for Theater History, Berlin 1991
personal data
SURNAME Iltz, Walter Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theater director, director and actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Praust near Danzig
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 1965
Place of death Tegernsee