Circus Roncalli

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Circus Roncalli (2005)

Circus Roncalli is a German circus with the registered office ( GmbH ) and winter quarters in Cologne . The Austrians Bernhard Paul and André Heller founded the company in 1975 in Vienna . On October 8th of the same year they appeared for the first time as "Circus Roncalli (Vienna)" as part of the Styrian Autumn Festival (see also: Grazer Orpheum ) with the program title "The greatest poetry of the universe - circus as a total work of art".

The name of the circus comes after Paul from "Sarah Roncalli, daughter of the moon", the title of a screenplay by compatriot Peter Hajek . According to Paul, the popularity of Pope John XXIII , which continued long after his death . with the real name Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli helped to make the circus name known.

history

Signet of Circus Roncalli with cartridge

The premiere was initially announced for April 1, 1976 in Graz . The first tour began on May 18, 1976 with the world premiere of the new circus on the Hofgartenwiese in Bonn and ended abruptly on August 16, 1976 in Munich (program title: "The greatest poetry of the universe"). After the first season, Paul and Heller separated in a dispute over concept and rights, which then lasted for several years.

From 1978 onwards, Paul prepared the new start of the "Circus Roncalli" in the former Stollwerck chocolate factory in the southern part of Cologne . The Swiss cabaret artist Emil Steinberger , who had appeared for nine months at Circus Knie in 1977 , supported Paul with a loan and helped him direct. The premiere took place on June 4, 1980 in Cologne with Bernhard Paul as the sole responsible circus director. The commitment to a classic circus became a trademark of Roncalli even after the new beginning. Clown Pic became a crowd favorite and attraction in the 1980s with his legendary soap bubbles. Since then, the circus has been successful with numerous tours at home and abroad (including the first appearance of a German circus in the USSR in 1986).

In 2006/2007 the company celebrated its 30th anniversary with an anniversary program and a two-part tour, the 40th anniversary was celebrated in 2016/2017. From 2006 to the end of 2012 the world-famous clown David Larible could be seen at Roncalli. Georg Pommer , who has been the musical director of Circus Roncalli for many decades, says he is probably the longest-serving circus conductor in the world. After Roncalli had already canceled circus numbers with wild animals in the mid-1990s , the last animal number was parted with in 2018, which had been working with horses and ponies for years. One would have decided for the welfare of the animals - and the focus at Roncalli is on the poetic and acrobatic numbers anyway, according to the circus spokesman Markus Strobl.

On the “Storyteller” tour, which started in March 2019, Paul used holograms for the first time to simulate animal presentations as 3D animation . With the help of eleven projectors that are placed around the ring, all viewers can experience the animal figures in three dimensions. The simulations largely met with approval and enthusiasm. Increasing protests by animal rights activists in the US have contributed to traditional circus companies such as Ringling Bros. having stopped, said Paul.

Show programs

Bernhard Paul as "Zippo" (right) at a Circus Roncalli performance in 1984 (left: Angelo Munoz)
Circus Roncalli clown David Shiner 1984 in Düsseldorf
Regular tours Premiere place from to poster
Greatest poetry in the universe Bonn 1976 1976
Trip to the rainbow Cologne 1980 1992
Commedia dell'Arte Aachen 1993 1995
Anniversary program 20 years Circus Roncalli, the legend lives! ? 1996 1997
Salto Vitale ? 1998 2000
Anniversary program 25 years ? 2001 2002
Teatro Paradiso Mülheim an der Ruhr 2003 2004
Between yesterday and tomorrow ? 2005 2005
30 years anniversary tour Aachen 2006 2007
All you need is laugh Recklinghausen 2008 2010
35 years of Circus Roncalli Recklinghausen 2011 2011
Time is honey Cologne 2012 2014
Salto Vitale Gutersloh 2014 2015
Good Times Oldenburg 2015 2015
40 years of travel to the rainbow Recklinghausen 2016 2018
Storyteller: yesterday – today – tomorrow ? 2018 ?

Projects

Over the years various projects have been created in collaboration with Circus Roncalli:

  • Bernhard Paul opened a variety show in Düsseldorf in October 1997 under the name Roncalli's Apollo Varieté. Up to the 15th anniversary of the house, over 500 artists performed there in 96 programs.
  • The "Höhner rockin Roncalli Show": Different programs as an extra tour in cooperation with the Cologne group " Höhner ".
  • Roncalli's “Circus meets Classic” performances by various artists, coordinated with classical music, in cooperation with various symphony orchestras from various concert halls.
  • Roncalli's "Panem et Circenses"; Variety show in the mirror tent
  • Appearances with the German pop group Kelly Family in 2003/2004 (“Fantasy forbidden”), 2005 and 2006 (“Music meets Circus - Circus meets Music”).
  • Since 2004 the circus has been organizing a special Christmas program (Roncalli Christmas Circus) in the Berlin Tempodrom from December to January, and since 2014 also in Osnabrück.
  • The dinner show "Witzigmann & Roncalli Bajazzo" together with Eckart Witzigmann from autumn 2006 until the insolvency of the organizer Palast Entertainment GmbH in February 2008.
  • Historic Christmas market in front of the Hamburg City Hall .
  • Annual historical fair in Aachen- Kornelimünster .
  • 1998 Bernhard Paul opened in Aachen the Café Roncalli , were presented in the in coffee house atmosphere circus elements and -vorführungen. In 2008 the project was abandoned after a few tenant changes.
  • For the largest circus and variety collection in Europe, Bernhard Paul has not only put together historical circus wagons, nostalgic carousels, an extensive Beatles collection, etc. as a collector over the last few decades, but also many historical shop fittings that he calls the Boulevard of Broken Dreams would like to present to the public permanently. To this end, he wants to build a circus museum on the property of Cologne's winter quarter by 2018.
  • The exhibition “Roncalli - Four Decades of Circus Magic” showed from 2008 to 2015 an overview of the general history of the circus as well as the 40-year history of Circus Roncalli.
  • The exhibition "The Beatles - Fab Four Ever" shows the extensive, private collection of Beatles fan Bernhard Paul. The exhibition toured through many of the ECE Group's shopping centers in Germany from 2013 to 2015 and is regularly accompanied by music from the tribute band The Beatles Connection .

Winter quarters

Winter quarters in Cologne-Mülheim

The winter quarters of Circus Roncalli have been located in Circus-Roncalli Weg 7 (until 2017 Neurather Weg 7) in Cologne-Mülheim since 1984 . The building used to belong to Circus Williams and was redesigned between 1984 and 1986 according to Bernhard Paul's plans to accommodate Circus Roncalli and its equipment. The official inauguration took place on April 27, 1986. On the more than 10,000 m² site there is not only the winter quarters, but also large halls in which the carriages are designed and renovated, the costumes are worked on and the equipment of the historical fair is kept in order. There is also a warehouse with more than 100 Roncalli circus wagons on the site . Germany's first circus museum is to be built on around half of the site by 2018.

transport

Transport of the circus Roncalli wagons on a freight train

Bernhard Paul prefers rail transport and is therefore the last circus in Germany to use rail-bound circus trains. The transport of all Roncalli wagons with over 80 historic circus wagons requires a freight train with a total weight of 1,175 tons and a train length of around 700 meters; discharging it takes more than a day. However, rail transport is increasingly proving to be more difficult, as Deutsche Bahn , for example, hardly has suitable loading ramps in operation. According to a report in Bahn TV in March 2007, customer advisors at Deutsche Bahn are considering using the remaining loading ramps of the Bundeswehr or the British Army on the Rhine or the British Armed Forces in Germany for circus trains.

literature

  • Thomas Schütte and Mario Angelo : Walk into the Circus Roncalli. Argos Press, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-88420-015-1 .
  • Bernhard Paul: Roncalli and his artists. Lingen, Cologne 1991.
  • Werner Köhler and Edmund Labonté (eds.): Circus Roncalli. Story of a legend. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-455-11190-4 .
  • Helga Pisters and Bernhard Paul: Circus Roncalli. Edition Panorama, Mannheim 2006, ISBN 3-89823-275-1 .

Television series

In 1986/87, the six-part ARD television series Roncalli   with Günther Maria Halmer in the title role as circus director Bruno Roncalli was created in cooperation with Bernhard Paul and the artists of Circus Roncalli.

Movies

  • Holography instead of real animals in the circus. TV report, Germany, 2019, 5:11 min., Script and director: NN , production: Deutsche Welle (DW), editing: Euromaxx , first broadcast: September 13, 2019 on DW, table of contents and online video from DW. Insights into digitization.
  • Holograms instead of real animals in the circus. Conversation with Bernhard Paul and video recordings, Germany, 2019, 10:53 min., Moderation: Stefan Pinnow , production: WDR , editing: hier und heute , first broadcast: August 13, 2019 on WDR, table of contents and online video from WDR , available until August 13, 2020.
  • Roncalli - The dream of the circus. Documentary, Germany, 2014, 43:40 min., Script and director: Martin Uhrmeister, production: Faction! TV, WDR , first broadcast: June 26, 2015, 8:15 p.m. on WDR television , series: Doku am Freitag , summary by WDR.

Web links

Commons : Circus Roncalli  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Kaufmann (Ed.): 20 Years of Steirischer Herbst, a documentation (1968-1987) . Zsolnay-Verlag, Vienna a. a. 1988, ISBN 3-552-81988-6 , p. 297, limited preview in Google Book Search.
  2. ↑ Program archive: The greatest poetry in the universe. Circus as a total work of art October 8th, 1975 - October 9th, 1975 Circus Roncalli. In: Steirischer Herbst , accessed October 30, 2019.
  3. ^ Mathias Ziegler: Bernhard Paul: Dream of the circus. In: Wiener Zeitung , September 18, 2009, accessed on March 19, 2018.
  4. ↑ André Heller's Circus Roncalli. In: Arbeiter-Zeitung , October 10, 1975, p. 7, accessed on July 17, 2010.
  5. ↑ : Roncalli. The dream of the circus. In: WDR , May 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ Binci Heeb: Emil and Niccel Steinberger in an exclusive interview after three years of Basel: "As heavenly it is in any other city." In: barfi.ch , September 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ Dream job clown. In: Nordwestradio Journal , December 13, 2012, accessed on March 19, 2018.
  8. ^ Uwe Janssen: Kapellenmeister at the Roncalli Circus. The band boss has been in the ring for 37 years. In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , November 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ Norbert Ramme: Only artistry show. Circus Roncalli removes all animal numbers from the program. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , April 18, 2017.
  10. ↑ Amelie Gensel: Holograms in the Circus Roncalli. Applause for the new animal performance. In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , June 14, 2019, with photo gallery.
  11. ↑ ten / dpa : High-tech in the Circus Roncalli. Clear the ring for animal holograms. In: Brisant  / MDR , June 14, 2019.
  12. ↑ Nathalie Riahi: 15 years “Apollo-Varieté”. Bernhard Paul: I feel great under the bridge. In: Express , October 3, 2012.
  13. ↑ Dirk Graalmann: Dinner show of the star chef : Insolvency. Witzigmann's Bajazzo is no longer laughing. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , print edition: March 6, 2008, online again: May 17, 2010.
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Schumacher: Roncalli becomes a night gallery. In: Aachener Nachrichten , May 31, 2010.
  15. ^ A b Susanne Schramm: Clear the ring for Germany's first circus museum. In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , May 27, 2016.
  16. ^ Beatles exhibition. In: roncalli.de , slide show.
  17. ^ Roncalli's exhibitions. In: roncalli.de .
  18. ↑ Why the Circus Roncalli travels by train ; SZ online from November 15, 2019
  19. ↑ Bettina Köhl: Roncalli in Bonn: The circus train is 600 meters long. In: General-Anzeiger (Bonn) , April 28, 2011.
  20. ↑ Bernhard Paul. Biography • chap. TV film & theater. In: roncalli.de .
  21. ↑ Roncalli. In: fernsehserien.de .