Burgtheater

Coordinates: 48°12′37″N 16°21′41″E / 48.21028°N 16.36139°E / 48.21028; 16.36139
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the film, see
Burgtheater (film)
.

Burgtheater
Map
Former names
  • K.K. Theater an der Burg
  • K.K. Hofburgtheater
  • K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg
AddressUniversitätsring 2
Vienna
Austria
Coordinates48°12′37″N 16°21′41″E / 48.21028°N 16.36139°E / 48.21028; 16.36139
TypeTheater
Opened14 March 1741 (1741-03-14)
Website
burgtheater.at

The Burgtheater (German:

theater and one of the most important theatres in the world.[1]
The Burgtheater was opened in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the Viennese population;[1] its theater company has created a traditional style and speech typical of Burgtheater performances.

History

The old Burgtheater (before 1888)
Burgtheater (right after its construction)
Burgtheater (side)
Detail of facade of Burgtheater
Burgtheater (main entrance)

The original Burgtheater was set up in a tennis court (called a 'ball house' at the time) that the Roman-German king and later emperor Ferdinand I had built in 1540 in the lower pleasure garden of the Hofburg after the old ball house fell victim to a fire in 1525.[2][3]

The theater opened on 14 March 1741, the creation of the

Le nozze di Figaro (1786), and Così fan tutte (1790), as well as his Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor (1786). Beginning in 1794, the theater was called the "K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg". Beethoven's 1st Symphony premiered there on 2 April 1800. The last performance, in October 1888, was of Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris.[4][5]

The theater's first building adjoined the

Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer
, and St. Michael's Wing of the Hofburg Palace was erected at the vacated site.

In 1943, under Nazi rule, a notoriously extreme production of The Merchant of Venice was staged at the Burgtheater—with Werner Krauss as Shylock, one of several theater and film roles by this actor pandering to antisemitic stereotypes.[6]

On 12 March 1945, the Burgtheater was largely destroyed in a

German-language theater.[citation needed
]

Directors

Before 1776, the theater had been leased from the state by Johann

Society of Jesus, which were suppressed by the order of Pope Clement XIV in 1773. Francis II decided on 4 July 1792 to lease the theater again, but couldn't find a tenant. Finally, Ferdinánd Pálffy became the tenant in 1794, until 1817; his finances originated from the mining institute in Banská Štiavnica, the first technical university in the world.[7][8][9][10][11]

Name Start  End 
Joint direction by 15–22 senior
members (Künstlerrepublik) 		1776 1789
Franz Carl Hieronymus Brockmann 1790 1790
Direction by 5 senior members
(Regiekollegium) 		1790 1794
Peter von Braun 1794 1806
Direction by a group of senior courtiers
(initially 8) (Kavaliersdirektion) 		1807 1817
Joseph Schreyvogel 1814 1832
Johann Ludwig Deinhardstein 1832 1841
Franz Ignaz von Holbein 1841 1849
Heinrich Laube 1849 1867
Friedrich Halm (pseudonym of
Eligius Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen) 		1867 1868
August Wolff 1868 1870
Franz Freiherr von Dingelstedt 1870 1881
Adolf von Wilbrandt
 1881 1887
Adolf von Sonnenthal 1887 1888
August Förster 1888 1889
Adolf von Sonnenthal 1889 1890
Max Burckhard 1890 1898
Paul Schlenther 1898 1910
Alfred Freiherr von Berger 1910 1912
Hugo Thimig 1912 1917
Max von Millenkovich 1917 1918
Joint direction by Hermann Bahr, Max Devrient
and Robert Michel (Dreierkollegium) 		1918 1918
Albert Heine 1918 1921
Anton Wildgans 1921 1922
Max Paulsen 1922 1923
Franz Herterich 1923 1930
Anton Wildgans 1930 1931
Hermann Röbbeling 1932 1938
Mirko Jelusich 1938 1938
Ulrich Bettac 1938 1939
Lothar Müthel 1939 1945
Raoul Aslan 1945 1948
Erhard Buschbeck 1948 1948
Josef Gielen 1948 1954
Adolf Rott 1954 1959
Ernst Haeusserman 1959 1968
Paul Hoffmann 1968 1971
Gerhard Klingenberg 1971 1976
Achim Benning 1976 1986
Claus Peymann 1986 1999
Klaus Bachler 1999 2009
Matthias Hartmann 2009 2014
Karin Bergmann 2014 2019
Martin Kušej 2019

Theater and renowned actors

The Burgtheater remained a strongly traditional stage with a distinct culture until the late 1960s. From the early 1970s on, it became a venue for some of Europe's most important stage directors and designers. With many debut performances of plays written by Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, Peter Handke, Peter Turrini, and George Tabori, Claus Peymann managed to affirm the Burgtheater's reputation as one of Europe's foremost stages.

Among the best known actors in the ensemble of about 120 members are: Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Kirsten Dene, Andrea Clausen, Bruno Ganz, Karlheinz Hackl, Philipp Hochmair,[12] Robert Meyer, Gertraud Jesserer, August Diehl, Jutta Lampe, Susanne Lothar, Michael Maertens, Tamara Metelka, Birgit Minichmayr, Nicholas Ofczarek, Hedwig Pistorius, Elisabeth Orth, Martin Schwab, Peter Simonischek, Ulrich Tukur, Franz Tscherne, and Gert Voss.

Some famous former members of the ensemble were

Volksgarten. Members of honor include: Annemarie Düringer, Wolfgang Gasser, Heinrich Schweiger, Gusti Wolf, Klaus Maria Brandauer, and Michael Heltau
.

The Burgtheater has seen productions staged by directors like Otto Schenk, Peter Hall, Giorgio Strehler, Luca Ronconi, Hans Neuenfels, Terry Hands, Jonathan Miller, Peter Zadek, Paulus Manker, Luc Bondy, Christoph Schlingensief, and Thomas Vinterberg. Among the staged and costume designers were Fritz Wotruba, Luciano Damiani, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Ezio Frigerio, Franca Squarciapino, Josef Svoboda, Anselm Kiefer, Moidele Bickel, and Milena Canonero.

Notable performances include the world premiere of Des Feux dans la Nuit in 1999, whose choreography was done by Marie Chouinard.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d aeiou-Burgtheater "Burgtheater" (history), Encyclopedia of Austria, Aeiou Project, 1999 Archived 26 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Theatre Database / Theatre Architecture – database, projects". www.theatre-architecture.eu. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Real Tennis History - Austria". Real Tennis History. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  4. ^ Wiener Tagblatt, 13 October 1888
  5. ^ Yates, W.E., Theater in Vienna: A Critical History, 1776–1995, Cambridge University Press; New edition (21 Aug 2008). p.81
  6. doi:10.3167/ej.2017.510221
    .
  7. ^ Briefe an ihre Kinder und Freunde, Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria; Alfred Ritter von Arneth, Verlag: Braumüller, Wien 1881.
  8. ^ Katalog der Portrait-Sammlung der k.u.k. General-Intendanz der k.k. Hoftheater: zugleich ein biographisches Hilfsbuch auf dem Gebiet von Theater und Musik, Burgtheater, Wien 1892, A. W. Künast
  9. ^ Alt und Neu Wien: Geschichte der österreichischen Kaiserstadt, Band 2, von Karl Eduard Schimmer, Horitz Bermann, Wien 1904, p. 215
  10. ^ Théâtre, nation & société en Allemagne au XVIIIe siècle, Roland Krebs, Jean Marie Valentin, Presses universitaires de Nancy, 1990.
  11. ^ Ungarische Revue, Volume 11, p. 53, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Franklin-Verein, 1891.
  12. ^ "Burgtheater | Burgtheater". www.burgtheater.at (in German). Retrieved 20 June 2022.

External links

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