Günther Schneider-Siemssen (7 June 1926 – 2 June 2015) was a German-born Austrian

scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

er, working as the chief designer for all Austrian State Theatres and the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

, where he created 28 productions for

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

and 60 for

Otto Schenk Otto Schenk (born 12 June 1930, in Vienna) is an Austrian actor, and theater and opera director. Life and career Schenk was born to Catholic parents. His father, a lawyer, had Jewish roots and therefore lost his job after the Anschluss in 1938. ...

. He was a pioneer in using lighting and projections on stage. He designed sets for major international opera houses.

Career

Born Günther Schneider in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

, he later adopted his second name, Siemssen, from his maternal grandfather. He spent his childhood and youth in Munich, originally wanting to become a conductor. In a job interview with

Clemens Krauss Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner. Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, ...

he was advised against this and was instead recommended to train in set designing. He studied set design at the

Akademie der Bildenden Künste München The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

. From 1951 to 1954, Schneider-Siemssen was the head stage designer of the

Salzburger Landestheater The Salzburg State Theatre (''Salzburger Landestheater'') is a theatre situated in Salzburg, Austria, a venue for opera, theatre, and dance, contemporary and older works, with resident companies of actors, singers and dancers. The theatre presents ...

, and was simultaneously also in charge of the Salzburger Marionettentheater. From 1954, he was the head stage designer of the

Theater Bremen Theater Bremen (Bremen Theatre) is a state theatre in Bremen, Germany, with four divisions for opera, straight theater, dance, and student programs. Its venues are located in a city block, connected in architecture and seating up to 1,426 spectato ...

. From 1960, he was employed at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

under

, where their first production was '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. From 1962 to 1986 he was the chief stage designer for the , including the Opera,

Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

and

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

with the

Akademietheater The Akademietheater in Vienna, Austria, is the smaller of two performance halls of the Burgtheater organization. It was constructed in the years 1911 to 1913 by architects Fellner & Helmer Fellner & Helmer was an architecture studio founded in 1 ...

. From 1965, he held the position also for the

. He created numerous style-defining stage designs. As a guest, he worked at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in New York City, and in opera houses of other U.S. cities and of Canada, South America, Israel and South Africa. A key feature of his designs was his use of lighting. He pioneered and developed a symbolic style of using hand-painted projections and sophisticated special effects, working with the company Pani. For a production of Offenbach's '' Hoffmann's Erzählungen'' at the Salzburger Marionettentheater in 1985, he brought

holographic Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...

technology to use on stage for the first time. He designed 28 productions for Karajan and 60 for

, and worked also with directors such as

August Everding August Everding (; 31 October 1928; Bottrop, Germany – 26 January 1999; Munich) was a German opera director and administrator. He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Munich, where launching his career in the 1950s. He was a member of the Ro ...

Götz Friedrich Götz Friedrich (4 August 1930 in Naumburg, Germany – 12 December 2000 in Berlin, Germany) was a German opera and theatre director. He was a student and assistant of Walter Felsenstein at the Komische Oper Berlin in (East) Berlin, where he we ...

and

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

. For his expressive interpretations of Wagner's stage works, he received the Anton Seidl Award from the Wagner Society of New York in 2009, for a 1986 production of Wagner's ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...

'' at the Metropolitan Opera, staged by Schenk and conducted by

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

, which remained in the repertoire of the house to 2009. It was presented in live broadcasts in 1990.

Personal life

Schneider-Siemssen became an Austrian citizen in 1973, living in Vienna and Seeham near

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

. He was married and had four children. Schneider-Siemssen died in Vienna after long term sickness just prior to his 89th birthday and was buried in the

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...

in an honorary grave (Group 40, Number 187).

Literature

* Kurt Becsi (ed.), ''Die Bühne als kosmischer Raum. Zum Bühnenbildschaffen by G. Schneider-Siemssen''. Vienna, 1976Die Bühne als kosmischer Raum : zum Bühnenbildschaffen von Günther Schneider-Siemssen
German National Library, retrieved 8 June 2014 * Josef Mayerhöfer (ed.), ''G. Schneider-Siemssen. 30 Jahre Bühnenschaffen''. 1977 und . * Günther Schneider-Siemssen: ''Die Bühne – Mein Leben.'' Vienna 1998, .

Awards

* 1987: Medal of Honour of Vienna in Gold * 1998:

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...

* 2009: Anton Seidl Award“ from the Wagner Society of New York

References

External links

*
Württembergisches Staatstheater Stuttgart: Dekorationsmappen
Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg {{DEFAULTSORT:SchneiderSiemssen, Gunther Austrian scenic designers 1926 births 2015 deaths Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art People from Augsburg German emigrants to Austria Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery