The Seyler Theatre Company, also known as the Seyler Company (German: ''Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft'', sometimes ''Seylersche Truppe''), was a

theatrical company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

founded in 1769 by

Abel Seyler Abel Seyler (23 August 1730, Liestal – 25 April 1800, Rellingen) was a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker, who was regarded as one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe. He played a pivotal role in the deve ...

, a Hamburg businessman originally from Switzerland who became "the leading patron of German theatre" in his lifetime. It was largely a continuation of the Hamburgische Entreprise, whose dramaturge was

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the developmen ...

and whose main owner was Seyler. The Seyler theatrical company became one of the most famous theatrical companies of Europe in the 18th century, attracting some of Germany's leading actors, playwrights and composers. It originally comprised around 60 members, including an orchestra, a ballet, house dramatists and set designers. Between 1777 and 1778 Seyler employed some 230 actors, singers and musicians. The company was originally (from 1769) contracted by the Hanoverian court with performing at Hanover and other cities of the kingdom. The company would eventually perform all across Germany, and performed for three years at the Weimar Schlosstheater, invited by

Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (24 October 173910 April 1807), was a German princess and composer. She became the duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, by marriage, and was also regent of the states of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach from 1758 to ...

. When Anna Amalia succeeded in engaging the Seyler Company, this was "an extremely fortunate coup. The Seyler Company was the best theatre company in Germany at that time." The company had an important role in the development of

German opera Opera in German is that of the German-speaking countries, which include Germany, Austria, and the historic German states that pre-date those countries. German-language opera appeared remarkably quickly after the birth of opera itself in Italy. T ...

in the late 18th century. A number of plays were written for the Seyler theatrical company. For example, the play ''

Sturm und Drang ''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...

'' (which gave its name to the

period) was written originally for the company by

Friedrich Maximilian Klinger Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (17 February 1752 – 9 March 1831) was a German dramatist and novelist. His play ''Sturm und Drang'' (1776) gave its name to the Sturm und Drang artistic epoch. He was a childhood friend of Johann Wolfgang von ...

(

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

's childhood friend), then employed as its playwright, and first performed in 1777. In 1789, Abel Seyler's wife, the celebrated actress

Friederike Sophie Seyler Friederike Sophie Seyler (1738, Dresden – 22 November 1789, Schleswig; née Sparmann, formerly married Hensel) was a German actress, playwright and librettist. Alongside Friederike Caroline Neuber, she was widely considered Germany's greatest ac ...

, published the ''

Singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like ...

'' '' Hüon und Amande'', that was plagiarized by the troupe of Emanuel Schikaneder and also greatly influenced ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

''. Threatened by bankruptcy in 1770, the company was saved by Seyler's brother-in-law,

Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae (ca. 17 December 1724 – 1 May 1793), often known as J.G.R. Andreae or I.G.R. Andreae, was a Hanoverian natural scientist, chemist, geologist, court pharmacist (''Hofapotheker'') and alchemist in the Age of En ...

People associated with the Seyler Theatre Company

Esther Charlotte Brandes after Anton Graff

(director/owner/actor) *

, formerly Hensel (actress; wife of the latter) *

Konrad Ekhof Konrad Ekhof (12 August 1720 in Hamburg, Germany – 16 June 1778) was a German actor, widely regarded as one of the foremost actors of the German-speaking realm in the 18th century. He was noted for his collaboration with the theatre principal ...

(actor) *

Georgine Ekhof Georgine is a women’s ready-to-wear brand founded by the designers Georgine Ratelband and Chris Roshia in New York City. History Georgine was launched by the fashion designer Georgine Ratelband with her partner Chris Roshia and was founded ...

(actress; wife of the latter) *

Franziska Romana Koch Franziska Romana Koch, née Gieraneck, Giwraneck, Giraneck, Jiránek (1748–1796) was a German ballet dancer, soprano, and actress. First a dancer as the member of the theatre company Kochische Gesellschaft, she also trained her voice and worke ...

(soprano) *

Johann Christian Brandes Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious ...

(actor) *

Esther Charlotte Brandes Esther Charlotte Brandes (1746-May 13, 1786), was a German actress and opera singer. She was born in Różyńsk Wielki and was the daughter of Prussian official Gottfried Salomo Kochin. She was engaged in the Schuch theater company in 1764-68 ...

(actress; wife of the latter) *

(playwright) *

Johann Adam Hiller Johann Adam Hiller (25 December 1728, in Wendisch-Ossig, Saxony – 16 June 1804, in Leipzig) was a German composer, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas ...

(musical director) *

Christian Gottlob Neefe Christian Gottlob Neefe (; 5 February 1748 – 28 January 1798) was a German opera composer and conductor. He was known as one of the first teachers of Ludwig van Beethoven. Life and career Neefe was born in Chemnitz, Saxony. He received a m ...

(musical director) *

Georg Anton Benda Georg Anton Benda ( cz, Jiří Antonín Benda, italic=no, link=no; 30 June 17226 November 1795) was a composer, violinist and Kapellmeister of the classical period from the Kingdom of Bohemia. Biography Born into a family of notable musician ...

(composer) *

Anton Schweitzer Anton Schweitzer (6 June 1735 in Coburg – 23 November 1787 in Gotha) was a German composer of operas, who was affiliated with Abel Seyler's theatrical company. He was a child prodigy who obtained the patronage of the duke of Saxe-Hildburghause ...

(musical director) * Christoph Martin Wieland (librettist) *

Heinrich Leopold Wagner Heinrich Leopold Wagner (19 February 1747 – 4 March 1779) was a German dramatist. Wagner was born in Strasbourg and is chiefly known for his 1776 tragedy ''The Child Murderess''. He died, aged 32, in Frankfurt. Works * ''Prometheus, Deukalion ...

(dramatist, producer, translator and lawyer)Alan Leidner, ''Sturm und Drang: Lenz, Wagner, Klinger, and Schiller: The Soldiers, The Childmurderess, Storm and Stress, and The Robbers'', p. xii,

Continuum International Publishing Group Continuum International Publishing Group was an academic publisher of books with editorial offices in London and New York City. It was purchased by Nova Capital Management in 2005. In July 2011, it was taken over by Bloomsbury Publishing. , al ...

, 1992, * Giovanni Federico Toscani (tenor, 1775–77)

Works written for the Seyler company (selection)

*''

'' by

*''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work' ...

'' by

*''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

'' by

*'' Alceste'' by

(composer) and Christoph Martin Wieland (libretto)

References

Bibliography

Thomas Bauman Thomas Bauman (born March 10, 1948) is an American musicologist and Professor of Musicology at Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He is an expert on German opera, film music, Mozart, and African American theatrical history. He earne ...

, "New directions: the Seyler company" (pp. 91–131), in ''North German Opera in the Age of Goethe'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1985 *

, ''Music and Drama in Germany: A Traveling Company and Its Repertory, 1767–1781'', PhD dissertation on the Seyler Theatre Company,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, 1977 {{Theatre companies in Germany Seyler theatrical company Theatre companies in Germany Opera in Germany Sturm und Drang