Stadttheater Düsseldorf , later Städtische Bühnen Düsseldorf,was a theatre in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Designed by

Ernst Giese Ernst Friedrich Giese (16 April 1832 – 12 October 1903) was a German architect and university professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and at the Technical University of Dresden. Early life Giese grew up in Bautzen. There he attended the hig ...

, it was constructed between 1873 and 1875.

History

On the site before the construction of the current theatre was the Altes Theater (also Grupellotheater). The name Grupellotheater recalls that the building was the former casting house of the Baroque sculptor Gabriel de Grupello. The old theatre house was used as a theatre as early as 1747, when

Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria Charles Theodore (german: link=no, Karl Theodor; 11 December 1724 – 16 February 1799) reigned as Prince-elector and Count Palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as prince-elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777 to his ...

was staying in Düsseldorf. Around 1750 it was in operation as a comedy house. From 1751 onwards, regular theatre performances were given in the house. After Düsseldorf became Prussian, King Frederick William III donated the building, which had previously been state property, to the city of Düsseldorf on 11 April 1818, which henceforth leased it for theatre purposes. The first tenant was the Austrian actor and theatre director Joseph Derossi. The playhouse on the market square was finally replaced by the new municipal theatre, built from 1873 to 1875 by Ernst Giese in the Neo-Renaissance style. The auditorium of the Stadttheater Düsseldorf was partially destroyed by the air raids on Düsseldorf in World War II, but was provisionally rebuilt during the war by order of the Reichstheaterkammer. In 1946, the state parliament of the newly founded state of North Rhine-Westphalia was able to use the opera house as a meeting place. It reopened on October 2, 1946 under the musical direction of the Düsseldorf general music director

Heinrich Hollreiser Heinrich Hollreiser (24 June 191324 July 2006) was a German conductor. Born in Munich, he attended the State Academy of Music there and went on to serve as the conductor at the opera houses in Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Mannheim, and Duisburg. From ...

to the sounds of the Coriolan Overture by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

. A comprehensive conversion to the Düsseldorf Opera House of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein was carried out according to plans by Paul Bonatz, Julius Schulte-Frohlinde and Ernst Huhn from 1954 to 1956. Theatres in Düsseldorf 1875 establishments in Germany Theatres completed in 1875 Frederick William III of Prussia {{NorthRhineWestphalia-struct-stub