The Theater Lübeck (formerly ''Stage of the Hansestadt Lübeck'', colloquially ''Stadttheater'') is one of the largest

theater 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 ...

s in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

. It is managed by ''Theater Lübeck GmbH'', a state-owned company of the Hansestadt

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

. Public interest in theatrical works and

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

arose in Lübeck in the early days of the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

and the first opera production in the city took place on 2 June 1746 in the house of

master craftsman Historically, a master craftsman or master tradesman (sometimes called only master or grandmaster) was a member of a guild. The title survives as the highest professional qualification in craft industries. In the European guild system, only mas ...

Schröder Ecke on the Königstraße. The predecessor of the current building dates from 1752. The transition of the company to the city in the 19th century is described by

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

in his novel ''

Buddenbrooks ''Buddenbrooks'' () is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseaten (class), Hanseatic ...

''. Prominent conductors that began their careers in Lübeck include

Hermann Abendroth Hermann Paul Maximilian Abendroth (19 January 1883 – 29 May 1956) was a German conductor. Early life Abendroth was born on 19 January 1883, at Frankfurt, the son of a bookseller. Several other members of the family were artists in diverse dis ...

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...

and

Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnanyi ...

Structure

The Theater was built in 1908 in the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style, on the site of an 18th-century theater on the Beckergrube in Lübeck's Old City. It was designed by

Martin Dülfer Martin Dülfer (1 January 1859, Breslau – 21 December 1942, Dresden) was a German architect and professor; best known for designing theatres in the Historical and Art-Nouveau styles. Life and work His father, Carl Dülfer, was a publisher ...

and construction was funded by local businessman and philanthropist Emil Possehl. The

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s on the

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

facade are the work of

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Georg Roemer. The relief in the center depicts ''

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

and the Nine Muses'', with

Comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

and

Tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

represented on either side. The gable end supports depicting

Caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

are the work of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

plasterer Karl Weinberger. The facade and the entire building received a complete restoration in the 1990s. image:HL Damals – Abbruch.jpg, Old theater destroyed image:HL Damals - Dülfer.jpg, Professor Martin Dülfer from Dresden (Builder) image:HL Damals - Baudrexel.jpg, Architekt Max Baudrexel (Site manager) image:HL Stadttheater – Hauptfront.jpg, City hall with theater image:HL Stadttheater – Grundrisse.jpg, floorplans

The theater today

The theater offerings include a variety of cultural activities, including

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, and

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

s, as well as concerts of the Lübeck Philharmonic

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. The theater management has included Karl Vibach (1968–1978), Hans Thoenies (1978–1991), Dietrich von Oertzen (1991–2000) and Marc Adam (2000–2007). Since 2007 the theater has been managed by committee. 50% of the proceeds of ''Theater Lübeck GmbH'' go to the city of Lübeck. 12.5% each go to the regional governments of the surrounding districts of

Herzogtum Lauenburg Herzogtum Lauenburg ( en, Duchy of Lauenburg; ) is the southernmost ''Kreis'', or district, officially called Kreis Herzogtum Lauenburg (), of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by (from the west and clockwise) the district of Stormarn ...

and

Nordwestmecklenburg Nordwestmecklenburg (''Northwestern Mecklenburg'') is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north-western part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the coast of the Baltic Sea and borders on Schleswig-Holstein to the west. Neighboring dis ...

, the

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

("Kaufmannschaft"), and the ''Gesellschaft der Theaterfreunde e. V. Lübeck'' (Friends of the Theater).''Gesellschaften der Hansestadt Lübeck (städtischer Anteil mindestens 50 %)'' in: ''Die Bürgerschaft der Hansestadt Lübeck – Aufgaben, Organisation, Kontakte'' Hansestadt Lübeck, Büro der Bürgerschaft, März 2006, Seite 40

References

Notes Sources *Heinrich Asmus
''Die dramatische Kunst und das Theater zu Lübeck''
(Dramatic arts and the theater at Lübeck). Von Rohden, Lübeck 1862 *Klaus Matthias: ''Grossbauten der Lübecker Innenstadt nach 1900. Von der Überwindung des Historismus zum Jugendstil''. In: ''Der Wagen'' 1992, S. 182–205 (see p. 193ff for details on architecture and the facade) *Carl Stiehl
''Geschichte des Theaters in Lübeck''
(History of the Lübeck Theater). Borchers, Lübeck 1902

External links

Official web site
{{Authority control Theater Lubeck Theater Lubeck Theatres in Germany Opera houses in Germany Theater Lubeck Theater Lubeck Theatres completed in 1908 Music venues completed in 1908 Art Nouveau theatres 1908 establishments in Germany