2015209205846 2015-07-29 Fotoprobe Nibelungen Festspiele Worms Gemetzel - Sven - 1D X - 0257 - DV3P9461 mod

Nibelungenfestspiele Worms is a theatre festival in

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

Rheinland-Pfalz Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

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 ...

. The festival takes place every year since its re-establishment in 2002, usually in July or August as part of the . The performance venue is an open-air stage directly in front of Worms Cathedral ( Wormser Dom). From 2003 to 2014, artistic director of the festival was

Dieter Wedel Dieter Karl Cäsar Wedel (; 12 November 1939 – 13 July 2022) was a German director. Wedel directed numerous television productions since the late 1960s, among them very successful mini-series like ', ', ' and '' Die Affäre Semmeling''. He is ...

. Since 2015, producer Nico Hofmann has been the director.

History

The festival was established during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1937. Between 1937 and 1939 the repertoire was based exclusively on

Christian Friedrich Hebbel Christian Friedrich Hebbel (18 March 1813 – 13 December 1863) was a German poet and dramatist. Biography Hebbel was born at Wesselburen in Dithmarschen, Holstein, the son of a bricklayer. He was educated at the ''Gelehrtenschule des Johann ...

's 1861 three-part drama ''

Die Nibelungen ''Die Nibelungen'' ("The Nibelungs") is a two-part series of silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924, consisting of ''Die Nibelungen: Siegfried'' and ''Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge''. The scenarios for bo ...

''. The festival was revived in 1956 was without lasting success. In 2002 the first new production of the Nibelungen Festival took place in order to re-establish Worms as a festival city. Theater and movie stars like

Mario Adorf Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...

and Maria Schrader were hired to cause a stir throughout Germany. Produced by Moritz Rinke, the first festival took place on the south portal of the Worms Cathedral. In the summer of 2010, for financial reasons, an improvised version of the festival titled ''Devil, God and Emperor - Improvisations on the Time in which the Nibelungenlied Arose'' was played on a smaller scale at the "Platz der Partnerschaft", incorporating the ambience near the Cathedral. In 2011 the Nibelung Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with a big open-air performance in front of the Cathedral; in the process, the producer and director departed from the original material of the Nibelungen for the first time. The production was titled ''

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer Joseph Süß Oppenheimer (1698? – February 4, 1738) was a German Jewish banker and court Jew for Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart. Throughout his career, Oppenheimer made scores of powerful enemies, some of whom conspired to b ...

, called Jud Süß''. Since 2018, the city of Worms and the Nibelungen Festival have awarded the Mario Adorf Prize, named after Mario Adorf. It is awarded to actors, stage designers, directors or other members of the Nibelungen Festival who have distinguished themselves through exceptional artistic achievement. Adorf himself is a member of the Festival's Board of Trustees and sits on the jury. Among other things, he initiated the festival in 2002 and participated himself as an actor in 2002 and 2003. The prize is a glass stele with a dragon motif by the illustrator Hendrik Dorgathen, and it is also endowed with 10,000 euros.

References

External links

* Theatre festivals in Germany Nibelung tradition Festivals established in 1937 1937 establishments in Germany Festivals established in 1956 1956 establishments in Germany Festivals established in 2002 2002 establishments in Germany {{Germany-festival-stub