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, located in Vienna. It is the most important German-language theater and one of the most important theatres in the world. The Burgtheater was opened in 1741 and has become known as die Burg by the Viennese population;
The theater opened on 14 March 1741, the creation of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who wanted a theater next to her palace. Her son, Emperor Joseph II, called it the "German National Theater" in 1776. Three Mozart operas premiered there: (1782), (1786), and (1790), as well as his Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor (1786). Beginning in 1794, the theater was called the "K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg". Beethoven's 1st Symphony premiered there on 2 April 1800. The last performance, in October 1888, was of Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris. The theatre's small size provided it with exceptional acoustics, but it had long been unable to accommodate its growing audience. In 1884, one description noted that it was "neither remarkable by comfort, nor by elegance. The [auditorium], which is a great deal too small, can hardly contain the half of the spectators who should like to enter."
The theater's first building adjoined the Hofburg at Michaelerplatz, opposite St. Michael's Church. It was moved to a new building at the Ringstraße on 14 October 1888, designed by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer. The interiors of the new Burgtheater were decorated with frescoes by Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt, and Franz von Matsch, depicting theatrical history, from Sophocles's Antigone to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre as well as the drama of Molière.
In 1943, under Nazi rule, a notoriously extreme production of The Merchant of Venice was staged at the Burgtheater—with Werner Krauss as Shylock, one of several theater and film roles by this actor pandering to antisemitic stereotypes.
On 12 March 1945, the Burgtheater was largely destroyed in a United States Air Force bombing raid, and one month later, on 12 April 1945, it was further damaged by a fire of unknown origin.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="background:#cce; text-align:left;"|Name
! style="background:#cce;"|Start
! style="background:#cce;"| End
|-
| valign="top" |Joint direction by 15–22 senior<br>members (Künstlerrepublik)
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1776
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1789
|-
| valign="top" |Franz Carl Hieronymus Brockmann
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1790
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1790
|-
| valign="top" |Direction by 5 senior members<br>(Regiekollegium)
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1790
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1794
|-
| valign="top" |Peter von Braun
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1794
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1806
|-
| valign="top" |Direction by a group of senior courtiers<br>(initially 8) (Kavaliersdirektion)
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1807
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1817
|-
| valign="top" |Joseph Schreyvogel
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1814
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1832
|-
| valign="top" |Johann Ludwig Deinhardstein
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1832
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1841
|-
| valign="top" |Franz Ignaz von Holbein
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1841
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1849
|-
| valign="top" |Heinrich Laube
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1849
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1867
|-
| valign="top" |Friedrich Halm (pseudonym of<br>Eligius Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen)
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1867
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1868
|-
| valign="top" |August Wolff
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1868
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1870
|-
| valign="top" |Franz Freiherr von Dingelstedt
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1870
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1881
|-
| valign="top" |Adolf von Wilbrandt
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1881
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1887
|-
| valign="top" |Adolf von Sonnenthal
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1887
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1888
|-
| valign="top" |August Förster
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1888
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1889
|-
| valign="top" |Adolf von Sonnenthal
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1889
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1890
|-
| valign="top" |Max Burckhard
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1890
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1898
|-
| valign="top" |Paul Schlenther
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1898
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1910
|-
| valign="top" |Alfred Freiherr von Berger
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1910
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1912
|-
| valign="top" |Hugo Thimig
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1912
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1917
|-
| valign="top" |Max von Millenkovich
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1917
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1918
|-
| valign="top" |Joint direction by Hermann Bahr, Max Devrient<br>and Robert Michel (Dreierkollegium)
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1918
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1918
|-
| valign="top" |Albert Heine
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1918
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1921
|-
| valign="top" |Anton Wildgans
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1921
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1922
|-
| valign="top" |Max Paulsen
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1922
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1923
|-
| valign="top" |Franz Herterich
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1923
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1930
|-
| valign="top" |Anton Wildgans
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1930
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1931
|-
| valign="top" |Hermann Röbbeling
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1932
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1938
|-
| valign="top" |Mirko Jelusich
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1938
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1938
|-
| valign="top" |Ulrich Bettac
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1938
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1939
|-
| valign="top" |Lothar Müthel
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1939
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1945
|-
| valign="top" |Raoul Aslan
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1945
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1948
|-
| valign="top" |Erhard Buschbeck
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1948
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1948
|-
| valign="top" |Josef Gielen
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1948
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1954
|-
| valign="top" |Adolf Rott
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1954
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1959
|-
| valign="top" |Ernst Haeusserman
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1959
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1968
|-
| valign="top" |Paul Hoffmann
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1968
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1971
|-
| valign="top" |Gerhard Klingenberg
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1971
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1976
|-
| valign="top" |Achim Benning
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1976
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1986
|-
| valign="top" |Claus Peymann
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1986
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1999
|-
| valign="top" |Klaus Bachler
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|1999
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2009
|-
| valign="top" |Matthias Hartmann
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2009
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2014
|-
| valign="top" |
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2014
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2019
|-
| valign="top" |Martin Kušej
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2019
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2024
|-
| valign="top" |
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|2024
| style="text-align:center; vertical-align:top;"|
|}
Theater and renowned actors
The Burgtheater remained a strongly traditional stage with a distinct culture until the late 1960s. From the early 1970s on, it became a venue for some of Europe's most important stage directors and designers. With many debut performances of plays written by Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, Peter Handke, Peter Turrini, and George Tabori, Claus Peymann managed to affirm the Burgtheater's reputation as one of Europe's foremost stages.
Among the best known actors in the ensemble of about 120 members are: Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Kirsten Dene, Andrea Clausen, Bruno Ganz, Karlheinz Hackl, Philipp Hochmair, Robert Meyer, Gertraud Jesserer, August Diehl, Jutta Lampe, Susanne Lothar, Michael Maertens, Tamara Metelka, Birgit Minichmayr, Nicholas Ofczarek, Hedwig Pistorius, , Martin Schwab, Peter Simonischek, Ulrich Tukur, Franz Tscherne, and Gert Voss.
Some famous former members of the ensemble were Max Devrient, Josef Kainz, Josef Lewinsky, Joseph Schreyvogel, Adolf von Sonnenthal, Charlotte Wolter, Ludwig Gabillon, Zerline Gabillon, Attila Hörbiger, Paula Wessely, Curd Jürgens, O. W. Fischer, Paul Hörbiger, Otto Tausig, Peter Weck, Fritz Muliar, Christoph Waltz, Ignaz Kirchner, and Gert Voss. Particularly deserving artists may be designated honorable members. Their names are engraved in marble at the bottom end of the ceremonial stairs at the side of the theater facing the Volksgarten. Members of honor include: Annemarie Düringer, Wolfgang Gasser, Heinrich Schweiger, Gusti Wolf, Klaus Maria Brandauer, and Michael Heltau.
The Burgtheater has seen productions staged by directors like Otto Schenk, Peter Hall, Giorgio Strehler, Luca Ronconi, Hans Neuenfels, Terry Hands, Jonathan Miller, Peter Zadek, Paulus Manker, Luc Bondy, Christoph Schlingensief, and Thomas Vinterberg. Among the staged and costume designers were Fritz Wotruba, Luciano Damiani, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Ezio Frigerio, Franca Squarciapino, Josef Svoboda, Anselm Kiefer, Moidele Bickel, and Milena Canonero.
Notable performances include the world premiere of Des Feux dans la Nuit in 1999, whose choreography was done by Marie Chouinard.
See also
- Akademietheater
- Maria Anna Trancart
- Raimund Theater
- Theater in der Josefstadt
- Volkstheater Wien
References
External links
- Burgtheater information and photography