II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

g)
The Palace Theatre – the Ideal of
an Eighteenth-Century Theatre
and Opera House
The Schwetzingen palace theatre 1 is a historical,
architectural and technical marvel of the
late 18th century. Opened fi ve years earlier
than its counterpart at Ludwigsburg, today it
is the oldest theatre in Baden-Württemberg
and may be considered the oldest surviving
galleried theatre in the world.
Built from plans by the architect Nicolas
de Pigage, opened on 15th June 1753, with
an opera by Ignaz Holzbauer, for a quartercentury
it was a major centre of the opera
with a programme of unequalled variety. In
July 1763, Mozart himself, with his father and
sister, was among its visitors.
With Elector Carl Theodor’s move to Munich,
the palace theatre fell into oblivion. During
the 19th century under the rule of the Archdukes
of Baden, a few performances were
staged by the Karlsruhe court; beyond that the
theatre was used for a number of purposes
– for example, as a drying room for hops.
In 1937, it was rescued from oblivion, and
returned to its original function.
Building History
The building documents surviving from the
18th century are incomplete, and so is our
knowledge of the building history 2 : On 20th
May 1752, Pigage drew up the expected costs
on the basis of a plan that no longer exists.
The contracts with the bricklayer, the carpenter,
the metalworker and the wood merchant,
were concluded on 2nd June 1752; contracts
with the sculptor, the painter and the gilder
had to be postponed for lack of specifi c
plans. Four days later, the treasury issued an
urgent appeal to the craftsmen concerned to
1 Silke Leopold/Bärbel Pelker (eds.), Hofoper in Schwetzingen.
Musik – Bühnenkunst – Architektur, Heidelberg 2004.
An interdisciplinary overview of the many aspects of the
Schwetzingen palace theatre.
2 See also Monika Scholl/Peter Knoch: “Bretterbude? Neue
Erkenntnisse zur Baugeschichte des Theaters”, Leopold/Pelker
2004, pp. 251-301.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
agree on the sequence of building measures,
to coordinate their efforts and to avoid
delays. No more than six weeks later the 61
craftsmen received a gift of wine because the
wooden construction was completed. In late
September they were awarded a special “bread
bonus”. It is unclear whether the theatre was
actually completed by that time, but it appears
to have been functional – on 10th September
1752, the set painter received a commission.
However, it was only on 30th December that
Pigage drew up his fi rst overall statement;
minor jobs were still being done in January
1753.
The massive walls enclosing a timber
construction rise over a T-shaped ground plan
(Fig. 1). The pit was fi tted out with latticed boxes
on the ground fl oor, and open galleries on
the two fl oors above; each gallery featured one
central semicircular box. The wooden railings
were covered with hessian. The woodwork of
the walls and ceiling remained visible and like
the hessian was either painted with distemper
or covered with decorative painting.
II.
Fig. 1: This plan of the
Schwetzingen garden by Joseph
Kieser, with a design for the
palace by Balthasar Neumann,
c.1753 (61,0 x 93,2 cm), shows
the theatre as it looked shortly
after its completion.
Fig. 2: Nicolas de Pigage, longitudinal
section of the theatre;
pen and ink, grey wash (42,5
x 117,6 cm). The three plans,
rediscovered in 1991, show the
theatre after 1762. Analyses
performed during recent renovation
work have confi rmed
that Pigage’s drawing shows
the earliest “look” of the house
and galleries, immediately
after the building’s completion.
The depiction of some details,
notably in the stage area, is
somewhat vague.
63