National Theatre Munich

National Theatre, Munich

Königsbau of the Munich Residenz (left) and National Theatre (right), photographed by Joseph Albert (1860)

National Theatre, around 1900

Aerial view showing location of National Theatre in relation to the Residenz, 2007

The National Theatre Munich (German: Nationaltheater München) is an opera house in Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, Germany. It is the home of the Bavarian State Opera and the Bayerisches Staatsballett (Bavarian State Ballet)

The Bavarian State Opera also performs in the Prinzregententheater, which opened in 1901 and, like the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, is built to Richard Wagner's specifications, and in the Cuvilliés Theatre at the Residenz, constructed in 1751–1753 and described by Thierry Beauvert as "a Rococo gem".

The Building

First theater - 1818 to 1823

The first theatre was commissioned in 1810 by King Maximilian I of Bavaria because the nearby Cuvilliés Theatre had too little space. It was designed by Karl von Fischer, with the 1782 Odéon in Paris as architectural precedent. Construction began on 26 October 1811 but was interrupted in 1813 by financing problems. In 1817 a fire occurred in the unfinished building.

The new theatre finally opened on 12 October 1818 with a performance of Die Weihe by Ferdinand Fränzl, but was soon destroyed by another fire on 14 January 1823; the stage décor caught fire during a performance of Die beyden Füchse by Étienne Méhul and the fire could not be put out because the water supply was frozen. Coincidentally the Paris Odéon itself burned down in 1818.

Second theater - 1825 to 1943

Designed by Leo von Klenze, the second theater incorporated Neo-Grec features in its portico and triangular pediment and an entrance supported by Corinthian columns. In 1925 it was modified to create an enlarged stage area with updated equipment. The building was gutted in an air raid on the night of 3 October 1943.

Third theater - 1963 to present

The third and present theatre (1963) recreates Karl von Fischer's original neo-classical design, though on a slightly larger, 2,100-seat scale. The magnificent royal box is the center of the interior rondel, decorated with two large caryatids. The new stage covers 2,500 square metres (3,000 sq yd), and is thus the world's third largest, after the Opéra Bastille in Paris and the Grand Theatre, Warsaw.

Through the consistent use of wood as a building material, the auditorium has excellent acoustics. Architect Gerhard Moritz Graubner closely preserved the original look of the foyer and main staircase. It opened on 21 November 1963 with an invitation-only performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten under the baton of Joseph Keilberth. Two nights later came the first public performance, of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, again under Keilberth.

Interior of the National Theatre

The Music

During its early years, the National Theatre saw the premières of a significant number of operas, including many by German composers. These included Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (1865), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), Das Rheingold (1869) and Die Walküre (1870), after which Wagner chose to build the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth and held further premières of his works there.

During the latter part of the 19th century, it was Richard Strauss who would make his mark on the theatre in the city in which he was born in 1864. After accepting the position of conductor for a short time, Strauss returned to the theatre to become principal conductor from 1894 to 1898. In the pre-War period, his Friedenstag (1938) and Capriccio were premièred in Munich. In the post-War period, the house has seen significant productions and many world premières.

World premières

The list refers only to those premières of the Bavarian State Opera staged in the National Theatre. The Bavarian State Opera had additional premieres also in other theatres. The Bayerisches Staatsballett had also premières in the National Theatre.

7 October 1849, Benvenuto Cellini by Franz Lachner, Henri-Auguste Barbier and Léon de Wailly
10 June 1865, Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner
21 June 1868, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner
22 September 1869, Das Rheingold by Richard Wagner
26 June 1870, Die Walküre by Richard Wagner
29 June 1888, Die Feen by Richard Wagner
23 January 1897, Königskinder (Melodrama edition) by Engelbert Humperdinck and Elsa Bernstein
10 October 1897, Sarema by Alexander von Zemlinsky, Adolf von Zemlinszky and Arnold Schönberg
22 January 1899, Der Bärenhäuter by Siegfried Wagner
19 March 1906, I quatro rusteghi (Die vier Grobiane) by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and Giuseppe Pizzolato (German by Hermann Teibler)
11 December 1906, Das Christ-Elflein by Hans Pfitzner and Ilse von Stach
4 December 1909, Il segreto di Susanna (Susannens Geheimnis) by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and Enrico Golisciani (German by Max Kalbeck)
28 March 1916, Der Ring des Polykrates by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Leo Feld and Julius Korngold and Violanta by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Hans Müller-Einigen
30 November 1920, Die Vögel by Walter Braunfels (freely adapted from Aristophanes)
15 November 1924, Don Gil von den grünen Hosen by Walter Braunfels (after Tirso de Molina)
12 November 1931, Das Herz by Hans Pfitzner and Hans Mahner-Mons
24 July 1938, Friedenstag by Richard Strauss, Joseph Gregor and Stefan Zweig
5 February 1939, Der Mond by Carl Orff
28 October 1942, Capriccio by Richard Strauss and Clemens Krauss
27 November 1963, Die Verlobung in San Domingo by Werner Egk (after Heinrich von Kleist)
1 August 1972, Sim Tjong by Yun I-sang and Harald Kunz
9 July 1978, Lear by Aribert Reimann and Claus H. Henneberg
10 May 1981, Lou Salomé by Giuseppe Sinopoli and Karl Dietrich Gräwe
22 July 1985 Le Roi Bérenger (König Bérenger I.) by Heinrich Sutermeister (after Eugène Ionesco)
8 November 1985, Night by Lorenzo Ferrero and Peter Wehran (after Novalis)
25 January 1986, Belshazar by Volker David Kirchner and Harald Weirich
7 July 1986, Troades by Aribert Reimann and Gerd Albrecht (after Euripides and Franz Werfel)
6 July 1991, Ubu Rex by Krzysztof Penderecki (after Alfred Jarry)
1 July 1996, Schlachthof 5 by Hans-Jürgen von Bose (after Kurt Vonnegut)
24 May 1998, Was ihr wollt by Manfred Trojahn and Claus H. Henneberg
30 October 2000, Bernarda Albas Haus by Aribert Reimann (after Federico García Lorca)
27 October 2006, Das Gehege by Wolfgang Rihm and Botho Strauß
30 June 2007, Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin and David Henry Hwang

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Theatre Munich.

Ballet companies

Africa	Cairo Opera Ballet Company Cape Town City Ballet

Asia	Ballet Manila Ballet Philippines Guangzhou Ballet Hong Kong Ballet Iranian National Ballet Company Israel Ballet K-ballet Korea National Ballet National Ballet of China Philippine Ballet Theatre Shanghai Ballet Company Singapore Dance Theatre State Ballet of Georgia Tokyo Ballet Universal Ballet

Europe	Ballet Cymru Les Ballets Persans Barcelona Ballet Bayerisches Staatsballett Béjart Ballet Berlin State Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet Bolshoi Ballet Cork City Ballet Royal Danish Ballet Donetsk Ballet Dutch National Ballet Eifman Ballet English National Ballet Finnish National Ballet Sukhishvili Georgian National Ballet Greek National Opera Hamburg Ballet Hungarian National Ballet Kiev Ballet La Scala Theatre Ballet Mariinsky Ballet Mikhailovsky Theatre Ballet National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Moldova The Monte-Carlo Ballet National Opera and Ballet of Bulgaria Northern Ballet Norwegian National Opera and Ballet Novosibirsk Theatre Ballet Original Ballet Russe Paris Opera Ballet Perm Theatre Ballet Polish National Ballet National Ballet of Portugal The Royal Ballet (London) Rambert Dance Company Russian State Ballet of Siberia Saint Petersburg Ballet Theatre Scottish Ballet Spanish National Dance Company Stanislavski Ballet Stuttgart Ballet Royal Swedish Ballet Théâtre du Silence Turkish State Opera and Ballet

North America	American Ballet Theatre Anaheim Ballet Atlanta Ballet Ballet BC Ballet Des Moines Ballet Magnificat! Boston Ballet Les Grands Ballets Canadiens Carolina Ballet Cleveland Ballet Cincinnati Ballet Cuban National Ballet Dayton Ballet Houston Ballet Joffrey Ballet Los Angeles Ballet National Ballet of Canada National Ballet Theater of Puerto Rico New Jersey Ballet New York City Ballet Oklahoma City Ballet Oregon Ballet Theatre Pacific Northwest Ballet Pennsylvania Ballet Pittsburgh Ballet San Francisco Ballet Tulsa Ballet Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Oceania	The Australian Ballet Queensland Ballet Royal New Zealand Ballet West Australian Ballet

South America	Ballet Municipal de Lima Chilean National Ballet Colon Theater Ballet Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro

Coordinates: 48°08′22″N 11°34′46″E / 48.13944°N 11.57944°E / 48.13944; 11.57944

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 261664051 GND: 1218969-8

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