Overview

When Kari Friedrich Schinkel finally realized his long-held wish to design stage sets in 1815 under the new director general of the Royal Theatres in Berlin, Karl Count of Bruhl, this introduced a new epoch in the field of stage design. It opened with the twelve sets for Mozart's Magic Flute. These are still living masterpieces in which two geniuses who are related by nature meet. The aim of Schinkel's efforts was to create a comprehensively educational Gesamtkunstwerk. The designs for Mozart's opera were followed by settings from stage works by Gluck, Schiller and Kleist, and also some by authors who are now less well known or forgotten. Schinkel's success created a desire for reproductions of his most beautiful designs. They appeared as coloured aquatint etchings by excellent Berlin engravers from 1819 to 1824 in five volumes, a total of 30 sheets, to which two more were added in a second edition produced from 1847 to 1849. Two further editions were produced in 1861 and in 1874, which proves the continuing popularity of the works. One consequence of the reproductions was that Schinkel's ideas spread beyond the confines of Berlin. The textual commentary examines Schinkel's relationship with the stage, which changed in the course of his life, the history of the emergence of the reproduced works and the strategies pursued by his publisher Ludwig Wilhelm Wittich. Count Bruhl's prefaces to the first and last volumes are important documents in Berlin's theatrical history. A catalogue provides explanations about how the designs were used, on contemporary judgements of them and on their artistic significance.

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9783932565199

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Helmut Borsch-Supan studied art history, archaeology and philosophy in Cologne, Hamburg, Freiburg and Berlin. From 1961 to 1995 he worked for the Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlosser und Garten in Berlin. His main fields for research and publications are 18th- and 19th-century German painting and the portrait. He has been co-editor of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Lebenswerk with Gottfried Riemann since 1995.

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