Contents |

10 | Concert Halls 274 MUSICAL lIFE Benedikt Stampa 11 | Festspiele and Festivals 300 in Germany Franz Willnauer 12 | Contemporary Music 328 CONTENTS Stefan Fricke 13 | Popular Music 350 Intro Prefatory note Preface Editorial note Peter Wicke Music Monika Grütters Martin Maria Krüger German Music 14 | Jazz 376 is variety Minister of State for President of the Information Centre Hans-Jürgen Linke Culture and the Media German Music Council 15 | World Music 400 Julio Mendívil 8 22 24 26 16 | Music in Church 414 Meinrad Walter 17 | Musicology 444 Essays Page Dörte Schmidt 18 | Information and Documentation 464 1 | Introduction: Musical Life in Germany 30 Martina Rebmann, Reiner Nägele Christian Höppner 19 | Music Museums and Musical Instrument Collections 486 2 | Music in Germany’s State Education System 50 Heike Fricke Ortwin Nimczik 20 | Preferences and Publics 510 3 | Music Education Outside the State School System 80 Karl-Heinz Reuband Michael Dartsch 21 | Music in Broadcasting 536 4 | Music Communication 108 Holger Schramm Johannes Voit 22 | Music Economy 566 5 | Education for Music Professions 130 Wolfgang Seufert Hans Bäßler, Ortwin Nimczik 6 | Amateur Music-Making 160 Astrid Reimers The German 7 | Orchestras, Radio Ensembles and Opera Choruses 188 Music Council 600 Gerald Mertens Barbara Haack 8 | Independent Ensembles 218 Richard Lorber, Tobias Eduard Schick List of institutions and abbreviations 614 9 | Music Theatre 244 Arnold Jacobshagen Picture credits 616

6 7 Prefatory Note |

and abroad who are interested in the diversity of Germany’s musical life and its current offerings, contacts and statistics. Nowhere else can one find such a huge amount of information on Germany’s music in such a convenient yet authoritative form. The facts from the Music Information Centre, presented with unparalleled depth and reliability, impressively demonstrate that Germany is a musical nation of international stature.

Choral singing, the specific traditions of plainchant and boys’ choirs, and various forms of instrumental performance have all found their way on to the national list of Germany’s intangible cultural heritage, confirming the high value that society places on singing and music-making. The federal government and the 16 states have even nominated Germany’s theatre and orchestra landscape – unique in the world for its density – for inclusion on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Her­ itage, where organ building and organ playing have already found a place as spe­ cial German traditions. Young musicians from many countries study at Germany’s tertiary-level schools of music precisely because they find themselves in an en­- vironment abounding in superb orchestras, ensembles, soloists, concert halls, festi- Prefatory note vals, instrument makers, advanced training events and creative artists. We have every right to take pride in all of this, for a rich musical life can flourish wher­ from the Minister of State for Culture and the Media ever there exists a solid bedrock of infrastructure, social recognition and financial support. But we must not rest on the laurels of these achievements: in the future, ‘He who starts out in life with music will have a treasure that enriches all his later too, the maintenance and expansion of musical life must be an obligation of Ger­ activities’. So said the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály. Nor is it ever too late many’s federal government, states and municipalities. to start out with music. A wonderful point of departure on such a journey would be the publication Musical Life in Germany, a cultural calling card and a compact I wish to thank everyone involved in this project and hope that the publication ­guide to our country’s uncommonly lively and varied musical landscape. It pro­ finds a great many readers excited in taking voyages of discovery through Ger­ vides an overview of professional ensembles, musical institutions, concert orga­- many’s world of music – and in enriching their lives in the spirit of Zoltán Kodály! n­isers, festivals and their work. It also presents an illuminating overview of music training and outreach, music in the media, the various branches of the music­ econ­ omy and publishing firms, as well as the large fields of church music and amateur vocal and instrumental music. Not least, it explains how Germany’s musical life is organised, and how and by whom it is financed.

For 20 years the German Music Information Centre, a core project of the German Professor Monika Grütters, MP Music Council, has been the main point of contact for music lovers from Germany Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor

22 23 EditorialPreface Note |

Preface That this publication was possible at all is primarily due to the commitment of the from the President of the German Music Council Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Minister of State Professor Monika Grütters, and her staff. She has championed the work of the ­Music Information Centre in signal ways. I also wish to extend my gratitude to the Dear Reader Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK), the Providing documentation on Germany’s multi-layered musical life in all its facets Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States (KSL), the City of Bonn and, in and making it accessible to each and every individual is one of the central con­ the private sector, the Collecting Society for Performance Rights (GVL). Their ­ideal cerns of the German Music Council. It was for this reason that the Council, in 1998, support and long-term funding have enabled the Centre to gather and present its established the German Music Information Centre, a facility empowered to sys­ voluminous information holdings, thereby creating the basis for the emergence of tematically analyse and process the structures and developments of musical life the present publication. I would also like to thank Hal Leonard Europe for their kind and to convey them to a broad range of target groups. Today, 20 years later, the support that made possible the translated version of the book. Equally deserving­ Music Information Centre is celebrating a minor jubilee, and no one interested in of thanks is Germany’s Collecting Society for Musical Performance and Mechanical­ music, whether professionally or not, can imagine doing without it. The demand Reproduction Rights (GEMA) for its long-term funding of the Centre. I am likewise for solid and reliable information about Germany’s musical life is as great as ever, grateful to the Centre’s governing board, which, under its chairman, State Secre­ both nationally and throughout the world. tary ret. Professor Dr Joachim-Felix Leonhard, has gathered together representa­ tives of major institutions in Ger­many’s musical life and made effective use of the The former standard reference work, Musik-Almanach, last appeared in print in authority of experts for the Centre’s further evolution. The governing board has 2006. Since then the Music Information Centre has continued to expand its volu­ significantly supported the work of the editorial staff on a great many separate minous information offerings online. That it constantly addresses current issues in issues. Finally, I especially wish to thank the Centre’s employees, particularly its musical and social policy is evident not least of all in its information portal ‘Music director Stephan Schulmeistrat and its scholarly assistant Dr Christiane Schwerdt­ and Integration’, which has given long-term impetus to the work of musical inte­ feger, who have together been responsible­ for editing the present publication. gration in Germany. Now, to mark its 20th anniversary, the Centre is presenting I offer them my hearty congratulations for this compendium on the musical nation its most recent project, a printed publication describing every facet of Germany’s of Germany and wish all readers a rewarding and stimulating­ reading experience. ­musical status quo. With Musical Life in Germany, the Centre has succeeded in compiling­ an up-to-date compendium of information covering every major area of Sincerely musical life. The spectrum ranges from musical training and education to amateur and professional music-making to the media and the music economy. Separate essays appear on music in church, contemporary music and jazz as well as music preferences, music communication/outreach and the richly varied popular music scene. Proceeding from the latest facts and figures, the authors provide insights Professor Martin Maria Krüger into their respective areas of expertise. The book thus offers a rich body of infor­ President of the German Music Council mation on musical life as a complex subarea of our cultural existence, a subarea tightly interwoven with developments in society and the economy. I wish to ex­ tend my warm thanks to all the authors in the present volume.

24 25 Editorial Note |

Editorial Note special databases, e.g. on continuing and further education in music or on such German Music Information Centre current social issues as ‘Music and Integration’. Direct links to selected areas­ from its wide-ranging programme (in German) can be found in the present book via QR codes. Germany is a country with rich musical traditions and a thoroughly vibrant and protean music scene. Many genres, styles and musical cultures have evolved here Following a long hiatus, we are delighted once again to present a compendium in over the centuries, ensuring a wide range of offerings for today’s music lovers. printed form. Initially issued in German in March 2019, we are happy to publish Musical Life in Germany sheds light on the current state of affairs in key fields of it in English translation in a timely manner. Our special gratitude extends to the musical culture. With its English-language edition, the German Music Informa­ authors of the essays, who made this work possible with their scholarly expertise. tion Centre hopes that experts and interested readers from outside the German-­ Besides topics that have long formed part of the Centre’s programme, others have speaking countries can gain insights into this many-sided cultural area. been thoroughly examined for the first time as part of this publication, including organisational and financial aspects of independent ensembles, the multifarious Documenting musical life in Germany as it evolves has been one of the Centre’s jazz scene, world music and concert halls. All in all, the essays on the roughly tasks for more than 20 years. The Centre was founded in 1998 as a facility of the 600 pages that follow provide an overview of key areas of musical life with their German Music Council with the aim of building up a comprehensive body of infor­ special features and describe recent developments. They are accompanied by a mation on musical life. The only institution of its kind in Germany, it is a contact rich body of illustrations that clearly convey the diversity and density of Germany’s point and centre of expertise for anyone seeking information and data on musical musico-cultural infrastructure. life: professional circles, scholars, politicians and media no less than amateurs and music lovers from Germany and abroad. As a member of the International Associa­ One of our central concerns was to have the essays largely reflect the last five to ten tion of Music Information Centres (IAMIC), the Centre works in conjunction with years, thereby shedding light not only on the current status quo but on develop­ some 40 national music information centres all over the world. ments and trends. Thus, wherever possible and meaningful, they include empirical and statistical material from the Centre’s data collection, drawing on data from An important foundation in the Centre’s early years was Musik-Almanach, pub­ such different sources as the Federal Statistical Office and other agencies, profes­ lished at three- or four-year intervals and edited from 1998 by the Centre’s staff. sional associations, broadcasting corporations and private research institutes, as This standard reference work on musical life was issued by the German Music well as the Centre’s own surveys. However, the fundamental problem of cultural Council from 1986 to 2006 and contained specialist essays and systematic lists statistics remains: owing to the use of different methodological approaches, de­ of musical institutions. Today the Centre has expanded this coverage in many marcations and classification schemes, not to mention the sometimes conflicting directions at once. At www.miz.org readers will find continuously updated on­ time periods and levels of detail, the data are not always amenable to comparison. line information with a wide range of search functions on missions, goals and However, even if the data in some areas are not always directly comparable, or contact persons for more than 11,000 facilities of musical life in Germany. Aug­ even compatible, they should ultimately serve to further the debate on improving menting it is a comprehensive collection of statistics on current trends and de­ the foundations of cultural statistics. Like the tables and diagrams, cartographical velopments in music. This collection also serves as a basis for many special­ist charts from the Centre’s collection form part of the essays in this volume and were studies on musical life that the Centre commissions on a regular basis. Its range newly created or updated for this purpose. The editorial deadline for the essays of information has been enlarged to include a collection of documents on cul­ was 30 September 2018; data published after that date has been included wherever­ tural policy, studies and other sources, as well as up-to-date news items and possible and meaningful.

26 27 Editorial Note |

In addition to the printed version which you are now holding in your hands, all the contents of this volume will, in the middle term, also be made available online in the Centre’s information portal.

The work on this volume was accompanied professionally by a great many experts on Germany’s musical life. In addition to the Centre’s governing board, to whom we are especially grateful for their support in conceiving and implementing this substantial project, these experts included many of our colleagues in the German Music Council as well as specialists from its large network. We wish to thank our authors not only for their expertise but especially for their willingness to sum­ marise complex material within a limited space, and for their patience in answer­ ing myriad questions. I am also greatly indebted to the Centre’s scholarly assistant Dr Christiane Schwerdtfeger, who helped to supervise the volume’s contents, and whose professional competence and tight-knit organisational skills in all editorial matters were major factors in the project’s success. Also employed at key positions in the editorial office were Dr Karin Stoverock (picture editor), Timo Varelmann (statistics), Christiane Rippel (maps) and Tobias Meyer (text editor for the English edition). Extremely valuable was the support of Dr J. Bradford Robinson, who trans­ lated all the texts into English and advised us on many editorial questions. I would also like to thank Susanna Eastburn, Chief Executive of Sound and Music, and Keith Miller for kindly agreeing to collaborate on the final proofreading of this volume. Kerstin Reese and Birgit A. Rother were responsible for the volume’s appealing de­ sign and its painstaking implementation. The lucid design of the maps was the responsibility of Silke Dutzmann, map editor at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig.

I wish to express my deep gratitude to everyone involved for their dedicated and professional support. I am delighted to present, with this book, an up-to-date and wide-ranging English-language compendium on musical life in Germany.

Stephan Schulmeistrat Director, German Music Information Centre

28 29 Kapitel |

Scene from Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser in a staging by Romeo Castellucci at the Bavarian State Opera (2016-17)

Music theatre

9 More than seven million people attended music theatre performances in Germany during the 2016-17 season. Half of the over 11,500 events presented were opera performances, followed by dance, musicals and operettas. Here Arnold Jacobs­hagen writes about underlying conditions, staff mem- bers and developments in the repertoire.

244 245 Music Theatre |

| Arnold Jacobshagen View from the stage into the auditorium of the Bavarian State Opera, Munich Music Theatre

Music theatre with its various genres – opera, dance, musical and operetta – is clearly the favourite with Germany’s theatre audiences. The 2016-17 season saw a total of 7.2 million visits to such performances in Germany, of which some 3.8 involved opera, 1.6 million dance, 1.4 million musical productions and 400,000 operetta. In the same season there were roughly 5.2 million visits to per- formances of spoken theatre.1 The infrastructure that sustains this tradition is cor- respondingly expansive. Germany has 83 fully professional, publicly funded opera houses or opera divisions in multifunctional theatres. These are augmented by many independent ensembles performing opera, dance and musicals, professional private theatres (especially for musicals) and national and international festivals offering a wide variety of productions. Their distribution among Germany’s types of music theatre constitutes what might be called the ‘music theatre market’. ­Op­eras make up approximately half of all stage performances; musicals account for another 20 per cent, as do ballet and dance theatre combined, with operettas The German theatre system mak­ing up roughly 8 per cent (see Fig. 4) Germany’s theatre system falls into two categories: publicly funded theatres Germany’s music theatre landscape, along with its orchestral landscape, has been and private theatres, with the former further sub-divided into state theatres, mu- proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of nicipal theatres and regional theatres (Landestheater) (see Fig. 1). State theatres are Humanity.2 Its importance becomes clear when viewed in an international con- those prestigious houses which are, with rare exceptions, wholly owned by one of text. According to figures from the Operabase platform, roughly 7,000 opera and Germany’s federal states (Länder) and are at least 50 per cent financed from the operetta performances took place in Germany during the 2017-18 season – more state’s budget. Most state theatres were originally court or ‘residence’ theatres than in any other country on earth. (i.e. housed in the seat of residence of a ruling family). They are usually keepers of a proud theatrical tradition and can boast of houses with above-average seating ca- The number of music theatre performances in the German-speaking countries is pacity and stage size. With the end of the German Empire and its many principali- also high when considered in relation to population, though here Germany is even ties in 1918, most of the former court theatres became state theatres, with the state surpassed by Austria and Switzerland. There were also a good many performances govern­ments taking charge of the institutions as legal successors to the former in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Scandinavia. Russia, in comparison, which monarchies. State theatres can be found in most of Germany’s federal states, the holds second place worldwide in number of performances (though lagging far be- exceptions being North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-­Holstein. hind Germany), ranks 24th when considered on a per capita basis.3 Owing to historical circumstances (former residences) or cultural-political decisions,­

246 247 Music Theatre | PubliclyFig. 1funded |Publicly Publicly fundedmusic funded music theatres music theatres theatres

many state theatres are not located in Sources: German Music Information Centre and Sources: German Music Information Centre and German Theatre and Orchestra Association, German Theatre and Orchestra Association, 2018 today’s state capitals. In addition to Düs- Flensburg 2018 Flensburg Schleswig-Holsteinisches seldorf, Magdeburg and Kiel, no state Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater Landestheater theatres are found in Potsdam and Erfurt. Stralsund A Aalto-Theater Essen Stralsund A Aalto-Theater Essen Theater Vorpommern B Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach Rendsburg Theater Vorpommern B Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach Rendsburg MUSIC THEATRES C Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf Theater Kiel Greifswald MUSIC THEATRES C Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf Theater Kiel Greifswald D Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Altenburg D Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Altenburg State theatre E Mittelsächsisches Theater Theater Lübeck Volkstheater Rostock State theatre There are currently 25 state theatres ac- E Mittelsächsisches Theater Theater Lübeck Volkstheater Rostock Regional theatre Regional theatre Neubrandenburg tively producing music theatre in Berlin Neubrandenburg Municipal (or municipal Stadttheater Theater und Orchester Municipal (or municipal Stadttheater Bremerhaven Theater und Orchester union) theatre Bremerhaven Mecklenburgisches Neubrandenburg/Neustrelitz union) theatre (Deutsche Oper, Komische Oper, State Hamburgische Mecklenburgisches Neubrandenburg/Neustrelitz Hamburgische Staatsoper Staatstheater, Schwerin Staatsoper Staatstheater, Schwerin Neustrelitz Neustrelitz Music theatre with twoMusic or theatre with two or Opera Unter den Linden and Friedrich- more sites Theater Bremen more sites Theater Bremen Theater Lüneburg Oldenburgisches Theater Lüneburg stadt-Palast), Brunswick, Bremen, Cott- Oldenburgisches Staatstheater Staatstheater Komische Oper SEATING CAPACITY OF Komische Oper Berlin SEATING CAPACITY OF Berlin PRINCIPAL VENUES bus, Darmstadt, Dresden, Hamburg, Staatsoper Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin PRINCIPAL VENUES Staatsoper Hannover Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin Hannover Städtische Bühnen Staatstheater Hanover, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Mainz, Mei- Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück Staatstheater Braunschweig 2,023 Osnabrück Brandenburger 2,023 Braunschweig Brandenburger Theater8 Theater8 Friedrichstadt-Palast, Berlin Friedrichstadt-Palast, Berlin 1,000 1,000 Theater Bielefeld Deutsche ningen, Munich (Bavarian State Opera TheaterTheater Münster Bielefeld DeutscheTheater 500 Theater Münster Theater Oper Berlin 500 Halber- Oper BerlinMagdeburg 102 Halber- Magdeburgstadt 102 and Gärtnerplatz Theatre), Nuremberg, stadtTfN · Theater für TfN · Theater für Nordharzer Anhaltisches Theater Musiktheater im Revier, Niedersachsen,Nordharzer Anhaltisches Theater Musiktheater im Revier, Niedersachsen, Hildesheim Städtebund- Dessau, Dessau-Roßlau Staatstheater Gelsenkirchen Hildesheim Städtebund- Dessau,theate Dessau-Roßlaur9 Staatstheater Gelsenkirchen Landestheater theater9 Cottbus Note: The map indicates the primary per- Oldenburg, Saarbrücken, Schwerin, Stutt- Landestheater Detmold Theater Cottbus Note: The map indicates the primary per- Duisburg Detmold Theater Nordhausen Quedlinburg formance location for the theatre concerned; Duisburg Nordhausen Quedlinburg Oper formance location for the theatre concerned; Theater Dortmund Oper Leipzig – other auditoriums or venues are excluded. Krefeld A Leipzig – gart, Weimar and Wiesbaden. More­ Krefeld A Theater Dortmund Oper Halle Opernhaus Sorbisches other auditoriums or venues are excluded. Oper Halle Opernhaus SorbischesLandesbühnen National-Ensemble, For theatres currently closed for renovation, B Landesbühnen National-Ensemble, For theatres currently closed for renovation, B Theater Hagen Sachsen, Bautzen3 the seating capacity refers to the relevant Theater Hagen Deutsches Sachsen, Bautzen3Radebeul theGerhard-Haupt- seating capacity refers to the relevant over, on 1 September 2018 the Augsburg Deutsches Radebeul Gerhard-Haupt- interim venue. Mönchen- Nationaltheater, Weimar Oper Leipzig – interimmann-Theater, venue. Mönchen- C Nationaltheater, Weimar Oper Leipzig – mann-Theater, Görlitz C gladbach Wuppertaler Bühnen Musikalische Döbeln Görlitz gladbach Wuppertaler Bühnen Staatstheater KasselMusikalische Döbeln Komödie Sächsische Staatsoper – 1 Interim venue: Theaterzelt. Staatstheater Kassel Komödie Sächsische Staatsoper – 1 Interim venue: Theaterzelt. The­atre was elevated to the status of Bühnen der Stadt Köln5 7 D Semperoper Dresden 2 Interim venue: Martini-Park. Bühnen der Stadt Köln5 7 Landestheater Eisenach D SemperoperE Dresden 2 Interim venue: Martini-Park. Landestheater Eisenach E 3 Auditorium for concert performances, music theatre Freiberg Staatsoperette 3 Auditorium for concert performances, music theatre Stadttheater Freiberg Staatsoperette lacking a permanent venue. a state theatre. Plans for another state StadttheaterTheater Bonn Gießen Theater Erfurt Gera Städtische Dresden lacking a permanent venue. Theater Bonn Gießen Theater Erfurt Gera Städtische DresdenTheater Chemnitz 4 Interim venue: Malsaal. Theater Aachen TheaterZwicka Chemnitzu4 4 Interim venue: Malsaal. Theater Aachen Zwickau4 Eduard-von-Winterstein-Theater, 5 Interim venue: Staatenhaus. Meininger Eduard-von-Winterstein-Theater, 5 Interim venue: Staatenhaus. theatre with an opera division (‘Staats- Meininger Theater Annaberg-Buchholz 6 Interim venue: Großes Haus. Music theatre in co- StaatstheaterTheater Rudolstadt6 Annaberg-Buchholz 6 Interim venue: Großes Haus. Music theatre in co- Staatstheater Rudolstadt6 operation with Nordhausen Theatre, Lyric Opera Theater Plauen-Zwickau operation with Nordhausen Theatre, Lyric Opera Theater Koblenz Theater Plauen-ZwickauPlauen Studio Weimar and Mainz School of Music. Theater Koblenz Plauen Studio Weimar and Mainz School of Music. theater Nordost’) were long discussed in Städtische Bühnen 7 Music theatre in cooperation with Meiningen State Städtische Bühnen 7 Music theatre in cooperation with Meiningen State Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden Frankfurt am Main 10 Theatre. Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden Frankfurt am Main 10 Theater Hof Theatre. Theater Hof 8 Alternating co-production of music theatre with Mecklenburg-West Pomerania with the Landestheater Coburg 8 Alternating co-production of music theatre with Landestheater Coburg members of the Brandenburg Union of Municipal Staatstheater members of the Brandenburg Union of Municipal StaatstheaterStaatstheater Mainz Theatres. Staatstheater Mainz Darmstadt Theatres. intended­ fusion or cooperation of the Darmstadt Mainfranken Theater 9 Classified as a regional theatre (Landestheater) Theater Trier Mainfranken Theater Würzburg 9 Classified as a regional theatre (Landestheater) Theater Trier Würzburg owing to its regular guest performances at other owing to its regular guest performances at other Nationaltheater locations in Saxony-Anhalt. Theatre of West Pomerania (with ­sites Nationaltheater Mannheim locations in Saxony-Anhalt. Mannheim 10 Classified as a regional theatre (Landestheater) Staatstheater Nürnberg 10 Classified as a regional theatre (Landestheater) Staatstheater Nürnberg owing to its regular guest performances at other owing to its regular guest performances at other Theater Heidelberg locations in Bavaria. in Stralsund, Greifswald and Putbus) Theater Heidelberg locations in Bavaria. Pfalztheater 11 Classified as a municipal union theatre as there are Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern 11 Classified as a municipal union theatre as there are Kaiserslautern generally no guest performances. Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe generally no guest performances. and the Theatre in New Brandenburg/ SaarländischesBadisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe Saarländisches Staatstheater, Saarbrücken Theater Regensburg Staatstheater, Saarbrücken Theater Regensburg Straubing Straubing Neustrelitz. In the meantime these plans Staatstheater Stuttgart Staatstheater Stuttgart Passau Theater PassauLandestheater Theater Pforzheim Landestheater Niederbayern11 have been shelved. Pforzheim Niederbayern11 Landshut1 Landshut1 Theater Ulm in cooperation with Theater Ulm in cooperation with Municipal theatre is the most typical kind Staatstheater Staatstheater am Staatstheater Staatstheater2 am 2 Augsburg Gärtnerplatz, München Theater Freiburg Augsburg Gärtnerplatz, München Theater Freiburg of theatre in Germany. Municipal theatres­

Bayerische Staatsoper – Bayerische Staatsoper – Nationaltheater, München are run by the town or city con­cerned. Nationaltheater, München Cartography: S. DutzmannCartography: S. Dutzmann Leipzig, 2018 Leipzig, 2018 Currently Germany has 50 municipal National boundary 0 25 50 75 100 km National boundary 0 25 50 75 100 km State boundary© German Music Council© /German Music Council/ theatres or theatres jointly administered State boundary German Music Information German Centre Music Information Centre by two or more municipalities (Städte- bundtheater), each with its own opera Das MIZ wird gefördertDas von: MIZ wird gefördert von: 248 249 Music Theatre |

Top left: Aalto Theatre in Essen. Bottom left: Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf’s opera house. Top right: Dresden State Operetta. Bottom right: Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen

Post-war buildings dominate Germany’s music theatre landscape, from the histori­ cising reconstruction of Berlin’s State Opera Unter den Linden to modern buildings such as the Aalto Theatre to the Dresden State Operetta, located in a former power plant. The auditorium of Berlin’s State Opera Unter den Linden

divisions. Most of these municipal theatres are multifunctional houses that pre- penses of a municipal theatre make up the largest single item in a city’s cultural sent music theatre, spoken drama and dance theatre in the same building. The ma- budget, financial pressure has caused many local and municipal authorities, espe- jority of today’s musical theatres date back to the 19th century, when they were cially in recent years, to merge theatres­ in neighbouring cities. This is particularly founded as private initiatives and were, for the most part, at least initially run as the case in the eastern states of Germany. private businesses. Among the oldest municipal stages are the Mannheim Natio- nal Theatre (1838) and the Freiburg City Theatre (1868). In 1917, shortly before the Compared to state and municipal theatres, regional theatres are of secondary im- German Empire came to an end, there were only 16 municipal theatres operated portance for music theatre. These are public theatre companies with a permanent by city authorities, as opposed to more than 360 private theatres. Soon, however, ensemble that offer a large proportion of their performances within a defined re- particularly during the Weimar Republic, many formerly private theatres were tak­ ­en gion outside their place of production. Most regional theatres originally started over by municipal governments. At this point the municipal theatre developed as touring companies. It was not until the 1920s that regional theatre became into the centre of cultural display in most of Germany’s large cities. Since the ex-

250 251 Music Theatre |

established as an organised branch of theatre. The original homes of these theatres Fig. 2 | Expenses of publicly financed theatres (music and spoken theatres) Fig. 2 | Expenses of publicly financed theatres (music and spoken theatres) are mainly small and medium-sized towns. At present only the regional theatres in Coburg, Detmold, Flensburg, Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Hof and Radebeul have Total expenses in 2016 Other expenses2 their own production facilities for music theatre. 3.7%

Material expenses Funding and staffing Artistic staff 32.9% 23.5%

Music theatre is the most expensive form of theatre. The bulk of all public ex- Total expenses: Staff expenses €3,223m penditure for culture goes to the funding of theatres and orchestras,4 and music

Other staff expenses1 theatres are the ones that require the most. Staff costs make up the lion’s share of 72.8% 11.1% the financial burden, amounting on average to about three-quarters of the bud- 5.8% get. Of this, roughly half is paid to artistic staff and the other half to non-artistic 23.0% Technicians and artistic technical staff Administrative and maintenance staff employees (see Fig. 2). The Stuttgart State Theatre, currently Germany’s­ largest theatrical undertaking in terms of both budget and staff, has over 1,400 per- Staff expenses Material expenses manent employees in its three departments (opera, ballet and drama). Even a Total Technicians Adminis- Other Fiscal expenses Per cent Artistic and artistic trative and Other staff Per cent expenses2 Total 1 Total year of total staff technical mainte- expenses of total expenses staff nance staff expenses in €m in €m in €m in €m in €m 2006 2,548 1,764 69.2 795 565 143 261 552 21.7 111 2007 2,563 1,889 73.7 828 586 145 330 585 22.8 79 2008 2,675 1,973 73.8 875 607 153 338 630 23.5 72 2009 2,734 2,019 73.8 898 615 155 350 631 23.1 84 2010 2,811 2,049 72.9 934 624 160 332 650 23.1 112 2011 2,811 2,055 73.1 930 638 160 327 659 23.4 97 2012 2,857 2,090 73.1 960 656 164 310 665 23.3 102 2013 2,969 2,156 72.6 992 670 182 313 706 23.8 107 2014 3,032 2,231 73.6 1,021 701 180 328 713 23.5 88 2015 3,124 2,290 73.3 1,041 717 185 347 736 23.5 99 2016 3,223 2,346 72.8 1,062 740 187 358 758 23.5 119

Note: The theatre statistics are drawn from a complete survey based on written questionnaires submitted to publicly financed theatres and orchestras regarding their business operations (venues, range of events, attendance figures, staff, financing). The figures in the time line are not always comparable, for some venues could not be used owing to construction work and/or the collected data is incomplete owing to lack of responses, especially in the earlier years. Because of rounding, the totals of individual items may differ from the grand totals. Moreover, not all figures included in the grand totals are necessarily itemised in the subordinate positions. 1 Including part-time staff, temporary employees etc. 2 Interest and repayment services, special funding expenses, construction costs. Source: Compiled and calculated by the German Music Information Centre from the various issues of Theaterstatistik, published annually by the German Theatre and Orchestra Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein). Behind the scenes: a make-up artist at Detmold Regional Theatre

252 253 Music Theatre |

small opera house will have a payroll running into three figures. It has become a Martin Schläpfer’s new interpretation of recog­nised economic fact that opera productions are structurally unable to cover Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf, 2017-18) their expenses and need to receive third-party funding. The reasons for this were first examined by the British economists William J. Baumol and William G. Bowen in 1966.5 In general, the economic dilemma facing the performing arts is the virtual impossibility of increasing productivity in their core area (i.e. stage perfor­mances). While the Industrial Revolution has caused immense productivity increases in progressive sectors of the economy over the last two centuries – with corre­- spond­ingly rapid wage increases – staging a standard repertory opera today still requires more or less the same rehearsal time, the same number of employees and the same number of skilled man-hours that were necessary at the first perfor­ mances some 150 or 200 years ago. This means that theatres have in­evitably need­ ed increasingly large injections of money, which can no longer be offset by raising ticket prices. As a result, according to figures from the German Theatre and Orches­ tra Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein), every public theatre ticket is subsidised on average by approximately €133.

facts & figures These economic conditions are the reason why cost cutting and efficient man­ How tight-knit is Germany’s music theatre landscape? agement alone cannot resolve the structural financial problems of the theatre. How many people attend which events? Al­though in recent years most German theatres have sharply cut back costs and consistently exploited opportunities to economise, they have not been able to The German Music Information Centre gathers data and boost their revenues (i.e. the percentage of total expenses covered by their own facts in its ‘Concerts and Music Theatre’ portal, including: proceeds), which have remained on average at roughly 18 per cent over the last decade. Conversely, this means that roughly 80 per cent of expenses are not cov­ >> Music theatres and orchestras with their artistic ered by box-office returns and must be made up by subsidies and allocations from and administrative management the public coffers (41.7 per cent from municipalities, 38.5 per cent from states and >> Key figures on developments and trends 0.5 per cent from the federal government).6 In other words, music theatre compa- (staff members, financing, repertoire, events, attendance) nies are inevitably loss-making concerns whose upkeep is only legitimate because >> Professional associations they fulfil a cultural mandate. In addition to preserving cultural heritage and pro- >> Music festivals moting contemporary productions, regional and local authorities can justify taking >> Surveys on musical taste and audience trends over the funding of theatres because, otherwise, the public need for performances >> News, documents, literature and links of appropriate quality would be assumed by non-subsidised private businesses, which would mean far higher prices and a much narrower range of productions.

254 255 Music Theatre |

Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Pas- senger tells the story of a concen- tration camp survivor who meets her former guard from Auschwitz. Composed in 1968, the opera had to wait until the 21st century for its première. In 2014-15 it was staged at the Frankfurt Opera.

The mere fact of belonging to one of the three types of publicly funded theatre (state, municipal or regional) says little about a theatre’s finances and even less about its artistic capabilities. The budgets of some of the larger municipal theatres (e.g. Frankfurt, Cologne or Leipzig) can rival those of leading state theatres, while smaller state theatres, such as Meiningen or Oldenburg, are somewhere in the mid-­ range of Germanys league of opera houses. The annual budget of music theatres depends on the size of the building, the number of productions and perfor­mances as well as the fees payable to the staff of a given show. Accordingly, budgets vary between a mere €8 to €9 million for smaller establishments (e.g. Lüneburg or Anna­berg) and in excess of €100 million for larger ones (Bavarian State Opera).

Singers are the heart of any opera, operetta or musical performance, and there is no other stage profession offering a comparable career range. The largest ensembles of singers are employed at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg (nearly 60 members) and the Frankfurt City Theatres (roughly 40). The number of guest contracts in Germany now far exceeds that of ensemble members: the number of permanent positions dropped further, after a major downturn in the 1990s, and has fallen from 1,462 to 1,184 since the turn of the millennium. At the same time the number of guest contracts (including dance and spoken theatre) has risen from 8,557 to 22,041 (see Fig. 3). This development, which reflects the growing internationalisation of the opera business, poses a danger to Germany’s empha- sis on ensemble theatre (see under ‘Types of production’). Career opportunities for 256 257 Music Theatre |

soloists in musical theatre have declined in recent years, partly due to competi­ Fig. 3 | Staff at publicly financed music theatres Fig. 3 | Staff at publicly financed music theatres tion from greater numbers of graduates and young, better trained up-and-coming

­singers from abroad. 25,000 Technical, administrative and maintenance staff4 20,000 Staff numbers in artistic ensembles (orchestra, chorus, ballet), which declined with Permanently employed artistic personnel1 the merging of orchestras and theatres at the end of the last century, have largely 15,000 Artistic personnel on stabilised over the last decade. Grading an orchestra into salary brackets according guest contracts3 10,000 to the number of permanent positions (category A/F1: more than 130 musicians; A:

99-129 musicians; B: 66-98; C: 56-65 and D: up to 55 musicians) is an impor­tant in- 5,000 dicator for the artistic capability of a music theatre.7 Most theatres have a B-level 0 orchestra, i.e. an orchestra large enough to permit performances of the standard 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17

opera repertoire without outside assistance. Choruses are also included in the Permanently employed artistic personnel1 Artistic Technical, grad­ing of orchestras, meaning that theatres having an A-, B-, C- or D-level­ orches­ Other personnel on administrative and Season Total Singers Dancers Chorus Orchestra artistic guest contracts3 maintenance staff4 tra will have a chorus on a corresponding scale. Dance ensembles have suffered personnel2 greatly from staff cuts since the turn of the millennium, mainly because many 2000-01 15,523 1,462 1,576 2,959 5,202 4,324 8,557 21,394 theatres shut down their entire dance departments. 2002-03 15,613 1,407 1,511 2,963 5,205 4,527 9,772 21,205 2004-05 15,295 1,334 1,434 2,984 5,052 4,491 10,867 20,485 2006-07 15,201 1,358 1,423 2,891 5,157 4,372 11,726 20,522 2008-09 15,266 1,323 1,400 2,871 5,080 4,592 13,560 21,008 2010-11 15,492 1,315 1,364 2,867 5,072 4,874 13,953 21,263 2012-13 15,611 1,238 1,403 2,876 5,115 4,979 16,165 21,284 2014-15 15,701 1,214 1,392 2,857 5,189 5,049 17,465 21,467 2016-17 15,779 1,184 1,362 2,864 5,189 5,180 22,041 21,808

Note: The theatre statistics are drawn from a complete survey based on written questionnaires submitted to publicly financed thea- tres and orchestras regarding their business operations (venues, range of events, attendance figures, staff, financing). Discrepancies between the annual figures may occur owing to lack of responses to the questionnaire, especially in the earlier years. All figures were compiled as of 1 January in the season concerned. 1 Excluding actors and actresses. 2 Management staff and non-performing artistic personnel (also in spoken theatre). 3 Including evening attendance (also in spoken theatre). 4 Technical equipment, workshops, make-up, costumes (also in spoken theatre), including administration, in-house staff, sales and trainees. Source: Compiled and calculated by the German Music Information Centre from the various issues of Theaterstatistik, published annually by the German Theatre and Orchestra Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein).

An interim venue with fresh potential: spectators in Cologne’s Compared to non-artistic staff (21,808 employees), the artistic staff at German Staatenhaus could follow the simultaneous and associative theatres is clearly in the minority, with 15,779 permanently employed workers in scenes of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten while seated on swivel chairs in wraparound staging (Cologne Opera, 2017-18). the 2016-17 season. Most people employed at German theatres work in various technical capacities. Altogether the number of non-artistic employees has grown

258 259 Music Theatre |

by more than 1000 positions over the last decade, although admittedly there were almost equally as many in the year 2000.

Types of production

In addition to the large number of permanent institutions, there are two typ­ical features of the German theatre landscape: the repertory system and the ensemble principle. Both are being eroded by the internationalisation and globali- sation of the music markets. German music theatre has traditionally worked with permanent ensembles of singers who have become a tight-knit community over time and share common artistic outlooks. While large opera houses give many sing­ing roles to international guest soloists, multifunctional theatres tend to re- cruit soloists­ from within their standing ensemble. On the whole, the importance of fixed ensembles vis-à-vis guest soloists is declining.

The traditional repertory system is typified by year-round operations; productions change every evening and the performance venue is closed for only a few days. This approach presupposes a permanent ensemble, ideally with a suitable singer for each type of role. The main advantages of the repertory system are programme diversity and the artistic quality of an ensemble attuned to each other over a long period of time.

Christoph Marthaler’s produc­ tion of Alban Berg’s Lulu at the Hamburg State Opera won the German theatre prize ‘Der Faust’ in 2017.

260 261 Music Theatre |

Elton John’s musical The Lion King has been performed at Hamburg’s Stage Theatre since 2001.

The ‘stagione’, ‘semi-stagione’ and ‘en-suite’ theatre systems have established themselves alongside the repertory system. An exclusively repertory system is vir- from economic and artistic vantage points. The daily rotation of productions in tually unheard of outside the German-speaking countries and some other parts of the repertory system means continuous set changes requiring a large number of Central and Eastern Europe. stage technicians, lighting experts, stage hands etc. Furthermore, the sets need to be stored over longer periods and maintained in the workshops. Simultaneously The Italian word stagione (literally ‘season’) defines a theatrical operation where performing and rehearsing several pieces requires additional rehearsal stages. one production is shown continuously during a given part of the year. Originally In contrast, the ‘stagione’ system makes it possible to rehearse with greater con- the term was used to describe a season which comprised less than a full year, per- centration and to achieve higher performance quality because of the continuous haps only a few weeks or months, such as the carnival season, the summer season, series of performances. Its disadvantages are the limited exploitation of the po- the autumn season and others. Both in Italy, its country of origin, and in many tential audience and the reduced number of performances per season. In a reper- other countries this principle still holds sway today. tory-type opera house, one and the same production can be seen many times by visitors who return at longer intervals. However, with a ‘stagione’ system, it fre- For some time, there has been a heated debate on the relative economic merits of quently happens that a production is no longer running by the time word of its the repertory and the ‘stagione’ systems. Basically, the repertory system allows a high quality has made the rounds. In any case, there are significantly fewer per- far wider range of works. This translates into such an overwhelming advantage in formances per season in a ‘stagione’ system compared with a repertory theatre, terms of cultural politics that it should not be put at risk by focusing exclusively because theatres close between show days and have periods of closure between on economic factors. At the same time, it is useful to compare the two systems productions.

262 263 Music Theatre |

One tried and tested compromise between the ‘stagione’ and repertory systems In Serientheater, or ‘en-suite’ theatre, the same production is shown continuously is the so-called ‘semi-stagione’ or ‘block system’. Here the season is divided into over a longer period. Unlike the ‘stagione’ system, ‘en-suite’ theatres operate on several programme blocks, within which a small number of different productions the basis of considerably longer runs, which are not initially restricted to a fixed are shown alternately. Many German opera houses have gradually shifted in re- period. ‘En-suite’ productions continue until audience demand dwindles away. This cent years from a repertory to a ‘semi-stagione’ system. Theatres using the ‘semi-­ type of operation is limited almost exclusively to the production of commercial stagione’ approach work overwhelmingly with guest soloists. musicals, this being the only form of music theatre that can and must achieve the necessary number of performances.

Fig. 4 | EEventsvents andand attendance attendance at at publicly publicly financed financed music theatres theatres

1 Events and attendance in the 2016-17 season Productions mounted in own theatre New productions Opera, Operetta Season Total Opera Operetta Musicals Dance Dance Musicals Musicals Musicals 2000-01 14,291 6,725 1,775 3,143 2,648 628 173 2,331 1,445,866 2002-03 14,223 7,045 1,557 2,971 2,650 677 190 2004-05 13,061 6,689 1,500 2,420 2,452 642 168

Operetta 2006-07 12,801 6,591 1,440 2,252 2,518 630 212 422,679 Total attendance: Operetta 851 Total events: 5,728 11,546 7,241,973 3,797,294 2008-09 12,649 6,473 1,232 2,369 2,575 616 197 2010-11 12,413 6,209 1,169 2,362 2,673 691 232 1,576,134 2012-13 11,944 5,865 1,023 2,411 2,645 694 253 2,636 2014-15 12,057 5,922 925 2,605 2,605 644 247 Dance Opera Dance Opera 2016-17 11,546 5,728 851 2,331 2,636 642 231

Attendance at own and visiting productions1 Number of events Attendance Season Total Opera Operetta Musicals Dance 16 10

14 9 2000-01 9,273,244 4,743,882 933,154 1,977,433 1,618,775 Total 8 Total 12 2002-03 8,686,580 4,617,695 848,621 1,736,969 1,483,295 7 2004-05 8,219,598 4,484,339 796,493 1,525,777 1,412,989 10 6 8 5 2006-07 7,733,728 4,363,561 720,755 1,231,548 1,417,864 Opera Oper 6 4 2008-09 7,904,103 4,407,987 631,038 1,397,854 1,467,224 3 4 Operetta Musicals Dance 2010-11 7,628,768 4,144,986 573,378 1,365,987 1,544,417 2 Operetta Musicals Dance 2012-13 7,498,973 3,987,552 534,187 1,412,066 1,565,168 2 1 0 0 2014-15 7,629,209 3,989,018 431,454 1,586,786 1,621,951 00-01 04-05 08-09 12-13 16-17 00-01 04-05 08-09 12-13 16-17 2016-17 7,241,973 3,797,294 422,679 1,445,866 1,576,134 in thousands in millions Note: The theatre statistics are drawn from a complete survey based on written questionnaires submitted to publicly financed the- atres and orchestras regarding their business operations (venues, range of events, attendance figures, staff, financing). The figures in the time line are not always comparable, for some venues could not be used owing to construction work and/or the collected data is incomplete owing to lack of responses, especially in the earlier years. 1 Excluding concert events. For concerts and attendance of independent orchestras with theatre duties see the table ‘Concerts and attendance of publicly financed orchestras’ in Gerald Mertens’s essay. Source: Compiled and calculated by the German Music Information Centre from the various issues of Theaterstatistik, published annually by the German Theatre and Orchestra Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein).

264 265 Music Theatre |

Paul Abraham’s operetta Ball im Savoy (1932) was banned by system has caused a substantial downturn in overall offerings. Moreover, opera- the Nazis shortly after its première, and Abraham was forced tions have frequently been limited while theatre buildings are being renovated into exile because of his Jewish ancestry. The Komische Oper brought it back to Berlin in 2013. and venues temporarily closed. The State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin, for ex­ ample, was shut down from autumn 2010 to autumn 2017 for general remodelling and had to carry on its operations in the much smaller Schiller Theatre. Another

Fig. 5 || OOperasperas most most frequently frequently performed performed in inGermany Germany

2016-17 15-16 14-15 13-14 12-13 11-12 10-11 09-10 08-09 Title (composer) Perfor- Produc- Atten- Performances mances tions dance 1 Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) 246 33 171,090 215 207 235 268 350 234 286 428 2 The Magic Flute (Mozart)1 237 23 231,699 268 285 360 479 494 576 655 643 3 Carmen (Bizet) 189 24 142,440 157 247 128 162 209 288 235 179 4 The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) 168 22 106,961 144 148 183 160 205 159 206 157 5 Tosca (Puccini) 157 21 118,741 116 139 175 115 184 94 110 183 6 La bohème (Puccini) 150 19 108,360 164 149 222 109 197 232 147 162 7 Rigoletto (Verdi) 130 16 99,970 126 132 124 138 100 64 175 100 8 The Barber of Seville (Rossini) 127 13 76,076 115 91 105 178 180 173 129 150 9 The Flying Dutchman (Wagner) 125 19 99,176 89 63 94 93 188 36 54 91 Audiences 10 L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti) 99 14 59,933 79 81 77 51 50 54 175 83 11 Don Giovanni (Mozart) 97 13 71,739 84 84 152 199 177 184 160 199 Among the different types of staged music, opera is the number one crowd 12 The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart) 88 13 60,784 84 91 60 146 75 128 41 147 13 Così fan tutte (Mozart) 83 14 58,902 110 104 131 115 82 96 66 98 puller: a total of 3.8 million visits to around 5,700 opera performances in Germany 14 Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) 75 12 53,619 61 52 29 32 50 72 59 63 in the 2016-17 season (see Fig. 4). Ballet and dance theatre come second, numbering 15 Turandot (Puccini) 74 9 72,312 37 58 73 42 95 76 101 115 some 1.6 million visits, which puts them ahead of musicals with 1.4 million and 16 Faust (Gounod) 71 12 38,482 42 37 0 16 32 53 39 20 operettas with roughly 400,000 visits per annum. 17 Der Freischütz (Weber) 70 10 41,848 103 89 78 88 97 128 287 132 18 Otello (Verdi) 60 7 46,420 28 53 81 37 29 72 42 59 19 La traviata (Verdi) 59 10 55,406 106 286 209 163 278 243 210 118 Since the turn of the millennium it is only in dance theatre that the number of visi- I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Bellini) 59 4 11,966 14 15 4 3 35 24 6 2 tors has remained constant, with occasional vacillations. The figures have sharply Note: The work statistics are drawn from a complete survey based on online questionnaires (written questionnaires until 2013-14) declined in opera and the musical and have even been halved in the case of op­ submitted to all state, municipal and regional theatres and major private theatres in the German-speaking countries. Also included are festivals with theatre productions and training institutions where productions reach public performance under professional eretta. Yet these findings do not reflect a decline in audience interest so much as supervision. The figures cover the theatre’s entire repertoire (own and co-productions), including concert performance and guest appearances at other theatres, but with no claim to completeness; guest appearances by outside ensembles at the theatre’s own a substantial reduction in output: the number of performances in music theatre premises are excluded. As many theatres report number of performances but not attendance, gaps in the presentation may occur. alone has dropped by more than 2,500 in the new millennium. There are various 1 Unlike previous editions of the statistics, beginning in the 2014-15 season only performances of original versions are taken into account. In consequence, the number of performances of Mozart’s Magic Flute has sharply declined compared to previous years, the explanations for this decline. First and foremost is the above-mentioned­ gradual reason being that it is frequently mounted in versions for children and adolescents or in other adaptations. shift in many theatres from a repertory to a ‘stagione’ system, for the much Source: Compiled by the German Music Information Centre from various issues of Wer spielte was? Werkstatistik, published annually by the German Theatre and Orchestra Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein). ­larger number of days without performances in the ‘stagione’ or ‘semi-stagione’­

266 267 Music Theatre |

Fig. 6 | OperettasOperettas most most frequently frequently performed performed in inGermany Germany One important indicator for audience interest in the divisions of a music theatre is so-called seating capacity utilisation, i.e. the number of visitors in relation to 2016-17 15-16 14-15 13-14 12-13 11-12 10-11 09-10 08-09 the number of available seats. Here, however, it should be borne in mind that per- Title (composer) Perfor- Produc- Atten- Performances mances tions dance formances of opera and musicals generally take place in auditoriums with much 1 Die Fledermaus (Strauß) 156 17 101,662 129 106 171 246 231 377 183 261 greater seating capacity than those of dance or operetta. At the same time, the 2 The White Horse Inn (Benatzky) 125 10 48,715 126 158 196 218 141 188 132 149 sharp downturn in the number of operetta performances has caused the capacity 3 The Merry Widow (Lehár) 84 9 42,571 99 66 77 68 173 71 137 147 utilisation in this area to stabilise. Comparing capacity utilisation in each sector, 4 The Czardas Princess (Kálmán) 69 7 36,453 44 38 56 123 153 161 81 64 we find that musicals score best with 83.9 per cent, followed by dance (78.5 per 5 Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach) 67 5 40,099 27 27 46 58 74 53 91 90 6 The Gypsy Baron (Strauß) 60 3 30,190 31 45 18 89 27 26 88 36 cent), operetta (76.6 per cent) and opera (73.7 per cent). 7 Candide (Bernstein) 41 5 18,959 24 17 0 0 7 12 4 0 8 The Count of Luxembourg (Lehár) 27 2 16,725 29 7 36 42 41 34 17 0 Trends in programming Der Vetter aus Dingsda (Künneke) 27 2 4,698 19 143 44 19 51 144 79 67 Countess Maritza (Kálmán) 27 1 14,967 56 35 103 53 107 52 51 31 The smaller number of succesful contemporary musical works for the stage, un­ 9 Wiener Blut (Strauß) 26 3 10,970 62 13 31 0 0 4 53 128 10 Schwarzwaldmädel (Jessel) 22 1 16,859 0 0 0 14 5 11 23 15 like spoken theatre, makes for a generally more stable repertoire. This comprises 11 La belle Hélène (Offenbach) 20 1 2,204 20 24 15 0 10 18 20 11 a ­‘canon’ of some 50 works by Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Rossini, Wagner, Bizet, Tchai- 12 Der Vogelhändler (Zeller) 19 4 10,576 23 60 82 42 63 51 14 57 kovsky, Strauss, Donizetti, Offenbach, Gounod, Humperdinck, Janáček, Smetana, Frau Luna (Lincke) 19 2 8,900 24 3 90 38 11 2 18 11 Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Bellini, Gluck, Beethoven and Weber, all of which appear A Night in Venice (Strauß) 19 1 8,660 21 12 44 52 11 59 27 123 Königsmörder küsst man nicht (Martin) 19 1 1,296 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein 13 16 1 5,164 10 9 11 30 32 34 13 12 (Offenbach) 14 Bluebeard (Offenbach) 15 2 5,287 9 0 0 4 14 14 25 27 15 The Duchess of Chicago (Kálmán) 14 1 5,320 14 0 2 0 0 0 0 10

Note: The work statistics are drawn from a complete survey based on online questionnaires (written questionnaires until 2013-14) submitted to all state, municipal and regional theatres and major private theatres in the German-speaking countries. Also included are festivals with theatre productions and training institutions where productions reach public performance under professional super- vision. The figures cover the theatre’s entire repertoire (own and co-productions), including concert performance and guest appearan- ces at other theatres, but with no claim to completeness; guest appearances by outside ensembles at the theatre’s own premises are excluded. As many theatres report number of productions but not attendance, gaps in the presentation may occur. Source: Compiled by the German Music Information Centre from the various issues of Wer spielte was? Werkstatistik, published annually by the German Theatre and Orchestra Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein).

example is the Cologne Opera, whose general remodelling, begun in 2012, was meant to be completed by 2015 but will probably continue until 2022. Here, too, the offerings were radically reduced as operations were transferred to various tempo- Pop in the opera: Björk’s album Vespertine, rary premises. In the near future the opera houses in Stuttgart and Frankfurt are performed in Mannheim’s National Theatre also slated for general renovation, and new buildings are being discussed as part in a staging by the Danish artists’ collective Hotel Pro Forma (2017-18) of the debate on expenditure.

268 269 Music Theatre |

more or less regularly in opera houses worldwide. In addition, there are about posers is Philip Glass (1937- ) at 41st place. Only three 20th-century operas, all by 100 to 200 works not only by the composers listed above, but also e.g. Massenet, Puccini, managed to find their way into the front rank: Tosca (premièred in 1900), Debussy, Lortzing, Britten, Handel, Borodin, Stravinsky, Monte­verdi, Shostakovich, Madama Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1926).9 Ravel, Prokofjev and Giordano. This range is regularly augmented by rediscoveries (recently e.g. Cherubini, Thomas, Weinberg, Szymanowski and Rameau) and a few Where operetta is concerned, the repertoire is less stable than in opera, even contemporary pieces (e.g. by Adams, Adès, Glass, Sciarrino and Rihm).8 though practically no new works have been written for this genre since World War II. In recent years a growing interest in ‘excavations’ has led to several shifts In addition to its theatre statistics, the German Theatre and Orchestra Associa­ in the operatic repertoires of German theatres. While Die Fledermaus continues to tion also publishes annual statistics of works performed during each season in the top the charts virtually every season, Johann Strauss is now followed by Jacques German-­speaking countries, broken down into opera, operetta, musical, spoken Offenbach, Franz Lehár and Emerich Kálmán, each with several works (see Fig. 6). theatre and dance. The works are listed alphabetically with date of première, place Comparing the programmes of recent decades shows that several previous success of performance, number of performances and attendance. In the 2016-17 season stories are entering a steep decline while other pieces that were rarely performed the most frequently performed operas in Germany were Humperdinck’s Hansel in the past are reappearing in the repertoire. and Gretel (246 performances), Mozart’s The Magic Flute (237), Bizet’s Carmen (189), Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (168) and Puccini’s Tosca (157) (see Fig. 5). A compari- The musicals repertoire is subject to even greater fluctuations, due in part to the son with figures elsewhere in the world is revealing: In the seasons from 2011-12 to large number of newly composed and/or produced pieces. Moreover, cost and ca- 2015-16, for example, by far the most frequently performed opera worldwide was pacity considerations have led more and more municipal theatres to stage musi- La traviata with 4,190 performances, followed by The Magic Flute (3,310), Carmen cals and to stand out from their competitors by mounting rediscoveries. For a long (3,280) and two Puccini operas, La bohème (3,131) and Tosca (2,694). In contrast, The time the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber ruled supreme in their market, but in Magic Flute had far and away the greatest number of performances in Germany recent years great successes have been achieved by composers who are in fact stars during the same period (1,886, including adaptations for children until 2013-14), from the world of pop music: Elton John (The Lion King), Phil Collins (Tarzan) and followed by Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (1,275), with third to fifth place going Udo Lindenberg (Hinterm Horizont). The composer Martin Lingnau achieved rous­ to La traviata (1,042), Carmen (903) and La bohème (841), as was largely consistent ing success in Germany with three musicals – Das Wunder von Bern, Heisse Ecke and with the international trend. Operas frequently staged in Germany from 2011-12 to Die Königs vom Kiez – and the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus attracted great attention 2015-16, but not among the top 25 worldwide, included five other works on original in 2018 with David Bowie’s Lazarus. German librettos in addition to The Magic Flute and Hansel and Gretel, namely, The Flying Dutchman (ranked 13th in Germany), The Abduction from the Seraglio (14th), The business of musicals is driven entirely by popularity and commercial success. Der Freischütz (15th), Tristan und Isolde (23rd) and Der Rosenkavalier (24th). Among German productions of musicals – beginning in the 1980s with Lloyd Webber’s composers, pride of place on the international scene during the five-year period Cats in Hamburg – tend to be staged in private and non-subsidised theatres with clearly went to Verdi, with 16,265 performances. Then came Mozart (11,876), Puccini no permanent orchestras or ensembles, following in the footsteps of the world’s (11,494), Rossini (5,070), Donizetti (4,393) and Wagner (4,456), with the latter being most important centres, New York’s Broadway and London’s West End. The Ger- particularly well-represented on German stages owing to the large total number man musical market seemed saturated at the end of the 1990s after a long-lasting of performances. Finally, contemporary opera has little chance of placing among boom. Market consolidation and mergers by the big promoters followed, while un- the top 50 on the international landscape. The only exception among living com- profitable theatres were closed. A run of seven years was considered standard for

270 271 Music Theatre |

a successful show in the mid-1990s, but since then there has been a clear trend 1 Deutscher Bühnenverein [German Theatre and Orchestra Associa­ towards runs of just one to two years or even less. By and large the German musi- tion], ed., Theaterstatistik 2016/2017: Die wichtigsten Wirtschafts- cals market is still popular, despite the stark decline since the mid-1990s. Hamburg daten der Theater, Orchester und Festspiele (Cologne, 2018). is Germany’s leading venue in attendance, ranking second in the European mu- See also Fig. 4 regarding attendance figures for music theatre. sicals environment after London. Besides commercial theatres, German theatres 2 The application for inclusion in the UNESCO List of the Word’s with public funding are also mounting classics from the standard repertoire as Intangible Cultural Heritage was submitted to UNESCO by the well as a few original German musicals. Usually the statistics are headed by the German foreign ministry in April 2018. A decision is not expected latest hit musicals from Broadway or the West End, produced commercially and ‘en until 2020. suite’ and usually mounted at only one German venue. 3 All figures are taken from the Operabase platform, which has covered the international opera scene since 1996. According to When comparing categories, it becomes clear that, as far as musicals are concerned,­ its own self-description, Operabase can draw on more than production quantity does not count for very much. In any one season, the most 430,000 performances in its database, most recently an average popular musicals in Germany will, in a single production, reach larger audiences­ of 25,000 per season. See the statistics at http://operabase.com/ than the most frequently performed operas, which appear in dozens of stagings top.cgi?id=none&lang=de&splash=t (accessed on 25 July 2018). during the same period. But all categories show a trend towards greater diversity 4 Statistisches Bundesamt [Federal Statistical Office], ed., Kultur- in repertoire, which raises hopes for a vibrant continued evolution of the still extra- finanzbericht 2016 (Wiesbaden, 2016), p. 48. ordinary German landscape for music theatre in the 21st century. 5 See James Heilbrun and Charles M. Gray: The Economics of Arts and Culture (Cambridge, 2001). 6 See statistics in ‘Einnahmen der öffentlich finanzierten Theater (Sprech- und Musiktheater)‘ at http://www.miz.org/downloads/ statistik/25/25_Einnahmen_Oeffentliche_Theater.pdf Arnold Jacobshagen is professor of musicology at Cologne University (accessed on 22 October 2018). of Music and Dance and co-editor of the reference work Sachlexikon 7 See also Gerald Mertens’s essay ‘Orchestras, Radio Ensembles and des Musiktheaters. Opera Choruses’ in the present volume. 8 Deutscher Bühnenverein, ed., 2016/17 – Wer spielte was? Werkstatistik (Cologne, 2018). 9 See http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=de&season=2015 (accessed on 26 September 2018). As no data was available for the five-year period from 2012 to 2017 by the time of the editorial deadline, figures for the comparison were taken from the 2011-12 to 2015-16 seasons. We also drew on the German Theatre and Orchestra Association’s statistics on individual works for the seasons concerned.

272 273