page_title: Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Programmheft 1942 Thetaer am Gärtnerplatz
context_page_description: The Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, commonly called the Gärtnerplatztheater, is an opera house and opera company in Munich. Designed by Michael Reiffenstuel, it opened on 4 November 1865 as the city's second major theatre after the National Theatre.
  At times exclusively concerned with operetta, in recent years there have also been productions of opera, musicals and ballet. The scope of activities is similar to that of the Komische Oper in Berlin and the English National Opera in London.
  One of the most active theatres in Germany, its season lasts from September to July and comprises more than 200 performances. The current intendant is Josef Ernst Köpplinger.
context_section_description: In 1863, a committee for the founding of a Volkstheater (people's theatre) formed. Ludwig II of Bavaria authorized a new building in the borough Isarvorstadt on 10 May 1864. It was designed by Franz Michael Reiffenstuel, who modelled it after the Nationaltheater in classicist style. The groundbreaking was on 25 August 1864, and the Richtfest was celebrated on 27 May 1865. The house was opened on 4 November 1865, with Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria representing the king. The opening performance was a Prologue followed by an allegorical festive play (Festspiel) by Hermann Schmid, Was wir wollen (What we want), with music by Georg Kremplsetzer“.
  The house, intended to show a different repertory than the court theatre, met with financial problems, under frequently changing directors. It had to be sold in March 1870, went first to the former director Friedrich Engelken, shortly thereafter to the architect and a partner, who bought it for the king, who acquired it officially in May 1870. It was reopened on 1 October 1870, directed by Hermann von Schmid. In 1873, Ludwig II granted it the name "Königliches Theater am Gärtnerplatz" (Royal theatre at the Gärtnerplatz). From 1877,  Karl von Perfall directed the house and also the Hoftheater. The 1878/79 season was especially splendid but resulted in a large deficit. Perfall therefore focused on the Hoftheater, and was succeeded by Georg Lang. The theatre dropped the royal emblem and was called "Theater am Gärtnerplatz".
  In 1913, the house was rebuilt by Eugen Drollinger, who designed a new approach by the audience to the tiers, and installed more loges. During World War I, several charity performances were given for the Kriegsfonds and social organisations. In 1923, the house was acquired by the Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds.
  When the theatre was built, the focus was on operetta, then a new genre. Singspiele, light operas with spoken dialogue in German, were also performed. When the house opened as a royal theatre, Jacques Offenbach's Salon Pitzelberger was played, titled Eine musikalische Soirée in der Vorstadt (A musical soiree in the suburb). Some operettas received their world premiere, including Carl Zeller's Die Fornarina on 18 October 1879, starring Amalie Schönchen, Agnes Lang-Ratthey, Franz Josef Brakl and Max Hofpauer. At the end of 1892, a Völkerschau (People's Show), Die Amazonen von Dahomey, appeared with people from Africa for several weeks.
  From 1899, the theatre played mainly operettas and was regarded as one of the leading houses for the genre in Germany. Fanny zu Reventlow was engaged for a short time. Magda Schneider appeared at the end of the 1920s, complaining that she had to perform up to 48 times a month for a laughable salary ("für eine lächerliche Gage bis zu achtundvierzig mal im Monat auf der Bühne"). Some Possen and Volksstücke were presented until the 1930s, when the Nazi regime banned performances by Jewish writers, librettists and composers, and demanded that the theatre serve as a venue exclusively for operettas, as the operetta was an excellent means of familiarizing the ordinary citizen with the theater arts ("ausschließlich zur Aufführungsstätte von Operetten, weil… die Operette ein sehr wesentliches Mittel ist, um den Volksgenossen an die Theaterkunst heranzuführen").
  In April 1937, the state of Bavaria became owner of the theatre. Plans to replace it with a new building were not realised, but the house was restored. The reopening of the only state operetta house in Germany on 20 November 1937 presented Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, with Adolf Hitler in the audience. From 1938, Fritz Fischer was the intendant and Peter Kreuder was the music director. Fischer showed a new style, influenced by Berlin revues and filmed operettas, with mass scenes, opulent staging and fast action. Gitta. Eine Fahrt ins Blaue, a Lustspieloperette composed by Bernhard Stimmler and Carl Michalski, premiered on 18 May 1942, presenting the new style. Die lustige Witwe was also played, the declared favourite operetta of Hitler, who attended the theatre frequently.
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caption: Program of Gitta, 1942, with Elisabeth Biebl in the title role
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