ABSTRACT

In the German theatre of the 'seventies and 'eighties authors find a further development of most of the tendencies which have noticed in the companies immediately succeeding Frau Neuber. A third 'Hof- und National theater' was founded in Mannheim, largely as a consolation to the town when Karl Theodor of the Palatinate succeeded to the Electorate of Bavaria and transferred his capital to Munich, in 1777. Before studying the development of this theatre in the 'eighties and 'nineties, it will be helpful to have a general impression of the German theatrical centres in the 'seventies, and of the repertoire offered by the best of them, especially by Schröder's theatre in Hamburg, in its relation to the literary drama and to social influences. Travelling French comedian and Italian operetta singers were still often dangerous rivals for the German players in the 'seventies, as they had been in 1769 for the Hamburg theatre.