| Page Views: 2,881 Last Visit to Augsburg: November, 2004 | Opera in Augsburg by Nemorino - last update: Jan 27, 2005 |
"All the World's a Stage" Written in red neon script across the wall of the lobby is the motto of the Augsburg Theater, ...die ganze Welt ist eine Bühne. This is the German translation of Shakespeare's famous line "All the World's a Stage", from his play "As You Like It" (written around 1598–1600).
The Augsburg Theater is a city-owned theater with its own opera ensemble, orchestra and chorus. I have only seen one opera here so far, namely Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) by Richard Wagner (1813-1883), which I have also seen in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Mainz. |
| Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) |
Augsburg was the birthplace of Leopold Mozart (1719-1787). He was a composer and musician in his own right, and also the author of what was then a standard textbook on learning to play the violin. But he is most famous as the father, teacher, manager and slave-driver of the world's greatest composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).
The house where Leopold Mozart was born is now a museum. Well, not now exactly, because it will be closed for repairs and restoration in 2005, but will re-open in 2006 in time for Wolfgang's 250th birthday. (Wolfgang was born in Salzburg, by the way, not in Augsburg.)
In 1763 Leopold Mozart spent 15 days in Augsburg with his eleven year old daughter Nannerl and seven year old son Wolfgang, at the start of their three-year European concert tour. The children were already famous as child-prodigy musicians. Leopold was not only their teacher and sole accompanying parent on this trip (their mother was back home in Salzburg), he also organized the whole tour, sent articles to the local newspapers along the way, rented concert halls, sold the tickets and most importantly made contact with local princes and dukes so the children could give lucrative concerts at their courts.
This first big tour took the Mozarts to Ulm, Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, Schwetzingen, Mannheim, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, Liège, Brussels, Paris and London, among many other places. On their way home after three years they stopped again in Augsburg, but only for two days, from November 6th to 8th, 1766.
They traveled by stage coach, as that was the only means of transportation available. There were no paved roads, so this sort of travel was bumpy and dusty, and very slow. It was also dangerous. As a precaution, Leopold always carried a pistol and a knife with him, but he never had to use them.
His famous son Wolfgang spent a third of his life on the road (about twelve years out of thirty-five), giving concerts and trying to get jobs as a musician or resident composer. |
| Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) |
Augsburg was also the birthplace of the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956). The house where he was born is also a museum. Unlike the Mozart house, the Brecht house will be open throughout 2005.
Among many other works, Brecht wrote the words to The Threepenny Opera and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, as well as The Seven Deadly Sins, all to the music of Kurt Weill (1900-1950).
The Augsburg Theater is currently preparing a new production of one of Brecht's many plays, The Life of Galileo, which will have its premiere on February 19, 2005. (I saw this play in an impressive production in Frankfurt several years ago.)
In this play the Italian astronomer, mathematician and physicist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is threatened with torture and death by the inquisition if he doesn't renounce the idea that the earth goes around the sun. He finally renounces, to save his life, but feels guilty about it for the rest of his life, and his students consider him a cop-out.
Brecht wrote the first version of The Life of Galileo in 1938 when he was living in exile after fleeing from the Nazis. At that time he had not yet moved to the United States, and of course had no idea that in 1947 he would be subpoenaed, interrogated and publicly humiliated by the "Committee on Un-American Activities" in Washington. (He left the United States the next day, and never returned.) |
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 Comments for Nemorino about Augsburg | | | | |
breughel Fri Sep 11, 2009 14:19 UTC
Thanks for visiting my Paris page. I' have been a couple of times in Augsburg, a city I probably like because I saw here my first opera. The story of Fugger is unique and interesting. It was "Die Zauberflöte". | nicolaitan Fri Mar 27, 2009 16:26 UTC
wonderful page, great diversion during a workday morning. not sure about the nefarious machinations, but .. email to follow. | scottishvisitor Sun Mar 22, 2009 23:12 UTC
Nice updates since I last look at your page = I do love little details! | LoriPori Mon Jan 5, 2009 12:23 UTC
This must have been a walking, bicycling, cultural paradise for you. So much history and musical heritage here. The Golden Hall is amazing. Wonderful page Don. |
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