The Seyler Theatre Company, also known as the Seyler Company (German: Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft, sometimes Seylersche Truppe), was a travelling theatrical company founded in 1769 by Abel Seyler. It was one of the most famous and ambitious theatrical companies of Europe in the years from 1769 to 1779, and played a crucial role in theatrical innovation, the development of a serious German opera tradition, and the Sturm und Drang movement. The Sturm und Drang period is named for a play commissioned by the Seyler company.
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👉 Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism (German: Weimarer Klassik) was a German literary and cultural movement, whose practitioners established a new humanism from the synthesis of ideas from Romanticism, Classicism, and the Age of Enlightenment. It was named after the city of Weimar in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar because its leading authors lived there.
The Weimarer Klassik movement began in 1771 when Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel invited the Seyler Theatre Company led by Abel Seyler, pioneers of the Sturm und Drang movement, to her court in Weimar. The Seyler company was soon thereafter followed by Christoph Martin Wieland, then Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder and finally Friedrich Schiller. The movement was eventually centred upon Goethe and Schiller, previously also exponents of the Sturm und Drang movement, during the period of 1786–1805.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Seyler Theatre Company
- 👉 Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Weimar Classicism
- Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
- Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Hamburg National Theatre
- Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Konrad Ekhof
Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (24 October 1739 – 10 April 1807), was a German princess and composer.
She became the duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach by marriage, and was also regent of the states of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach from 1758 to 1775. She transformed her court and its surrounding into the most influential cultural center of Germany. Her invitation of Abel Seyler's theatre company in 1771 marked the start of Weimar Classicism, that would include such figures such as Wieland, Goethe, Herder and Schiller working under her protection.
Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Hamburg National Theatre
The Hamburg Enterprise (German: Hamburgische Entreprise), commonly known as the Hamburg National Theatre, was a theatre company in Hamburg (now Germany), that existed 1767–1769 at the Gänsemarkt square, and that was led by Abel Seyler. It was the first attempt to establish a national theatre in Germany. It was modelled after Det Kongelige Teater, founded by Ludvig Holberg in Denmark in 1748. Its leading actor was Konrad Ekhof and the theatre employed Gotthold Ephraim Lessing as the world's first dramaturg; Lessing's influential Hamburg Dramaturgy, based on his work at the Hamburg National Theatre, defined the new field of dramaturgy and also introduced the term. The theatre premiered Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm on 30 September 1767.
The Hamburg National Theatre was mainly owned and led by the former banker Abel Seyler, who invested much of his remaining fortune in the enterprise after suffering "a sensational bankruptcy for an enormous sum" shortly before. The Hamburg National Theatre had to close in 1769 when Seyler's money had run out after two years of lavish spending. The enterprise was effectively succeeded by the Seyler Theatre Company. Seyler would also later retain the vision of a "national theatre" during his work in Mannheim.
Seyler Theatre Company in the context of Konrad Ekhof
Konrad Ekhof (12 August 1720 in Hamburg, Germany – 16 June 1778) was a German actor, often regarded as the foremost actor of German-speaking Europe in the 18th century. He was noted for his collaboration with the theatre principal Abel Seyler in the 1760s and 1770s, first at the Hamburg National Theatre and then at the travelling Seyler Theatre Company.