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Czech version
Valtice Baroque Theatre
While the rich cultural history of Valtice (Feldsberg) dates back to
the Middle Ages, it was in the 17th century as a residence of the
Liechtenstein princes that the chateau became an important centre of
Baroque culture. In 1790 the earlier chateau theatre was
substantially rebuilt for the visit of Emperor Leopold, making it
one of the best-equipped in the Austrian Empire, with scenery by the
court painter Plazter and stage equipment that featured, among some
30,000 documented props, costumes and decorations, spectacular
flying machines and other period “miracle” stage apparati. Operas by
Mozart, Salieri, Gluck and Cherubini as well as ballets, plays and
singspiels were performed there and a illustrious highpoint in the
theatre’s history, came when the famous composer, Franz von Suppe
conducted for the Emperor in 1876.
With the end of WWII the days of the Liechtenstein theatre were
numbered. The chateau was looted by a group of distraught Russian
POWs and then the entire estate was confiscated from its rightful
owners. In the years of Communist oppression that followed, the
theatre interior was eventually gutted in 1964.
It was only after the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 that using
surviving historical records, a devoted group of enthusiasts raised
public awareness of the importance of the theatre and drew up plans
for restoring this architectural treasure in order to stop its
further demise. Fortunately, the shell of the original building
survived and some plans of the original theatre interior were
recently rediscovered. Thanks to the Packard Humanities Institute
(PHI) and to the Centre for the Preservation of Architecture (CORA),
a complete documentation of surviving sources was undertaken and an
architectural documentation for the full reconstruction of the
theatre has also been completed. The Czech Regional and National
Preservation authorities have recently approved this study, which
presents the Valtice Castle Theatre as an ideal place for a
functioning Baroque theatre studio.
It is now possible to move forward toward reconstruction. The
Baroque Theatre Studio can now become the ideal place for various
interpretive and stage design methods which, for security and
conservation reasons, often cannot be carried out in historical
theatres of this kind. This initiative will allow experiments in the
principles and methods of Baroque theatre known only in historical
sources – including period stage lighting, machinery, and special
effects. It will also contribute to improved understanding about the
running of a Baroque theatre, the relationship between score,
libretto and the production of operas, as well as the character of
period dance, acting, make-up, and gesture. In short, the
reconstruction will revive the theatre as a meeting point for
European theatre and opera ensembles, who rarely, if ever, are able
to perform original Baroque works in authentic period theatres.
Baroque Theatre Studio
The last three decades of the 20th century witnessed a rapid
increase of interest in the “early music” of the 16th – 18th century
and its so called authentic – historically accurate –
interpretation. This concerned all sorts of music: secular, sacred,
instrumental, vocal, chamber, orchestral – and naturally opera.
Baroque opera was a synthesis of music, poetry, dance, fine arts
(set pieces and costumes) as well as technical elements (set
machinery, lighting, mechanical and sound effects) and as such it
attracted the most interest from artists, public and patrons alike.
The first fully preserved opera is Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) and the
first “modern” opera may be Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1785),
but the golden era of baroque opera is considered to be between the
years of 1630 and 1780, when Europe was stricken by an “opera
fever”. Opera theatres grew like mushrooms after rain and opera
authors, artists and impresarios enjoyed fame and wealth (often, but
not always!). The numbers of operas composed during this period
reached the thousands; today we know only a fraction of this
cornucopia and the remainder awaits its revival in archives.
To revive baroque opera is not a small feat and while authentic
interpretation of music from the past centuries has achieved
enormous progress on all levels and is slowly getting accepted by a
wider audience, the renaissance of baroque opera is still
complicated. The phenomenon of baroque music theatre has always been
based on an equal musical and visual experience and theatrical
architects and engineers were as important to the final result as
the composers, librettists and artists. Whereas other genres of
ancient music can be authentically performed in practically any
acoustically suitable place, both historic and modern, baroque opera
taken out of the context of a baroque theatre becomes only a shadow
of its former self. Today’s audience – if lucky - experiences even
the operas of the greatest baroque authors in an adjusted scenic
form on a modern stage, but more often in a concert version, which
even if it is excellent can be compared to listening to a sound film
without the picture.
Although we can find quite a few baroque theatres in Europe today,
only two of them – Český Krumlov (1766) and Drottningholm, Sweden
(1766) – are complete and still contain the complicated stage
equipment without which true baroque opera cannot exist. The other
remaining European theatres were rebuilt during the 19th and 20th
centuries and while the baroque interior of the auditorium was
usually preserved, the original technical equipment of the stage was
mostly removed. The Drottningholm theatre has been restored and
occasionally used for some time, while the theatre in Český Krumlov
will be conserved after its restoration and will be used only for
certain experimental performances.
The use of authentic baroque theatres brings a number of problems,
such as:
- theatrical
performances lead to the wearing down of the unique wooden
stage machinery
- handling of the
scenery and costumes will destroy them gradually
- the introduction
of modern lighting and other contemporary elements damages
the original materials
- the regular
presence of large audiences causes a serious rise in
humidity
The most convenient
solution for the revival of baroque opera seems to be the building
of a functional copy of a baroque theatre.
.
The project for the reconstruction of the Valtice Baroque Theatre is
based on the above-mentioned facts as well as on the expert
discussions concerning the restoration of the Valtice Castle theatre
that started in July 1993, when an international conference
addressed the future of the Lednice-Valtice area and its addition to
the world heritage list of UNESCO. The architectural study for the
complete reconstruction of the theatre shows that Valtice Castle is
an ideal place for a BAROQUE THEATRE STUDIO.
There is an original theatre building here, a large empty space,
which was a baroque theatre up until 1964. As part of a
documentation project PHI / CORA managed to assemble enough
materials for an accurate spatial reconstruction of the theatre
auditorium, the stage area and the running of the theatre. A newly
built baroque theatre studio will fundamentally influence the
contemporary trend of authentic performances of baroque (and
classicist) operas and drama. The installation of exact copies of
baroque scenery and technology according to preserved originals and
sources will eliminate the danger of damaging the original preserved
elements in other historical theatres.
The Valtice BAROQUE THEATRE STUDIO will thus become a suitable place
for trying out various interpretive and scenographic methods which
cannot be undertaken in historical theatres for security and
conservation reasons. It will allow experiments in baroque theatre
and the carrying out of principles and methods known so far only
from historical sources (lighting of the stage, theatre machinery
and effects etc). It will also contribute to filling the gaps in
contemporary knowledge of the running of a baroque theatre, the
relationship between the score, libretto and the realisation of the
opera, the character of period dance, acting, make-up...
The position of Valtice on the borders of Moravia and Austria (only
50 km from Vienna and Brno) can guarantee the interest of Czech and
foreign artists and visitors not only from Central Europe.
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