Až k hořkému konci: Pražské německé divadlo 1845–1945 by Jitka Ludvová (review)

In Prague there are three extant theatres of great historical and cultural significance. The oldest is the Estates Theatre (1783), the memorable venue for the world premieres of Don Giovanni and La clemenza di Tito. For a century it remained the only stone-built theatre in Prague, but in 1881 the Czech National Theatre was erected by public subscription (it accidentally burnt down almost immediately but was rebuilt by 1883). And in response to the resplendent Czech Theatre an equally resplendent German Theatre opened in 1888. It is no longer known by this title. After the mass expulsion of the German population of Prague in 1945, it was taken over by the Czechs and continually renamed (Grand Opera of the Fifth of May; Smetana Theatre; State Opera, Prague), its connection with the other theatres varying from independence to secondary stage according to the political vagaries of the time.

As the main venue for the German-speaking minority in Prague, the German Theatre was an opera house of world importance mostly through its distinguished roster of conductors (Mahler, Klemperer, Zemlinsky, Kleiber, Steinberg, Széll, Rankl). While the Czech National Theatre and the Estates Theatre have had countless monographs devoted to them over the years (a token of how much theatre and opera has mattered to Czech national aspirations), information on the Prague German Theatre has been much harder to come by. This is partly because most of its archives had disappeared by 1945 but also because of chauvinistic Czechs who wanted to write the German cultural contribution out of the script, a process encouraged by the post-war Communist administration through political censorship and restrictions on archives. It was only after an international conference in 1963 that one of the luminaries of Prague German culture, Franz Kafka, was reluctantly accorded persona grata status, and with it followed the surprising discovery for much of the younger generation that there had been a vibrant German cultural scene before the war. ‘Normalization’ of the 1970s brought with it more censorship and bureaucratic blocking of archives—this changed only with the fall of the Communists in 1989. Since then there has been great interest in German theatre in Prague, most of it uncritical. Jitka Ludvová’s magnificent book, written under the auspices of the Theatre Institute (an important centre of theatre research in Prague that for decades has sponsored the publication of many essential surveys of operatic activities) is the first serious and substantial evaluation of the German theatre culture in Prague, embodied in its chief venue. Ludvová has been working in this field for some forty years and the book is the culmination of her life’s work. It will now be an essential starting point for anyone working in music and theatre in Prague during this period.

The hundred years set out in the title is misleading. The book begins in earnest when Angelo Neumann (famous for his travelling Ring Cycle) was appointed director in 1885, a few years before the new building was completed. A ‘prologue’ sets the scene with a crisp summary of the political tensions between Czechs and Germans, and how this played out in the battle to provide venues for Czech theatrical endeavours. The book is then divided into six chronological parts of which the first, ‘Golden Times 1885–1910’ (i.e. under Neumann’s directorship) is by far the longest (pp. 39–198); the last, echoing the striking title of the book, ‘Right to the Bitter End 1938–1945’, is the shortest (pp. 573–96). Each of these parts is divided into sections dealing with their respective directors, personnel, repertory, concerts, and so on. And within these sections there is further subdivision, for instance of repertory, both theatrical and operatic. Although the book is dauntingly large, it is easy enough to find what one wants through the index and detailed contents page.

A concluding 150...