 A silhouette ofAbel Seyler | |
| Company type | Theatre company |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Hamburg National Theatre |
| Founded | 1769 |
| Defunct | 1779 |
| Owner | Abel Seyler |
TheSeyler Theatre Company, also known as theSeyler Company (German:Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft, sometimesSeylersche Truppe), was a travellingtheatrical company founded in 1769 byAbel 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 seriousGerman opera tradition, and theSturm und Drang movement. The Sturm und Drang period is named for a play commissioned by the Seyler company.
Abel Seyler was a Hamburg merchant and banker originally from Switzerland who became "the leading patron of German theatre" in his lifetime.[1] The Seyler Theatre Company was largely a continuation of theHamburgische Entreprise, whose dramaturge wasGotthold Ephraim Lessing and whose main owner was Seyler. The Seyler theatrical company became one of the most famous theatrical companies of Europe in the 18th century, attracting some of Germany's leading actors, playwrights and composers. It originally comprised around 60 members, including an orchestra, a ballet, house dramatists and set designers. Between 1777 and 1778 Seyler employed some 230 actors, singers and musicians. The company was originally (from 1769) contracted by the Hanoverian court with performing at Hanover and other cities of the kingdom. The company would eventually perform all across Germany, and performed for three years at the Weimar Schlosstheater, invited byDuchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. When Anna Amalia succeeded in engaging the Seyler Company, this was "an extremely fortunate coup. The Seyler Company was the best theatre company in Germany at that time."[2] The company had an important role in the development ofGerman opera in the late 18th century.
A number of plays were written for the Seyler theatrical company. For example, the playSturm und Drang (which gave its name to theSturm und Drang period) was written originally for the company byFriedrich Maximilian Klinger (Goethe's childhood friend), then employed as its playwright, and first performed in 1777. In 1789, Abel Seyler's wife, the celebrated actressFriederike Sophie Seyler, published theSingspielHüon und Amande, that was plagiarized by the troupe ofEmanuel Schikaneder and also greatly influencedThe Magic Flute.[3]
Threatened by bankruptcy in 1770, the company was saved by Seyler's brother-in-law,Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae.
