Angelo Quaglio the Younger
Stage design for Act II of the "Meistersinger von Nürnberg" for the premiere at the Munich National Theatre in 1868
Pen and black ink, brown wash.. 37 x 47.5 cm.
Signed and dated lower right: Angelo Quaglio. 1867.
In preparation for the stage sets for the "Meistersinger", some of which were particularly emphasised by the press, the Munich stage painters Angelo II Quaglio and Heinrich Döll had already been sent to Nuremberg for preliminary studies in July 1867, a year before the premiere. The stage directions for the second act prescribe a street.
In the tradition of "old German" streetscapes, Angelo II Quaglio worked out a design in collaboration with Christian Jank, which is preserved in a model of Quaglio's workshop. The "Schmale Gasse", which leads into the "Straße im Längendurchschnitt" in the foreground, does not depict a specific Nuremberg street, but the individual house backdrops that make up the perspective make it clear that the stage painters diligently studied houses and façades during their stay in Nuremberg. Angelo II Quaglio received numerous offers from abroad after the premiere of "Die Meistersinger" because of his successful decorations.
Literature
Exh.-cat.: Das Bühnenbild im 19. Jahrhundert, Ausstellung zur Wiedereröffnung des E. T. A. Hoffmann-Theaters in Bamberg, Neue Residenz Bamberg, 20.6.-16.8.1959, pp. 17-18. - Exh.-cat. König Ludwig II. und die Kunst. Ausstellung im Festsaalbau der Münchner Residenz, 20.05.-15.10.1968. - Michael Petzet: Die Münchner Uraufführung der "Meistersinger" (21. Juni 1868), exh.-cat.: Die Meistersinger und Richard Wagner. Die Rezeptionsgeschichte einer Oper von 1868 bis heute. Eine Ausstellung des Germanischen Nationalmuseums in Nürnberg und des Theatermuseums des Instituts für Theater-, FiIlm- und Fernsehwissenschaft der Universität Köln, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 10.7.-11.10.1981, pp. 23-34.